Winter Wednesday Wanderings - Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

Despite icy cold conditions, our regular Wednesday walk provided us with some great local birding and it was certainly interesting to see how birds were coping with the current weather. Flocks of American Robins with a few Cedar Waxwings in tow were making short work of any remaining holly berries – much to the annoyance of the local mockingbirds. Small patches of water that were ice-free on Lake Lily thanks to the bubbler system were brimming with parties of ducks, including American Wigeon, Mallard, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck and Bufflehead. Further round we also added a female Common Merganser to our list, but a male Canvasback that had been seen earlier in the day had sadly succumbed on the ice. A look at the bay at Coral Avenue was truly awesome – it was like being in Barrow, Alaska! Ice floes packed the water surface as far as the eye could see but we did spot a Ruddy Turnstone and a couple of Purple Sandpipers on the stone jetties. A single male Lesser Scaup was with a small gathering of ducks on Lighthouse Pond and we pondered on just how any of these birds survive the night at this time of year, as we watched two Ruby-crowned Kinglets gleaning whatever they could from a maple tree. Leader: Mike Crewe.

Bird Walk for All People - Monday, February 16th, 2015

Due to the very low temperatures and windy conditions, our President's Day walk turned into a "car-birding" trip. We toured bird feeding stations in Cape May Point, surveyed the beach and ocean at several dune crossovers, and surveyed the Northwood Center and open water on Lake Lily. Finally, we went over to the ferry park to look for gulls and shorebirds. Feeders were very active and appear to be keeping some of our wintering birds going in this snowy winter. We had good looks at White-throated and Fox Sparrows, Purple Finch, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, and Red-bellied Woodpecker along with the usual winter feeder birds. The highlight of our trip was being able to watch an American Woodcock feeding close to us in front of the Northwood Center. Waterfowl were congregated in the open water on Lake Lily including Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, and American Wigeon. The ice-overed ocean and bay was quite a sight to see, and the ice floes going by with the tide looked like the Arctic in miniature. Upon our return to the Cape May Point State Park, we saw one Killdeer and an American Pipit feeding in the central, grassy area. Leaders: Chuck Slugg and Catherine Busch.

Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, February 14th, 2015

It was fairly 'birdie' for a cold winter's day on Saturday. Lake Lily still has open water around one of the bubblers so we had a good variety of ducks. A nice surprise was a flurry of birds across from Lighthouse Pond. No less than four Golden-crowned Kinglets and two Red-breasted Nuthatches were feeding in a holly tree and calling periodically. Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, and Steve Weis.
41 species

Mute Swan  2
Gadwall  9
American Wigeon  6
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  20
Northern Shoveler  16
Northern Pintail  1
Green-winged Teal (American)  4
Ring-necked Duck  6
Bufflehead  2
Ruddy Duck  4
Great Blue Heron  1
Ring-billed Gull  8
Herring Gull (American)  7
Mourning Dove  14
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  5
Carolina Chickadee  6
Tufted Titmouse  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  3
Golden-crowned Kinglet  4
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  18
Northern Mockingbird  3
European Starling  9
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  3
Song Sparrow  2
Swamp Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  9
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  16
Northern Cardinal  5
Red-winged Blackbird  8
Common Grackle  5
House Finch  8
Purple Finch  1
American Goldfinch  7
House Sparrow  14

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Winter Wednesday Wanderings - Wednesday, February 11th, 2015

Wander we did today, from Avalon to Stone Harbor to a large pond outside of Cape May Court House. Most of the birds we saw were ducks and not your everyday ducks; they ranged from sea ducks to divers to dabblers. We had all three mergansers - Hooded, Red-breasted and Common - in good numbers and close. The Surf Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks were fairly close also but the waves were so rough at Avalon's 8th Street jetty, you could only get brief glimpses and, while there was an eider present, we couldn't get a good enough look to tell if it was the King Eider that's been seen there recently. We had Redheads at two locations and they're always a treat to see. Leaders: Kathy Horn & Karl Lukens.

Avalon--8th St. Jetty
9 species

Surf Scoter  55
Black Scoter  8
Long-tailed Duck  24
Red-breasted Merganser  8
Common Loon  1
Sanderling  1
Dunlin  1
Herring Gull (American)  3
Great Black-backed Gull  2

Stone Harbor, 319 81st Street
3 species

Redhead  4
Lesser Scaup  14
Horned Grebe  4

Davies Sports Complex, Cape May Court House
6 species

Redhead  4
Ring-necked Duck  60
Hooded Merganser  2
Common Merganser  3  
Turkey Vulture  1
Carolina Chickadee  1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/nj)

Avalon - 8th Street jetty [Photo by Kathy Horn]

Winter Wednesday Wanderings - Wednesday, February 4th, 2015

If you ever want a good view of a Cooper's Hawk, we can tell you where to go! We often check the bird feeders close to the CMP State Park on these walks and had been wondering for some time now why very few birds have been feeding at one particularly well-stocked feeder. It's become obvious that it's because a large, probably adult female, Cooper's Hawk spends so much time there, seeming to consider it her own private feeder yard. She sits in a large leafless tree and preens, showing off all her ID points - the long barred tail, the large flat head, the rufous breast. This week it took only a minute though, after she flew off, for a female Purple Finch to come back and start to feed again. Leaders: Kathy Horn, Lynn & Marc Breslow.
38 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  21
Mute Swan  4
Gadwall  9
Mallard  8
Surf Scoter  9
Black Scoter  2
Surf/Black Scoter  12
Red-throated Loon  1
Black Vulture  16
Turkey Vulture  3
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Ring-billed Gull  2
Herring Gull (American)  5
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Mourning Dove  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
Peregrine Falcon  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  5
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Carolina Wren  6
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
Eastern Bluebird  9
American Robin  16
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  7
Fox Sparrow (Red)  1
Song Sparrow  5
White-throated Sparrow  4
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  6
Northern Cardinal  4
Common Grackle  3
Purple Finch  1
House Sparrow  2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/nj)

Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, January 31st, 2015

If you're ever wondering if a walk will be cancelled due to the weather, you can bet we'll be there unless the roads are unsafe or there's a lightning storm. On today's walk, despite fierce winds and biting cold, we had birders and we had good birds. Fox Sparrows, with their rufous streaks looking unusually bright in the morning light, busily fed in a protected area in the State Park and were 'lifers' for one of our walkers. A hawk perched on a porch rail, which we initially identified as a Red-tail, gave us pause as we noticed the Cooper's Hawk-like streaking on the flanks. Hawks are often more difficult to identify when perched than in flight, but the relatively short, straight-edged tail and long wings, along with the head shape and white on the back, all helped confirm that we were looking at a young Red-tailed Hawk. Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn.
33 species

Canada Goose  25
Mute Swan  4
Gadwall  8
Ring-necked Duck  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull (American)  3
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Mourning Dove  4
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
American Crow  3
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  25
Northern Mockingbird  2
European Starling  20
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  9
Fox Sparrow (Red)  2
White-throated Sparrow  15
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  12
Northern Cardinal  5
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
American Goldfinch  4
House Sparrow  5

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Red-tailed Hawk [Photo by Roger Horn]