Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, January 16th, 2016

The weather was foggy over the ocean and feeders were not being used. So we decided to go walk Cape May Point State Park. Looking out over Bunker pond we had a single Snow Goose sleeping amongst the Canada geese. The number of Gadwall had increased since last weekend. It was quite impressive. Also a lone male Red-breasted Merganser was diving about. Seemed an odd place for him. Usually they are seen in the back bay areas. Lastly, there was another single duck on "Al's Pond" in the back, along the blue/yellow trail--a female Blue-winged Teal. She stood out amongst the American Wigeon, Mallards and Northern Shovelers as the smallest duck on the pond. Leaders: Roger Horn and Karl Lukens.
41 species (+1 other taxa)

Snow Goose  1
Canada Goose  175
Mute Swan  12
Tundra Swan  1
Gadwall  150
American Wigeon  12
American Black Duck  20
Mallard  125
Blue-winged Teal  1
Northern Shoveler  30
Northern Pintail  3
Ring-necked Duck  9
Lesser Scaup  3
Surf Scoter  2
Surf/Black Scoter  7
Bufflehead  6
Hooded Merganser  12
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  4
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  1
American Coot  30
Bonaparte's Gull  1
Ring-billed Gull  3
Herring Gull (American)  6
Great Black-backed Gull  17
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  12
Mourning Dove  50
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
American Crow  4
Carolina Wren  6
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  60
Northern Mockingbird  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  16
Song Sparrow  4
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  2
Purple Finch  6

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

Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, January 9th, 2016

The weather was mild in the high 40's. Lily Lake sported some Ring-necked Ducks, Double-crested Cormorant, and Great Blue Heron. The local texting bird alert told us there were two American White Pelicans and an American Bittern on the second plover pond at the State Park. These are unusual birds this time of year so we headed over and found them with a Tundra Swan. Leaders: Roger Horn and Karl Lukens.
42 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  12
Mute Swan  2
Tundra Swan  1
Gadwall  17
American Wigeon  40
Mallard  18
Northern Shoveler  10
Ring-necked Duck  16
Surf Scoter  1
White-winged Scoter  1
Black Scoter  14
Surf/Black Scoter  4
Bufflehead  6
Hooded Merganser  8
Double-crested Cormorant  1
American Bittern  1
Great Blue Heron  5
Northern Harrier  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull (American)  1
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Mourning Dove  9
Merlin  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  4
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  4
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  36
Northern Mockingbird  3
European Starling  20
Cedar Waxwing  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  30
White-throated Sparrow  7
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  5
Red-winged Blackbird  60
Common Grackle  75
House Finch  20
House Sparrow  20

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

White Pelicans [Photo by Karl Lukens] 

Tundra Swan [Photo by Karl Lukens]

American Bittern [Photo by Roger Horn]

Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, January 2nd, 2016

Day 2 of 2016. Starting off the new year adding to our freshly started 2016 species list. It was a beautiful, sunny, cold day with low wind. The ducks were in their usual finery at Lake Lily, Lighthouse and Bunker ponds. Along the dunes, Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Herring Gull were side by side.  The jetty at St. Mary's afforded some nice looks at Ruddy Turnstones feeding. Its diet when breeding is predominantly insects, but this time of year their foods are extremely diverse, ranging from coastal invertebrates to small fish, carrion, and human garbage.  Leaders: Roger Horn and Karl Lukens.
41 species (+2 other taxa)

Canada Goose  35
Mute Swan  5
Gadwall  14
American Wigeon  18
Mallard  45
Northern Shoveler  50
Green-winged Teal (American)  2
Ring-necked Duck  12
Lesser Scaup  2
Greater/Lesser Scaup  1
White-winged Scoter  1
Surf/Black Scoter  3
Bufflehead  2
Hooded Merganser  8
Red-throated Loon  1
Common Loon  1
Northern Gannet  9
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  5
American Coot  20
Ruddy Turnstone  3
Ring-billed Gull  12
Herring Gull (American)  18
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  6
Mourning Dove  10
Northern Flicker(Yellow-shafted) 5
Blue Jay  1
Carolina Chickadee  9
Carolina Wren  5
American Robin  80
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  12
Cedar Waxwing  16
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)40
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  3
White-throated Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  7
Red-winged Blackbird  2
House Finch  12
American Goldfinch  4
House Sparrow  15

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

Bufflehead [Photo by Roger Horn]