Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, December 20th, 2014

It’s not every day, even in Cape May, that you can see Tree Swallows and Purple Sandpipers in the same morning. While most of the Tree Swallows have left already, there are still quite a few flying over open ponds and resting occasionally on the beach. It’s always good to sort through them and look for wandering western swallow species, though we couldn’t find any this morning. Purple Sandpipers are one of our winter-only sandpipers, seen occasionally on rock jetties and distinctive in their purplish-hued plumage and yellow-orange legs. Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, and Steve Weis.
60 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  28
Mute Swan  4
Gadwall  65
American Wigeon  65
American Black Duck  12
Mallard  132
Northern Shoveler  18
Northern Pintail  22
Green-winged Teal (American)  18
Ring-necked Duck  12
Surf Scoter  30
Black Scoter  45
Surf/Black Scoter  50
Bufflehead  10
Hooded Merganser  10
Ruddy Duck  23
Double-crested Cormorant  8
Great Blue Heron  6
Black Vulture  4
Turkey Vulture  5
Osprey  1     Continues near Lighthouse Pond
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Coot  26
Purple Sandpiper  7
Ring-billed Gull  4
Herring Gull (American)  14
Great Black-backed Gull  4
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  12
Mourning Dove  14
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
Blue Jay  6
American Crow  5
Tree Swallow  23     Resting on beach  and flying low over partially ice - covered Bunker Pond
Carolina Chickadee  8
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Carolina Wren  3
Eastern Bluebird  8
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  14
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  180
Cedar Waxwing  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  6
Fox Sparrow (Red)  2
Song Sparrow  5
White-throated Sparrow  12
Dark-eyed Junco  11
Northern Cardinal  6
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Brown-headed Cowbird  75
House Finch  8
Purple Finch  7
American Goldfinch  5
House Sparrow  30

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

Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, December 13th, 2014

The Osprey that showed up about a week ago is still hanging around Lighthouse Pond. It’s been several weeks since most of our Osprey left, heading for points much further south - like México and South America, for instance. But all the ponds are still open so there’s still easy access to Osprey food.  The real highlight of the morning though was the four Red-shouldered Hawks that wheeled overhead, showing off their bright chests, pale primary crescents and broad white tailbands.   Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, and Steve Weis.
51 species

Snow Goose  23
Mute Swan  3
Gadwall  8
Mallard  12
Ring-necked Duck  1
Common Eider  1
Surf Scoter  8
Black Scoter  25
Bufflehead  4
Ruddy Duck  10
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Northern Gannet  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Black Vulture  4
Turkey Vulture  14
Osprey  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  4
American Coot  15
Killdeer  1
Ring-billed Gull  4
Herring Gull (American)  5
Mourning Dove  6
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  4
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  6
Tree Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  4
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
American Robin  40
Northern Mockingbird  4
European Starling  50
Cedar Waxwing  6
Fox Sparrow (Red)  4
Song Sparrow  4
White-throated Sparrow  16
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  15
Northern Cardinal  4
Red-winged Blackbird  200
Common Grackle  100
Brown-headed Cowbird  60
House Finch  6
Purple Finch  1
American Goldfinch  120
House Sparrow  25

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

Birding Cape May Point - Saturday, December 6th, 2014

Feeders, dunes, the bay and Lily Lake provide great potential variety for winter birding. Today's walk at the Point was the first of the season and the first to start (and end) at CMBO’s Northwood Center, having always launched previously from the State Park. A very late Osprey, first seen earlier in the week, was still present over Bunker Pond and there is a good variety of ducks on the pond. Two of this year’s irruptive species, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Purple Finch, were hanging out around feeders. We also had three Yellow-bellied Sapsucker one of which kept giving it's soft, nasal call. Leaders: Kathy and Roger Horn.
52 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  15
Gadwall  20
American Wigeon  28
Mallard  36
Northern Shoveler  11
Ring-necked Duck  6
Surf Scoter  5
Black Scoter  10
Surf/Black Scoter  10
Bufflehead  6
Hooded Merganser  4
Ruddy Duck  20
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  1
Ring-billed Gull  2
Herring Gull (American)  6
Great Black-backed Gull  4
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  7
Mourning Dove  7
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  3
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  3
Tree Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  2
Red-breasted Nuthatch  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  4
Golden-crowned Kinglet  4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
American Robin  28
Brown Thrasher  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  20
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  1
Fox Sparrow (Red)  2
Song Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  7
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  6
Northern Cardinal  6
Red-winged Blackbird  23
House Finch  2
Purple Finch  4
American Goldfinch  11
House Sparrow  1

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