Cape May 9/16--Warbler Mania: Nashville, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, & Black-throated Blue Warblers

Yesterday, during our ill-fated attempt at the Elegant Tern, someone mentioned that the northwest winds boded well for raptors down at the Cape May Hawkwatch, so we decided to go down there this morning. Naturally, the winds shifted to the east and there was a dearth of raptors (though we did see a few--it's Cape May after all).

However, warblers were abundant in the state park. We walked along the trails for a bit and immediately found (with a little help) Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler (female), Chestnut-sided Warbler (immature), and American Redstart (female). 3 FOY in the first 10 minutes (not to mention a Killdeer in the parking lot) was good enough for me, but better still was when we drifted over to the East Shelter next to the Hawkwatch. We sat on the ground in front of a small stand of cedars and just let the birdies come to us: Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-White Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Blue Warblers, and Palm Warblers, along with the birds in the "not a warbler category" like Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It was amazing what turned up in just a tiny area.

Up on the Hawkwatch things were slow, though in the 15 or 20 minutes we were there we did see Cooper's Hawk, American Kestrel and a couple of Bald Eagles. Not much else turned up at our next 2 stops, the CMBO Northwoods Center and the Beanery. A walk around the Cape May Meadows produced a flock of Black Skimmers, always amusing to watch, a few Green-winged Teal and a couple of species of peeps.

On the way home we turned off the Parkway at Shellbay Avenue and drove down to the pier. There we found a lot of Shari's favorite, American Oystercatchers, a profusion of egrets & Black-bellied Plovers, a few Royal Terns and 1 Caspian Tern plunging into the still waters of the bay to grab a fish. I also watched a Herring Gull try to swallow an eel. It would get the eel about halfway down and then the eel would slither back up out of its gullet. The gull would tilt its back as far as it good to try to force the eel to slide down but the eel was in "I don't think so" mode. This little fandango was repeated 3 or 4 times before I lost interest in who would eat or be eaten.

In all we had 56 species for the day:

Species          Count     First Sighting

Canada Goose     6     Cape May Point SP

Mute Swan     10     Cape May Point SP

Gadwall     10    Cape May Hawkwatch

Mallard     5    Cape May Hawkwatch

Northern Shoveler     7     Cape May Point SP

Green-winged Teal     3    Cape May Meadows

Double-crested Cormorant     3     Cape May Point SP

Great Blue Heron     1    Cape May Meadows

Great Egret     1    Cape May Hawkwatch

Snowy Egret     1    Cape May Meadows

Turkey Vulture     4     Cape May Point SP

Osprey     2     Cape May Point SP

Sharp-shinned Hawk     2     Cape May Point SP

Cooper's Hawk     1    Cape May Hawkwatch

Bald Eagle     3     Cape May Point SP

Black-bellied Plover     60     Shell Bay Landing

Killdeer     1     Cape May Point SP

American Oystercatcher     17     Shell Bay Landing

Semipalmated Sandpiper     1    Cape May Meadows

Least Sandpiper     8    Cape May Meadows

Laughing Gull          Cape May Point SP

Ring-billed Gull     2    Cape May Meadows

Herring Gull          Cape May Point SP

Great Black-backed Gull     2     Shell Bay Landing

Caspian Tern     1     Shell Bay Landing

Forster's Tern     10    Cape May Hawkwatch

Royal Tern     3     Shell Bay Landing

Black Skimmer     25    Cape May Meadows

Mourning Dove     2    CMBO Northwood Center

Red-bellied Woodpecker     1    The Beanery

American Kestrel     1    Cape May Hawkwatch

Red-eyed Vireo     1     Cape May Point SP

Blue Jay     1     Cape May Point SP

American Crow     1     Cape May Point SP

Fish Crow     1     Cape May Point SP

Carolina Chickadee     2     Cape May Point SP

Red-breasted Nuthatch     1     Cape May Point SP

Carolina Wren     3     Cape May Point SP

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     1     Cape May Point SP

Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2     Cape May Point SP

Gray Catbird     3     Cape May Point SP

Northern Mockingbird     4     Cape May Point SP

European Starling     3    Cape May Meadows

Northern Waterthrush     1     Cape May Point SP

Black-and-white Warbler     2     Cape May Point SP

Nashville Warbler     1     Cape May Point SP

Common Yellowthroat     1     Cape May Point SP

American Redstart     5     Cape May Point SP

Blackburnian Warbler     1     Cape May Point SP

Yellow Warbler     1     Cape May Point SP

Chestnut-sided Warbler     2     Cape May Point SP

Black-throated Blue Warbler     3     Cape May Point SP

Palm Warbler     4     Cape May Point SP

Northern Cardinal     1    CMBO Northwood Center

Common Grackle     4    CMBO Northwood Center

House Sparrow     5    CMBO Northwood Center