Cape May 2/13--Bonaparte's Gull

South this morning for Mike's and my first trip of the year to Cape May. There weren't many birds on our target list--3--and we only found one but still, 61 species hopping from spot to spot wasn't too bad.  We were looking for the Sandhill Cranes that have been hanging in a field just above the Cape May Canal but even though they were reported as late as yesterday and even though we made three passes of the field (which really didn't look that promising as crane habitat, not being very stubbly at all) we "dipped."

On to the Ferry Terminal where our luck was better and we snagged the only year bird of the day, 7 Bonaparte's Gulls. These gulls seem to have disappeared from the more northern counties--you'd think with all our trip to the Manasquan Inlet, the North Shore, to LBI we'd have seen one by now but no, these were the first.

The most interesting duck of the day was first seen on Lighthouse Pond in the state park--a drake Canvasback. Neither of us could recall seeing this species in the county and later research showed that is was county bird for both us. Canvasbacks seem to be on the opposite trajectory of Bonaparte's Gulls. It used to be hard to find them; everyone would make their annual trip to a little marina in Toms River where they were almost sure to be. Now, it seems like every pond has at least one of these big ducks on it. It must be a big deal even down there in Birdutopia because another birder we me on the trails of the state park wanted us to know about it. We already did and told him there was another on the pond between the state park and Cape May Meadows.

Canvasback was my 241st bird in Cape May county which puts me at around #171 on the all time county list. I'd need another 40 or 45 more species just to crack the top 100. The birders who live down there have ungodly county life lists--#67 on the list has 300 species. Of course, those birders practically never leave the county (why should they?) unless a rarity from Mars appears at Brig.

We spent most of our time in the state park and the meadows, where, once again, we didn't find the bird we were looking for--Blue-winged Teal. A good bird for winter, but a bird we will get when the weather warms. In fact, aside from Mallards, black ducks, and Wood Ducks, it's one of the few ducks to look for in summer.

After our 3rd pass at the crane-less fields we drove up the Parkway to Nummy Island. There had been no alerts coming in about the Gyrfalcon that first appeared this weekend, but then, I'm not on every Twitter, Facebook, and regional bird alert feed, so we thought there was a chance it was being seen and we were just missing the reports. No. Brief moment of excitement when we saw a hawk hovering in one spot over the dredge spoils on Nummy--we didn't mistake it for the falcon, but we thought, because of its helicopter imitation it was a Rough-legged Hawk. But when it dipped and showed its tail in the sun light it turned out to be a Red-tailed Hawk in a wind approaching 30 mph.

So our first day this year below the Mason-Dixon line (look it up on a map) was meh to decent. Our list:

Species                First Sighting

Brant   Cape May Harbor

Canada Goose   Shunpike Rd. pond

Mute Swan   Lily Lake

Tundra Swan   Cape May Point SP

Northern Shoveler   Cape May Point SP

Gadwall   Cape May Point SP

American Wigeon   Cape May Point SP

Mallard   Shunpike Rd. pond

American Black Duck   Cape May Point SP

Northern Pintail   South Cape May Meadows

Green-winged Teal   Cape May Point SP

Canvasback   Cape May Point SP

Ring-necked Duck   Cape May Point SP

Lesser Scaup   Cape May Point SP

Surf Scoter   Ferry Terminal

White-winged Scoter   Sunset Beach/Concrete Ship

Black Scoter   Ferry Terminal

Long-tailed Duck   Sunset Beach/Concrete Ship

Bufflehead   Lily Lake

Hooded Merganser   Cape May Point SP

Red-breasted Merganser   Ferry Terminal

Ruddy Duck   Lily Lake

Rock Pigeon   Ferry Terminal

Mourning Dove   New England Rd.

American Coot   South Cape May Meadows

Killdeer   Cape May Point SP

Sanderling   Ferry Terminal

Bonaparte's Gull   Ferry Terminal

Ring-billed Gull   Ferry Terminal

Herring Gull   Ferry Terminal

Great Black-backed Gull   Cape May Harbor

Red-throated Loon   Ferry Terminal

Common Loon   Sunset Beach/Concrete Ship

Northern Gannet   Sunset Beach/Concrete Ship

Double-crested Cormorant   South Cape May Meadows

Great Blue Heron   Cape May Point SP

Black Vulture   Seashore Rd

Turkey Vulture   Seashore Rd

Cooper's Hawk   South Cape May Meadows

Bald Eagle   Cape May Point SP

Red-shouldered Hawk   Cape May Point SP

Red-tailed Hawk   Nummy Island

Red-bellied Woodpecker   New England Rd.

Northern Flicker   Cape May Point SP

Blue Jay   Shunpike Rd. pond

American Crow   Cape May Point SP

Carolina Chickadee   New England Rd.

Tufted Titmouse   New England Rd.

Carolina Wren   Ferry Terminal

American Robin   Lily Lake

Northern Mockingbird   Shunpike Rd. pond

European Starling   Ferry Terminal

House Finch   Cape May Point SP

American Goldfinch   CMBO Northwood Center

White-throated Sparrow   New England Rd.

Song Sparrow   South Cape May Meadows

Red-winged Blackbird   Ferry Terminal

Brown-headed Cowbird   New England Rd.

Common Grackle   Seashore Rd

Northern Cardinal   New England Rd.

House Sparrow   Ferry Terminal

Tundra Swan, Cape May Point SP