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| Common Gallinule, Cape May SP |
I know how to bird Cape May in order to maximize my species list there. Here's what I'm supposed to do. One morning I should spend on the Higbee Dike watching warblers whizz by; One morning I should spend at the Coral Avenue Dune Crossing seawatching as migrating birds decide that maybe right now isn't the best time to cross Delaware Bay. One day I should spend at the Hawkwatch, picking out dots as the hawk counter calls out distant raptors against an agonizingly blue sky.
Here's the problem: I hate doing that. I hate standing in one spot trying watching thousands of birds I'm not particularly interested in while waiting for the one rarity to zip by. I hate listening to the constant chatter of other birders as we stand there--the name dropping, the stories of "birds I have seen" in the past, the gossip. Plus, if one is honest, most of the birds going by at speed you have let go by--I saw one list while I was down there that listed 1000 warblers "sp" as unidentified species. And this was from an excellent birder. What fun is that?
So, while Shari & I had a fun four days on Cape Island (and few places in the county on the way down and back), we didn't build up nearly the list we could have if we just spent hours in one spot. Sour grapes? You tell me.
It didn't help my spirits one day that we missed a *MEGA down there by a half an hour--a Yellow-green Vireo was banded and released at the Meadows, but by the time we got there it was gone. Frustratingly, we noticed that the Meadows parking lot was a lot more crowded than the previous day when we drove by on the way to the state park. It was full of people scoping out the vireo. Had we stopped then...
We also missed a Mississippi Kite by about a half hour at the Hawkwatch. We left after I got tired of listening to bird i.d. pointers that I already knew. I know what the field marks are--but at a thousand feet high in a glaring sun, it is a little difficult to pick 'em out. Still, that would have been a nice bird for the county.
There were a couple of compensations though. At the Hawkwatch we did see, two days in a row, a Common Gallinule. Not a rare bird, but one that we don't see all that often each year. And we discovered a wonderful little trail at the Beach Plum Farm. They call it the Woodlands Marsh Trail which is exactly what it is. Only about a quarter mile long, it was full of warblers both days we walked it, along with vireos, woodpeckers, flycatchers, and so on. It was there, just before we were about to leave to go home, that we found one great warbler--so great, that as soon as I saw it and realized what it was, my heart sank, because no one was going to believe me without a picture and I couldn't get a picture. Shari saw a warbler about eye height and we both immediately saw that it had a yellow wing bar. The face had a partial mask. At first Shari said yellowthroat, but of course, yellowthroats don't have wing bars and this mask was really just a smudge of black and gray feathers around the eye. Not many warblers have yellow wing bars. I texted my friend, a much better birder than me, and asked:
Can you think of any other warbler with a yellow wing bar and black around the eye other than a Golden-winged Warbler?
He replied that Chestnut-sided warbler has yellow wing bars but an eye ring instead of a mask, which I knew. But a Golden-winged Warbler is so rare down there that without a photo I'm sure our sighting will go unconfirmed. Which is fine; I'm not in it for the validation. And in migration, birds don't usually stick around anyway. Still a bird with many check marks beside it: Year, State, County. The only other one we've seen was in Ohio, years ago. We don't go up to the NW part of NJ where they are found along power line cuts and may even breed in the extreme NW corner of the state.
Thus, even our great bird was a source of frustration.
For the four days we tallied 82 species. Some guys get almost that much just standing at Coral Avenue. I still like my ambulatory way better.
Species First Sighting
Mute Swan South Cape May Meadows
Blue-winged Teal South Cape May Meadows
Northern Shoveler South Cape May Meadows
American Wigeon Cape May Point SP
Mallard South Cape May Meadows
Pied-billed Grebe South Cape May Meadows
Rock Pigeon Cape May
Mourning Dove South Cape May Meadows
Common Gallinule Cape May Point SP
American Coot Cape May Point SP
Sanderling Avalon Seawatch
Least Sandpiper Avalon Seawatch
Greater Yellowlegs The Wetlands Institute
Laughing Gull Avalon Seawatch
Ring-billed Gull Cape May
Herring Gull Avalon Seawatch
Lesser Black-backed Gull Sandpiper Inn
Great Black-backed Gull Avalon Seawatch
Caspian Tern Avalon Seawatch
Common Tern Sandpiper Inn
Forster's Tern Sandpiper Inn
Royal Tern Sandpiper Inn
Black Skimmer Sandpiper Inn
Double-crested Cormorant Sunset Beach
Great Blue Heron Hawkwatch Platform
Great Egret Garden State Parkway N,
Black Vulture West Cape May
Turkey Vulture The Beanery
Osprey South Cape May Meadows
Northern Harrier Magnesite Plant
Sharp-shinned Hawk Cape May Point SP
Cooper's Hawk Cape May Point SP
Bald Eagle South Cape May Meadows
Broad-winged Hawk Hawkwatch Platform
Belted Kingfisher Cape May Point SP
Red-bellied Woodpecker The Beanery
Northern Flicker Avalon Dunes
American Kestrel Cape May Point SP
Merlin Cape May Point SP
Peregrine Falcon Hawkwatch Platform
Eastern Phoebe Higbee Beach WMA
Red-eyed Vireo Higbee Beach WMA
Blue Jay South Cape May Meadows
American Crow Magnesite Plant
Fish Crow Higbee Beach WMA
Carolina Chickadee Avalon Dunes
Tufted Titmouse Higbee Beach WMA
Tree Swallow South Cape May Meadows
Red-breasted Nuthatch Higbee Beach WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch Beach Plum Farm
Brown Creeper Beach Plum Farm
House Wren Higbee Beach WMA
Carolina Wren South Cape May Meadows
European Starling South Cape May Meadows
Gray Catbird Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Mockingbird South Cape May Meadows
Wood Thrush Beach Plum Farm
Cedar Waxwing Higbee Beach WMA
House Sparrow Beach Plum Farm
American Goldfinch Cape May Point SP
Song Sparrow South Cape May Meadows
Red-winged Blackbird South Cape May Meadows
Common Grackle Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Waterthrush Beach Plum Farm
Golden-winged Warbler Beach Plum Farm
Black-and-white Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Orange-crowned Warbler Beach Plum Farm
Nashville Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Common Yellowthroat Higbee Beach WMA
American Redstart Higbee Beach WMA
Cape May Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Parula Higbee Beach WMA
Magnolia Warbler Beach Plum Farm
Blackpoll Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Black-throated Blue Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Palm Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Pine Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler Beach Plum Farm
Black-throated Green Warbler Higbee Beach WMA
Scarlet Tanager Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Cardinal Higbee Beach WMA
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