Ocean City Welcome Center 4/15--Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis

It was not too long ago (July, 2015) that a White Ibis in New Jersey was an event. Shari & I braved 4th of July weekend traffic to go to the Ocean City Welcome Center to see an immature bird and it seemed like half the birders in NJ were there at the time. Today, we stopped there on our way back fromthe Cape May Bird Observatory's Optics Sale (where I picked up new binoculars to replace the ones I had literally worn out), and there, in the marsh and in the trees of the heron rookery were, oh, I don't know, TWO HUNDRED White Ibises, most of them adults. A few years ago, a pair nested at that rookery. Now, dozens and dozens are nesting there. They're not even listed as rare in Cape May County anymore.

That's the good news. The bad news is why. Climate change. Habitat loss down south and warmer weather up here has allowed the species to extend its range northerly, as many species have. The Northern Cardinal was only relatively north in the past--it was a southern bird that kept moving up. 

The rookery also is famous for the large number of nesting Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, scattered in the trees along with Black-crowned Night-Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Glossy Ibises...I broke the eBird filter on 4 species today--counting is impossible and my numbers were WAGs, but a filter set at 35 or 40, while probably applicable in the rest of Cape May County, is ridiculously low for the rookery. 

It was foggy most of the morning, but the rookery is so close to the elevated parking lot (you look down on the rookery) that I wasn't worried about not seeing birds. I did think it would discourage photographers, since the light was bad, but they were out in force, as usual. While I love going there annually, it is barely birding. There is absolutely no challenge to finding the birds. I've said this before: It is like going to the zoo with the difference being that the birds are countable. 

17 species (+1 other taxa)
Brant  2
Canada Goose  1
Mallard  2
Mallard x American Black Duck (hybrid)  1
Bufflehead  9
Herring Gull  10
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Great Egret  45     
Snowy Egret  40     
Black-crowned Night-Heron  20
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  40     
White Ibis  200     
Glossy Ibis  50
Osprey  1
Fish Crow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Boat-tailed Grackle  40