Sunday, September 16, 2007

Nummy Island...think Stone Harbor walk on Tuesday, 9/18

Just received a call from Gail Dwyer who reported four Tri-colored herons, 2 Pied-billed grebes, a load of Willets and 6 Marbled godwits from Nummy Island. Keep these birds in mind if you are thinking about joining the CMBO Sunset Birding at Stone Harbor Point walk at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. This is definitly a walk that anyone who comes to Cape may should go on.

I've also head that there was a Western Kingbird around today. Originally seen by Richard Crossley at the Cape May point State Park. The bird was relocated at the Beanery later in the morning. No further word about this species.

Additionally, there was an Olive-sided flycatcher seen on the CMBO Villas WMA walk today. again, no further word.

I spent some time up on the dike with a couple of WBS team mates (Jared and Zach Parks) who were visiting for this great birding weekend. While with the winds having switched to NNE the main portion of the songbird flight was behind the dike which makes identification even more of a challenge, for me at least. There were a good number of birds flying past though. One highlight was a imm. Red-headed woodpecker which flew past and an adult Bald eagle when we stepped out of the car.

After a while we decided to take a quick jaunt around Hidden Valley before I headed into work at the Northwood Center. We figured that since Higbee was loaded with birders we might have some luck at the "valley." Well I was wrong in my assumption, we did have some good birds but diversity and numbers were not stellar. Really I was hoping that a Connecticut warbler would have popped up in front of us to give a show. Still looking though.

The second list you'll see is the list we had from Walking around Cape May Point on Friday morning. Since the store has been so busy I haven't had a chance to post any of the sightings I've had on my walks. There were not huge numbers of birds around and not many migrants around. We mostly tallied resident birds but those count too. The best part of the morning for me was the fact that we stepped out of the car and put bins around out necks to have a Cape May warbler drop into a cedar tree over head. We didn't get good looks but enough to id the bird as a cape may.

The third list is from yesterday morning at the hawk watch. Since I didn't have any takers for my Birding Optics walk I spent a little while birding and chatting with friends. The best bird of the morning yesterday was a Clay-colored sparrow that Jessie picked up sitting at the top of a little dead shrub right in front of the hawk watch platform. Clay-colors are such great looking birds. Every time I see one (not often enough) I'm reminded of my days in Wisconsin at school.

Well, I think that there has been another pretty good hawk flight today. Haven't been outside to verify. I'd imagine since there were a pretty good number of hawks tooling about from the dike. Not sure of the weather for the rest of the week. Last I saw not much to get excited about. If you'd like to be sure, check out the Birding Forecast.

Location: Cape May - Hidden Valley Ranch
Observation date: 9/16/07
Number of species: 37

Turkey Vulture 2
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 3
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Rock Pigeon 3
Mourning Dove 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 31
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 8
American Crow 12
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 9
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
American Robin 8
Gray Catbird 3
Cedar Waxwing 40
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 5
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 5
American Redstart 7
Northern Waterthrush 4
Common Yellowthroat 6
Canada Warbler 1
Field Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4
Bobolink X
Common Grackle 4
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
American Goldfinch 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Location: Cape May Point
Observation date: 9/14/07
Number of species: 37

Canada Goose 6
Mute Swan 10
Mallard 12
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Osprey 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Laughing Gull 40
Royal Tern 5
Forster's Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 47
Mourning Dove 36
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 15
American Crow 1
Tree Swallow 6
Carolina Chickadee 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 9
Veery 1
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 3
European Starling 7
Cape May Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
American Redstart 5
Northern Cardinal 7
Bobolink 35
Red-winged Blackbird 7
Common Grackle 8
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 16
House Sparrow 26

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Location: Cape May Bird Observatory Hawk Watch Site
Observation date: 9/15/07
Number of species: 25

Mute Swan 3
Northern Shoveler 4
Green-winged Teal 8
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 1
Osprey 3
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 20
Least Sandpiper 15
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 25
Royal Tern 12
Forster's Tern 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Tree Swallow 15
Barn Swallow 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Yellow Warbler 3
Clay-colored Sparrow 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

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