Tuesday, January 19, 2010

More Weekend Highlights - Rough-legged Hawk, Herons & More

[The new moon high tides over the weekend limited habitat on some jetties for Purple Sandpipers, pushing them close to shore. This one was at the Cape May Ferry Terminal Monday morning. Click to enlarge all photos.]

Monday offered much better birding conditions than Sunday, with the results to prove it - although Tom Reed and Sam Galick had an adult Black-legged Kittewake fly out of Townsend's Inlet on Sunday, seen from the 8th Street Jetty in Avalon, perhaps the only two guys um, dedicated enough to be on that jetty in a rainy January northeaster.

CMBO's Winter Raptors of the Delaware Bayshore provides a comprehensive look at what birds are where at the bayshore hotspots, courtesy of Dave Lord et. al.'s report up on Field Trip Reports. Their highlight was the dark Rough-legged Hawk on Glade Road, which is the road going in to Thompson's Beach off Route 47. As I understand it, the bird was on the left in the marsh before you get to Heislerville. 17 Bald Eagles, a dozen Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Red-shouldered Hawks and 12 Common Goldeneye at East Point were other highlights.

Mark Garland's group tracked down 2 Little Blue Herons, 2 Snowy Egrets, and 1 Tricolored Heron at Two Mile Landing, along with point blank looks at an Ipswich Sparrow. A very tame Snow Bunting and another Ipswich Sparrow were on Two Mile Beach, and 8 Great Cormorants decorated the jetty at Cold Spring Inlet.

[Aggression in Buffleheads is hard to imagine, but these two had issues over a hen in Cape May Harbor yesterday.]

[Hooded Merganser, a common and welcome inhabitant of Cape May salt marshes and ponds this time of year. This male was at Two Mile Landing.]


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