I was very pleased to find no fewer than three Loiusiana Waterthrushes today at Higbee’s Beach. This might very well be a personal high-count for me, and is good number.

at one point, a duo of Louis were just next to what I assume is the same duo of very tawny-browed and bellied young Northerns which were still in the wet-woods at Higbee’s.
The one Northern sidled up to a Louisiana, and the latter quickly gave chase. The side-by-side comparison; sitting, flying, and calling, was kind of without parallel.

One very handsome young of the year Cerulean Warbler was with a small mixed-flock, and was, by some measure, the “crane among the chickens” it was with.

Otherwise, a very unassuming Cattle Egret on the island formerly much beloved of Gulls in the east pond at the Meadows, was worth mentioning, and a brood of five Blue Grosbeaks in the second tower field at Higbees were a sight. Also, I neglected to mention, the first juv. Lesser Yellowlegs I’ve seen this fall turned up in the Meadows yesterday. Just about a month after the first adults begin turning up. The first Nighthawk I’ve seen since spring was over the Dike at Higbee’s yesterday, and now, given this morning’s numbers the Louisiana Waterthrush I stumbled into that same morning seems less remarkable.

And finally, Thanks to those NJAS/CMBO employees who call me names and take my picture with their cell-phones at Higbee’s Beach, you and your maturity are a credit to Tom Gilmore, Pete Dunne, Susan Kraham and the entire New Jersey Audubon Society. And if their friends think that threats of having NJAS’ favorite Photographer telling me off, in person or proxy, put an icy fear in my heart, well- do keep up that spirit of intimidation folks! I am not to be counted among those who give a damn.

CJV

For some reason, the overture to Porgy and Bess (or more to the point-”Summertime”) just wouldn’t get out of my head today…perhaps cause it very much is “summertime, and the livin’ is easy”

That easy livin’ naturally spills over into the birding…

First off- there was an obvious movement of southbound swallows this morning, both at Cape May and Stone Harbor Points, respectively. St. Peter’s Jetty produced around fifty Barns, over thirty Trees, a dozen Banks and half a dozen Rough-wings, all of which whizzed past, heading in one direction with purpose while I was watching this morning. Likewise, Stone Harbor Point, just a bit later on, held around fifty Barns, and ten Banks, plenty of which were just sitting on the beach-fence, as proper migrant swallows should.

A Baltimore Oriole, likewise at the base of Stone Harbor Point was the most unexpected bird of the day, by a long shot. He circled wide and far out over the beach, before turning back to the brush, having given the water-crossing a second thought I suppose.

Two Sandwich Terns were a bit less unexpected on Champagne Island. One, though white-crowned, was still sporting a distinct peachy tinge to his underparts.

The recent smattering of southbound Shorebirds today became more of a steady trickle.

A Marbled Godwit in the Jenkins Sound neighbourhood (ie behind Nummy’s Island) was arriving perfectly on time, and a knock-out Stilt Sandpiper in full breeding plumage (auburn auriculars and all) quietly foraging in front of the observation platform at the Meadows was just about the same. Gorgeous bird.

A Whimbrel which flew in from the Ocean, made a left over the Ponds at South Cape May, and continued on due South was a fine addition to a walk down the beach there this evening, however the really newsworthy birds were the no fewer than 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. I think this must be some sort of local record at least.

Also noteworthy was a Wilson’s Storm Petrel off the Point this afternoon- first I’ve seen in weeks. Two Brown Pelicans were out in the Rips at Cape May, and six were loafing on the furthest sandbar from shore at Hereford Inlet.

On behavioural notes, a duel which caught my eye involved a Common Tern turned the tables on a Gull-bill yesterday at the Meadows. While Common Terns are known kleptoparasites themselves, the fact that the Common was doing the chasing wasn’t waht caught my attention-it was the fact that the Common was trying to steal a frog! As one may’ve surmised, the smaller tern was not successful, though he gave it a valiant effort.

And secondly, I watched for a long time today, a Black-crowned Night Heron in the pool at Nummy’s Island forage in what was a novel manner in my experience of the species. (my experience of the species, though not exhaustive, is substantial…)The heron stood motionless in the shadow of a tussock, leaning far forward, with his bill held open plunged at a 45 degree angle in the middle of an algae mat. He kept up like this for some time, occaisionally snapping his bill closed.

I imagine he was taking advantage of a high density of prey items, and not needing his eyes, was just oppurtunistically waiting for something to swim into his maw or relying on tactile senses. While Storks forage with open bills, and it is not uncommon to see Snowy Egrets pattering their bills on the surface, I have never seen a Black-crowne dNight Heron doing an Open-billed Stork impersonation before!

And finally, one brood of fledged Piping Plovers at the Meadows, and one at Stone Harbor Point are both beginning to look like proper juvenile shorebirds. One brood of three smaller hatchlings at South Cape May looks a little more than half-way to fledging.

CJV

There was excellent birding and excellent birds to be had in Cape May today, and it also happened to be a spectacularly pleasant one on which to be out and about doing just about anything out-of-doors.

By far the most exciting find were three Sandwich Terns among the 200 Royal Terns and well over a thousand Black Skimmers on Champagne Island. While three Sandwich terns here in late June is not all that surprising, the exciting thing was that two were breeding plumaged adults, apparently going through some kind of courtship manouvres.

They were marching together in circles, quick-step time, side by side, wings slightly drooped, bushy crests raised, and necks arched. They kept this up for some time.

The interesting thing is that Sandwich Terns apparently form pair-bonds well before arriving on breeding turf. However the biirds showed no aggressive interaction, and stayed glued to each other’s side the entire timeI watched, even when not marching around together.

The other Sandwich was a first year, ousted from the middle of one cluster of Royal Tern nests by a garrulous Royal. The young Sandwich just flew a few feet to the edge of the nesters, and stayed within very close proximity to the colony. Last year, Sandwich Terns were landing among the actual nesting Royal Terns too, not just hanging out with the loafers as is typical of misfit terns.

I should not at all be surprised if Sandwich Tern is not among the next, if not the next bird added to NJ’s list of breeding birds.

Otherwise, there were 11 Brown Pelicans in that neighborhood, two roosting on the inlet side of Great Channel, the others all winging north off-shore, six of those being in one flock.

A young Great Cormorant left the flock of 50 roosting Double-cresteds roosting on the sandbars on the west side of the point, and headed to the north over the sea. This is the first I’ve seen or heard of an over-summering Great Corm at Hereford Inlet this year.

There was a decent little flock of shorebirds at the overflow pond at the base of Stone Harbor Point, including, 3 Red Knot, 9 Ruddy Turnstones, 11 Black-bellied Plovers, 13 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, 12 Western Sandpipers, and 5 Semipalmated Sandpipers.

One Tricolored Heron was at Nummy’s Island, but otherwise, the place belonged to the flies.

Cape Island was its effervescent summertime self and very birdy today.

I get the feeling that Yellow-billed Cuckoo eggs must’ve hatched. One because Yellow-billed Cuckoos were incredibly obvious, flying back and forth around the fields at Higbee’s in a way which they weren’t even just yesterday, and carrying food; and two because I found the discarded shell of a hatched Yellow-billed Cuckoo egg just near the Pond there today.

One Roseate Tern-beautiful bird, was hunting off the Point this morning, and the same bachelor flock of 4 Surf Scoters persists. Gannets also seemed to be a bit more in evidence today, I managed about 6, including one second-year type. Later, towards evening, there was a most unexpected, adult Black Tern hunting the rips. Odd time of year for one.

There were 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the South Cape May Beach front this evening, including the dark near-adult and two second summers.

A first-summer Yellow-crowned Night Heron at the Meadows was a bit unexpected as it came in from the north and circled the place two or three times before settling in. A first summer Black-crown was also there and an adult Black-crown was in the park.

The same footless Lesser Yellowlegs was in the Meadows, but the Willets of the last fortnight have apparently departed.

Best of all, there were two broods of four Piping Plovers, one very new- maybe a day or two old, the other a couple of weeks old, and maybe a week away from fledgeling, give or take. With the 8 chicks there were 16 Pipers on the Beach tonight.

Numbers of endangered species aside, the scene at South Cape May was just about idyllic this evening.

In a lowering sun, with a perfect breeze, the adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, flushed by a walker, unwittinlgy settled too close to the newborn Piping Plovers. As they ran behind his bright yellow legs and the parents mobbed his ankles, one of the Dolphins, unaccompanied by newborn calves, decided smacking his flukes was the best idea to come into his delphinic mind, and began pounding the waves with all his might, like a beaver on steroids, to the tune of 30 smacks.

I don’t know which was better, four adorably wide eyed newborn Piping Plovers incongruously behind a well-plumaged European stray, or the echoing cetacean ebullience. Perhaps its best not to try and tease it apart-the whole scene was a gesamtkunstwerk of Maw Nature at her finest.

CJV

A turn around the Meadows just prior to sunset, in addition to being typically picturesque and relaxing, was likewise typically rich in nice birds.

By far the most unusual and unexpected bird was a first-summer “Nelson’s Gull” roosting on the little “Gull Island”.

The bird immediately stood out due to its shape- the wing-length in relation to the tail giving it the sawed-off “chunk” of big gull look of a Glaucous, and the head and bill shape were clearly not those of any more regular gull. It was only slightly larger than two young Herring Gulls it was with, but the proportions were all wrong. The bill was dusky pink based, and rather extensively so on both maxila and mandible, and black-tipped, but not the classic dipped-in-ink bright pink bill of a Glaucous. The bill was also somewhat heavier and more drooping than a herring, but much thinner based and not nearly as bulbous as a Glaucous or Great Black-back say.

While the bird was one of those extremely worn first summer gulls one encounters on the beach this time of year, his coverts in tatters worn down to the shafts, the primaries and tail, as well as the tertial crescent were a dull coffee colour, but darker than a typical Glaucous. In flight the bird was all beige, with dark coffee coloured flight feathers and tail, it was also clearly intermediate between Herring and Glaucous in shape and mass.

He resettled on the Beach, east of the East Path, between the Cove Pool and Second Avenue. Even at a distance, the birds “jizz” made it stand out as a Glaucous Gull that just wasn’t quite.

An early June GlaucousxHerring Gull is indeed an avis rara in Cape May. The fact that it is the second such animal to occur this spring is even stranger.

THere was also a Gull-billed Tern in that same neighborhood, who “Billy-dipped” and headed off towards the easternmost, off-limits section of the Meadows. In the old world, or at least in Europe, the confusion species most likely to be misidentified as a Sandwich is the Gull-bill, and the size and pattern were good indications as to why, although to my mind the wing action of a Gull-bill is like no other bird, and immediately diagnostic. Kind of the way nothing, not even its close relatives moves quite like a Peregrine, a Gull-bill in the air is quite unlike any other larid.

There have been a few more Gullible Terns around Cape Island this yeat than is usual for the latter half of May, and I wonder at the reason. One on June 1 at the Meadows is kind of a bit odd.

While watching the “Nelson’s” Gull resettle on the Beach, I was just as surprised to see an adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron tower up out of the east pool, and head over towards the Cove Pool. A June record of a Y.C. Night is perhaps even odder than a Gull-billed Tern. The bird called several times, and their voice, once one gets their “ear-in” for it, is distinctive. Yellow-crowneds make a sound somewaht intermediate between the higher “skeow!” of a Green Heron, and the hoarser “Sqwauk” of a Black-crowned Night-Heron. What was nice about this bird was that a Green Heron was “Skeowing” just prior to the Yellow-cowned’s flight, which only emphasized the point.

Two Cliff Swallows turned up with the other foraging hirundines as the sun got lower, but otherwise, Swallow numbers were not overwhelming, and confined to breeding numbers and composition.

A Greater Yellow-legs or two, a Willet, and some singing flocks of Dowitchers were bopping around, and a set of three male, smartly tuxedoed Black-bellied Plovers winging north for the party were as always, a striking sight.

The more interesting Shorebirds though were the three pairs of American Oystercatchers vociferously engaging in flight displays. It seems as if three pairs will try, and fail, as they usually do, to nest this year at South Cape May.

CJV

While I could only squeeze in a little bit of birding today, being otherwise engaged with the drawing board and errand running for most of it, I did manage a turn around the Meadows around mid-day, and not surprisingly, managed to see a cool bird or two in the bargain.

A first year Lesser Black-backed Gull was roosting on the island just east of the east path with other non-breeding “large Gulls”. Perhaps more interesting though, were the immature Great Black-backs who were gathering clumps of sticks and grass, and waddling around with them, only to bring them back to their roosting spot, and arrange them around themselves. Unlike the “ground tearing” behaviour territorial Herring Gulls will do at any time of year as part of their agonistic interactions, this activity seemed quite benign, was not directed at an opponent, and otherwise did not smack of stress displacement. Whether this activity has to do with learning about the nest building the birds will need to accomplish in a couple of years, or was simply an effort to make themselves a bit more comfortable by creating wind-breaks, I cannot answer.

A drake Blue-winged Teal continues in the West pool, and presumably is the same bird present last Wednesday morning. He was again unaccompanied by a hen, unlike the Mallards and Gadwall. I tend to think he is a bachelor, although the possibility that the hen is hidden away, incubating, is not entirely out of the question.

A very subtle Mallard x Black Duck hybrid is hanging out at the Meadows, and at first glance could very easily pass for a Black Duck. The giveaways are the more hen-mallardesque vermicuations on the large feathers in the flank and undertail areas in particular, and the fact that the crown, while perfect in pattern for a black duck, has a deep greenish iridesence in the right light. It is by no means the half-caste, semi-green headed look most Mallard x Black Ducks have though, and makes me wonder just what sort of a back-cross, and just what sex this bird may be. As mentioned, it could very easily pass for a Black Duck, but if looking for it keep in the back of your mind that Black Ducks, while not at all uncommon nesters in salt marsh just a couple of miles further north, don’t really over summer at Cape Island for reasons unbeknownst to me.

A couple of Greater Yellowlegs, a single Spotted Sandpiper, and a handful of Semi-sands were overshadowed by flock of 50 Short-billed Dowitchers which held a White-rumped Sandpiper in their midst.

And whether the juvenile Bald Eagle hunting over Pond Creek was the same bird as yesterday, is a good question.

As an aside, while looking up information on Least Bitterns around Cape May, I recently got sucked into the entry for Snowy Egrets contained in Witmer Stone’s “Bird Studies at Old Cape May”. This was an easy diversion, as I had just the day before seen a sizeable concentration of them at Pond Creek, and good numbers of them have been around the Meadows and such places in recent evenings. Stone’s observations, made in the first third of the twentieth century, certainly give one pause.

The first “recent” records of Snowies in NJ both happened in 1928, as singletons, and were carefully described as rarities, and the first, and subsequent accounts from the late 20s and thirties were so noteworthy they were published in the Auk. Apparently, Little Blues were much more commonly encountered birds than the white egrets during Stone’s day, which makes perfect sense, as their plumes were not nearly as desirable nor coveted by milliners as the aigretted Snowies and Greats, and they were spared the wholesale slaughter their relatives suffered.

To give an idea of how the proportions of Little Blue vs Snowy Egrets has changed in the last 80 years, we read how, in Troy Meadows, Lester Walsh and Charles Urner found “two Snowy Egrets feeding with NINETY [caps mine- CJV] immature Little Blues on the same pond” in August of 1929 (Auk, 1929, pp 536-537). The care with which these between-the-wars bird students describe the egrets, and how they remark on the novelty of just how different their feeding behaviour is from the far more commonly encountered Little Blues is telling. Even more telling, and really sobering is the line: “Charles Urner gives the total number of Snowy Egrets seen in coastal New Jersey in 1930 as nine” (Stone, W., 1937, Bird Studies at Old Cape May, p 124-126, Dover reprint, 1965)

Imagine that, just nine Snowy Egrets on the Jersey Shore, for an entire year, when 78 years later, and just two nights ago, in one little curve of a creek, I saw seventy-five. Also, try and think of the last time ninety Little Blues were together anywhere in the Garden State. I think a birder would have to exercise extreme dilligence to come up with ninety Little Blues -period- in a given year in NJ, nowadays.

Gives one pause, indeed. Makes taking a good long second look at both of them the next time one visits the places they congregate seem like at least as good a use of birding time as seeking out the “rare”.

CJV

A long walk through Higbee’s Beach, and a good long pause just behind Davy’s Lake late this afternoon proved to be the perfect way to take a necessary break from the ole drawing board.

While really just enjoying the walk, and the view, I wound up seeing several good birds just by finding a nice perch, committing to it, and doing nothing for an hour or two.

A female Northern Harrier coursing over Pond Creek and then very close to the Creek’s Mouth, in addition to being rather late, had the advantage of flushing bunches of Shorebirds which would otherwise have gone unnoticed. Sibley, in the Birds of Cape May (1997) gives a late date for spring migrant on Cape Island as 7 June. That was twenty years ago though, in 1988. I am not quite sure when my latest Harrier in Spring around here was, but this one is probably in the running.

A Juvenile Bald Eagle, every feather new and perfect, still with a black bill, dark olive cere, and a dark belly, came pumping across the mouth of the bay from Delaware. It caught the updraft from the dune, kettled up, and then hunted his way north along Higbee’s Beach, following the leading line up the Bayshore. Just where he fledged from is something I would dearly like to know.

A first year Bonaparte’s Gull hunted for a bit at the mouth of Pond Creek, which separates Higbee’s from Sunset Beach as far as I can tell. It would be nice to push a Bonaparte’s Gull into June.

Nearly a hundred Semipalmated Sandpipers, which got flushed to the beach by the Harrier, had a single White-rump in their midst. They settled for a while with the hodgepodge of Sanderlings foraging around the wave-line, and proceeded to take a nap. A few small packs of Short-billed Dowitchers, and a few small groups of tuxedoed Black-bellied Plovers were also bopping around.

By far though, the least expected bird was a Least Bittern sofly chucking to itself from the Phrags at the south end of Davy’s Lake, which really is not a bad patch for them to nest in at all. According to Bent, in his “Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds”, p. 87, the egg dates of Least Bitterns in New England and New York should be between the 20th of May, and the 23rd of June. Whether or not this bird is a breeder, will bear watching.

Otherwise, though not the best time of day for it really, the most interesting migrant songbird was a female Magnolia Warbler along the walk through the hedgerows at Higbee’s. There are, however, certainly no lack of Yellow-breasted Chats around.

There seem to be about ten Chats on territory in the parts of Cape Island which I check with some frequency. There are at least 4 performing males at Higbee’s (one near the Dike, one in the first field, one at the end of the third field, and one near the pond) at least one at Hidden Valley, and likewise at the Beanery, two around the quiet streets fo West Cape May, and one or two at the State Park, give or take, -those numbers being far from systematically double-checked!

A turn around the Meadows this evening, despite the wind, turned up four Lesser Black-backed Gulls, only one with a dark mantle, which departed as I arrived was most likely the same third summer bird as yesterday, and there were three first summer types between the Beach and the pools as well. Common Terns were courting in earnest, Black Skimmers and Oystercatchers were taking baths, a couple of Semi-plovers, the odd Greater Yellowlegs, a Willet, and three drake Wood ducks dropping in were nice to look at, among others, as the sun got low.

It is also worth noting that first-year (as well as the odd second year, too) Common Terns have begun to trickle in, akin to the arrival timing of non-breeding Forster’s, this is just about a month after the adults arrived.

By far the most interesting birds to be found at St. Mary’s Jetty this morning were three knockout Red Knot foraging with the picture perfect Turnstones, and rag-tag Sanderlings on the algae covered rocks of the Jetty. Not a usual bird to see here, and I wonder if this sub-optimal sort of foraging habitat is being presently utilised due to the lack of spawning Crabs?

CJV

While I really didn’t have much time to go birding today between life, job, and free-lance work, I did manage to squeeze in a bit of time in fresh-air today, and saw a bird or two in the bargain.

No fewer than 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were at South Cape May. 1 Adult, and three first-summers. One of the first-summers appears to be the bird possessed of a pale based bill which has been hanging around since at least the seventh of May. His mantle is likewise kind of distinctive, and more to the point he looks just like the bird in the photos taken earlier in the month.

Shorebirds seem to have thinned out, Spotted Sands and Solitaries in particular. However, between Pond Creek Marsh and The Meadows, a few Leasts, greater numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlin, Semi-sands (there were 90 Semi-sands at the West Cape May impoundments, and little else) Semi-plovers, a few Black-bellies, and Turnstones were easy enough to see.

Two Parasitic Jaegers, both apparently first-summer types were off the point, as was a Black Tern, but really surprising were a pair of Gadwall sitting in the mouth of the bay, a good third of a mile out to sea.

One of the nesting Cooper’s Hawks was low and getting mobbed as it crossed Lighthouse Ave, heading towards the presumed nest site.

Willets are indeed breeding at Pond Creek, though the Meadows is, unsurprisingly, devoid of a breeding pair this year. Belted Kingfishers continue to hunt around Davy’s Lake, though I do not know just where they are nesting.

The birds of the day, however, were the 75 Snowy and ten Great Egrets concentrated along one bit of Pond Creek. Several of the Snowies had blood red-lores and feet, a rare fair feature, and a trait which will quickly dissipate. High breeding flush notwithstanding, 25 Snowies roosting in a bare tree, and a steady stream of them pouring over the marsh to gather in a particular mumichog-rich spot was quite a sight-especialy considering that a scant 100 years ago, they were hanging by their golden toes on the edge of the abyss, staring into the eternity of extinction. Seeing the descendants of the survivors of the millnery trade’s holocaust happily going about their business in good numbers under a gorgeous May sunset, innocently unaware of the trials of their ancestors, does indeed do the heart good.

And while the season for blooming Beach Plums at Higbee’s has come and gone, there are impressive stands of Yellow Irises in the Meadows, which alone are worth a turn around the place. An introduced species, but nonetheless striking for the fact, and not nearly as nasty as Purple Loosestrife, or Mute Swans, I suppose.

CJV

Forgive the homage to Morrissey, but today was one of those rare, nearly perfect in weather days, and indeed best treated like a Sunday.

It was a fine one on which to sleep late, take it easy, and enjoy the scenery-which of course means the birds in it. Birds of course being, to paraphrase Joni Mitchell, “that bright red devil which keep me in this tourist town”

A late and leisurely turn around Higbee’s Beach revealed a fair number of migrants. After the number of singing male Chestnut-sideds about 6 all told, most notable were the obviously increasing number of female wood-warblers around, in addition to their singing males. Female Parulas, Black & Whites, Black-throated Blues, Redstart, and Magnolia etc. were the ones that caught my attention most. Wood Thrushes and the odd Ovenbird were singing up a storm. A few Baltimore Orioles, Red-eyed Vireos, Scarlet Tanagers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were to be seen as well, but not in any great numbers.

Curiously the Thrush will only rarely breed at Higbee’s and Ovenbirds simply do not. Given that Wood Thrushes nest in the Ramble in Central Park, which is even a smaller framentita than Higbee’s, I find this fact most curious.

A long, quiet, stroll down the Point beaches and back with a couple of friends turned up a few fly-by Red Knot, a first summer Lesser Black-back or two, a first year Bonaparte’s Gull right over head, 6 or 7 surf Scoter, some great looks at the three most commonly seen “resident” terns, and that fine pleasure of doing nothing in particular with the sun on your back and the surf lapping your ankles on the beach.

A stunning and hell-bent for leather northward hurtling Peregrine over the sea, in between flocks of Semi-sands, Black-bellied Plovers, Dowitchers, and some intensely russet breeding-plumaged Sanderling were fine sightings seen while sitting off the exertion of the walk from my favorite perch at St. Mary’s Jetty.

A nice long sit, ostensibly hawkwatching at the Beanery, revealed no Kites, and few Hawks. A Broadwing, and 3 kettling Harriers were the only hawks of note. Blue Grosbeaks, both Orioles, and a Green Heron were fine fly-bys, though. However a singing male Horned Lark in a ploughed filed at the Beanery was a nice surprise. I have seen Horned Larks along the ploughed fields along Bayshore road in mid May before, so it came not as a complete shock, but is still a very nice bird to be singing and waddling around Cape Island in the merriest month.

A Cattle Egret continues on the horse-farm just north of the Beanery on Bayshore Road, too by the way.

To relax from the trials of my long, exhausting day spent birding at a snail’s pace on the beach, I decided a good long stand around Nummy’s Island at sunset on what looked like an ebb-tide would be just the thing needed to unwind…

It was, but not before a while leaning against the rail at Shell Bay Blvd. too.

Shell Bay turned up no fewer than 138 Whimbrel. They were quite successfully snatching Fiddler Crabs from the salt hay like so many miniature, stripe-headed Ibis. My first white, long stringy plumed, and getting greyish about the wings, first year Little Blue was hunting in the salt hay as well. A bit more surprising, was a third year Bald Eagle sitting on the “ground” on the edge of the sod at Jenkins Sound, just north of the fishing pier at Shell Bay Boulevarde.

Even more Whimbrel were in the back-bays at Wildwood, and Nummys island was its birdy, effervescent, spring-time self this evening. 3-400 drop dead Red Knot, “Robin-snipe” indeed were roosting out in the marsh. Red-backed Sandpipers (Dunlin) and S.B. Dowitchers by the score were at point blank range. Three Black-crowned Night Herons in high-breeding plumage, and the ultramarine and cerulean extravaganza that is a Tricolored Heron in May were fair sights. Clapper Rails were noisily oinking,and occaisionally popping up in the Spartina, with May-intense orange bills. Three Gull-billed Terns, with man-o-war wings and their bouyant, “model wooden seagull on a string” flap were hunting over the copulating, pink bloomed Laughing Gulls.

The din of the Laughing Gulls behind Nummys was almost like a white noise, until one became conscious of actually “tuning-in” and listening to it. The raucous jubilation of this, the largest Laughing Gull colony there is, is something everyone should appreciate at least once in their lives. And once one stops to actually look, the sheer seething biomass of the colony is nothing short of overwhelming. The surface of the water where Great Channel meets the Inlet by the free bridge was paved with paired up gulls, and that was nothing compared to the hysterically giddy laughing and goins on in the marsh behind, or even on the south end of Nummys.

Anyone who cannot bother to take a long second look at Laughing Gulls in May is far less than human in my book.

Three or four immaculate Common Loons were about, and Gail’s drake Oldsquaw continues at the north end of Nummy’s. Royal Terns were on Champagne Island, as were at least 18 Oystercatchers. Still more Royal Terns were in evidence hunting over Great Channel as seen from Stone Harbor Blvd, and the area around the draw-bridge.

And as a note of record, Tom Reed tells me he saw a “Nelson’s” Gull at the end of his street yesterday. I wonder if this is the same bird, of the same age-and-stage which I happened upon in the Meadows on the 27th of April?

CJV

A blustery and rather chilly turn around the Meadows first-thing turned up a Gull-billed Tern roosting with the Foremon Terns. The Gull-bill, though tucked in, and facing away, was immediately identifiable by its long black legs. Not so much the colour, but the stature is what gives a Gull-bill away in a crowd.

A first-summer Lesser Black-back was among the roosting larids, and a White-rumped Sandpiper was also around. I always get a kick out of the fact that this, the most robust of the “peep” has the wussiest of voices. The high, thin “seeet” of a White-rump is just a bit incongruous.

I hear from some decent birders that a few more LBBGs were in the Meadows this evening, more along the lines of the number present yesterday in the unbelievable Nor-easter.

There were also the most Spotted Sandpipers that I have seen this year at the Meadows, all told there were at least 6 along the main route. A flock of 40 Glossy Ibis was also nice, and it should be noted that Glibs continue to come in off the sea, even now in the merry month of May.

A Cooper’s Hawk managed to flush nearly everything in the Meadows as I left, but I as yet, do not know if the nesting pair at the Park is still in residence.

A picture-perfect Tricolored Heron flew over Sunset Blvd, always a good bird around Cape Island, as it is everywhere which is graced by these American Demoiselles.

Right after the Heron, I managed to find a White-winged Dove (see earlier post) at the point.

About an hour later, Karl Lukens & I managed to hear the bird, but in the second sighting we just managed to see it whizz out and fly high and directly like a dove out of hell to the northeast. A White-winged Dove turned up not long after at a private residence just off New England Rd., but the jury is out on if it is indeed the same individual.

White-winged Dove is becoming an increasingly regular visitor in Cape May, especially in May, and November. While Sibley in “The Birds of Cape May lists 15 records in the 17 years between 1981 and 1997, between 2002 and 2008 there have been at least 7 records, and that is just off the top of my head.

They are beautiful birds though, and nonetheless so for the increasing regularity of their occurence. Funny, when I was a younger birder in NJ, Western Kingbirds were more common as vagrants, and White-winged Doves far less so. I imagine the balooning population in Florida and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico has something to do with this increase.

Wandering around the State Park with a couple of friends turned up a Pine Warbler, and a Magnolia, but that was soon overshadowed by Steve Rodan’s impressive find of 4 Red-necked Phalaropes. Two pair of these knockout nuptially plumed shorebirds swiming around the emergent stubble in the Bunker Pond was an awesome sight.

For those who may not be so aware, hen Phalaropes are the brighter and better marked of the sexes in this subfamily. The two females were radiant in the May sunshine.

There were very nice numbers of Swallows over the Bunker Pond, and in one of those “thinking loud thoughts” moments which happens with not a great infrequency to the compulsive bird-nut, I happened to mention that i had not seen a Cliff Swallow in Cape May yet this year. Two beats later, the words still hanging in the air, and we all got a great kick out a Cliff Swallow just overhead.

This weird phenomenon seems to happen quite bit among birders, and I don’t know if it has something to do with a subconsciously remembered pattern of conditions and variables, or just what it is, but it happens with uncanny frequency.

A Bank Swallow and a duo of fly-by imm. male Orchard Orioles were also fine additions to the list while Phalarope peeping. One and the same young male Orchard oriole is also in residence in the spot just at the base of the Lighthouse where it has been for a few days now.

A Pair of Eastern Bluebirds seemed to be territorial at the Point, and at this late date, I should be surprised if they were not in fact a breeding pair in the neighborhood of the Pavillion Circle. However, I have not noticed them prior, so they may have been storm-birds too. There are very few, as in one, “recent” record of Bluebirds nesting at Cape Island, and these birds bear further follow through. I will make it a point to check in and up on them.

The first brown juvenile Common Grackle I have seen was on a lawn on New England Road today, and I neglected to mention, the first brood of baby Mallards I have seen was on Friday, at the Meadows.

An American Crow, feeding on the recently deceased remains of a Least Sandpiper at the Beanery, was testament of just how nasty the weather was yesterday- many of the birds seen this morning were in fact doing little more than drying out!

I also have it on very good authority that only one of the Piping Plover nests at the Point made it through the storm. Piping Plovers will retry at nesting just about until the Fourth of July. They need 7 weeks of combined incubation and fledging, and until about 2 weeks past the solstice, they have enough time, light, and food to accomplish rearing a brood. There are a good seven weeks left of ample time for Piping Plovers to re-attempt, and many are the Plovers who go through courtship, nesting and laying 3 or even more times in a season. Getting washed out in April, May, and June even, is not at all an uncommon occurrence, or insurmountable tragedy for these amazingly hardy and tenacious little animals. Evolving, and living within feet of the icy-blue Atlantic does give one a certain strength of character, with time.

CJV

Having spent most of my afternoon in the Stone Harbor Police Station pressing charges on an anti-plover thug, I am really a bit worn out today, and just want to pass along a few notes:

An incredibly cooperative Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow was on the south end of Nummy’s Island today, singing his guts out. (Why on earth did it ever get spread that these birds don’t really sing, I wonder? He was going at a rate of 2 per minute!) I got some great pictures from the road, however, just north of the toll bridge. Please do not walk out on tte marsh though, the bird is easy enough to see from the pavement, and clearly on territory. I was really surprised to find it there, especially singing and especially this early.

Hopefully this may relieve some of the pressure the birds on Ocean Drive receive during the World Series of Birding. While on the team, I have personally witnessed the “Team Zeiss” captain and Director of CMBO, as well as the newly installed CMBO Director of Bird Programs, literally run willy-nilly at top speed, splashing all the way, through this famous patch of marsh on Ocean Drive in order to flush the Saltmarsh Sharptails near Breezy Lee. Surely a cry-of foul, and a disqualifier in the game, but when you make up the rules, no-one is looking, and none are willing to point out that the emperor really wears no clothes, well, you can get away with anything in the name of “conservation”, I guess…

Anyway, Seasides have also returned to the leeward, bayside edge in the marsh behind Nummy’s as well.

Forster’s Terns were doing back-stand courtship displays today in the State Park- I really think they may actually breed here or in the new islands at the Meadows this year. It is not at all usual to see this display among Forster’s on Cape Island.

My first “Blue”, as in adult male Blue Grosbeaks finally arrived at Higbee’s this morning, but I was on a specific quest for Prairie Warblers in the Dune forest, and stopped just long enough to admire that amazing Corn-flower, nearly purplish blue. There are apparently six Prairies on territory at Higbee’s, but only one more female has apparnetly arrived. As a result though, and as breeding earnestness is setting in, they have now started to sing their “Black-throated” song a lot more. And today, a lone Palm Warbler was out in the cedar and holly scrub, too. Late to the party in the muskeg I guess.

Tricolored Herons were easy enough to see in the back-bays today, I managed four all told.

Willets were both moving overhead at the point, flying north over and into the bay, or in pairs at Shell-bay, and on Nummy’s Island. Wilets are also looking territotrial at Pond-creek today, and Greater legs continue to come through and overhaead in numbers off the point. A couple of Whimbrel were also on Nummy’s today as well.

My first Spotted Sandpiper of the year was seen this evening from my favorite hillock overlooking Pond Creek behind the Magnesite plant. I just love their scientific name “Actitis”. It sounds like some kind of chronic ailment thesbians might be prone to, to my imaginative ear.

And I could only manage 2 Parasitic Jaegers this evening from my aforementioned evening perch. 2 is just fine with me though, I could never tire of this, perhaps my favorite bird. The 20th or so of April is prime for Royal Terns to start turning up, but I have neither seen nor heard of any just yet-soon though. This is also among my most favorite of creatures, Royal Terns were well named, can’t wait till I can witness their return.

Herpwise, I found my first Diamond-backed Terrapin of the year out at Stone Harbor, but a whole heckuvalot more surprising was a Spotted Turtle on the road to Shell-bay! the edge of a saltmarsh is not at all where I would expect to find a Spotted Turtle, but there are weed-chocked fresh ponds in that area I suppose. I had to stop to move him off the side of the road, and likewise did the same for a Black Rat Snake today. I don’t know if anyone ever notices, but next to no-one ever shoos Snakes off of Roads. Due to that, and my lifelong fascination with serpents, I always make it a point to stop for snakes too-many drivers swerve out of their way to get them, awful sods…

Sorry, but having been roughed up, and dealing with police reports most of the day, I really don’t have more in me today than a list, though I saw plenty, and plenty worth writing volumes on. See the jerseybirds list-serve for details, I’ll post more on the nasty incident which occurred at Stone Harbor Pt. today, Champagne Island, and Forster’s Terns later. As for now, I am just plain knackered!

Go birding!
CJV

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Recently Written

• Excellent Bayshore Birding: Lots of Shorebirds, Gulls, Silly numbers of Turkeys, and a Vesper Sparrow
• Dolphins, a Brown Pelican, A Cape Island Yellow-throated Warbler and a nice little “fall” around the point in the mist
• Some Eagle notes, etc.
• LAGU in Cape May, and a few other early spring notes
• After the snow in Cape May
• Lots and lots of ducks around Cape May
• Flowering Maples
• News and Notes from Cape May; Black-headed Gull, White-winged Crossbills, continuing Eurasian Wigeon, etc.
• Some nice looks at Short-eared Owls, etc.
• A seal, a balmy day, and the colour of a randy Mallards feet

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