The Long Weekend
Well, this weekend was a ot of fun, even if it was really tiring. We had some friends (Don and Bobbie) visiting from out of town, and combined with the work I was doing last week on that site for Wharton, I was already tired. We picked them up at 5:30 on Friday night, and didn’t stop until late Sunday night – but it was worth it.
Don is a big birder that we know from Flickr, so he was excited to see our back yard. We put in our requests for performances from all of the local species, and most of them showed up for him to get pictures of what we would consider ‘backyard birds’ but that he thought were wonderful new or at least rare treats for him: Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Black-capped/Carolina Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, Catbirds, etc. I swear I saw a little glint in his eye as his camera flashed at the numerous birds that were hanging about. We followed that with a dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in town, The Little Tuna. The food was great, as usual, and we called it an early night as we were planning on getting up early for breakfast and a trip to see the sites in Philly.
Saturday MORNING
Saturday was supposed to be an early breakfast at our place and then into the city to do the ‘tour’. It wasn’t supposed to be great weather because of big storms overnight; however, the storms never really materialized and the morning was beautiful. I have to admit that it was tough not to go birding instead. But we were committed because of another acquaintance coming to meet us, so we decided to do breakfast and Philly anyway. One small problem in that Oakley decided that the challah bread we bought the night before was for him, and he ate the whole thing. Shari had to run out to the store early in the morning to get more. Oh well.
We had a nice breakfast, and then let Don go out to shoot some more birds out in the back yard. The light and the birds were both cooperating, and after us talking about possibly going to Palmyra Cove after Philly, Don thought that perhaps we should go first. Never one to argue with our guests, we did, and had a good time seeing some neat things. He got to see a few new species of eastern birds, although it was comparatively quiet – not surprising as we were birding near the middle of the day. The we were off to Philly after a little lunch.
In the interest of brevity, we decided that the drive-by tour was more time-effective. This made sense considering neither of them wanted to stand in lines just to see the Liberty Bell, so we drove around showing them the sites like Independence Hall, the Constitution Center, the Art Museum and Kelly Drive, the murals all around town, the Avenue of the Arts, South Street … well, you get the idea. And then we met up with Don’s daughter, who happened to be in Philly the same weekend, at the Reading Terminal Market – very nice woman, and it was a fun respite from driving around.
Cape May
Our day started really early (4 a.m.) as we prepped to get Don and Bobbie from their hotel to head to Cape May. Ironically, we had switched our plans from birding on Saturday/Philly on Sunday because of the weather; Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day, while Sunday was overcast for much of it. I don’t know that it was the reason the didn’t see as many things as we wanted to on the trip, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
We started with a hike through Cape May National Seashore on the boardwalk paths, and got to see some neat stuff: my first Least Terns, and several species Don had yet to see, including those same terns, glossy ibis, and common yellowthroats (Don really wanted 3 things; warblers, scarlet tanager and indigo bunting – we got all three, if little more). We also got the chance to see a VERY friendly muskrat but sadly, no piping plovers which I was looking forward to.
Higbee’s Beach
Later, we went to Higbee’s Beach, which was a pretty sweet place. The birds were hiding from us, but we did get the opportunity to see the indigo bunting that Don wanted. But I was getting mighty distracted by the bugs and dragonflies that were everywhere. By the end of the day, I added 3 new dragonfly species to my list (Calico Pennant, Painted Skimmer and White Corporal), plus I saw at least 3 others that I know would have been new could I have gotten a picture.
Belleplain State Forest
From there, we went to the place where everyone I asked told us to go – Belleplain State Forest. It was a great place for birding, if a little confusing to get to using the directions I had. However, we got there later in the day, and it was raining for part of the time we were there, so I think that dampened our viewing. But we still did get to see some nice birds and other wildlife, including Don’s scarlet tanager (multiple times). We also got to see a nesting ovenbird, an eastern wood-pewee. Overall, it was nice, but the day was becoming a relative bust in terms of the bird volumes I’d promised. But we were all having a good time anyway.
Forsythe NWR
Our last stop was to Forsythe NWR, a bit of a hike to get to – mostly because the GPS unit took us a way that we didn’t recognize. We thought it seemed odd, and by the time we figured out that it was wrong, it had taken us to a place that was tough to backtrack from. But we made it due to my superior navigation skills, and Forsythe proved to be some of the best birding of the day. The evening light was spectacular and the birds were cooperating. Don saw a lot of new, great things and got great looks at some species he was already familiar with, such as osprey, herons and egrets. The osprey, in particular, put on quite a good show for us.
The light provided with some awesome shots of the terns that gather near the inlets between the bay and the ponds within the park (see my first shot, above, of a Forster’s Tern. The terns were tough to shoot, but we had fun trying to get them. We worked our way around the park until the light simply got too low to get any good shots. By that time, it was almost 8 p.m. – we’d been birding for 13 hours.
We decided to get some food at a rather interesting restaurant just outside of Atlantic City, which was a blast as we all told stories and laughed. It was service with a snarl, but the food was suprisingly good. Eventually, they turned on the AC on us (or signal to leave, I guess), and started our trek home. We pulled into the driveway at 11:30, 18 hours after pulling out, exhausted but satisfied.
Trip List
Cape May
Killdeer, Least Tern*^, Mallard, Mallard x Black, Gadwall^, Turkey Vulture, Barn Swallow, Purple Martin^, Glossy Ibis^, Great and Snowy Egrets, Laughing and Greater Black-Backed Gulls^, Cardinal, Common Yellowthroat^, American Robin, Common Grackle^, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Canada Geese.
Higbees
Indigo Bunting^, Cardinal, Carolina Wren^, Pine Warbler (heard), Blue-Winged Warbler (heard), Palm Warbler (heard), Laughing Gull, Pigeon, Mourning Dove
Belleplain
Eastern Wood-Pewee^, Chickadee^, Scarlet Tanager^, Ovenbird (nesting with chicks)^, Prothonotary Warbler^. Black Vulture^, Pine Warbler^, Blue-Winged Warbler*^, Tufted Titmouse^
Forsythe NWR
Least Tern*^, Common Tern^, Forster’s Tern^, Ring-billed, Laughing, Greater Black-backed, Herring Gulls, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Great Egret, Snowy and Cattle Egrets^, Black-crowned Night Heron, Rail ssp., Glossy Ibis^, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, American Oystercatcher^, Dunlin, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, Eastern Willet^, Black Skimmer^, Mallard, Black Ducks, Osprey, Common Yellowthroat^, Bobwhite
KEY: * – new bird for me; ^ – new bird for Don
That sounds like a fantastic visit. And I can see that you got lots of tremendous photos. The dragonflies are amazing, I’m pretty sure that’s the greatest lens in the world.
I’ve been mostly out of the photography game for a while. I need to get back to it!