Cape May Day
The day before the World Series of birding, I was really wanting to get out and enjoy the nice weather so I decided to do some birding. When I was asking some of the people on the Jersey Birds list where would be the best place to start, one of the semi-local birders – Yong Kong – asked if I wanted some company. Thinking it’s always nicer to bird with company we made plans to head down to Cape May together. It was a good plan, as our combined skills/knowledge complemented each other to provide for a good day of birding.
We started the morning at Higbee Beach, then moved to the Beanery, the Meadows, CMBO and State Park before a late lunch, then headed back to Higbees for a short while before ending at the Heislerville WMA. We saw a total of 83 species of birds, plus 3 maybes that are going to require looking at some pictures to determine. Highlights (for me) were very close looks at a LOT of Yellow-breasted Chats and Indigo Buntings, 3 new lifers (Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Canada Warbler and Chestnut-sided Warbler) and just a general great day of birding.
,
^ = First of Year
Canada Goose
Mallard
American Black Duck
Gadwall
Mute Swan
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron^
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture^
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier^
Red-tailed Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden Plover
Killdeer
Piping Plover^
Semipalmated Sandpiper^
Spotted Sandpiper^
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Semipalmated Sandpiper^
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Least Tern
Forster’s Tern
Roseate Tern*
Black Skimmer^
Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo*
Ruby-throated Hummingbird^
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee^
Eastern Phoebe
Great-Crested Flycatcher^
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Starling
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler*
Magnolia Warbler^
Cape May Warbler^
Prairie Warbler^
Black-and-White Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler^
Yellow-breasted Chat^
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Nelson’s Saltmarsh Sparrow (at Meadows) ????
Scarlet Tanager^
Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
Goldfinch
House Sparrow
BUTTERFLIES
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail
Red Admiral^
American Lady
American Snout^
Cabbage White
Spring Azure
ODONATA
12-spotted Skimmer^
Common Whitetail
Eastern Forktail
Fragile Forktail
Slaty Skimmer^
Lg. Darner sp.
