woodcreeper

Well, the birding at Palmyra this morning was a bit slow - I still haven’t ID’d everything, but the short list:

Black-throated Blue Warblers (2)
American Redstart (6, all F)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (3)
Cedar Waxwings (7)
Nashville Warbler (3)
Magnolia Warbler (1F)

And of course, the countless catbirds, robins, eastern towhees, house wrens and chickadees one expects.

Negri-Nepote was about 25x better than yesterday, which means I saw about 25 migrants. Palm warblers were the most numerous.

I think if I had had more time ….

“The field has eyes, the forest has ears, I will look and be silent, and listen.”

Well, our banding efforts were rewarded with one catch. A first-year N. Cardinal. Blech.
The funny thing was that the bird got caught in a non-playback net. The reason for the playback not working for at least the first net run might have been the inadvertent inclusion of a Muddy Waters song on the “bird lure” playlist…that was a hoot. The Mississippi blues might have inspired a Swainson’s Warbler to visit the net, should one have been moving through.

The woods were dead otherwise, which could also explain the small catch. It appears that birds just made their ways over (around, under?) us…oh well…next time.

Despite, or perhaps because of persistent north
easterly winds there were still a few birds around
Cape May worth mentioning;

1 White-winged Dove- at the Hawkwatch, flew ne towards
West Cape May.
a Parasitic Jaeger or two, along with about 5000 other
larids in the Rips. I hear tell that 3 Lesser
Black-backs were at Stone Harbor.
1 Black Tern, who, judging from the pattern of misisng
feathers, is the same on ewho was at the meadows
yesterday evening.
a Caspian Tern or two.
a cooperative Sora at the meadow’s west path
1 juv Moorhen first I have seen since two adults in
Early summer
2 White-rumps and a flock of juv Leasts and
Semi-sandpipers feeding in the surgf like Sanderlings
were a fine sight on the beach at South Cape May.
1 Dickcissel. Dull Juv who sat up most cooperatively
and uncharacteristically in the hedge at Hidden
Valley. Preened in the sunlight for a good long while.
1 Cliff Swallow- wit a multitude of Trees- Barns have
thinned out, and Haven’t seen a Martin in a day or
two.
1 Salt Marsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow- in the marsh
grasses on the east side of the bunker pond. Wasily
Visible from the dirt rd. Second I have seen this year
in this spot, and have never seen one there before.

An American Bittern that towered up out of the marsh
at sunset, and gained considerable altitude in the
process by tacking into the wind, was an excellent and
picturesque study in Bitterness as he departed the
point with the light.

and two quick points:

1. I think, though not novel, the rediscovery of
Jerdon’s Courser and Forest Owlets in India (both
endemics presumed extinct for some time) must rate on
some scale of Ornithological discovery for the
subcontinent post independence (ie in the last 50
years). Gotta watch those catchy headlines…

2. In a world where world leaders disbelieve in the
existence of Global Warming, the rapidity with which
Red Knots’ plight is being noticed is indeed
encouraging. At this rate, perhaps they will skip over
threatened and leap into the benefits of the fully
protected while there are still some left in the east.

Cheers
CJV
Cape May, NJ

Hello,
Morning flight from 7:30 to 8:10AM or so.
Tues. 9-12-06. There was a flight. I couldn’t
get down there any earlier. I had major problems
iding the stuff. Most was flying into the sun. Joy.
Plus the complete looking up view. At least on
the dike at Higbee’s, you see some at or near eye
level at times….. I will try East Point again - where I
was this morning, come some NW winds. 58 individuals
counted. 3 REDSTARTS, 1 WATERTHRUSH,
5 BOBOLINKS, I can’t even begin to guess what
some of that other stuff was. Before frustration set
in - this is an extremely enjoyable hobby for me -
I left and went groundtruthing. Had stuff around, but
no big feeding flocks. Here again, my favorite spots
were now facing the wind with NE. Here are some
highlights - and just some - it’s getting late for me again:
5 VEERY
1 PHILA VIREO
1 YT VIREO
many RED-EYED VIREOS
23 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS - these have picked up in migration
9 YELLOWS - might be the final part of the second push for these.
6 REDSTARTS
1 CANADA
1 BLACKBURNIAN
1 BLACKPOLL
1 BLACK-THROATED GREEN
1 BLACK-THROATED BLUE
Getting the idea!
1 YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER
1 DICKCISSEL - flyover
Very few sparrows and I did a couple sparrow spots too.
2 NIGHTHAWKS - Strawberry Ave. area. I think I flushed them.
Didn’t mean to obviously.
Etc.
But the perched raptors!
18 KESTRELS - 8 along the north part of Strawberry Ave alone!
2 MERLINS - East Point
2 juvenile BALD EAGLES
2 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS
plus 2 HARRIERS and OSPREYS, etc. flying around.
I thought this boded well for the East Point hawk flight. I had some stuff.
11 to 12PM - the impoundment dike area -
11 BALD EAGLES - 2 adults - 5 were in one kettle.
2 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS
2 RED-TAILED HAWKS - locals
The usual TV’s and one BLACK VULTURE - I don’t think these TV’s migrants
now. The flight was different today with the NE winds. NW is better.
12:20 to 12:40 or so - Thompson’s Beach area -
1 COOPER’S HAWK - was moving, not hunting.
1 MERLIN
2 RED-TAILED HAWKS - locals
4 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS - in a small kettle fairly high - gee, I heard
1800 or so over Michigan today!
12:45 to 1:00PM or so - Glade Rd.
3 more EAGLES - one adult - I don’t know if the same or not. They were
slowly
moving down the treeline. Slowly and low.
1 RED-TAILED HAWK

Flight id notes: are coming again soon.

Nature notes: an occassional Spring Peeper. These warm fall days. Say 50 or
so Monarchs. Nice.

There’s a Broadwinged Hawk count in SE PA from 9-13 to 9-23 or so. I think
those dates have to be revised maybe. There have been some nice counts so
far at some various PA hawk sites. I haven’t checked the Jersey hawk sites
yet.
Still catching up on email.

For those still with me here - time to relax and laugh: from Gabe - I really
want that Eider now!
I had sent him the quick trip report from NH.
“I think snowy egrets also have white throats. Nice!” The sad part was it
took 30
seconds or so to click in. I am easy prey.

Sandra Keller
Barrington, NJ
sandrakeller@verizon.net