Back from Cape May

Our trip to Cape May was very good and packed. We arrived at the Cape May Point State Park for the hawk watch around noon and were treated to fantastic views of Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks as well as the three falcons, American Kestrel, Merlin and Peregrine Falcon. We stayed at the hawkwatch platform for quite a while as the flight was exceptionally good and around 5 headed to the end of Sunset Blvd to see if we could see any of the Merlins chasing dragonflies for their evening meal. We saw quite a few Merlins ripping the wings off of dragonflies while they were flying and also got to watch two Harriers gliding over the grasses. That was all the birding that was accomplished on Thursday.
On Friday we got up pretty early so that we could get to Higbee's Beach WMA and watch the warbler flight there. Cape May Bird Observatory has a tower set up along the beach in a break in the trees that warblers will fly across in the hundreds or even thousands on a good morning. The challenge is to identify the warblers (and other songbirds in their drabber fall plumages) while they are flying past you, one of the biggest challenges in bird ID. I had good looks at Black-and-white Warblers, Northern Parulas, American Redstarts and Red-eyed Vireos. From Higbee's we went back to CMP State Park to do some hawk trapping, catching about a dozen birds (Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks) at the station I was at. Here I am holding a Cooper's Hawk.

We trapped until noon when we headed back to the hawk watch and stayed for several hours until it slowed down. Along the beach there were more Palm Warblers than I think I have seen in my entire life. There were quite tame and allowed me to get some good photos.


Ducks were also becoming more numerous in the ponds at the state park although most were in their eclipse plumage which is mostly brownish and makes most of the species of ducks look similar.


We then headed up the coast stopping at several locations along the way to see cirds such as American Oystercatcher, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone and best of all, one Marbled Godwit! At Stone Harbor Point there was not much except some Caspian Terns and also some Black-bellied Plovers that I got this picture of...



It was a very good trip. Today it rained most of the day so we were not up at the lookouts, giving us a much needed break. Justine came up for a couple hours and that was fantastic to see her. A great ending to a great week.

Weekend Photos

The weekend was fairly slow, hawkwise, with only a couple hundred birds each day. The highlight on Saturday was the Black Vultures that perched so picturesquely at the front of the lookout.



Cedar Waxwings have also been a big hit, with up to 2,000 being counted one day. They enjoy eating the berries from the mountain ash bushes that are on the lookout.

Rainy Day

Today I was supposed to count on the North Lookout but the rain was a spoiler. I stayed at the lookout long enough to get good looks at a Blackpoll Warbler and two Ruffed Grouse and then hiked back down. Our excitement yesterday was when a Chipping Sparrow hit the window and was stunned for a while, letting me get good pictures of it. It then took off a little later and seemed fine. There was a Sharp-shinned Hawk flying around and I think the hawk scared the sparrow into the window.

Cape May canceled

Unfortunately due to the rainy weather our field trip to Cape May was postponed until next week. On the bright side I did see my life Connecticut Warbler today in the rain.

Record Broadwings

On Tuesday I was assigned to be at the South Lookout, counting whatever hawks were migrating past. Well soon after I arrived at the lookout at 9am I got a call from the other lookout that there was a huge Broad-winged Hawk migration under way. The sky looked something like the picture on the left for the next 2 hours. The first hour I counted 1500 Broadwinged Hawks flying over and then between 10 and 11 I counted 4000 Broadwings flying over! Hawk Mountain ended up with 7508 Broadwings for the day, the 5th highest count ever at Hawk Mountain and the highest in the last 25 years. It was what the original curator Maurice Broun would have called a red letter day. The biggest day on record was over 21,000 Broadwinged Hawks in one day.

Banding

On Sunday I got to help out some of the Hawk Mountain staff demonstrate bird banding for the Field Ornithology class. We had some luck and caught 3 Common Yellowthroats, 1 Ovenbird, and 2 Catbirds and one Traill's Flycatcher.

from upper left going clockwise-

Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Gray Catbird, and Traill's Flycatcher

Orientation

The orientation has been going well. This past weekend was the first that interns spent at the lookouts and the different programs.
Here are some of the interns at the South Lookout...



I was scheduled to be at some of the Raptors Up Close programs and got to hold a Great Horned Owl afterwards. I have also gotten to hold a Broad-winged Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk.



Later I held the 20-something year old Barred Owl. Good times!