Rounding Off the Year

So, another milestone achieved as we completed our first full calendar year at Cape May. It was a pretty amazing year, with all that snow last winter, then the very wet spring, followed by an above-average heat wave in summer. Such unpredictable and wildly changing conditions have all been forecast by those who know what they're talking about as being typical of accelerated climate change - as helped on by Man's continued abuse of the planet. But hey, those people who never studied meteorology and say it's all bunkum must surely be right, yes?!!

Any way, time to empty out my pending folder of pictures from December and to stride boldly into 2011, so here's my final diary round-up for 2010 and the final counts for the year and house list.

December 2nd
Not traditionally a month in which one hopes to find a rare bird, December opened with a blast for me as I found a White-winged Dove at the feeders right outside my office window!! Though White-winged Doves have turned up as vagrants a number of times around Cape May now, this is still a star find as their normal range brings them no closer to us than Texas! Unfortunately, the bird only stayed for about four minutes, long enough for my work colleague, Gail, to see it, but not even long enough for me to finish sending out a text message about it! Luckily, it turned up again a week later, then for a few more days after that, but mostly its visits were fairly brief and a lot of people unfortunately didn't get to see it.

Year bird: White-winged Dove

My first shot at the White-winged Dove, perched a-top our feeder at work - not a bad break from wading through emails!

December 2nd is a pretty late date for this first-winter Black Skimmer to still be hanging out on a Cape May beach! These birds largely head south for warmer climes in the winter.

A lunchtime check of the beach for gulls turned up surprisingly few birds, but these Turkey Vultures out on the sands made me think just how different birding can be in the USA compared with the UK!

December 8th
A real cold turn to the weather and many of the lakes froze over locally, causing a shift around in the ducks and bringing good numbers of them to Lake Lily, in front of our information centre. Gadwall, American Wigeon, Hooded Mergansers and Ring-necked Ducks were all out on the lake this morning, keeping on the areas kept ice-free by the aerator bubble systems. Richard Crossley texted to say that four Sandhill Cranes had just flown south over his house, so it was just a matter of time before, wait for it, any minute now, yep, there they go, heading back north right over my office window! Winter birds were present at the feeders at work in good numbers today, with Fox Sparrows peaking at 14, at least five Purple Finches and a nice Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

A lunchtime walk at the state park turned up some busy feeding parties of American Robins and Hermit Thrushes, single Grey Catbird and Brown Thrasher and a couple of Cedar Waxwings. A very late Pine Warbler was a pleasant surprise, but, conversely, the single Yellow-rumped Warbler present only served to highlight that species almost complete absence of late, when it would be usual for them to be wintering around here. My lunchtime highlight, though, came in the discovery of a roosting Long-eared Owl not far away, which kept its cool and remained on its perch for me to get some nice photos.

Fox Sparrows are plentiful around Cape May in the winter and remain one of my favourite birds here. They're bigger and chunkier than the other sparrow species and are fun to watch as they employ their two-footed scratching technique.

Finding an owl at a daytime roost is always a highlight and this Long-eared Owl brightened up my lunchtime walk no end. These North American birds are much greyer above than UK birds and have heavier blotching underneath.

December 9
One bird certainly notable by its absence this winter is American Tree Sparrow. Though they are generally scarce in southern New Jersey these days (though once they were far more common), one usually expects to see a few, but one under the feeder at work today was my first this winter at Cape May - and it was gone the next day.

December 12
It's perhaps ironic that, on the very morning that I was staring at our feeder at home, wondering why we spent so much money feeding little but a mass of introduced House Sparrows, a Dickcissel goes and turns up! Generally a scarce but regular migrant through Cape May, winter records are rare, so we were pleased to have a special visitor. It remained with us into the New Year and delighted a good number of people that stopped by to see it.

A brief glance could easily pass this bird off as a female House Sparrow, but the pointed tail, narrow flank streaks and suggestion of streaking in the crown are all suspicious....

....and it turns out to be a Dickcissel at our feeder - albeit a very unimpressive one!

During December, it wasn't just us Humans who were keeping an eye on the local feeders; this smart adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk was particularly attracted to some tasty-looking birds at our work feeders....

....while this young Red-tailed Hawk spent many an hour right outside my office window, keeping a very close eye on the local Grey Squirrels (and me at times!).

The return of the White-winged Dove allowed me to get slightly better shots of it, though the weather had been dreary and overcast throughout most of its stay, making photography tricky.

December 16
Christmas Count Week started today, and saw three inches of snow falling. The White-winged Dove had become a little more predictable over the last few days, then promptly disappeared and didn't make it onto the count list, despite much searching! Our Dickcissel was more obliging though and even got onto the actual count day list.


Just for the record, the Christmas Bird Count at Cape May this year totalled 153 species of birds - not bad for the middle of winter at this latitude. In addition, Cape May County finished the year with a grand total of 330 species recorded within the boundaries of the county and the all-time number of species stands at 422.

We rounded off the year with a visit to the UK and a week spent with my relatives. The snowy weather in the UK was just like Cape May so there was no reprive for us, but at least it meant we didn't miss out on a few snowball fights! Daily Red Kites over the house and a flock of 54 Bohemian Waxwings in the local supermarket car park were nice highlights, as well as all that cosy Christmas stuff with the family!!

As for my own lists for the year; well, my Cape May County list finished on 291 species. As always, I missed a few due to other commitments (like work!) but I was pretty pleased with that total. I had quietly wondered whether it would be possible to see 300 species in the county during the course of a year and I think that it wouldn't be too difficult. There was a number of species that I could have made more of an effort to see without too much trouble and which would have taken me to the magic number. This coming year, I'll maybe give it a rest and have another go at it another time - or maybe I'll just enjoy finding my own birds!!

And the yard list? Well that stands at 145 species since we moved in last January - not a bad start!


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL AND THANKS FOR FOLLOWING MY BLOG!!!

Plague!!

The plague has desended!! We knew they would find us, sooner or later and today they found us with a vengeance!!! To what do I refer? Well, it's those greedy old grackles that ate us out of house and home up at Cape May Court House last winter. At that time, we were troubled by a flock of some 300 birds, but this time that seemed like a mere trifle!

OK, we like them really, it's just that when they arrive at your feeders, it costs you a flippin' fortune!

Having noticed all these birds at the feeder, I looked outside to see how many had descended on us this time and found myself spending an hour photographing a real avian spectacle. Indeed, there was so much going on out there that I could just so easily have been on the Serengeti!

Down at the waterhole....

Brown-headed Cowbirds, bathing in puddles in the road left by the melting snow, started a trend that others soon followed.

Common Grackles, with their staring pale eyes join the cowbirds, along with a Red-winged Blackbird.

Common Starlings, Common Grackles and Brown-headed Cowbirds. I like this picture not because it shows the birds well (it doesn't!) but because it just shows the madness and mayhem that ensues when birds throw themselves whole-heartedly into a mass bathing session!

After the bath, the towling down! Brown-headed Cowbirds crowded one of our Indian Bean Trees to have a good old preen after their soaking.

One thing about Brown-headed Cowbirds that makes them easy to pick out from the other similar species round here is that they have the odd habit of sticking their tails up in the air when they are feeding on the ground!

Out on the plains....

Walking down Bayshore Road, I soon found that this flock was to leave our old party of 300 in the shade!

Common Grackles massed across the road - and left this driver not knowing which side to drive down it seems!!

Sun on the backs of the Common Grackles picks out an array of blue, purple and bronze sheens as the birds twist and turn in the air with the passing of every car (and photographer!).

The birds along Bayshore Road gradually worked their way further off from our house, so I walked back and checked the fields along New England Road. Here, even more Common Grackles were steaming through the area and I reckoned some 1500 Common Grackles were  in the vicinity of our house - but there was more!

Common Grackles tend to prefer the vicinity of trees and generally stick to the edges of fields, or even feed on the woodland floor. The larger fields along New England Road were avoided by them, but the air was still full of birds here and a closer look revealed that this was a large flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds.

And the male Red-winged Blackbirds really presented an awesome sight with dazzling red splashes of colour flashing from their gaudy epaulettes. This picture shows just a small part of the flock of some 500 Brown-headed Cowbirds and 1000 Red-winged Blackbirds feeding out on the fields - to add to the 1500 Common Grackles already seen!

And with the flocks come the predators....

All this activity wasn't missed by the local predators either:

At least three Red-shouldered Hawks were along Bayshore Road, all calling noisily and seemingly having helped themselves to the bounty before them. I also saw a male Merlin shoot through the flock at one point, while several American Crows were getting in on the action, harassing the raptors and stealing scraps. Over on New England Road, three Red-tailed Hawks were following the flocks and I watched two of them having a real set too, rolling around and fighting over a dead Common Grackle (though too far off for pictures sadly).

And finally....

Again, just like the Serengeti, nature's clean up gang were on hand to tidy things up once everyone else had moved on!

At least 20 American Black Vultures and eight Turkey Vultures were hanging around the scene, knowing that there would be some pickings to polish off at the end of the day. These guys were biding their time on a house roof.

Well, you never know what's going on outside if you don't go and look and the sight of at least 3000 birds clean-sweeping the area was pretty amazing, especially with all the predator stuff going on as well. In addition to all this, a passing flock of 13 Buff-bellied Pipits on Bayshore Road was a nice bonus, as was a group of at least five Eastern Meadowlarks feeding in the field along New England Road. A nice way to round off the year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL

HERE'S TO THE NEXT ONE!!

Cooter!

Cooter is back. If you don't know who Cooter is, Cooter is a Great Black-backed Gull who spends the winter with us here at Cape May Point and he's a gull who has developed a particularly nasty habit. He eats coots for breakfast! Well, pretty much any time of day really, but early morning raids do seem to be his stock in trade. OK, we don't know whether Cooter is a he or a she really, but somehow he seems too brutal to be a lady...

The first sign that Cooter is around is usually when you notice all the ducks panicking on Lighthouse or Bunker Pond in Cape May Point State Park. Here, Cooter drops in on the only American Coot that had ventured into the middle of the pond. The disappearing coot is responsible for the splash on the right as it dives for cover.

Cooter waited patiently an inordinate amount of time; the sort of waiting that only predators, and bad guys in movies, seem capable of, but the coot inevitably had to come up for air. I think that coots are pretty much doomed here as the ponds are very shallow and full of copious amounts of water weed. Thus coots have no escape; they're not agile enough in flight to escape and they can't escape under water because the water weed impedes their movement too much.

The coot is undoubtedly injured but begins to fight back. Gull fans will be pleased to see Cooters moult timing here - with P2 missing and P1 still old (the rest of you have nodded off so I'll leave it at that for now!)

In classic defensive pose, American Coots roll over to use their feet - with sharp, raking claws - to fight with each other. However, I think this tactic just doesn't work against something as big as a Great Black-backed Gull....

....because the gull has a much longer reach and can now get to the coot's exposed under belly.

The poor coot is mortally wounded with nowhere to go....

....and Cooter deals the fatal blow. It's not a nice thing to watch a poor little coot be dispatched in this way, but it is, of course, the way of the world as the web of life goes on all around us.

November's Peaks & Troughs

With the manic excitement of October to compete with, November was perhaps always going to be an anti-climax, but the month did have its high points. November can be an interesting month at Cape May for wildlife - or at least for birds, as most other things are hunkering down for the winter as the first frosts begin to bite. Typically, the first week can still produce a little of the feel of late October as late migrant songbirds continue to move through, to be gradually replaced by movements of ducks. Then there is the rarity season; strange, out-of-range species can and do pop up from time to time and November certainly has a good track record for producing the unexpected. So, here's November's highlights, as my Cape May year list begins to draw to a close:

November 1st
The mayhem of the last few days of October was now behind us and songbirds continued to return to more expected levels. However, the Hawkwatch team were kept busy and I managed to find two Golden Eagles today, one flying south which I saw from my office window (that's a list that's growing nicely now!!) and another which I found at lunch time from the Hawkwatch Platform. Today was also a good day for Eastern Bluebirds as good numbers seemed to be heading south (this is typically a pretty late migrant). I say seemed to be as bluebird migration can be tricky to monitor because the birds often pass very high overhead and more often that not, it's a case of recording ones you hear rather than see. This year, though, several took up temporary residence on wires along Bayshore Road and at least 35 were present not far from our house today.

November 2nd
A pre-work walk at the state park was rather quiet, though two Eurasian Wigeons and a male Lesser Scaup were with the regular ducks on Lighthouse Pond. After work, I did a sundown vigil at the Migratory Bird Refuge which proved to be a good move. As the sun painted the whole sky a million shades of orange, an American Bittern and six Black-crowned Night Herons flew up from the cattails to continue their southward journey and a seemingly endless stream of ducks came into the ponds from their more secluded daytime hang-outs to feed under the safety of darkness. Northern Pintail, Mallard, American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal appeared in good numbers and put on a fabulous show.

This female Eurasian Wigeon, paired with a male American Wigeon, has been on Lighthouse Pond for a while now. Not all identification features can be seen here, but notice that the head has a rusty tone to it, matching that of the body. Female American Wigeons usually have a head that is a beige or fawn colour which contrasts with the body.

November 3rd
More signs of impending winter as I noted the first two female Buffleheads and a pair of Hooded Mergansers on Lake Lily.

November 6th
The first chunky Fox Sparrow returned to our yard today and a nice first-winter White-crowned Sparrow was with it.

November 7th
A cold and windy day, but the wind brought birds to Cape May Point, including a good scattering of Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks and good numbers of itinerant Turkey Vultures. A Pine Siskin at work continued what has been a good autumn so far here for this northern species that doesn't always get down to Cape May and both White- and Red-breasted Nuthatches were at the feeders. At lunch time, the odd, pale Red-tailed Hawk that has been hanging out at the state park was trapped by the hawkbanders and brought to the Hawkwatch Platform for release, so I got a chance to get a close look at this unusual bird. Much talk has gone on about the correct term for the condition of this bird, and I don't think any real conclusion was reached. Albino birds - with all white plumage and pink eyes - are easy, but there's a whole host of other conditions that can occur within a bird's DNA and which can have a strange effect on the colour and or markings of the bird. Finally today, as if another sign of winter were needed, I heard Snow Geese passing high overhead at 11;15PM as I lay in bed - always a chilly sound!!

Male Red-tailed Hawk at Cape May Point State Park with aberrant, light plumage.

The same male Red-tailed Hawk, seen from above. This bird has been surprisingly confiding and has been hanging out at the state park for a while now.

For comparison, here's a 'normal' juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at the state park, which has more saturated brown in the plumage.

November 9th
A rather late Lark Sparrow had been seen at Cape May Point State Park yesterday, so I popped in there before work this morning to see if it was still around. There was no sign, but I did make up for missing the bird by finding a nice Ash-throated Flycatcher. This is one of those western species which is famous for turning up in November. Somehow, some species that should be heading south from the Rockies to warmer climes for the winter, seem to find there way to Cape May by some strangely circuitous route. Unless we are able to satellite tag these birds, we may never know by which route they arrive, or even where they go after they leave us. While there, a superb Golden Eagle cruised right over the car park - it's turning into an amazing autumn for that species - while at work, the feeders attracted at least five Pine Siskins and three Purple Finches.

Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape May Point State Park. I found this bird right by the entrance gate while looking for a Lark Sparrow - a nice result! Though it was the second one of the autumn, no 'twitch' can compare with finding your own!

Ash-throated Flycatcher is one of a tricky group of tyrant flycatchers which need a careful look to be sure of the species. Call can be useful, but migrants are often silent. This bird was easy though; note how little yellow there is underneath and note how the dark brown on the outer web curves across the inner web towards the tip of the outer tail feather.

This Golden Eagle was a real bonus to my pre-work birding this morning as it cruised right over the car park at the state park

Another shot of the same juvenile Golden Eagle as above.

American Goldfinches have been flocking to the feeders at work of late and occasionally bringing with them less common birds - though here they are joined by one of the local Carolina Chickadees.

It's been a great autumn for Pine Siskins, little streaky finches that ship out of the north-west when the living gets tough up there.

Our resident female Red-bellied Woodpecker at work continues to pull contortions to get food from feeders that really were only meant for birds half her size!

November 10th
This week's Wednesday walk was preceded by a quick look for Long-eared Owls. These owls pass through Cape May in unpredictable numbers each autumn, migrating at night and hiding in dense vegetation during the day. As they are easily disturbed at roost and need to rest during the day, roost locations are generally not disclosed here, to allow the birds some peace. However, it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out of you happen to be in a likely-looking spot and this morning I actually flushed one from some trees by mistake. I was stood watching some other birds for several minutes, when suddenly a gentle wing-snap right above me head caught my ear. It was a Long-eared Owl which had actually been in a thick patch of cover right over the trail and had probably sat, hoping I wouldn't see it (which I hadn't done until it flew!), but who probably lost his bottle after I had stood there for a while. North American birds appear to be much greyer than the birds I am used to in the UK, which gives them a really quite different feel.

Pine Siskin in the American Holly right outside my office window.

Another Pine Siskin at work. I'm still scratching my head a bit on how to age and sex this species as the books seem to be a little unhelpful. This bird was noticeably much browner than all the other birds present on the feeders.

Well, an adult breeding-plumaged Wood Duck is a fine sight, and I did see one on Lake Lily, but I only managed to get photos of this scruffy old moulting bird. Still, he'll get there eventually!

November 11th
A phone call from Tony at the Hawkwatch Platform alerted me to a Golden Eagle that was heading towards the Northwood Center - and sure enough there it was; by the time I had grabbed my camera and we all ran outside, it was drifting right over Lake Lily towards us with a loose party of Turkey Vultures. This was a really quite amazing bird, a juvenile with an exceptional amount of white in the wings, making it look particularly attractive. In the afternoon, nine Hooded Mergansers and three Lesser Scaup appeared on Lake Lily, while at lunchtime, I shot down Sunset Boulevard for some quick photos of my second Western Kingbird of the year - another one of those November western specials!

This juvenile Golden Eagle passed right over the Northwood Center and was one of the real highlights of the whole autumn. Juvenile Goldies vary considerably in the amount of white that they show in the wing and this one really must be at the very extreme of whiteness - compare it with the more typical bird above.

There's something pretty magnificent about Golden Eagles and there's certainly something pretty magnificent when you can get them flying right past your office window!!

Western Kingbird on Sunset Boulevard - a tricky bird to photograph because, although it was nice and approachable, the problem with birds on roadside wires is that if you get too close, you end up get a nice shot of their bellies and not much else!

November 29th
Having returned from our Thanksgiving trip down to South Carolina, this morning was the first chance I had had to go and see what was happening with the Cave Swallows over in town, along the seafront. Cave Swallows were once an extreme vagrant to Cape May from the far south-west of North America, but these days, one or two are pretty much expected in November. However, this year they went really crazy and turned up in unusually high numbers, with perhaps 80 or so birds being recorded over the Thanksgiving weekend. Sadly, the drastic change in weather which brought some bitterly cold nights was having a dire effect on these birds and I heard many stories of individual Cave Swallows just dropping dead onto the ground from their chosen nighttime roost site in the roof eaves of Congress Hall. The poor things looked so pathetic and many a local birder had a collection of little corpses in their home freezer, waiting to be sent to a museum. Most of the birds had gone by this morning - hopefully some had managed to fly on southward and they hadn't all succumbed - but I was lucky enough to find six further along the seafront near the Sea Crest Inn, which were decidedly less moribund and were hunting actively, low over the duneside vegetation. They took preening breaks on a nearby balcony which allowed me to get some quick shots of them.

A not too unhealthy-looking Cave Swallow along Beach Avenue. Let's hope this one made it back to the deep south.

Young Cave Swallows on a balcony along Beach Avenue - so tough for them to find food when all the habitat is gone...

Just when the Cave Swallows needed Mother Nature to extend a helping hand, she deals them a Cooper's Hawk. Of course, the natural world is always tough; it is, after all, survival of the fitest and it doesn't take long for a local predator to spot an easy feeding opportunity. This female Cooper's Hawks spent a couple of days skitting around the rafters and window ledges of Congress Hall for an easy meal.

After the wonderful show of white flowers from the Frost Asters in October, our meadow turned a bright golden brown in November as autumn tints developed in the Virginia Beard-grass. Sad that some people hate this wonderful display from a native species and would rather have boring, invasive alien grasses, shorn within an inch of their lives and devoid of any value to anything but humans....

So tiny, yet so amazing. The parting shot for this post is this Ruby-crowned Kinglet in our garden. These birds have passed through in their thousands this autumn and a few still hang out here despite the ever more chilly conditions. Species as vulnerable as this survive purely by producing as many young as possible and hoping that the law of averages dictates that some will make it back to breed next year. A thought-provoking example of life on the edge....