Cape May Fall Festival Youth Birding Day
Leaders: Sam Wilson and Brian Quindlen

 
It was another beautiful late fall birding weekend during Cape May Bird Observatory’s fall festival. Saturday proved to have a nice early morning migratory movement of Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Pipits, and hundreds of blackbirds reoriented themselves flying over that first jut of land off the ocean known as Cape May Point. Around 9:00a.m. we met up at  Cape May Point State Park to the sounds of these birds flying overhead and immediately picked out two low flying Eastern Meadowlarks flying over the parking lot and landing on the large grassy picnic area for excellent viewing. After much study and enjoyment of the meadowlarks (you know it’s a great day when it takes you a half hour to consider leaving the parking lot!) we ventured down the boardwalk trail to lighthouse pond. There we picked up 8 species of duck including Ring-necked Duck, Eurasian Widgeon, and even a female Redhead! We had a great comparison study of female Redhead and female Ring-necked duck together, comparative size and structure being key components to working out the identification of the two birds.
​
After that we walked to the next large pond with more ducks and heard the raucous calls of mobbing crows and a Red-shouldered Hawk. The Red-shouldered finally escaped harassment and flew overhead giving a nice look at this juvenile buteo. During our walk over the marsh crossover towards the dune path, Andrew Marden noticed an interesting warbler feeding in a Baccharis bush. He correctly identified this uncommon late fall migrant as Orange-crowned Warbler, of which everyone was able to see closely. The dune path provided a few sparrows including a glimpse of a Vesper Sparrow seen by co-leader Brian Quindlen. We missed our lunch break, instead dedicating our time for a loon stakeout after learning a Pacific Loon in alternate plumage had been seen at the Avalon Sea Watch minutes before. We didn’t have any luck with the loon and moved on to the convention center to watch the raptor show.

The late afternoon seemed a good time to check out shorebirds so we went to 32nd street in Avalon and enjoyed 1000’s of shorebirds along the water’s edge. We were excited to find a couple hundred Red Knot’s, Black-Bellied Plovers, thousands of Dunlin and Sanderling and even teased out some Western Sandpipers. All of the birds in their winter plumages made for a great shorebird study. Semi-palmated Plover, Lesser Black-backed gull, mixed scoters, and massive flocks of migrating cormorants made for a great wrap up of the afternoon.

The last stop was Sea Watch which was rocking with Cormorants, Scoters, Loons, Gannets, and others all on the move. For many, the close flying Parasitic Jaegars was a particular highlight of the day. Another successful NJYBC trip in the books and one that was really able to capture all that makes Cape May a special place to be in the fall.

Special thanks to Brian Quindlen for coming down from Philadelphia to help lead an incredible day. 

Species List

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Ruddy Duck
Common Loon
Red-throated Loon
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier
Black-bellied Plover
Semi-palmated Plover
Killdeer
Western Sandpiper
Dunlin
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Great Egret
Parasitic Jaeger
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Crow
Fish Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler 
Dark-eyed Junco
Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow