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The most amazing thing about the day was the weather. A perfect fall day, with a blue sky and lots of sun, bright colors in the foliage, and a light northwest wind. It just happens that this is also the best weather to visit Cape May, because migrating hawks find it best for their southbound travels. Especially noteworthy today were the small accipiters, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, both in large numbers. The weather was also great for other birds moving south, and we saw thousands of “Myrtle” Warblers and other species of travelers, including a few butterflies and dragonflies.
Nowadays the Cape May Bird observatory, which operates the hawk watch at the Cape May Point state park, has a system that allows them to post their tally in real time, so you can always go to the CMBO page to find out how many hawks have been seen. Amazing!
In addition to time on the hawk watch platform, our group enjoyed a Monarch butterfly tagging demonstration by a CMBO volunteer, and stopped in at the Observatory to say hello. On the drive home, we saw cranberry harvesting underway near Chatsworth. A beautiful day was had by all.
Participants: Robert Koch, Laurie Larson, Jean and Chris Tindall, David Wurster.
Photos: Robert Koch (RK), Laurie Larson (LL), David Wurster (DW).
List:
1 Canada Goose
2 Mute Swan
3 Wood Duck
4 Northern Shoveler
5 Gadwall
6 American Wigeon
7 Mallard
8 American Black Duck
9 Northern Pintail
10 Rock Pigeon
11 Mourning Dove
12 Long-billed Dowitcher
13 Greater Yellowlegs
14 Laughing Gull
15 Ring-billed Gull
16 Herring Gull
17 Great Black-backed Gull
18 Forster’s Tern
19 Double-crested Cormorant
20 Great Egret
21 Snowy Egret
22 White Ibis
23 Glossy Ibis
24 Black Vulture
25 Turkey Vulture
26 Northern Harrier
27 Sharp-shinned Hawk
28 Cooper’s Hawk
29 Bald Eagle
30 Red-tailed Hawk
31 Belted Kingfisher
32 Red-bellied Woodpecker
33 Merlin
34 Eastern Phoebe
35 Blue Jay
36 American Crow
37 Common Raven
38 Tree Swallow
39 Carolina Chickadee
40 Tufted Titmouse
41 White-breasted Nuthatch
42 Brown Creeper
43 Carolina Wren
44 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
45 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
46 American Robin
47 Gray Catbird
48 Northern Mockingbird
49 European Starling
50 House Sparrow
51 House Finch
52 American Goldfinch
53 Song Sparrow
54 Red-winged Blackbird
55 Brown-headed Cowbird
56 Common Grackle
57 Orange-crowned Warbler
58 Common Yellowthroat
59 Yellow-rumped Warbler
60 Northern Cardinal
