"Today's Back Bay Birding by Boat was spectacular, with all the wonders of a salt marsh in May. A Clapper Rail sat out and preened for us, allowing everyone on the boat a chance to see it. Getting a boat with 30 people on it to see a Clapper Rail is not an everday feat. A Litttle Blue Heron flew over near the rookery, his blue being greatly accentuated by the gray sky, and Black-bellied Plovers did not fail to impress in their breeding finery. Some of the best birds were seen from the dock at Cape Island Creek preserve, as two Belted Kingfishers, male and female, flew by (missing until now) and a Black Skimmer fed right across the creek from where we tie up."
Location: Cape May County Back Bay
Observation date: 5/24/10
Notes: CMBO's Back Bay Birding by Boat aboard the Osprey. Dave Lord, Kyle Rossner
Number of species: 30
Double-crested Cormorant 145
Great Egret 63
Snowy Egret 15 Some still in breeding plumes, with rosy patch on lores
Little Blue Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 12
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 25
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Clapper Rail 4
Black-bellied Plover 26
Semipalmated Plover 2
American Oystercatcher 19
Willet (Eastern) 14
Ruddy Turnstone 9
Semipalmated Sandpiper 145
Dunlin 70
peep sp. 15
Short-billed Dowitcher 6
Laughing Gull 500
Herring Gull 82
Great Black-backed Gull 16
Least Tern 18
Common Tern 52
Forster's Tern 125
Black Skimmer 9
Belted Kingfisher 2
Barn Swallow 7
Song Sparrow 3
Red-winged Blackbird 18
Boat-tailed Grackle 6
