Bird Walk for All People - Monday, January 21st, 2013

Cold, but pleasant, weather greeted the Walk for All People this morning at the State Park. From the beach we saw Red-throated Loons, Northern Gannets, and both the King and Common Eider. A nice assortment of waterfowl on Bunker and Lighthouse Ponds included Pied-billed Grebes, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, American Coots, Gadwalls, Ruddy Ducks, American Wigeon, Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teal, and Hooded Mergansers. In the wooded areas Carolina Wrens were out in full force with Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Raptors included Red-shouldered Hawk and Peregrine Falcon. Leaders: Chuck & Mary Jane Slugg, Karl Lukens, Catherine Busch, and Steve Weis.
48 species

Canada Goose  18
Mute Swan  7
Gadwall  30
American Wigeon  40
Mallard  20
Northern Shoveler  20
Northern Pintail  6
Green-winged Teal  2
Ring-necked Duck  2
Lesser Scaup  4
King Eider  1     Off of St. Mary's at Cape May Point with 1st year male Common Eider
Common Eider  1
Long-tailed Duck  4
Hooded Merganser  4
Ruddy Duck  20
Red-throated Loon  3
Common Loon  2
Pied-billed Grebe  7     5 in Bunker Pond; 3 in Lighthouse Pond East/West
Northern Gannet  4
Double-crested Cormorant  5
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  4     1 in Bunker Pond; 3 chasing each other in Lighthouse Pond
Turkey Vulture  12
Red-shouldered Hawk  2
American Coot  35
Ring-billed Gull  4
Herring Gull  6
Great Black-backed Gull  12
Rock Pigeon  3
Mourning Dove  2
Peregrine Falcon  1
Blue Jay  2     heard
American Crow  8
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  8
Tufted Titmouse  5
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1     heard
Winter Wren  1
Carolina Wren  6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  3
Northern Mockingbird  3
European Starling  15
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
Field Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/content/nj)

Great Blue Heron catches a big fish for lunch [Photo by Karl Lukens]

Down it goes in one gulp! [Photo by Karl Lukens]

Nothing left but a large lump in the throat! [Photo by Karl Lukens]