Walking off the Turkey - Friday, November 28th, 2014

A chilly wind blew us around the South Cape May Meadows, but a warm glow provided by some good birding won out on the day. Ducks dominated the ponds, amongst their number we found busy Hooded Mergansers, an eventually showy male Redhead and a rather funky-looking Black Duck x Mallard hybrid. At least two Bald Eagles were intent of having duck for breakfast and kept the birds on the move. American Goldfinches, Eastern Bluebirds and American Pipits were moving west along the dune line, while we had exceptionally good views of one of the pipits as it wandered through the dune vegetation and fed within just a few yards of us at times.  Leaders: Mike Crewe, Kathy & Roger Horn, Mary Watkins, and Chris Marks.
54 species (+1 other taxa)

Snow Goose  20
Canada Goose  185
Mute Swan  6
Gadwall  120
American Wigeon  20
American Black Duck  5
Mallard  100
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid)  1
Northern Shoveler  12
Northern Pintail  6
Green-winged Teal  30
Redhead  3
Surf Scoter  6
Black Scoter  200
Bufflehead  8
Hooded Merganser  6
Ruddy Duck  10
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  1
Black Vulture  14
Turkey Vulture  33
Northern Harrier  3
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  2
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  3
American Coot  22
Wilson's Snipe  1
Ring-billed Gull  10
Herring Gull  10
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  4
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
American Crow  2
Tree Swallow  2
Carolina Wren  1
Eastern Bluebird  25
American Robin  100
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  2
American Pipit  6
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Savannah Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  2
Swamp Sparrow  1
Dark-eyed Junco  1
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Eastern Meadowlark  2
Common Grackle  2400
American Goldfinch  80
House Sparrow  1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (/content/nj)

American Pipit [Photo by Mary Watkins]