Today's walk demonstrated just what winter can be like at Cape May Point. We missed the "Blizzard of the Century" having only gotten a dusting of snow earlier in the week but we did get the wind and it continued today. When we started the walk, the 'feels like' temperature was in the single digits largely due to a steady 20 mph wind. Lake Lily was the largest fresh water open area, and it had the usual birds plus a lone Snow Goose which brought back memories of last year's Ross' Goose. But after a close examination it remained a Snow goose. The highlight was at the parking lot at the entrance to the State Park where there was a very close (about 50') Red-shouldered Hawk perched about three feet off the ground in a nice sheltered spot. Then the Yellow-breasted Chat hopped up in the vegetation between us and the hawk, and he stayed in view until the resident Northern Mockingbird decided to chase him off. Most of the ponds in the state park were frozen over but each had a pair of Mute Swans in the very small patches of water. The third plover pond had more open water and the five Tundra Swan were still there. All in all it was a pleasant walkabout so the next time it's cold like this, dress warm and come on out and join me. Leader: Warren Cairo.
53 species
Snow Goose 1
Canada Goose 40
Mute Swan 12
Tundra Swan 5
Gadwall 20
American Wigeon 8
American Black Duck 8
Mallard 12
Northern Shoveler 4
Ring-necked Duck 2
Surf Scoter 12
Black Scoter 6
Long-tailed Duck 2
Bufflehead 8
Hooded Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 1
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Black Vulture 4
Turkey Vulture 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Coot 1
Ruddy Turnstone 2
Purple Sandpiper 4
Bonaparte's Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 4
Herring Gull 20
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 5
Mourning Dove 8
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 4
Tree Swallow 4
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin 20
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Fox Sparrow (Red) 4
White-throated Sparrow 12
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal 8
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
House Finch 2
House Sparrow 10
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
