Birding Cape May Meadows - Saturday, July 4th, 2015

We changed the venue for this morning's walk from the State Park to the Meadows in hopes of finding the recently reported sora. The sora didn't appear or call but we did have some interesting finds. Highest on the Cuteness Scale were the four fuzzy, long-legged Killdeer chicks, outranking the American Oystercatcher chicks on the beach that are now approaching adult size. A first-of-fall (if you count as 'fall' the time some birds start their southward journey) bird for all of us was the Spotted Sandpiper working the edge of the plover pond. Glossy Ibis seem to be on the move already also but some birds have resumed singing - we heard Blue Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole and Yellow-breasted Chat - and may be starting second broods.   Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, Cindy Bamford, Catherine Busch and Hugh Simmons.
51 species

Canada Goose  75
Mute Swan  3
Gadwall  3
Mallard  22
Great Egret  1
Snowy Egret  1
Green Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  15
Black Vulture  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Osprey  4
American Oystercatcher  8
Killdeer  6
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Laughing Gull  12
Herring Gull (American)  6
Lesser Black-backed Gull  2
Great Black-backed Gull  11
Least Tern  1
Forster's Tern  3
Royal Tern  1
Mourning Dove  11
Chimney Swift  3
Eastern Kingbird  2
Blue Jay  2
Fish Crow  5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  5
Purple Martin  5
Tree Swallow  8
Barn Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  2
Carolina Wren  2
American Robin  3
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  4
European Starling  22
Cedar Waxwing  5
Common Yellowthroat  7
Yellow-breasted Chat  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  2
Blue Grosbeak  2
Red-winged Blackbird  18
Common Grackle  11
Orchard Oriole  1
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  2
House Sparrow  10

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

Killdeer and chicks [Photo by Kathy Horn]