Field Trip Reports: Birding Cape May Point

The Purple Martins are back! Most martins travel about 5000 miles to their wintering grounds in Brazil each year and return to breed in the U.S. in late March or early April. The Cape May Point State Park is a great place to study and enjoy these colonial nesters as they set up housekeeping in the martin houses along the edge of the parking lot there. Other recent returnees seen on today's walk included Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Barn Swallow, Common Yellowthroat and Palm Warbler. Leaders: Kathy Horn, Roger Horn, Karl Lukens, and Kyle Chelius.
Number of Taxa: 58

20 Canada Goose
14 Mute Swan
11 Gadwall
13 American Wigeon
1 American Black Duck
10 Mallard
9 Northern Shoveler
24 Green-winged Teal (American)
6 Bufflehead
5 Hooded Merganser
1 Pied-billed Grebe
7 Northern Gannet
5 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Great Egret
3 Turkey Vulture
4 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
1 Bald Eagle
1 Red-tailed Hawk
4 American Oystercatcher
2 Killdeer
5 Greater Yellowlegs
15 Laughing Gull
6 Herring Gull (American)
2 Great Black-backed Gull
1 Forster's Tern
7 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
7 Mourning Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker (Eastern)
3 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
1 Merlin
2 Blue Jay
3 American Crow
1 Fish Crow
5 Purple Martin
15 Tree Swallow
2 Barn Swallow (American)
4 Carolina Chickadee
6 Carolina Wren
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
7 American Robin
1 Northern Mockingbird
12 European Starling
1 Common Yellowthroat
4 Palm Warbler (Yellow)
5 Pine Warbler
13 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
2 Field Sparrow
5 White-throated Sparrow
2 Song Sparrow
1 Eastern Towhee
4 Northern Cardinal
10 Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged)
2 Common Grackle
2 Brown-headed Cowbird
2 House Finch
6 House Sparrow