edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) (04/11/91)
This past week, Monday, April 8 through Wednesday, April 10, my wife and I made the pilgrimage to Cape May, NJ. This is going to be long, so I'll briefly summarize: Caspian Tern, Piping Plover, lots of migrating Red-Throated Loons, and hundreds of Gannets moving up the coast. The Ospreys are back in force and are busily nesting. About 60 species total with zero warblers. Our route to New Jersey from DC takes us over the Chesapeake Bay at the US Route 50 bridge where two OSPREYS were pulling and tugging at sticks in their nest on a platform to the south of the bridge at the western end. We make a bee-line across MD and DE to the ferry at Lewes, DE which connects with Cape May, NJ on the other side. This is a 70 minute, quasi-pelagic trip. At the ferry, we had twenty minutes to kill, so I poked around and found four GADWALL and six BUFFLEHEADS against the northernmost jetty. An Osprey was also working the jetty and pulled out a nice sized fish. The last time we were over to the coast in mid-February, the LAUGHING GULLS were not back, but they were this time (and telling some pretty good jokes from the sounds of it :) along with the ever-present RING-BILLED, HERRING, and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS (9 total Black-Backs for the trip). Just as we were moving out past the jetties into the Bay, which was smooth as a lake today with clear, sunny skies, an AMERICAN KESTREL came winging across the bow and not five minutes later, a CASPIAN TERN flew so close that I didn't need binoculars to see it. What a beak! Out in the middle were various groups of gulls, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, and way off were three NORTHERN GANNETS moving north up the bay. As we pulled into the entrance to the Intracoastal Waterway in NJ, another Osprey was working the southern jetty while COMMON TERNS circled about, dropping into the water occasionally. Three COMMON MERGANSERS took wing when they were disturbed by our boat. Later that afternoon, I went to the Cape May Lighthouse and had a peek about that yielded a dozen AMERICAN COOTS, a GREAT EGRET, and a MUTE SWAN in the pond in front of the hawk observation point. I saw another Gannet off the coast. On the way back to town, I stopped at the Cape May Bird Observatory and caught another Osprey hunting the lake there -- reputedly eating the goldfish (carp?) that are easy picking there. Stopped off also at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge and saw the usual ducks: MALLARD, BLACK, AMERICAN WIGEON, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, Gadwall, SHOVELER, and the usual waders: GREAT and LITTLE BLUE HERONS, and Great and SNOWY EGRETS. I just missed an Upland Sandpiper by about five minutes. Out on the beach were 30+ SANDERLINGS and among them were two PIPING PLOVERS. There are not many of these birds left and I feel fortunate to be able to see them at Cape May or Chincoteague, VA. Tuesday we went inland a bit to Higbee's Beach and caught some of the more inland birds: CAROLINA WREN, RUFOUS-SIDED TOWHEE, PURPLE MARTIN, TREE SWALLOW, CATTLE EGRET etc, etc. The beach was empty but for a lone BLACK SCOTER and a handful of gulls. Going back by means of the Second Street Jetty, we saw a lone RED-THROATED LOON which was within ten feet of us at the jetty. It was nervous and would dive when we paid too much attention to it, so we backed up to the boardwalk and watched it for a few minutes. I searched the jetties for Purple Sandpipers, but found 27 RUDDY TURNSTONES instead. Wednesday morning, I hit the Second Street jetty at first light and found 200+ Sanderlings working the beach, along with 30+ PURPLE SANDPIPERS working the exposed mussels along the jetty. I could see the odd loon out in the water and a flock of terns feeding at the end of the jetty. As I got to the end of the jetty, I noticed one Red-Throated Loon and then another, and then two more flew in, and then more. I was able to count 17 on top of the water at once and at the rate they were diving they were probably a good 30 loons fishing close in. During the time I was watching the loons, several flights of Gannets went by, the largest of which was strung out for two minutes. I stopped counting birds at two hundred and estimate that they were moving north at a rate of about four to six hundred birds per hour. Back down at the refuge (aka The Meadows) I went looking for plovers again and found two more pipers. There are reportedly two pairs nesting there. To find them, wander down the beach until you see their tracks at the waterline -- much smaller than Sanderling tracks, footprints about 2cm apart when walking. Many more Gannets moving up the beach. I flushed three COMMON SNIPE walking back to the car. The highlight of the morning was undoubtedly watching the Mute Swan get up from incubating its eggs and carefully roll the eggs with its bill and then settle back down on them. On the trip back, we miscalculated the ferry by over an hour and ended up at Lower Township Park working the jetty. After a trip to the end of the jetty (8 Purple Sandpipers), it was just too windy, so we sat in the car and watched the Laughing Gulls posture and stake out turf in hopes of handouts. Back at the ferry terminal, it was fairly sheltered so I worked the fields around terminal and found among all the other expected birds, six SAVANNAH SPARROWS sitting in the chain link fence. It was chilly and rough on the boat, but being the intrepid idiot that I am (birder, that is), I stayed up top the whole time. For my efforts, I saw three more Gannets and a bunch of gulls. The gannets were flying low on the water and would flap five or six times to a height of six or eight feet off the water and then glide back down to wing-tip level while resting. They were really laboring into the wind as was one American Kestrel that was using much the same technique. Five WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS flew north right in front of us. Back on the Delaware side were 30 Buffleheads. We caught Ospreys just inland from the terminal along a canal, at the Choptank river, and at the Chesapeake Bay. -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia