Birding Club of Delaware County: Birding South New Jersey Labor Day Weekend

Hurricane Hermine was destructive in the Florida Panhandle and the Carolina coast but fortunately missed most of the New Jersey shore. There were some high winds and tides but fortunately no rain or flooding. We were able to tour the beaches after the mass exodus Saturday morning when the visitors took Governor Christie and Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz’s advice and went home or never risked coming down in the first place.

In the afternoon there were strong winds when we arrived at Sunset beach on the southernmost tip of New Jersey. It was tough to steady my camera in the wind but the gusts also slowed the flight of large numbers of Common Terns and at least 30 or more Black Terns just a hundred feet off the beach allowing me to get some decent photos. A few of the Black Terns even landed on the beach alongside the Common Terns but they flew away before I was able to unpack my camera.

Black Terns

After being blown around for an hour we decided to head over to the town of Cape May and walk along the Oceanside Promenade. Not as many birds in the air except for the Laughing Gulls and some Royal Terns but lots of Black Skimmers hunkered down on the Beach. We were exhausted after being out in the wind after 3 hours and headed home for warmth and shelter.

The next morning I drove over to the South Cape May Meadows (just a mile north of Sunset Beach) to see if I could locate the Baird’s Sandpiper that had been observed there the week before. Upon arrival there was a single sandpiper out on the mud flats but it was a considerable distance from the viewing tower and I had not brought my spotting scope. I took some photos hoping to see more detail to help with the identification but they turned out to be grainy and not useful. This was almost a repeat of last year when I saw a Baird’s in the same location which had been confirmed by a number of the CMBO members but it was so far away and the views so poor that I did not list as a “lifer”. Anyway I knew I would get back to this fairly reliable spot tomorrow.

Baird's Sandpiper

The following day which was Monday I visited Highbee’s Beach first and was immediately treated to a field of Bobolinks feeding on Sorghum and Sunflower seeds that had been planted there.

Bobolinks

Intermixed with the Bobolinks were Red-Winged Blackbirds and a single Blue Grosbeak.


Blue Grosbeak

There were a few other birds of interest including Parula, Prairie, Yellow warblers plus Common Yellowthroat and American Redstart and a Red-Breasted Nuthatch. Anxious to try my luck with the Baird’s I left Highbee’s and returned to the Meadows. This time there was a flock of Least Sandpipers accompanied by a slightly larger Sandpiper which looked pretty much like the bird I saw yesterday. In addition to the size it had a buffy head and breast band and a scaly pattern to its back. I took some better photos since the bird was a lot closer this time and added the Baird’s to my life list!

Baird's Sandpiper

Wednesday morning I headed over to Cape May Point State Park since a Red-necked Phalarope was seen in the Bunker Pond next to the hawk watch platform. Sure enough the bird was right in front of the hawk watch stand but unfortunately it was back lit by the early morning sun and was partially hidden by the phragmites in front of it! While I was trying to figure out a way to position myself for a better view of the bird a Peregrine Falcon appeared and proceeded to harass a Northern Harrier totally ignoring all the other shorebirds including the phalarope. Lucky for all the birds the falcon seemed to lose interest and headed out to the ocean. After about 30 minutes the phalarope flew to the dune side of the pond and was no longer in front of the sun or behind the tall reeds. I moved to the dune side of the pond and was a able to get some nice shots of bird before it flew off.


Red-necked Phalarope

I then walked around the rest of the pond and was watching a Great Blue Heron eating a snake when a bulky brown bird flew right over my head and landed on another edge of the pond. It was a bit of a distance but I got a got look at an immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

Immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

At this point I decided to walk over to the Meadows which adjoins the State Park. This time no sign of the Baird’s but I did get some nice looks at some Pectoral Sandpipers, hundreds of Tree Swallows, a Glossy Ibis and a white phase Little Blue Heron.