Hawkwatch - Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Light west winds and full sun on a warm November day moved raptors through to the north of the hawkwatch. A late-season American Kestrel migrated by in the early morning hours. We're up to three Eurasian Wigeon that mingle with the more common American Wigeon.  One Gray Ghost (adult male Northern Harrier) put on a stellar show for us as it patrolled the back edge of Bunker Pond. It's an exciting time of fall when the game of migration is not about numbers (although we can still get good flights currently), but more often the diversity and the likelihood of aberrant birds showing up. There's a nice cold breeze expected tonight, and it will be interesting to see if that brings some birds through the upcoming morning hours.

Tomorrow marks the last day of the 2017 Cape May Hawkcount. Stop on by and see what raptors are flying. It will be fun to see you there!



Adult male Northern Harrier, also known as a Gray Ghost.

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk flying over. Note stout wings showing the bowed trailing edge, slender and squared-off tail, and petite head. This small accipiter species flutters through the air.

Drake Eurasian Wigeon with several American Wigeon.

Today's totals. Click the image to see a larger view!

Hawkwatch - Tuesday, November 28, 2017

South winds in late November resulted in a mere trickle of raptor migration today, but it was certainly a pleasant and bird-filled day. While true migrant hawks were scarce, we still had plenty of views of Bald Eagles spooking up all the ducks, close views of Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, and hunting accipiters and harriers over the marsh. We even had looks at the (very active) Gray Kingbird found earlier in the morning by Mike Lanzone while he was at Coral Avenue!!


Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 28, 2017
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0            163            167
Turkey Vulture               0           1407           1799
Osprey                       0             50           2724
Bald Eagle                   0             97            424
Northern Harrier             7            274            764
Sharp-shinned Hawk          20           1830          10716
Cooper's Hawk                3            280           1715
Northern Goshawk             0              1              1
Red-shouldered Hawk          2            374            462
Broad-winged Hawk            0             11           1131
Red-tailed Hawk              2            495            715
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              4
Golden Eagle                 0             10             13
American Kestrel             0             25           6857
Merlin                       1             92           2051
Peregrine Falcon             0             29           1117
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              1
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              4
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0
Mississippi Kite             0              0              1
Short-eared Owl              0              2              2
Swainson's Hawk              0              1              1

Total:                      35           5141          30669
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 9.07 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

This young Bald Eagle repeatedly flushed the ducks on nearby ponds which meant the two Eurasian Wigeons landed on Bunker Pond for great looks from the platform.

Sorry to break it to ya, Mockingbird, but the water fountains are turned off for the season.

Seawatch - Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Thanks to southeasterly winds, today was an excellent day with over 26,000 birds!  The first hour was jam packed with over 5000 birds, including 2600 Red-throated Loons.  It was quite hectic, with flocks and streams of loons passing by, with gannets in the distant as well as mixed in with the loons, while flocks of scoters flew past faster than the loons and geese tried to sneak by in high flying flocks overhead.  Ring-billed Gulls also pushed through in some numbers, with nearly 200 in that first hour to make my job even harder.  

Red-throated Loons passed by in significant numbers, with 9681 today.  This is likely to be the season peak for loons, surpassing last year's peak flight of 7293.  Gannets are still a bit behind, with only 2470 today; we are still due for a bigger day, hopefully!  A nice late season push of 1128 Double-crested Cormorants was attempting to get our cormorant numbers up to a respectable number, as we are still way behind average for cormorants.  

Other notables include: the first push of Canada Geese (645), a nice push of teal (421), a diversity of dabblers including wigeon, shoveler, Mallard, black duck, pintail, and Wood Duck, and a remarkable 25 Common Eiders (this would be 20% of last year's total eiders!). 

Two notes:

1) We have almost set the season total record for Black Scoter!  We have 253,136 thus far and the best season ever had 256,633.  We only need 3498 more Black Scoters to set a new season record!

2) Thursday is forecasted to have more east winds switching to the south throughout the day.  I predict it will be another good day, potentially similar to today!

Check out the day's total here:


Seawatch - Sunday & Monday, November 26-27, 2017

Two more days of northwest winds, two more slow days with little movement.  Sunday had a mere 1460 birds, continuing the trend of half of the total being Red-throated Loons and Northern Gannets.  114 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Snow Buntings, and a late Common Buckeye were some of the notable sightings that day.  Monday had nearly 3000 birds and considerably higher diversity, hosting flocks of Canada Geese, Snow Geese, and Tundra Swans, plus a Common Eider, Common Goldeneye, and a Gadwall.  For the first time in a while, Surf Scoters outnumbered Black Scoters, although the overall numbers for each were under 500.  A nice 16 White-winged Scoters passed by, as well as 4 Horned Grebes. 

Tuesday and Thursday are forecasted to have east and southeast winds, so expect much better days ahead!

Check out the totals here:

Sunday: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171126
Monday: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171127

Hawkwatch - Monday, November 27, 2017

Well, I don't know if I could ask for a better late November day at the Hawkwatch platform. It was pleasant weather with sunny skies and cool (but not too cold) temps, and there are apparently plenty of raptors still heading this way! Although not true birds of prey, the sky was simply dominated by Turkey and Black Vultures today and was quite the sight to see. There were plenty of goodies to find mixed in with the vultures during the midday hours. We saw impressive late-season numbers of Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks as well as a big (final??) push of Sharp-shinned Hawks. Not to mention Northern Harriers, Bald Eagles, a lone male Kestrel, and two Merlins terrorizing the starling flight.

Non-raptor goodies were plentiful today as well! We had 2 Orange-crowned Warblers, Nashville Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Indigo Bunting, and a Brant all hanging out right around the platform. It was crazy. Then, late in the afternoon, 6 Sandhill Cranes (first reported by Richard Crossley at Exit 0) made their way right down to the point and past the platform. Although they made an attempt to cross the bay, they quickly changed their minds and turned back around. With the count quickly coming to a close, it was certainly a fun-filled November day. Tomorrow's south winds will almost certainly create a slow raptor day, but maybe the late-season songbirds will still be hanging about.


Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 27, 2017
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture               57            163            167
Turkey Vulture             165           1407           1799
Osprey                       0             50           2724
Bald Eagle                   6             97            424
Northern Harrier             8            267            757
Sharp-shinned Hawk          67           1810          10696
Cooper's Hawk               10            277           1712
Northern Goshawk             0              1              1
Red-shouldered Hawk         22            372            460
Broad-winged Hawk            0             11           1131
Red-tailed Hawk             51            493            713
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              4
Golden Eagle                 0             10             13
American Kestrel             1             25           6857
Merlin                       2             91           2050
Peregrine Falcon             0             29           1117
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              1
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              4
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0
Mississippi Kite             0              0              1
Short-eared Owl              0              2              2
Swainson's Hawk              0              1              1

Total:                     389           5106          30634
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 9.08 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Adult Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Indigo Bunting
Sandhill Cranes!

Hawkwatch - Sunday, November 26, 2017

The cool northwest winds invited a good flight of raptors past the Cape May Hawkwatch today.  November is the time of fall when many large raptors move through the area. We had a great flight of Turkey Vultures today as well as a few Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, and their mid-sized counterpart the Red-shouldered Hawk.

Late-season non-raptors are also moving through. We had exciting views of a beautiful flock of Snow Geese flying high overhead. Eastern Bluebirds and American Pipits are making daily appearances in the morning hours, and one hardy Monarch was seen flying by.

You never know what is going to fly past the Cape May Hawkwatch. See you at the platform!






Hawkwatch - Wednesday-Saturday, November 22-25, 2017

It's been a busy week of migration at the Cape May Hawkwatch. Earlier in the week we were treated to cooler temperatures (especially on Thanksgiving) that brought bountiful amounts of raptors and songbirds, including a few rarities. From a Red Crossbill, Northern Parula, White-eyed Vireo, and several Baltimore Orioles to exciting flights of buteos and vultures, the past few days have brought much bird life through the area.

Come to the hawkwatch tomorrow and see what birds are flying! Slightly cooler temperatures and light northwest winds are expected.



Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk and a Turkey Vulture

Eurasian Wigeon (right two birds) with American Wigeon

Our second-of-the-fall Iceland Gull

An extremely late Northern Parula showed up!

Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Mallards

Red-tailed Hawk

We've tallied 23 balloons "migrating" past the Cape May Hawkwatch this fall.
They litter the environment and are a hazard to aquatic life.

Bobert the Northern Bobwhite has been making near-daily appearances at the hawkwatch.

Totals from Wednesday. Click the image to see a larger view.

Totals from Thursday. Click the image to see a larger view.

Totals from Friday. Click the image to see a larger view.

Totals from today (Saturday). Click the image to see a larger view.


Seawatch - Saturday, November 25, 2017

While the overall total today was better than yesterday, it was a similarly average day.  The first hour was packed with 1500 Red-throated Loons, and the second hour had a good push of gannets, but after that it died down to a slow but steady trickle of birds.  Loons and gannets accounted for over half of today's total, while scoters filled in the rest.  Not a lot of diversity today, with only a few scaup, bufflehead, and mergansers.  Today's surprise was a late Monarch butterfly heading south!

See the totals here: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171125

Seawatch - Wednesday & Thursday, November 22-23, 2017

It may be late November, but the Seawatch is still going strong. We had seen a string of slower days because of the Westerly winds (pushing the birds farther out from shore) but Wednesday was highlighted by the season's first Razorbill flying by in the afternoon. We also saw over 3,000 Red-throated Loons on Wednesday with an assortment of other birds seen here:


Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I was thankful for a fun day of seabirds! Just over 10,000 birds were tallied and it was quite diverse. I was treated to a single Snow Bunting flying right along the beach early in the morning. A small flock of Purple Sandpipers made appearances on the jetty throughout the day along with scoters and loons floating nearby. Visitors were also treated to Long-tailed Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Horned Grebes, Common Eiders, and Great Cormorants. All of Thursday's fun can be found at the link below: 


A Black Scoter (left) and White-winged Scoter (right) fly over a second Black Scoter that is still contemplating whether to take off with them or not. 

Here come some close Brant.

Common Loon
One of these Corms is not like the other. Can you spot the Great Cormorant?

Seawatch - Friday, November 24, 2017

Today was a good day, with calm winds from the southwest.  1500 Black Scoter and 1500 Red-throated Loons comprised the bulk of the 5000 birds counted today. A few hundred Gannets, cormorants, Surf Scoters, and other ducks rounded out the count into a very average day!

Check out the totals here: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171124

Seawatch - Monday & Tuesday, November 20-21, 2017

Monday and Tuesday were two equally slow days, with just over 2000 birds each day.  As usual for this time of year, the majority of these birds were Red-throated Loons and Northern Gannets.  We still have yet to have a huge push of either species, so we are looking forward to that happening, hopefully soon!  A small push of Laughing Gulls, around 80, on Tuesday was notable, as were two Ross's Geese heading south, relatively close over the jetty with a Snow Goose.  There was also a flight of 191 Ring-billed Gulls on Monday.  A nice flow of southbound Forster's Terns was the most I've had in well over a month, with 146 birds.

Check out the totals here:

Monday: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171120
Tuesday: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171121

Hawkwatch - Tuesday, November 21, 2017

I suppose 77 raptors in late November with strong southerly winds isn't THAT bad, but it certainly felt like a slow day out on the ol' Hawkwatch platform. I was very happy that the temps warmed up to a balmy 56 degrees today, and there were LOTS of other birds to look at and sort through.

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 21, 2017
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture                0             85             89
Turkey Vulture              13            649           1041
Osprey                       0             49           2723
Bald Eagle                   1             76            403
Northern Harrier             9            222            712
Sharp-shinned Hawk          33           1433          10319
Cooper's Hawk                9            218           1653
Northern Goshawk             0              1              1
Red-shouldered Hawk          2            266            354
Broad-winged Hawk            0             11           1131
Red-tailed Hawk              5            358            578
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              4
Golden Eagle                 0             10             13
American Kestrel             0             21           6853
Merlin                       3             77           2036
Peregrine Falcon             2             29           1117
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              1
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              4
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0
Mississippi Kite             0              0              1
Short-eared Owl              0              2              2
Swainson's Hawk              0              1              1

Total:                      77           3508          29036
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 9.18 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Cooper's Hawk
Cedar Waxwings
Two late Baltimore Orioles seen foraging in the cedars right beside the platform.
Cooper's Hawk
Bonaparte's Gull
For interested parties, our local platform celebrity, Bobert the Northern Bobwhite (a captive-bred bird) is, in fact, still alive.

Hawkwatch - Monday, November 20, 2017

It was a fairly good movement of mid-November raptors this past Monday with 230 tallied. Two different Golden Eagles were the clear raptor highlight of the day bringing our season total to 13, an impressive number for Cape May. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few more before the season's end!

Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 20, 2017
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture               32             85             89
Turkey Vulture              59            636           1028
Osprey                       0             49           2723
Bald Eagle                   9             75            402
Northern Harrier            29            213            703
Sharp-shinned Hawk          53           1400          10286
Cooper's Hawk               19            209           1644
Northern Goshawk             0              1              1
Red-shouldered Hawk          9            264            352
Broad-winged Hawk            0             11           1131
Red-tailed Hawk             14            353            573
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              4
Golden Eagle                 2             10             13
American Kestrel             1             21           6853
Merlin                       3             74           2033
Peregrine Falcon             0             27           1115
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              1
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              4
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0
Mississippi Kite             0              0              1
Short-eared Owl              0              2              2
Swainson's Hawk              0              1              1

Total:                     230           3431          28959
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 16:00:00 
Total observation time: 9.2 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

A stunning male Northern Harrier gracefully glides over the marsh.
A trio of Tundra Swans (only 2 seen here) made a couple of passes through the swarm of Tree Swallows early in the morning...
And then I had a flock of 16 (!) Tundra Swans fly right overhead late in the afternoon (two out of view).


Hawkwatch - Tuesday, November 14, 2017

OLD POST :)




Cape May
Cape May Point, New Jersey, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 14, 2017
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Species            Day's Count    Month Total   Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture               53             53             57
Turkey Vulture             110            438            830
Osprey                       0             49           2723
Bald Eagle                   9             59            386
Northern Harrier             9            146            636
Sharp-shinned Hawk          65           1135          10021
Cooper's Hawk               14            175           1610
Northern Goshawk             0              1              1
Red-shouldered Hawk         24            238            326
Broad-winged Hawk            0             11           1131
Red-tailed Hawk             52            306            526
Rough-legged Hawk            0              0              4
Golden Eagle                 0              8             11
American Kestrel             0             19           6851
Merlin                       6             52           2011
Peregrine Falcon             0             25           1113
Unknown Accipiter            0              0              1
Unknown Buteo                0              0              0
Unknown Falcon               0              0              4
Unknown Eagle                0              0              0
Unknown Raptor               0              0              0
Mississippi Kite             0              0              1
Short-eared Owl              0              2              2
Swainson's Hawk              0              0              0

Total:                     342           2717          28245
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Observation start time: 06:00:00 
Observation end   time: 17:00:00 
Total observation time: 10.05 hours

Official Counter:        Melissa Roach

Seawatch - Sunday, November 19, 2017

Strong winds from the southwest kept today warm but gusty.  Some gusts were perhaps up to 30 mph!  Regardless, it was a relatively slow day beyond the 1800 Red-throated Loons that passed by today, primarily in the morning.  The rest of the birds were mostly scoters and gannets, bringing the day up to around 3700 birds.  It was, however, a beautiful day despite the wind, with very clear conditions and excellent visibility out over the water.

Check out the totals here: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171119

Hawkwatch - Sunday, November 19th, 2017

This morning started out with light drizzle and howling west winds. The strong winds were sustained themselves throughout the day, but the gusts became more tame as the day progressed.  Several gusts peaked around 50mph this morning, and by mid-day a slow but steady trickle of raptors had developed with the milder gusts. Thousands of Tree Swallows fluttered in concentrated flocks along the dunes. When the raptors flew through, they were flying very low to the tree tops as they dodged the oncoming winds.

Tomorrow's follow up of sunny skies and steady-but-not-overwhelming west winds could bring some fun northern birds through. Come to the hawkwatch and see what birds are flying!


Osprey and Tree Swallow

Female Northern Harrier

Snow Goose flying through the Tree Swallows

Lesser Black-backed Gull (smaller one, far left) and Herring Gull (light brown bird, far right)
among the Great Black-backed Gull.

Today's totals. Click the image to see a larger view.

Hawkwatch - Saturday, November 18th, 2017

Today's flight of raptors battled the gusty southwest winds. Tomorrow is calling for even stronger southwest winds. Here's to some more raptors migrating through, and maybe some rarities from the south too!

Eastern Bluebird and a Field Sparrow

A chunky Common Loon flies overhead!

Today's count. Click the image for a larger view.

Seawatch - Saturday, November 18, 2017

Today started off relatively busy, with nearly 1000 birds per hour for the first three hours.  However, only 2000 birds were counted in the remaining seven hours, making for a slow mid-day and afternoon.

Today's most notable push of birds were the non-scoter ducks, mixed in with scoters at much higher proportions then they have been recently, making for some difficult counting, trying to keep track of a Surf Scoter, Black Scoter, teal, scaup, and black duck number all at once.  Over 200 American Black Ducks, 284 Green-winged Teal, 187 scaup, as well as a Common Goldeneye, some Bufflehead, and both Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers were counted today, making for good diversity.

Nearly 800 gannets and 500 Red-throated Loons heading past, keeping up the slow-but-steady push of these late-peaking species.  There is bound to be a big push before the end of the month!

Check out the totals here: http://trektellen.org/count/view/1747/20171118


Seawatch - Friday, November 17, 2017

10+ mph northwest winds made for another slow day of around 2600.  Interestingly enough, 900+ Red-throated Loons came through in one single 2-minute push in the afternoon, which accounted for more than half of the total loons and more than a third of the total birds for the day.  A few passerines came off the water throughout the day, including two American Pipits, an American Robin, and three Red-winged Blackbirds.  And a few Monarchs continued to head south, despite being mid-November!

Hawkwatch - Friday, November 17th, 2017

A few raptors flew through today, with the flight being seen a little to the north as raptors cleared from east to west. The morning flight of thousands of American Robins was swirled with American Pipits, Eastern Bluebirds, 484 Cedar Waxwings, and much more. One of the biggest surprises of the day was a late season American Kestrel!



Female Northern Harrier

Tundra Swans

Cedar Waxwings.

Today's totals. Click on the image to see a larger view.