Cape May Point ~ A Great Morning

It's been months since I have been out birding but the winds were favorable last night to bring in fall migrants on their way South.  I decided to go over to the Cape May Bird Observatory Northwood Center.  2-3 years ago, they cleared out the invasive vegetation on their property, build a blind and several paths to walk.  It's not a large property but everyone had masks  and were good about social distancing.   There were so many wabers,and other birds it filled my heart with joy to be outside and birding again.  Here's hoping for a few more great days of birding this fall  before winter sets in with long cold days.

American Redstart

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Northern Parula Warbler

Northern Parula Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Red-eyed Vireo

Drake Wood Duck

 

Polk County, FL ~ Circle B Bar Ranch Preserve

Northern Parula

Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Black-crowned Night-heron

Common Gallinule and chick

Green Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Cape May Point ~ Northwood Center

American Bittern

Over to Cape May Point I went to see the American Bittern that was hanging out at the Northwood Center all day but not in the reeds as one would expect but rather up in a tree.  Very unusual behavior for a bittern according to the birders who have years of experience birding.  The Northwood Center was enjoying lots of birds in migration.

Cape May Warbler

Northern Parula

Red-eyed Vireo

Higbee Beach ~ Mother's Day Birding

Northern Parula

A text went out early Mother's Day that there was a large fallout of warblers at Higbee Beach.  It was warm and sunny and there were birds everywhere.  Along with the birds were lots of experienced birders who were willing to help the less experienced birders spot them.  I saw 12  species of warblers including  Black & White, Hooded, Common Yellowthroat, Redstart, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Blue, Wilson's, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Cape May and Yellow-breasted Chat.  There were Orchard Orioles, Eastern Kingbirds, Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbecks.  There was a large hatching of bugs and most of the birds were acting like the flycatchers.  It was such a wonderful day.

American Field Sparrow

Indigo Bunting

Great Morning birding

This morning I was up early to spend the day birding. I started my day at Higbee Beach going up onto the dike. It's quite a climb but once up at the top the view is great and you are up in the trees with the birds. This was my first time up on the dike. There were lots of species of birds flying past us. For me most of the time I couldn't ID the birds before they flew away so I found being up there disappointing. I did have one of the birds fly into a tree nearby and give me good looks. It was a new lifer for me - a Red-eyed Vireo(left). Then I went walked one of the fields where I had glimpses of the Connecticut Warbler but not much else.

Next it was over CMP State Park. I went up onto the Hawk Watch Platform for a while but it was pretty dead so I decided to walk the trails. In front of the Hawkwatch in the bushes I had another lifer - a Yellow Warbler. (left)

On the trails I saw a good number of American Redstarts, darting back and forth, some Black-and-white Warblers, a Northern Parula (left), and lots of varities of butterflies and dragonflies. It was a fun time.