Birding
Where I've been/What I've seen
Waking up later is always nice, especially when you have a great day of birding despite not getting up at the crack of dawn. The ferry (CMLF) boarded just after eight, so we could wake up much later than the previous day. Once on board the CMLF, the Brant was spotted again, as well as a Surf Scoter, a Fish Crow, and some flyover Atlantic Brown Pelicans (interesting to see compared to the California ssp. I usually see).
The next stop was at Cape May State Park, famous for its hawk watch in the fall (we were there about 2 months too early). We decided to check out the hawk watch platform anyway, where we watched a Mute Swan chase a Canada Goose in full “warship” mode, and heard a Northern Bobwhite. We walked along the trail on the side for a bit, looking at the WWII bunker, and watching another Gull-billed Tern. We continued along, seeing more Common and Forester’s Terns, and had decided to turn around after a while of seeing nothing. We heard another Bobwhite after walking about half of the distance, and stopped to try to find it. After about thirty seconds of waiting, it emerged, crossing the trail slowly, and only a few inches for some of the camper’s feet. It was truly incredible to watch, even if the bird was potentially from captive origins. Nothing else was really seen here after this memorable experience. Our last stop before getting back on the ferry was at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, where the only things of interest were a few juvenile White Ibis, and we took a group picture on the top of the observation deck. We then headed back to the vans, and left for the ferry.
The ferry was much more alive with gulls on the way back, but only three Wilson’s Storm-Petrels were found. Three Black Scoters were also found upon entering Lewes’s harbor, quite possibly the same ones from the few days previous. We then went back to the Virden Center, and found out our groups for the Big Green Hour, before coming up with a team name and a basic strategy for the next day.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
July 2019
|