Day Six

I’m heading home today, I’ll get a little birding in before I have to head to the ferry terminal. I start with a walk at The Meadows, saw 22 species and surprisingly didn’t take any pictures.

Clear, 64-66F SW winds 12mph

-Select the image to view the full photo-

I always end my Cape May trips with a stop at the Hawkwatch. I took a walk around the area. I’ve learned from my trips to Cape May that the trails going to the beach spots, those that have the fences are a likely place to see Palm Warblers. That has been the case during this trip as well.

While at the Hawkwatch Platform I saw Pete Dunne just arriving. I said a good morning and he graciously returned my greeting and asked that I remind him my name. We sat down and chatted a bit, after which a couple of his old friends came by and joined us. During the chat a Belted Kingfisher came in, flying towards us - he called it out, then a Sharp-shinned Hawk above; he calls it and explains the difference in the wing beats between the sharpie and the Cooper’s Hawk. He mentioned the wing beats of the sharpie remind him of the flicker of a candle flame. It is always a pleasure seeing him there.

A few minutes later someone from the Cape May Raptor Banding Project made an announcement - “Come join us at the pavilion, I have a SPECIAL bird you might want to see - this is the first time I have held one of these.” Ok, that got my attention, I joined the group. We were first introduced to the project - CMRBP was established to conduct long-term surveys of migrating raptors. This research helps to determine population increases or decreases, as well as migration movements. She went on the explain their achievements and also welcomed donations, it is run by volunteers - link to donate: https://capemayraptors.org/donate/

Then she brought out a Cooper’s Hawk that they just recently processed (this was not the SPECIAL bird).

After a few minutes she released the Cooper’s Hawk and we watched him fly into the wooded area next to the pavilion.

Now it was time to bring out the SPECIAL bird - A gray ghost!! - That certainly is SPECIAL! The gray ghost is a male Northern Harrier, this was a 2nd year male. We don’t see the adult males very often (for some reason).