Indian Trail Swamp 11/29/2009
 RED SHOULDERED HAWK Post-Thanksgiving Stress Reduction The usual suspects, plus a few surprises The "Indian Trail Swamp" has two (or maybe three) divisions. The southern-most section, which runs roughly from the Wildwood Waterworks pond on Rt 47 up to Burleigh (13 Curve) Rd.; the middle section (which I visited today, and which I'm most familiar with) runs from 13 Curve north to Indian Trail Rd. The top section extends up to Stagecoach Rd., and possibly beyond. I've never been up there, and it looks like there are few if any decent trails for birding. If you'd like to visit and do some birding in this area of the Refuge, which is as beautiful and remote a spot as you can find in this part of Cape May County, your best bet is to park in the cut-out under the powerlines on Indian Trail Rd., about a mile west of Home Depot. Walk up the powerline trail; where the powerlines split into two branches, take the right fork and follow those lines up to The Nature Conservancy's "Indian Trail Swamp Preserve." If you're lucky and have a good GPS, you might just find the actual swamp after a nice hike. Be careful: trails are basically unmarked once you leave the powerline trail; and hunting is allowed here (in season) every day except Sunday, and I'd suggest a blaze orange hat even on Sunday during hunting season. Wild turkeys are fairly common here, but they don't always let you get a look at them (especially in hunting season). Look for them at the top of the powerline hill in the dry, sandy oak woods. Deer are also common, and if you're lucky you might see a fat black snake or an occasional coyote. If you get there early (or late), you might get to hear the barred and great-horned owls living there. It was 60 degrees at noon today, with lots of sun and no wind. But the winter resident birds were all there, enjoying what could be the last warm days of fall. The one bird I had hoped to see, the winter wren, did not appear today. But a red-shouldered hawk and a yellow-bellied sapsucker were surprise sightings. Here's my list for the day: Birds -Mockingbird -Carolina wren -red bellied woodpecker -turkey vulture -black vulture -mourning dove -robin white-throat sparrow song sparrow -field sparrow -Cooper's hawk -red-tailed hawk -golden-crowned kinglet -snowgeese (flyovers) -yellow rumped warbler -Carolina chickadee -tufted titmouse -downy woodpecker -American (common) crow -red-shouldered hawk -hermit thrush -yellow-bellied sapsucker -cardinal goldfinch Butterflies: -monarch -buckeye -clouded sulphur Dragonflies: -green darner 1 Comment Two Mile Beach, Nov. 25 11/25/2009
 SNOW BUNTING Snow buntings, eiders, red knots with bling, and more Went over to Two Mile Beach this morning thinking about nice fat Thanksgiving turkeys. No turkeys to be found here, but I did manage to spot plenty of other birds. (If it's turkeys you're interested in, a better spot on the Refuge might be Indian Trail, which I'll report on soon.) I parked at the Visitor's Center and headed down the south branch of the Dune Trail to the beach. A small flock of snow buntings (about 15+ birds) were picking at beach grass seeds on what's left of the fore-dunes between the south observation deck and the jetty. These are lovely, delicate little ground-feeding birds that might go unnoticed if you weren't looking for them. Two nice things about snow buntings: they are always in flocks (upwards of 100 have been hanging around the dunes at Cape May Point State Park in recent winters); and they never seem to fly far from where you spook them. Watch them as they circle and fly back up onto the dune a bit further down the beach. They are sometimes accompanied by lark sparrows, but not today. The entire beach has been absolutely scoured by the recent nor'easters! It's hard for me to estimate how much sand has been lost, but it seemed that at least 10-15 feet of former dune is now piled up at the base of the jetty. But it's a pretty healthy natural dune system over there, and my guess is it will come back little by little on its own as ocean currents and spring storms do their annual job of relocation and dune construction, all at no cost to taxpayers. Plenty of sanderlings and ruddy turnstones on the beach today, as well as two larger, plumper, grayer, longer-billed birds that upon closer inspection turned out to be winter-plumage red knots! Hard to ID now, since there's no red to be found anywhere. One actually had a bright green banding tag high on its left leg. They appeared to be healthy, but why were they still here and not on their wintering grounds in Tierra del Fuego? I'm guessing the warmer than average temps this fall may have influenced them. Or maybe it's just that the southward migration of these birds is not quite as spectacular as their northward journey in May, when they appear in huge (although dwindling) flocks up at Kimbles Beach feeding on horseshoe crab eggs. Anyone out there know the answer? At the jetty, a few usual suspects, including cormorants and purple sandpipers, as well as many red throated loons and a couple of common eiders (which have been seen in huge numbers at Cape May Point recently). Plenty of Northern gannets offshore, following the schools of stripers, no doubt. I searched for the harlequin ducks that have been seen further south at Poverty Beach, but no luck today. A train of scoters careened by just offshore, low to the water heading south toward the bay. These sea ducks are always in a hurry. If you haven't walked down the new Boardwalk Marsh Trail (which starts at the far end of the first parking lot), you should definitiely give it a try. Birding the ponds from the back end is very good now and will only get better as flocks of winter ducks start arriving soon. Much safer than risking life and limb parking on the shoulder of Ocean Drive. Buffleheads, black ducks, cormorants, and a few common egrets were hanging out on the ponds. A late snowy egret and a nice chuckle of brant were feeding in the ponds near Two Mile Landing. Here's my list for this foggy, drizzly morning: -American Crow -red-throated loon -black scoter -sanderling - ruddy turnstone -snow bunting -great black-backed gull -herring gull -common eider -purple sandpiper -red knot -double-crested cormorant -bufflehead -great egret -snowy egret -black duck -brant -song sparrow -ring-billed gull Birds, Butterflies and More... 11/17/2009
 NORTHERN CARDINAL Green Creek Trail, CMNWR. Sunny and breezy, temp. 57. 10am. Fun seeing these late butterflies and dragonflies today! Kinglets still moving through, hermit thrushes and white-throats here for the winter. The fields along the trail have a healthy scattering of milkweed plants, seed pods now dry and empty. The Green Creek Trail lies about 100 yards south of the Green Creek Fire House on Bayshore Rd, just south of Rt. 47 (think Little Danny's Ice Cream). There is a small parking area. The trail is short, but goes through a nice variety of habitats. There are overgrown fields and a vernal pond near the start. Look for woodcocks near the pond in the fall, winter, and early spring. The trail then enters a nice woodland, composed of some good-sized oaks, sweetgums and sassafrass trees. There are always a few hermit thrushes here in the fall and winter months. I have also seen red-headed woodpeckers here in previous years, although I didn't see or hear any today. At the end, if the ground is dry (which it was NOT today), you can walk through the phragmites to a low dike that overlooks the Green Creek salt marsh, bordered by many dead trees that make excellent perches for hawks and an occasional bald eagle. Birds: -Northern mockingbird -Northern cardinal -House sparrow -Red-Tailed hawk -Turkey vulture -Downy woodpecker -Northern flicker -Gray catbird -Sharp-shinned hawk -Red-wing blackbird -Tufted titmouse -Ruby crowned kinglet -Carolina chickadee -American robin -White throat sparrow -Hermit thrush -American crow Butterflies: -Red admiral -Monarch -Orange sulphur Other: -Spring peeper (early? late? confused??) -green darners by the dozen! |  Birds &
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