A Windy Adventure in Cumberland County

Clay and Pat Sutton's "Birds and Birding at Cape May" is an excellent go to book for scouting out a fun outing. It provides detailed information about where and what can been seen and is organized by the seasons in Part 1.

With time for an adventure in late April, I turn to the Spring section, and see that Horseshoe season is just starting, with Red Knots and other shorebirds on the way and that the Delaware Bayshore is a great place for sightings. I page to the Site Guide section, and determine that Cumberland County, including Thompson's Beach, East Point and Heislerville WMA, is where we should head.

On the way, we spot an osprey nest, with one eating a fish on a limb, while the mate tends to the nest.

At East Point, with cold weather and a stiff wind, void of both birds and people, 

a quaint old Lighthouse, built in 1849, is there to greet us. 

Out from the grasses, flies a Red-winged Blackbird with his bright red epaulet showing, 

down along the rocky shore, are a few Willets nibbling 

and winging in and out of the wind.

Back off the shore in the grasses, 

three Glossy Ibises swirl down and find a quiet place to rest. 

Our trip continues on to Heislerville. where we discover with delight an island 

covered with nesting Snowy Egrets and Cormorants.

The almost 7000 acre Heislerville WMA has a series of impoundments that you can drive on - it is a little crazy as they are only wide enough for one car.

Unfortunately, the winds scare off most of the birds and there are only a few Willets lingering. According to Sutton, this is a great place for a variety of shorebirds, waterfowl and raptors. If you are lucky, you might see 100s or even 1000s in a day.

On the way out, we park in the wooded area, where the paths have recently been reshelled, making it too noisy to see any birds, although the habitat is rich and lush.

 These are great birding sites that we look forward to revisiting.

The Quest for the Snowy Owl Continues

After checking various blogs and calling several NWRs, we drove 50 minutes from Cape May to Forsythe NWR last weekend, January 18th, as a Snowy Owl had been sited that morning on the 8-mile Wildlife Drive, right at the first curve. There had been even one the day before spotted on the roof of the headquarters there. This is where most of the owls have been spotted and
I hoped we would be lucky.

It was our first visit to Forsythe and it was amazing with an expansive sky view, rich feeding and nesting areas and about 1,500 acres of fresh/brackish water marsh habitat created by a dike system that can be manipulated depending on the seasons, not to mention 5,000 acres of woodlands and 46,000 acres total.

I shot anything that was white, just in case . .

After we drove the first 5 miles or so, my heart started to sink, but then our attention was drawn to the 1000's of snow geese taking off and their undulating flight patterns . . .

for them to then just settle down again a few meters away . . .

This Peregrine Falcon got the most of attention at the time we drove through, with many stopping to take shots. A Snowy Owl had been spotted in the same location just a day before.

And at the end of the drive was a pair of Common Pintail . . 

The closest I'm going to get to a Snowy Owl this year is this lovely print I found at the West End Garage in West Cape May. 

Perhaps, I will have better luck next year. According to Clay and Pat Sutton's Birds and Birding at Cape May, Snowy Owls can be seen in the area annually. (page 150-151)

During the quest, I learned more about how to access more current information through Twitter and sites listed on the right column of my blog under Useful Birding Links, which I will continue to add to. Project SNOWstorm is especially worth a peak, as transmitters were attached to several owls to track their movements and the findings are exciting.