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.

Osprey: Alive and well in NJ

On May 20th, my daughter and I did Birding by Boat on the Osprey from Cape May and saw an amazing array of different bird species. In this entry, I will focus on the many osprey we saw.

As we headed out to the harbor, we passed this nest created with an variety of materials and
located on top of a marker:

At this nesting site, shown below, an osprey has a fish in its talons and below it is either its mate or offspring waiting to be fed. This nesting platform was certainly created and erected by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ as part of their efforts to help increase the osprey population. For more information, be sure to visit their site: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/protecting/projects/osprey/

In 1974, the osprey population had plummeted from normally 500 to only 50 nests due to the effects of DDT. Because of the banning of DDT and then excellent conservation and management efforts of osprey, the number of nests rose to 486 in 2009. Another survey and census will be conducted this year.

As we motored around, we passed many osprey hunting. Unfortunately, it was an overcast day, so the lighting wasn't optimal.

What a Catch!

On a sunny day in mid-summer at Lake Lily, while admiring a Great Blue Heron, I looked up and noticed a osprey circling over head.

At closer glance, one could spot a fish in its talons.

As seen here, it is typical for the Osprey to catch and then carry fish head first, which allows for less wind resistance. Osprey are the only hawks that eat almost exclusively live fish. 

For most recent Osprey conservation efforts in NJ, visit the blog listed on my side bar: NJ Osprey Project and this site: http://www.njospreyproject.blogspot.com/