Dear Friend of the Loons,
Thank you for your support of our efforts in the World Series of Birding this year. All funds collected will go to The Nature Conservancy’s Migratory Bird Fund. We thank you for helping to support this fine organization. Our final count of 197 birds represents a significant leap up from our previous high count of 175 birds. This result is a product of countless hours scouting and planning. I hope you enjoy the following account of our day. On the left is a copy of our checklist.
Once again, our “day” began in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. We got to the marsh around 11:30 to scout around a bit and found ourselves parked on the roadside along with about eight other teams. Coffee and conversation was exchanged right up until 11:55 when many of us proceeded to the edge of the woods. Once there, the DVOC team began whistling for a Screech Owl. Hearing the bird respond was a true test of our abilities to listen deeply into the woods. Eventually, we all heard it and so began a wild adventure through the state of Jersey. By the time we left Great Swamp around 2:00, we had checked off Yellow and Black-billed cuckoos, American Bittern, Least Bittern, Barred Owl, Grey-cheeked and Swainson’s Thrushes, American Woodcock, Sora, Virginia Rail and a few others.
We started our pre-dawn birding earlier than ever in the grasslands of northwest New Jersey climbing up a long hill through farm fields. The real target birds here were the Vesper, Savannah, and Grasshopper sparrows that Scott and I had scouted during the week. All three (plus an American Pipit) sang for us by 5:10am and we were off on our crazy morning run.
After the grasslands, we ripped through High Point State Park and Stokes State Forest picking up many difficult to find species such as Ruffed Grouse, Canada Warbler and 5 birds of prey that we had scouted on nest. After having missed Great Horned Owl at Great Swamp, we figured we didn’t have a chance for that bird until Cape May County at night. Nice surprise for us when one started singing at 9:30am near our stop for Nashville Warbler. On top of the GHO singing there, we picked up a bonus Hairy Woodpecker calling on the hill behind us. We ended up crossing over I-80 at 10:40 with 128 birds checked off. On the way south, we stopped in at Florence where we saw Great Cormorants sitting on a channel marker, Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the water, a Peregrine Falcon on the bridge and a surprise Cedar Waxwing in a park. The scouted Northern Bobwhite called as soon as we arrived and the American Coot was sitting pretty at its scouted location. It is always nice to be able to make a two-minute stop and have the birds show up right away like they did.
We had considerable good fortune with a couple notoriously difficult birds in Salem and Cumberland Counties. While pulled over on the side of the road to see Horned Lark, we heard a Yellow-breasted Chat singing from a hedgerow. Blue Grosbeak decided to sing at our White-eyed Vireo stop and Summer Tanager was heard at our second stop for it. Along with the good fortune came some tough misses such as Yellow-throated Warbler and Kentucky Warbler (had three spots scouted for each, but couldn’t get the birds). Birding in the afternoon can be pretty tough, but overall, our scouted birds came through for us and we entered Cape May County later than we wanted to, but with a solid number of species found.
In Cape May County we zipped from stop to stop as fast as possible. We needed to cut a lot of stops due to being behind schedule, so we tried to hit spots with more than one new species expected… Heislerville for Bonaparte’s Gull, Curlew Sandpiper, Red Knot and Red-breasted Merganser…Beaver Dam Road for Eagle, Prothonotary Warbler, Carolina Chickadee and Gull-billed Tern…Cape May Point for Gannet and Purple Sandpiper… Nummy Island (between North Wildwood and Stone Harbor) where we got a fly-over Whimbrel along with several other needed species. We ended our daylight birding in Avalon watching Yellow-Crowned Night Heron on the bay side. We then quickly made our way to a small cemetery where Mike had scouted both Whip-poor-will and Chuck-will’s-widow. After thirty minutes of waiting, we finally heard the Chucks but no Whip. We raced over to Jakes Landing where we unsuccessfully tried to pick up the Whip-poor-will, but did get Seaside Sparrow singing at night. Back to Stone Harbor for our final bird of the day - Green-winged Teal by silhouette (we listed as “Teal Species” just to be safe). We were hoping to hear the Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows sing here, but rain came in hard so we called it a day – a very good day indeed.
We must mention Delaware Valley Ornithological Club team’s constant assistance and support leading into this event. They have actively promoted a climate of cooperation and sharing which has made the event very friendly and enjoyable for all. They came in with a total of 227 species and we are happy for their success. Thanks also to the numerous landowners in the north who generously gave us access to their properties during this event. The biggest thanks go to you folks reading this note. Thank you so much for your support. You are helping a wonderful organization do important work that will help preserve vital habitat for many species.
Bill Reaume (Captain of the Four Loons)
