BOS Cape May Trip and Gray Kingbird
Published: November 04, 2016
Tags: General Observations, Cattle Egret, Brant, Northern Mockingbird, American Oystercatchers, Black Skimmer, Royal Tern, Willet, Carolina Chickadee, Eurasian Wigeon, Purple Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Red-throated Loon, Northern Gannet, Surf Scoter, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Gray Kingbird, Cape May, dolphin
Alec Humann led a BOS trip to Cape May at the end of October and I had the great thrill of going. Alec did an outstanding job of organizing,
planning, and sharing his extensive knowledge with the 15 of us BOS members who
attended. I didn't get any life birds on the trip - although I came close to one -
but I saw some great sights. Many - maybe even all of the others - got
at least a few life birds.
Alec arranged a few banding
demonstrations over the course of the five days we were there. On a couple of nights, we got to see (and touch)
Northern Saw-whet Owls after being just caught and banded. We also had a
couple of hawk banding demos where we enjoyed seeing up close and personal two Red-tailed Hawks, two Cooper's Hawks, and a Northern Harrier.
My favorite was the beautiful Northern Harrier with its soft browns and
owl-like face. Seeing that bird so close was just wonderful. One of the Cooper's Hawks was another favorite because I
got to hold and release it! The little guy snipped at me too, giving
me a real appreciation for its sharp beak! No worries - it really didn't hurt that
much! Rick Thomas took a video of the release that I need to figure out how to add here.
We saw some awesome birds: hawks, owls, shorebirds, passerines, and seabirds. All in all, I think the sea watches were my favorite activity. Seeing all the life out there on the ocean was so cool. I've never seen so many scoters, Forster's Terns, and Northern Gannets - and we saw several groups of dolphins to boot!
We had a real fun group of all different levels of birding experience and Alec fielded our hundreds of questions very well! I know I learned a ton on the trip and I'm sure everyone else did too.
It was hard leaving Cape May to come back to the
diminishing birding of Western New York. However, as luck would have it,
Melissa Mance found a Gray Kingbird over in Genesee County and it was still around as I was
driving my westward journey home. Even though I saw the one Greg Lawrence found earlier
in the year, my life bird experience, I decided to take a slight detour
on my way home and see this guy as it was giving great views. Sure
enough, the bird was there and I got some beautiful looks at it. The one
Greg found was pretty far out and a scope was needed, so this was well
worth the stop, even after having already driven 7+ hours!
Some photos of some of the birds seen on the Cape May trip and the Gray Kingbird are below...
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_4939.jpg)
A Cattle Egret in a fir tree seen at the hawk watch on the first day
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5108.jpg)
And the next day, there were TWO Cattle Egrets!
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_4954.jpg)
If I didn't get enough of those 11 Brant at home, I got my fill in Cape May!
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_4973.jpg)
Northern Mockingbird
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_4965.jpg)
American Oystercatchers
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_4987.jpg)
A Royal Tern carrying a fresh catch
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5012.jpg)
We had a smorgesborg of shorebirds here: Willet, Short-billed Dowitcher, and yellowlegs are in this group.
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5162.jpg)
Carolina Chickadee
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5231.jpg)
A beautiful, male Eurasian Wigeon
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5698.jpg)
Black Skimmer
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5473.jpg)
Purple Sandpipers - Amazingly, Alec noticed a group of 4 sandpipers fly in while on our sea watch. They landed behind a rock jetty and we went out and found them!
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5366.jpg)
Ruddy Turnstones
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5582.jpg)
Two of eight Red-throated Loons that flew over us at one of the sea watches
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5522.jpg)
Two, young Northern Gannet flying in front of a flock of Surf Scoters.
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_6000.jpg)
More Brant but a little closer. We probably saw thousands, altogether.
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_6019.jpg)
Male Surf Scoter off the jetty where Alec and I were scoping for a Masked Booby. That hoped-for bird would have been a life bird for us both but no luck!
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5837.jpg)
Alec holding a Northern Harrier
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5945.jpg)
Alec holding a Cooper's Hawk
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5852.jpg)
Northern Harrier
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4701_DSC_5931.jpg)
Cooper's Hawk
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4702_DSC_4993.jpg)
Dolphins!
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4702_DSC_4995.jpg)
Dolphins!
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4702_DSC_6397.jpg)
Gray Kingbird seen in Genesee County on my way home
![blog photo](/images/blogs/4702/large/blogs_4702_DSC_6448.jpg)
Gray Kingbird
![](/images/quote.png)
These Cattle Egrets are so cute. One of my fav, thanks for sharing.
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