My Cape May trip list:
Double-crested cormorants (hundreds and hundreds)
Great egrets
Great blue herons
Snowy egrets
Northern harriers
Osprey
Bald eagle
Sharp-shinned hawks
Cooper's hawks
Broad-winged hawks (I've only seen them at RAPTOR...I even held one once. Can't count 'em if they are restrained)
Merlins
American kestrels
Peregrine falcons (same things as above...I work with Lucy all the time, and this is the first WILD peregrine I ever saw!)
Lesser yellowlegs
Pectoral sandpipers (Thank you, stranger-birder, who stopped us later at dinner and corrected himself)
Sanderlings
Turkey vultures (We thought of you every time we saw a kettle, Lynne!)
Black vultures
Canada geese
Mute swans
American wigeons
Green-winged teals
Blue-winged teals
Mallards
Northern shovelers
Northern pintails
American coots
American black ducks
Buffleheads
Ruddy ducks
Common loons
Greater black-backed gulls (Laura couldn't believe I was getting excited about them. Seems that they are a bit common in NJ. I showed her the range map...they really don't even know where Ohio is!)
Lesser black-backed gulls
Laughing gulls
Forester terns
Royal terns
Black skimmers
Northern gannets
Ring-billed gulls
Rock pigeons
Belted kingfisher
Northern flickers
Blue-headed vireo
Red-eyed vireo
Blue jays
American crows
Tufted titmice
Red-breasted nuthatches
Brown creeper
Carolina wrens
Golden-crowned kinglets
Eastern bluebirds
American robins
Gray catbirds
Northern mockingbirds
Cedar waxwings
Palm warblers
Yellow-rumped warblers
Black and white warblers
Common yellowthroats
Field sparrows
Song sparrows
Dickcissel (hanging out with a bunch of house sparrows at the Hawk Watch. Hooligans.)
Clay-colored sparrow (We stared at that darn bird for 30 minutes. It was a bit of a big deal, seeing that one.)
Red-winged blackbirds
Rusty blackbirds (I do believe that was Laura's ONLY lifer that weekend.)
Purple finches
I know it's very early to be thinking about it, but I wonder if anyone is interested in birding THE site for spring migration in Ohio, Magee Marsh/Ottawa NWR/Black Swamp. I always go on International Migratory Bird Day, the second Saturday in May.
It's been said that some people never even get out of the parking lot at the entrance of the board walk. The birding is THAT good. Birdchick said she could do northern Ohio. We have seven months to plan it if anyone is ready for another Flock migration! I could be the "local" this time.
Kathi, you could do that trip, right? I am already smoozing the powers that be in Ottawa to maybe give us a deal like Cape May. The great thing about Magee Marsh is that you don't need to do a "bird walk". The birds are falling out of the trees...I promise. Even if no one joins me, I will be there regardless. It's my favorite part of Ohio.
If all that doesn't get you, how about this: Kenn Kaufman lives there!
9 comments:
all right, all right, I think my arm is twisted!
EXCELLENT trip list, Susan! If I counted right, you got 67 species with 20 Lifers? Well done! So glad you finally got to see a Peregrine.
IMBD at Magee sounds awesome! I'd love to go. I'll have to check to see if it conflicts with the New River Gorge Festival. I can't decide if I want to do the West Virginia trip again next year, or if I want to do Potholes and Prairies. It has to be one or the other.
Some day, I will have a job where I get the whole month of May off for vacation. Why can't we have less Feb. and more May in Ohio?
~Kathi, lusting over the Clay-colored Sparrow
Has anyone visited Muscatatuck National Wildlife in southern Indiana lately? Their migrants in mid-November include many on your list!
I've never been, but the mention of Sand Hill cranes and loons, grebes, horned larks...might get me there!
Very cool list Susan!!!
ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!!
Potholes and Prairies sounds good too....I think BT3 and JZ work that one.
I do want to visit Ohio but probably will be in Cape May for the World Series of Birding on the second Saturday of May (Mother's Day weekend, right?).
You have 5 months to continue to tempt me. Is it only a 12 hour drive?
Northern Ohio? Hmmmmm. Can't be more than 7 hours from here, I think. Keep tempting me. I need to look at a map. Ok, 561 miles - 9 hours but I could make it in 7 easily if I can get through VA without a ticket. I am so freaking far from EVERYTHING.
Your Cape May list is VERY impressive.
Yikes, Laura--12 hrs! You could always stop in PA and pick me up; I'll drive the rest of the way! I've heard great things about Magee from my birding friend at work, so I vote yes. ESPECIALLY if Kenn Kaufman is there! I'm almost done with Kingbird Highway; I'll do a post soon.
Although Potholes and Prairies is damned tempting too, Lynne. I've never been to Minnesota; it's kinda far....
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