Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Cape May wrap-up

For posterity (and my own records), here are the species/lifers counts from Cape May:
American Black Duck
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Kestrel
American Oystercatcher
American Robin
American Wigeon
American Woodcock
Bald Eagle
Belted Kingfisher
Black Scoter
Black Skimmer
Black Vulture
Black-bellied Plover
Black-capped Chickadee
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brant
Broad-winged Hawk
Brown Thrasher
Bufflehead
Canada Goose
Carolina Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Common Grackle
Common Loon
Cooper’s Hawk
Dark-eyed Junco
Double-crested Cormorant
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
European Starling
Field Sparrow
Fish Crow
Forster’s Tern
Gadwall
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Great Black-backed Gull
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green-winged Teal
Hairy Woodpecker
Hermit Thrush
Herring Gull
House Sparrow
Killdeer
Laughing Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Yellowlegs
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Mute Swan
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Harrier
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Pintail
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Northern Shoveler
Palm Warbler
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Royal Tern
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruddy Duck
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Savannah Sparrow
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Tundra Swan
Turkey Vulture
Western Sandpiper
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Wood Duck
Yellow-rumped Warbler

That's 84 species, 4 lifers. There were some birds that other Flock members saw that I didn't see, so I didn't list them. If I didn't see it and positively ID it (or have it confirmed for me by a pro), I didn't count it.

So my lifelist is now up to 283. Pretty amazing! My file of photographs of lifers is only up to 196, though. The funny thing is--the ones I don't have. It's not surprising that I don't have pictures of a Veery or a Sora; those are hard. But I don't have pictures of silly birds like Rock Dove and House Sparrow--well, of course I don't! So I'll have to go out and take pictures of such "trash" birds sometime, just to round out the collection.

Another wonderful autumn migration in Cape May. I am secretly hoping we go to Texas this spring (maybe for AB's spring break), because I'd be able to get all kinds of crazy birds down there.

To wrap it up, thank you, weather gods, for actually giving us sun (instead of the usual drear and rain) in Cape May! That's a first!

6 comments:

RG said...

Holy WOW!

Beth said...

awesome, magical, spectacular, wonderful, Jersey-licious weekend. Congrats on the lifers!

Beth

John B. said...

That's a pretty good haul for Cape May in autumn. The reports from that weekend have been amazing. I hope there are some good birds the next time I go down (which might be in a week or two).

Elizabeth said...

If you ever visit Utah, I can show you the soras. They are super shy but you can eventually coax them out of the weeds.

dguzman said...

Rabbits' Guy, it was amazing!

Beth--You got even more lifers than I did!

John--I hope you get some good birds when you go.

Elizabeth--I've seen them, but I've never been able to snap a photo!

Susan Gets Native said...

Three posts? That's it?
I'm just getting started....
Word verification: flacal
That made me laugh out loud.