View From The Cape

Kick Off Your Year List – January 1, 2021

Leaders: Brett Ewald, Chris Marks, Mary Watkins, Alan Crawford Temp: 45° Winds: 5-10 WNW Weather Conditions: Overcast, rain starting early afternoon   Cape May Point State Park – Hawkwatch Platform 9:11 am 29 species Species Count Canada Goose 24 Mute Swan 17 Tundra Swan 2 Northern Shoveler 5 Gadwall 30…...

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Sunset Beach: A Place for all Seasons – December 13, 2020

Leaders: Mary Watkins, MJ Roache, Bernie Hodgdon Temp: Winds: Weather Conditions:   Beautiful morning at Sunset Beach and the Magnesite plant…hard to believe it’s mid-December! Highlights included black and surf scoters, great egret, and golden-crowned kinglet. 31 species Species Count Mute Swan 2 Mallard 6 American Black Duck 3 Green-winged…...

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Harlequin Romance – December 12, 2020

Leaders: Melissa Roach Temp: 57F Winds: South winds 10-13mph (gusts up to 22) Weather Conditions: Cloudy, cool, and windy. The day started with dark, overcast skies with a period of heavy fog, but became mostly cloudy with some blue sky later. Barnegat State Park Lighthouse – 9:55 a.m. 22 species Species Count Brant…...

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Birding Cape May Point – December 12, 2020

Leaders: Kathy Horn, Kyle Chelius Temp: 50° F Winds: S 0-5 mph Weather Conditions: cloudy   45 species Species Count Canada Goose 15 Mute Swan 45 Tundra Swan 3 Northern Shoveler 14 Gadwall 44 American Wigeon 30 Mallard 35 Northern Pintail 5 Ring-necked Duck 20 Long-tailed Duck 1 Bufflehead 12…...

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MONTCLAIR HAWKWATCH UPDATE – Late Season Summary

The second half of this unique 2020 season had its share of challenges but was also a boon of amazing observations. Bad weather continued through the last two weeks of October and caused us to miss a few days; despite this, these proved to be two of our best weeks…...

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Birding Cape May Point – December 5, 2020

Leaders: Kathy Horn Temp: 42° F Winds: NW 30-35 mph Weather Conditions: Rain – Light to Heavy   44 species Species Count Canada Goose 18 Mute Swan 65 Tundra Swan 3 Blue-winged Teal 1 Northern Shoveler 14 Gadwall 75 American Wigeon 48 Mallard 35 Northern Pintail 15 Green-winged Teal 30…...

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Monarch Quilt Silent Auction

SILENT AUCTION! This handmade quilt with a monarch butterfly motif has been donated to the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Monarch Monitoring Project to help raise funds for the project.  The artist is Dale Watson, an accomplished quilt maker and volunteer with the Project.  The quilt, which measures 64 x 76…...

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Brigantine and Mott’s Creek Special Field Trip 11/28/20

Leaders: Chris Marks, Barb Bassett, and Mary Watkins Temp: 54° F – 58° F Winds: West 2-10 mph Weather Conditions: partly cloudy   44 species Species Count Brant 2500 Canada Goose 150 Mute Swan 2 Tundra Swan 3 Northern Shoveler 60 Gadwall 40 Mallard 50 American Black Duck 150 Mallard…...

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CAPE MAY HAWKWATCH UPDATE – Nov 20th to 30th

That’s all she wrote. The 2020 Cape May Hawkwatch, sponsored by Swarovski Optik, is officially finished and in the books. Stayed tuned to the end of this post for the full season total! The final 10 days of the count were what one would expect at this stage in the…...

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AVALON SEAWATCH UPDATE – Nov. 11th to Nov. 24th

This period started off slow but ramped up into quite a busy two weeks! Wednesday the 11th was overall slow, with a little over 1000 gannets and over 150 Laughing Gulls, but only 400 scoters and 170 Red-throated Loons. The 12th was similarly slow, with only 400 gannets, 400 Laughing…...

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