Blue Mash - spring stuff

A 51 species day at Blue Mash is never bad but also expected for this time of year. Unfortunately water levels are too high at both ponds to attract substantial shorebird numbers. Still 3 Least Sandpipers and one Lesser Yellowlegs were walking the banks. Among the recent spring arrivals were a couple of  Chipping Sparrows. A spiffy-looking Cardinal was among the more tarty birds of the day. Altogether 11 new year birds were added.

Total: 138
Year: 74 or 54%

Cape May

I had this trip to Cape May planned for a long time, but only now got finally round to it. Saturday was dedicated to seeing Philadelphia. After seeing oversized colons and seriously disfigured organs of all sorts at the Mutter museum (really felt like watching a necrophilic horror movie at times) and facing the Easter crowds I was glad to get out into nature on Sunday. Cape May is a premier birding spot on the East coast, and although we did not have fallout conditions, the birding was entertaining to say the least. Best bird of the day was undoubtedly a Eurasian Wigeon on one of the ponds, that had been hanging out there for a couple of weeks. Other goodies were a pair of Oystercatchers, a Snowy Egret, Boat-tailed Grackles and Mute Swans.  Among the many swallows were Northern-Rough-Wings. At least one Canada Goose was already in breeding mode and occupied its nest. North of Cape May we made stop at Jakes Landing where several Glossy Ibises showed up. Also around were thousands of waders, too distant to identify, but among them Yellowlegs and Eastern Willets. Ospreys were numerous along the way.

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Common Merganser

Blue Mash ain't standing still. Palm Warblers from last week moved on and were replaced by a wave of  Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers. A fly-over Common Merganser was a welcome patch bird in what otherwise was a pretty quiet walk across the Mash. A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk and Mourning Dove were perched and posed for semi-crappy photos.

Blue Mash Total: 138
Blue Mash Year: 63 or 45.6%

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Double-crested Cormorant

Ahh spring, at last! Pretty interesting day at Blue Mash with lots of Palm Warblers and Swamp Sparrows moving through. Best bird of the day: Double-crested Cormorant, unexpectedly a tarty patch tick. A few ducks left on the pond, among them Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup and a couple of Mallard thrown in. Tree Swallows have arrived in good numbers now and will aggressively shave your head if you come too close to their nest boxes. A quick swing-by at the Agricultural History Farm Park surprised me with a bunch of Savannah Sparrows, amidst which I was able to pick out two Vesper's.

Blue Mash total: 137. Year list stands at 59 species or 43%.

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