Golden-crowned Kinglet

It just felt like a warbler morning this morning after last night's thunderstorm, so we stepped outside with our coffee. We were quickly rewarded with a good showing of fall migrants this morning. What a way to welcome the first day of fall! We had this little darling, the Kinglet, along with two Northern Parulas, a yellow warbler, a brown creeper, and even a red breasted nuthatch. Can't wait to see what tomorrow morning brings.

Great Blue Heron on Floating Island

Mother and Baby Beaver

Not the best picture, but you can see the size of the baby.

Baby Beaver on Lake Nelson

Last night we saw a baby beaver swimming with its parent. It was too dark to get a photo with the DSLR. The beavers usually stick to a schedule, so tonight we were out at the same time with the older camera with a flash. The baby is really cute. Last night it ate some plants from our floating island planter. Tonight it nibbled on some leaves at the shore. It was curious about the flash camera and came closer for some photos.

There was a heron on the island for a few hours. We will post pictures when we have time.

Bobolink from Cape May

So, we've always wanted to see a bobolink in part because Bo-Bo-Link is fun to say. Turns out, they are actually called Bob-o-Links, not Bo-Bo-Links. We were describing a bird we had seen to some other birders and asking if it could possibly have been this, that, or the other bird. When we said we wondered if it was a Bo-Bo-Link, we found out we had been pronouncing its name wrong. Maybe if we hadn't been so careless with its name, we would have seen one sooner? Still, we think it's more fun to call it a Bo-Bo-Link, but we'll try and correct ourselves in the future. And we still hope to see a summer male Bobolink with that crazy white hairdo.

Red Breasted Nuthatch

The Red Breasted Nuthatch was one of the four life birds we saw on our trip to Cape May. We saw this one at the Cape May Bird Observatory coming to one of the feeders. We see plenty of White Breasted Nuthatches at the trees and bird feeders at our house, but we've always been hoping to see this variety due to its more pronounced eye markings.

More Birds from Cape May

Brown Thrasher


Yellow Warbler


Common Yellowthroat (female)


Hummingbird



Northern Parula


American Redstart (female)


Unidentified Wet Bird


Black and White Warbler

More water birds from Cape May

Blue Winged Teal



Black Bellied Whistling Ducks


American Wigeon


Sora


Snowy Egret

Black Skimmers from Cape May

Mike has always been wanting to get a photo of the black skimmers in their classic skimming maneuver. We were actually sitting on a bench at the Meadows when we first saw the flock, and we were too far away to photograph them. Chris had to console Mike with the fact that if we hadn't been sitting for a rest in the first place, he wouldn't even have seen them and it was okay that he didn't get any pictures. Luckily, when we started up walking again and were around a different side of the lake, a flock of 20 came by and we were closer and had good lighting to get some nice photos (along with many blurry ones with half a bird in them.)

After watching the skimmers for a while, Chris scanned the lake and found a Sora.

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher from Cape May Point

More Butterflies from Cape May

You had to see it to believe it. We saw more butterflies in one day at Cape May than in our prior fifty years. The beauty of this phenomenon seemed to be having a positive effect on all who encountered it; burly looking men smiling from ear to ear, perfectly sane looking women talking out loud to them, and children mesmerized.

Sora from Cape May

Chris spotted this Sora at the Meadows in Cape May. After seeing the Least Bittern earlier in the day, we were hopeful to see some other life birds, so Chris was scanning the shores carefully while Mike was following the Skimmers. She was not able to identify the Sora at first, but we both knew it was something we had not seen before. Fortunately some other birders joined us and we were able with their help to identify it. We kept watch for a while, and it turned out there were a total of three Soras running about for us to watch. Great fun! Nice ending to a good birding day.

Least Bittern at Cape May

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We were happy to have a birder point out a least bittern to us near the bird blind at Cape May Point State Park.

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

We hoped to see the black bellied whistling ducks that have been at Cape May Point State Park. They were resting on a platform by the bird blind.

Monarch Butterfly from Cape May

We went to Cape May to go birding but were surprised and amazed at the number of butterflies. The fall migration of the monarchs is impressive.

Coromant Fishing on Lake Nelson

 
 

Female Yellow Warbler

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Northern Waterthrush

The Fall migration is starting to get interesting. If this year is like the last two, we should be getting a black and white warbler in our yard this week.

Carolina Wren

Ovenbird in the garden

Frequent visitors to the site know that Chris greatly appreciates it when birds visit her plants. The ovenbird is one of the first fall migrants to stop by. We also had a black-throated green warbler today, but no clear photos.

Common Nighthawk: Photo by Donna

 

I have been seeing Common Nighthawks in swarms over an open field by me in Denville, NJ.  They start to come out at about 5:30 pm and I see about 30 of them or so flying back and forth over the field eating insects.