Since this was my first trip to Cape May I had no idea what to expect. I'd heard crazy stories of hawks, falcons and associated raptors passing through in the 100s. There were lots of small ponds throughout the Cape so waterfowl were numerous. Due to ice still on most of the ponds, the water fowl were really close to the shore. We stopped at the beach and that was were I got a shock. There is a large sign where they post the largest number of sightings per species of raptors in any one single day. Hold on to your hat folks....on one Fall day they reported seeing 23,000 Sharp-shinned hawks. Hard for me to believe because I have a difficult time telling between a Coopers' and a Sharpy, and when you are up to 23,000 birds, well....still hard for me to believe. How do you know its not the same bird flying around in circles (giggling as he flys by again and again)? Today's pictures were taken at Cape May Audobun Society bird feeders. We spent 1/2 hour just watching the amazing variety of birds. I've attached a few examples.
Fox Sparrow ( funny little dance they do!)
Brown Thrasher
White Throated Sparrow
3 comments:
Gorgeous pictures John! Sounds like you had a very successful trip to Cape May. I'll have to catch up on your posts. What a crazy story about the 1,000s of hawks. It would have never occurred to me!
Wow! I've enjoyed your photos! It's great to see these birds other than in the field guide. Sounded like a wonderful time!
Great Brown Thrasher picture! I just saw my first of the year last weekend.
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