World Series of Birding 2008

We had a very successful World Series of Birding as we raised close to $2,000 for the NJ Audubon Conservation Fund, and we spotted 176 birds – 20 more than last year. Our long term goal is to reach 200 species, and we hope that we’ll be able to do that in the next couple of years.

Once again Bob was in charge of the logistics for the Northern portion of the Route. He spent a week scouting areas we hit last year plus new ones looking for breeders we missed in 2007. He was able to share information with other teams and came up with a very detailed plan that accounted for every minute from midnight to 10:35am, which was the time we would start heading south.

I scouted central and southern New Jersey areas and Jonathan concentrated on Cape May County in the days leading to the big race. We had a much more detailed plan for the southern route than we did last year with alternate sites for specific species. We made sure we scouted each area at around the same time we would be there on the day of the race.

We got there with 20 minutes to spare. We could not have asked for a more favorable turn in the weather as it stopped raining as soon as we stepped out of the car! The first bird we heard right after midnight was a Screech Owl followed by a Virginia Rail. We moved to a few different locations and we heard numerous Sora, Marsh Wrens and a Barred Owl. By 1:00am the sky was clear and we were fortunate enough to have an American Bittern take off from a marsh and fly directly over our heads. We left the Swamp at 1:45am with 10 species identified. King Rail and Least Bittern were two birds we missed on the day, although Bob had them when he scouted the area a couple of days earlier.

We got to Vesper Hill (point D) a few minutes behind schedule (4:40am) so we had to rush up to the top. We passed most of the teams as they picked a spot closer to the street. We went all the way to the top and stayed there for 45 minutes. Great Horned Owl called a number of times before more and more birds started chiming in. Savannah was the first of the Sparrows to sing followed by Vesper , Field and Chipping. We waited as long as we could but we did not hear Grasshopper Sparrows (last year we had Grasshopper but no Vesper!!). On the way down the hill we heard Ring-necked Pheasant and a Wild Turkey among many other birds. The birds were awake and the race was on.

Bob had us spend 10-15 minutes on each stop regardless of what we saw/heard or missed. Spruce Bog was next. We heard a Ruffed Grouse drumming which meant that we did not have to stop at the Park bench area. Had good looks at a male Cerulean Warbler and we picked up most of the target birds on Bob’s scouting list (Nashville Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Canada Warbler, Scarlet Tanager).

We continued moving through Highpoint State Park with Sawmill Camp Ground being our next stop. We saw Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireo as well as some other more common birds. No Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and no Brown creeper although we spent 10 minutes waiting near its nest. These two birds would be missed although they were seen and heard by Bob numerous times in the past few days.

We stopped near the Broad-winged Hawk nest and waited for 5 minutes so that we can count it (nesting raptor rules). We then headed to Ocquittunk Camp where we picked up a good number of birds including Louisiana Waterthrush, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hairy Woodpecker and 8 new species of Warblers. We missed out on Golden-winged Warbler another bird Bob had seen days before.

We left the north on schedule (10:35am) and took Rt 31 South heading towards Princeton. We arrived at Florence (point J on map) where we were hoping to get as many Gull species as possible. An Iceland Gull was nice but we found no Lesser Black-backed Gulls and no Great Cormorants another target bird. The Peregrine falcons were close by their nest under the bridge and a singing Blackpoll warbler at the parking lot was a nice surprise.

We decided to skip Riverwind, an area that I had visited 4 times before the race looking mainly for Bobwhite which I never found. White-throated sparrows and Orchard Orioles were a sure thing there but we felt we would get them elsewhere. At the end we only got the Orchard Oriole. Our next stop was the Birch Creek Marsh where we found American Coot fairly quickly. We did not have to spend time looking for Common Moorhen and Pied-billed Grebe birds I had seen there while scouting.

On our way to Featherbed lane we scanned at newly plowed fields for Horned Larks and we were able to see one close to the road and without stopping which saved us some time. We got to Featherbed lane at 2:20 and we had our target birds there; Eastern Bluebird, Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark but no Snow Geese and no Northern Harriers a bird that I had seen more than once in the days prior to the race. We got the Snow Goose outside of Cape May Zoo but at the end we missed out on the Northern Harrier.

Next stop was Millville WMA (point O on map) were in addition to Summer Tanager we had Indigo Bunting and Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Bank Swallow and Wild Turkey had already been counted but Brown Thrasher and Easter Wood-Pewee are two birds that were in the area but we managed to miss them. Another bird that I saw while scouting the area was a Red-throated Loon. I have never seen a Loon on the side of the road but this bird must have mistaken the dirt road for water and once it landed, it was stuck (a loon needs at least Ό mile of water to get enough lift to take off). This Loon was going nowhere unless I helped it and since it looked healthy to me, I approached it and after a few attempts, I was able to throw my hat on its head, grab it and place it in the back of my SUV. Ten minutes later, the Loon was in a near by lake preening and diving for food. No Red-throated Loon on the day of the race though as this is another bird that we missed.

We arrived at Heislerville (point P on map) at around 4:00pm. We had Red Knot, Spotted Sandpiper and Red-breasted Merganser among others but we could not locate a Curlew Sandpiper a bird that was seen before and after the race (by yours truly). This was another bird that we had last year but not this time around. A quick stop at the CMBO Goshen offices produced the two target birds quickly (Orchard Oriole and Ruby-throated Hummingbird). Beaver Swamp did not yield Gull-billed Terns or White-faced Ibis two of the birds seen by Jonathan on the days prior to the race. The Bald Eagle nest was active but we saw a Bald Eagle as we were driving towards Goshen a few minutes earlier.

Drove by the Cape May Zoo entrance to get Snow Goose and Cattle Egret before we headed to Stone Harbor Boulevard. This was a good spot for us as we got Tricolored Heron, Whimbrel, Little Blue Heron and Boat-tailed Grackle in a very short period of time. It was now a little after 5:30pm so we decided to head into Cape May and forget about heading north to Brigantine NWR. We had some good birds on the island (Parasitic Jaeger, Lesser Black-backed Gull, American Oystercatcher, Surf Scoter, Black Scoter as well as the more reliable Least Tern and Piping Plover). We looked for the Eurasian Collared Dove but could not locate it and we did not venture into State Park where we could have had a Yellow breasted Chat.

It was getting dark so we headed for the spot we had Chuck-will's-Widow two days before. It was at the entrance of Beaver Swamp. Unfortunately instead of hearing a Chuck, we had a dog barking at us for 15 minutes straight and we got to meet its owner who came out to investigate. Luckily he was convinced we were not there to cause any trouble and took the dog back with him. We decided we had enough anyway and we opted to hit Bellplain for Whip-poor-will. We were lucky enough to get both but it took some time to do so. Jake’s Landing was our last stop and for once we did get to hear the elusive Black Rail. We got to the finish line, handed in our check list picked up our shirts and headed home.