Cape May Warbler on the Way to a Long-tailed Jaeger

 [This male Cape May Warbler in Cape May Point, NJ interrupted my race to a Long-tailed Jaeger.]

"Maybe we should just get breakfast somewhere and wait for the text message."

That was my lame suggestion to Beth for finding the juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger that spent its third day around Cape May today, but I'd missed it on a couple of non-chasing just-scanning attempts yesterday and figured the odds were someone else's eyes would find it this morning. And they did - after Richard Crossley put it to bed off St. Mary's last night, Vince Elia texted it out first thing this morning.

Me? I was home drinking coffee at the time, but in my defense it was barely 7:00 a.m and it didn't take long to pull it together and get to Cape May (I live a long 20 minutes away from the point). And eventually, see the jaeger with the cast of characters that had assembled on the platform next to St. Mary's. I was interrupted by a fine male Cape May Warbler on the streets of Cape May Point as I hustled to St. Mary's.

To really understand all this you need to know that we have a wonderful text message bird alert system set up by Bob Fogg called Keekeekerr (as in the Black Rail vocalization), and all the locals and some out-of-towners are on it, and so most rare birds are texted almost as soon as they are seen.  If you're coming to Cape May, I strongly recommend you plug in to Keekeekerr. I hope I never resort to sitting by the phone rather than birding for the joy of it, but it is, how shall I say, reassuring to know that as good birds are found, word of them is spread like wildfire.

[A vanguard Palm Warbler at Cape May Point State Park Saturday evening, this is my first of the fall. First of many, wait until later in the month. . .]