Fri-D: Semipalmated Sandpiper

 [Semipalmated Sandpiper, near Stone Harbor, NJ May 27, 2013. Click to enlarge. Notice the semi-palmations between the toes of the raised foot - and be aware that Western Sandpipers also has these, an adaptation for walking on mud. Not that one can see the feet well enough to use this as a field mark very often anyway. So instead pay attention to the small size, short straight somewhat tubular bill, light breast streaking, scattered rufous feather edgings above, and the fact that its on mud, where semi's prefer to be.]

Evidence of the fact that we pay far too little attention to common species, I realized last week when I wrote the blog post about Western Sandpiper that I have few good photos of the most common sandpiper on the eastern flyway, that being Semipalmated Sandpiper. Last weekend I set out to correct that. And by the way, paid a price, since the kayak route I picked had been altered by Hurricane Sandy, and I wound up paddling until past suppertime around a much enlarged island and over new shallows of unconsolidated sediment, which, as I learned, did not support the weight of a human trying to drag his kayak!

Semipalmated Sandpiper. Know this bird well, as it is a reference point for the other peep.

[A cluster of Semipalmated Sandpipers with a few Semipalmated Plovers thrown in. Compare the back colors of the semis in this flock, huddled on a windy day. Some show more rufous than others, but that's okay, they're all still semis. Heislerville, NJ last week.]

Thoughtful Thursday: Fierce

"The mountains, the forest, and the sea, render men savage; they develop the fierce, but yet do not destroy the human."
- Victor Hugo

Wordless Wednesday: Belleplain Emergence

See You On the Flip Side

 [The next White-throated Sparrow I see in Cape May will be southbound, probably next late September or early October. This one, at Higbee Beach today (May 27) is behind virtually all its brethren, and as such is the rarest bird I saw today. Click to enlarge photos.]

Well, that's it, spring migration's done. It went out with more than a whimper at Higbee Beach WMA, Cape May, NJ today, with obvious migrants like 2 Black-throated Green Warblers, 2 Magnolia Warblers, a Canada Warbler, and more than a couple American Redstarts. Plus Yellow-billed Cuckoos and more Red-eyed Vireos than can breed south of the Cape May Canal. Birds moving north, the last of them.

The last of them for me, I mean, and the last of spring migration for me in Cape May, though northbound birds will trickle through into June for others to enjoy. Next weekend I'll be happily ensconced in a campsite at High Point State Park, Sussex County, NJ, where there could very well be a few migrants still, and plenty of breeders, some of which I've missed northbound so far. By the time I next lift binoculars in Cape May, it will be deep into June, and there'll be no more hoping for the couple of migrants I'd really like to have grabbed northbound, like Tennessee Warbler or the rare Mourning Warbler. Hopefully I'll see these on the flip side, southbound.

 [Yellow-billed Cuckoo at Higbee Beach, Cape May NJ today, a migrant. A good view to study the tail pattern that helps separate it from Black-billed.]

[Finally! My son Tim found a Glaucous Gull at the mouth of the Maurice River in Bivalve months ago. I wonder if this one, a first cycle at Heislerville yesterday, is the same individual.]

MIKI

 [Above and below, two of the 7? 8? 12? Mississippi Kites gracing Cape May, NJ this morning. May plus strong northwest winds made a MIKI or two inevitable, but 7 were seen together and there were sightings of 2 to 5 separated in space and time that made it difficult to know how many were truly present. The bird above is in a steep glide into the wind, the one below is in a more normal posture. Note the short outer primary on both and overall "slim peregrine" shape.]

[Entertainment while you wait: this Indigo Bunting was in the Beanery parking lot in Cape May this morning while we waited for more kites to appear.]