Damon's Birds for the Weeks of August 4 - August 17

Previously I mentioned that birding was slow up in the Philly region so I headed down to Cape May, and boy am I glad I did! I spent every morning for the week getting up at 5:30 so I can head down and put a good many hours of birding before my family was even awake. The best way to not feel guilty for spending so much time birding while on vacation with your family? Sacrifice sleep! Ok, I did go to be early every night, so my sleep didn't suffer.

I took three bird walks with the Cape May Bird Observatory and took a couple days on my own. Of course I was up early and down in Cape May before the walks even occurred, so I got at least an hour of solo birding even on those days of the walks. One morning I followed the directions and location that the helpful birders of the Observatory gave me and saw and heard the Eurasian Collared Dove. Yeah, Paul saw a million of them in Oregon and I'll probably be sick of them in a few years, but it was a nice find because it was exactly where people said it would be.

Now, I'll talk more about the bird walks and all later, but I will say that I really like them. They have a good variety of places (different each day) and the people are damn good. Ignoring any binocular issues, I haven't had any bad interactions there (and I am a...well...I will say that not everyone appreciates my humor and personality). Birding with top-notch birders? Highly recommended!

Note that got new birds every day for six days in a row, including the day after I came back from vacation, and nothing since. I know I won't catch Paul, but I forced him to work hard to keep the distance between us. Looking at the year and what winter birds I haven't seen, it seems I have 200 automatically, 225 very likely, and 250 if I try really, really hard. Anything more will take a trip outside the Mid-Atlantic states.

Paul could add probably 20 new birds just from this photo

168; Lesser Black-backed Gull; 8/4/13; Boardwalk; Ocean City, NJ
169; Ruddy Turnstone; 8/5/13; near Cape May Meadow; Cape May, NJ
170; Sanderling; 8/5/13; near Cape May Meadow; Cape May, NJ
171; Semi-palmated Plover; 8/5/13; near Cape May Meadow; Cape May, NJ
172; White-rumped Sandpiper; 8/5/13; near Cape May Meadow; Cape May, NJ
173; Sandwich Tern; 8/5/13; Cape May Point; Cape May, NJ
174; Whimbrel; 8/6/13; Nummy Island; Stone Harbor, NJ
175; Black-crowned Night Heron; 8/6/13; Nummy Island; Stone Harbor, NJ
176; Tri-colored Heron; 8/6/13; Nummy Island; Stone Harbor, NJ
177; Black-bellied Plover; 8/6/13; Nummy Island; Stone Harbor, NJ
178; Roseate Tern; 8/7/13; Cape May Point; Cape May, NJ
179; Eurasian Collared Dove; 8/8/13; Lincoln and Whildon; Cape May Point, NJ
180; White-eyed Vireo; 8/8/13; Higbee Beach; Cape May, NJ
181; Black Tern; 8/9/13; John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge; Philadelphia, PA