Birthday presents

An early spring day in the field = the perfect birthday.

 The odd flowers of the Skunk Cabbage poke from the mud at the Beanery.

 A lone female Black Scoter (R) gets lots of attention from a group of males at Sunset Beach.

Glorious blue sky, here near the Nature Conservancy's Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve.

 A vernal pool along the power line, much fuller than it usually is at this time of year.

 Virginia Beardgrass, golden in the sun.

 An army of Dunlin on Avalon's beach.

 An American Bullfrog tadpole, thriving despite the chilly temperatures.

The end of a lovely day was spent watching Short-eared Owls hunting over Jake's Landing.

Hoodies

The midwest's brutal cold -- and the subsequent freezing over of most of the Great Lakes -- has driven lots of waterfowl to the coasts this year, and we in Cape May County have definitely benefitted from it. Many species which are typically quite rare here have been seen in good numbers this year: Red-necked Grebes, Redheads, Canvasback and more are gratifyingly common in back bays, marinas and along the surging tidelines, joining our regular winter visitors in vast floating flocks. It has given us great opportunities to study duck plumages up close.

A windblown little group of Hooded Mergansers at Cox Hall Creek WMA.

Gray

After yesterday's sunshine, we were back to dull gray overcast today, and things seemed cold and bleak and wintry as a result. 

The main lake at Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area in Villas.

Ring-necked Ducks and Ruddy Ducks snooze at the far end of the lake.

Valentines

Our ongoing frigid temperatures have greatly reduced the numbers of waterfowl overwintering in Cape May; most of them shipped out to points south when the ponds and lakes and bays froze over, and they haven't returned. Many of the birds that stayed have congregated around the marina docks in the back bays, where the movement of those few boats still in the water (and the slightly warmer temperatures from all the surrounding buildings and pavements and so forth) have kept the water open. Though it's probably not ideal for the birds to be so close to us (it's undoubtedly rather stressful to be close to all of us humans), it's wonderful for the birders, especially for those with cameras in hand.

Buffleheads are small sea ducks (the male's the one with the whiter sides and bigger white head patch). Intriguingly, they nest in trees in northern boreal forests -- in old woodpecker holes!

Female Common Goldeneyes. As weird as it is to imagine ducks in trees, this is another tree-nesting species.

A Common Loon in winter plumage -- much more subtly plumed than it will be in a few months.

Another spectacular sunset sky enticed Mike and me down to the beach again this evening. Cape May certainly does seem to have more than its share of glorious sunsets!

Back bays and beaches

I was right -- it is hard to come back to the cold after a balmy week in Mexico. But a sunny morning beckoned, so we bundled up and went out anyway. Our target was a reported Smith's Longspur, a bird normally found far to the west of New Jersey. We didn't find it, despite much tromping around, but there were plenty of other things to enjoy.

At this time of year, the dunes are studies in tawny browns. On breezy days like today, the vegetation flaps like tattered flags. 

An "Ipswich Sparrow" pauses in its efforts to pry tiny Seaside Goldenrod seeds from their cases. This pale bird belongs to the subspecies "princeps" of the Savannah Sparrow. It breeds only on Sable Island, a tiny, narrow crescent of land located more than 100 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. As its world population numbers fewer than 6000 birds, it is considered to be a subspecies of "Special Concern".

This bizarre cloud formation is a "fallstreak hole"; the trailing tail is made up of falling ice crystals.

We finished the day at the Avalon seawatch, where thousands of sea ducks floated just offshore. The eerie, high-pitched whistling calls of the courting male Black Scoters -- and the distinctive "A ha lek" calls of the courting Long-tailed Ducks -- filled the air.