Date: 5/24/26 3:09 pm From: Marc Chelemer <mchelemer...> Subject: [JERSEYBI] A Century Day...with precious moments therein
Dear Jerseybirders,
On Friday, celebrating my newfound freedom from a 40-hour a week desk, my brother Scott and I made a loop around Cumberland, Cape May, and Atlantic Counties with the Hammonton Walmart as our starting point. I'd begun the day long before dawn at the Carranza Memorial, southeast of Tabernacle, on my first visit ever to this much-noted nightjar hotspot. It didn't disappoint; at least four Whip-poor-wills were calling, and that's after I'd seen several on the road during the drive in. Common Nighthawks were "peenting" overhead, though not visible.
Our first joint stop was Belleplain, where I was hoping to "upconvert" a heard-only Summer Tanager into a good visual observation. We started with beautiful hummingbirds at the HQ feeder, and friendly Eastern Bluebirds. Then, we waited out a singing Prothonotary Warbler in the Nummy Campground. We also found another Prothonotary, and a Hooded, at the creek near the magic triangle. Hearing a Summer Tanager singing a bit further down the road, we walked slowly west when, amazingly, the tanager flew to an eye-height perch no more than ten feet away and looked at US, while singing away. We both think it was a birder-watcher; why else would a bird fly down from a typical high-in-the-trees singing perch to sit only a few feet from us?
I hadn't seen a Blue Grosbeak yet as of Friday, so we stopped at Langley Road, where I'd seen one years before. Wouldn't you know, a brilliant male was foraging in the low grasses, offering amazing views despite the rain. We moved on to Thompson's Beach Road and drove to the end. At that location, two years ago, we'd enjoyed all three marsh sparrows on a bright sunny day. This day, with rain falling and wind blowing, it was anything but. Yet, as we were turning towards the car with not much to show for our efforts, Scott espied a bird at the edge of the tarmac: a perfect Nelson's Sparrow! It obligingly flew to the top of a nearby reed clump and sat there for a good eight minutes, singing away (as much as a marsh sparrow can really sing! Ha!), affording excellent digiscope possibilities.
We decided that we'd better try for beach shorebirds at that point, because the tide was rising, and went to Cook's Beach. There, we were thrilled to find what looked like at least 1,000 Red Knots north and south of the viewing point (maybe 2,000?). In addition, there were hundreds of Ruddy Turnstones and many Sanderlings in breeding plumage, creating a marvelous living collage of rufous, cinnamon, and chestnut feathers. We showed some of them to a group of high school students, "paying it forward."
On to Forsythe, the last stop of the day. My first trip to Forsythe was in 1971, when my brothers and I sat in the back of my parents' Buick Special swatting greenheads. In the intervening 55 years, I've never seen as many shorebirds as there were on Friday. Every mudflat was covered with peep, Dunlin, Dowitchers, and more. I estimate that there were ten thousand Semipalmated Sandpipers. There must have been more than 200 Ruddy Turnstones alone near the tower. Bank Swallows swooped overhead and two landed on the road right in front of us! We had been talking about Saltmarsh Sparrows and the unlikelihood of finding any in the driving wind and sprinkling rain...but hey presto...three flew up and offered a perfect view for a good 15--20 seconds at the northeast corner. The Black-necked Stilts were foraging in the northwest corner where they'd been for some days; I showed them to a non-birder who initially asked about the numerous Black Skimmers cruising over the water, about which she was fascinated. But the "Oh My Gosh" reaction she offered when seeing the Stilts through a 40X scope was precious; it made the whole day even more wonderful. We later saw a flock of about 100 Whimbrel and a "cloud" of peep starting their afternoon flight north as we reached the end of the loop.
Counting up our species at the five sites we'd visited, we discovered we'd hit 101 on the day...but spectacular views of Prothonotary Warbler, Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Nelson's Sparrow, and Black-necked Stilts, plus being able to witness spectacular numbers of shorebirds both on the mud and in the air...all this despite wind, rain, and cold temperatures, reminded Scott and me of what a thrill it is to be a birder in New Jersey!
