The Hunt for Red Knot

For the second time in three years, I journeyed to the Delaware Bay beaches of New Jersey in search of the red knot, a long-distance voyager from South America. In 2019 I spent a day scouring Cape May County and while I had a great day of birding, I was unsuccessful. I decided to try again in a year, spending a few weekdays on vacation there to have 24 hour access to the beaches while avoiding the weekend crowds. That trip was cancelled because of Covid, although I'm sure the shorebird migration was unaffected. This year I was able to make the trip, giving myself a Sunday, Monday, and part of Tuesday to find the elusive little sandpiper.

Red knot (USFWS)

Sunday, May 23rd was one of the warmest days of the year so far. I wasn't in a rush to get anywhere so I wasn't on the road at the crack of dawn, but I didn't want to waste any daylight. Leaving by 7:30 was a good compromise. I made great time getting to the beaches in the area of Villas, NJ. Two years ago my first stop was Kimbles Beach, a part of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. I decided to stop there first again. There were laughing gulls and "peeps", a generic term for the little sandpipers that all look alike to me. They weren't present in as great a number as 2019, and it could be because this year's trip was a little later in the migration than before.

Peeps and gulls feeding at Kimbles Beach

The tide was on its way out, and there were quite a few horseshoe crabs on the beach, and pearly green eggs in the wrack line. Some were making their way back into the bay, while others were burying themselves in the sand. Still more were dead, becoming meals for the birds and other critters. I scanned up and down the beach, but no red knots. There was a volunteer naturalist on duty, and she told me to check back later in the day when the tide is coming back in, about four in the afternoon.

Horseshoe crab eggs

It was late morning, so I had quite a bit of time to kill until then. My next stop was Higbee's Beach, where I saw my first American oystercatcher two years earlier. This time there were more people than birds on the beach so I didn't spend much time there. The highlight of this beach was a whelk egg case that had washed ashore.

Whelk egg case

The clock was still slowly ticking away until the tide returned, so I went to Fire Control Tower #23, a World War II observation tower. It was lovingly restored and opened to the the public for tours while I was living in Washington, and in 2019 I arrived just after it closed for the day. I was determined to get inside this time after years of wondering what was in there.

Skipping over the history lesson and staying on track with nature, the real reason for my visit, I had a picnic lunch at Cape May Point State Park before hitting the trails there. The trail I chose was a loop through a maritime forest and around a freshwater pond. Swans and ducks were beating the heat with a swim, songbirds serenaded me, and the air was scented with saltwater, bayberry, and eastern red cedar. Some wildflowers added a splash of color, and a muskrat lodge was the only sign of mammals. By the lighthouse, a flock of purple martins flitted around their little hotel on a pole, calling to each other and snagging insects like little flying acrobats.

Muskrat lodge

I checked in at my AirBNB just a block from the bay and took a nap until it was time for the tide to return. I went back to Kimbles Beach and waited. The horseshoe crabs were still there, and in greater numbers. The laughing gulls and peeps were still there, but no sign of red knots. A few other people came to the beach and we talked about wildlife for a while. I was scanning to the south and Liz, a birder from North Jersey, was scanning to the north. She spotted the red knots in a mixed flock. Finally, after two years I got the bird I was after. Much like the first time seeing the horseshoe crabs spawning, it was a surreal experience.

Horseshoe crabs coming ashore to spawn

A mixed flock that includes red knots

Seeing the red knot on the first day freed up the rest of my time to look at other wildlife areas. I went to Sunset Beach, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mercury and Venus after sunset, but the clouds had already come in by then. I spent some time at the gift shop and got a few items for my friends while I waited for the traffic situation there to clear out, then got some nighttime lighthouse pictures.

Monday was cloudy, drizzly, and about 30 degrees cooler. I wasn't about to let a few raindrops ruin my day. A rainy day at the beach is better than a sunny day at work. After breakfast in Cape May, I went to the Nature Conservancy's Garrett Family Preserve. It's a small property in between a residential neighborhood and Cape Island Creek. The property is a matrix of forest and field up against a salt marsh. I saw and heard quite a few songbirds, a young rabbit, a baby diamondback terrapin, a duck, a turkey vulture, wildflowers, a pile of feathers and bones, and some bee hives. In the salt marsh, there was an osprey on the nest and a bunch of holes where I saw some kind of motion. It was fiddler crabs scuttling back into the holes when they saw me coming.

Baby diamondback terrapin

My next stop was South Cape May Meadows, another Nature Conservancy property on the Atlantic. I first went there in 2019 and had a great day of bird watching. This time was more of the same, despite the drizzle. I saw my first glossy ibis and more turtles. However, it was just turtle heads poking out of the water so I couldn't tell what kind they were. There was another muskrat lodge, swans, ducks, geese, terns, and peeps. On the beach in the fenced off nesting area there were terns, oystercatchers, and some other bird that was too far for me to identify. I came across a toad, lots of feeding peeps including dowitchers, otter scat, and more piles of feathers where some bird met its demise. 

Long-billed dowitcher

Beach toad

Glossy ibis

A walk around Lake Lily brought me pond lilies, a robin fledgling, and a family of swans. After a late lunch I went to the wildlife refuge's Two Mile Beach unit on the Atlantic outside of Wildwood. While I didn't see them, there are snowy plovers nesting there. By the time I got there, the rain became steadier than a drizzle and the dark clouds and high wind made for an angry looking ocean. I continued walking the trails. More ducks and peeps, my first eastern towhee, and my first yellow warbler were waiting for me.I decided to head back to the bay to see if the red knots would be back with the rising tide. But first, I had to hit the boardwalk and grab some more gifts. Bubble blowing unicorns are in, license plates with your name are out.

Kimbles Beach was getting a steady rain when I arrived, but the wind was gone. Despite the incoming tide, the waves were almost nonexistent. So were the crabs. And so were the red knots. I decided to order dinner and call it a night. I had one last stop planned for Tuesday before going home, but my GPS wanted me to drive around a trailer park so I just left. One of the last things I saw before leaving New Jersey was a great blue heron flying over the Delaware River. 

The plan for finding the red knot worked. I avoided weekend traffic for the most part, I slept in an ideal location, the weather was mostly cooperative, I learned a lot, and saw a blend of new sites and old. I saw close to 30 different bird species, 5 that I never saw before, including the one bird I went to see. My long weekend was a nice break from the office and recharged my batteries for me, in spite of the miles I put on my feet.

Species of the Month

Introduction: One of the surest signs of spring is the return of the American robin, March’s Species of
the Month. From their cheerful morning song to the way they hop about your lawn, what’s not to love
about this little harbinger of better weather?

American robin (Missouri Department of Conservation)

Scientific name: Turdus migratorius

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Aves (birds)

Order: Passeriformes (perching birds)

Range: Southern Canada to southern Mexico

Habitat: Open grassy areas and open woodlands with dense shrubs

Lifespan: Average age 2 years

Diet: Berries, worms, insects

Predators: Snakes, squirrels, blue jays, crows, ravens: eggs only; snakes, hawks, house cats: adults only 

Conservation Status: Not listed as threatened or endangered, but protected under the Migratory Bird
Act.

Other Information: The gregarious, ubiquitous American robin is one of the first birds to begin nesting
in the spring. They start shortly after arrival, and may lay as many as three clutches of eggs. Each
clutch gets its own nest. The parents won’t start a new family until the old one has fledged the nest,
about two weeks after hatching. The young won’t become expert fliers for another two weeks after and
will be somewhat reliant on the parents until then.

American robin nest with eggs (Missouri Department of Conservation)

Male robins are slightly larger than females. Unlike many other birds, male and female robins look
nearly identical. Females are slightly lighter in color. Juveniles have a speckled breast, rather than the
familiar reddish coloring.

Juvenile American robin (Hal and Kirsten Snyder)

Outside of breeding and nesting season, American robins typically feed and roost in large flocks. They
roost overnight in trees in dense woods or secluded areas. During spring and summer they are more
solitary. Watch them in your yard. When grounded, their motion is hop hop hop hop or run run run run
run stop run run run run run stop. When stopped they frequently cock their heads. They do this because
they are looking for worms or any danger. They must move the entire head because their eyes don’t
move like ours.

American robin wrestling a worm (Cornell University)

This week's information comes from the Animal Diversity Web at University if Michigan again.

Species of the Month

Just because we're past Valentine's Day doesn't mean our Species of the Month isn't still lovey-dovey. This month we're taking a look at the mourning dove, one of the most common birds in my area.

Scientific name: Zenaida macroura

Mourning dove with baby

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Aves (birds)

Order: Columbiformes (pigeons and doves)

Range: Southern Canada south to Panama

Habitat: Open woods and forest edges near open areas

Lifespan: Average is 1 1/2 years

Diet: Seeds, grains, fruit, insects

Two mourning doves that hatched from the
nest in my flower basket

Predators: Raptors, raccoons, snakes, domestic dogs and cats

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: Mourning doves form monogamous pairs for mating season, with both parents
caring for the young. The male selects the nesting site and brings material to female. He stands on her
back while she builds. I'm not exactly sure how that helps her, but I saw it happen with my own eyes.
Doves in northern areas may migrate to warmer areas in the winter. They make a whistling noise when
flying, and also audible flapping sometimes. Mourning doves get their name from their mournful
sounding call. When I was a kid, I thought it was an owl. You probably see them sitting on a wire by
the side of the road. They have a pointy tail and call out "Who ah who, who who." I noticed the ones in
Washington sound a little different from those in Pennsylvania. Even birds have a Philly accent.

Check out those pointy tails (eBird)

This week's information comes from the Animal Diversity Web again.

A Dove Affair

A little over a month ago, I was having a normal morning until I thought a mourning dove was about to crash into the dining room window. He pulled up and landed in the flower basket. Then I noticed he had pine needles in his mouth and passed them to his mate. They were building a nest. I was about to become a bird uncle!

Mother dove feeding one of the babies

I don't know for sure when the eggs hatched, but about three weeks later I got my first look at one of the babies. By then the flowers in the basket were dead and brown, perfect camouflage for the doves. A second baby was in there too, I just didn't notice it for another week. By that time, the babies were almost adult sized. They were up on the edge of the basket flapping their wings, getting ready to fledge the nest.

Baby dove

The last time I saw one of them it was on the edge of the basket flapping during a severe thunderstorm. Through the glass, I was trying to convince it to not try flying in such nasty weather. The next morning, it was gone. A few hours later I watched as the second baby flapped at the edge of the basket, then took off and flew into the neighbor's tree.

The children are getting older

It took less than a month to build a nest, lay eggs, hatch them, and fledge the nest. I was sure my little friends would be around at least until summer. Every now and then I'll look out the back window and see a pair of doves in the yard, or perched on the fence. To me they all look the same, but I can't help thinking it's the same ones I watched grow up.

Have the prodigal doves returned?

Species of the Month

Spring has officially arrived, and with it, the birds and the bees. March's Species of the Month is a bee, the American bumblebee. This and other bees are just beginning to make appearances in my neck of the woods. Cute and fuzzy, they fly despite the laws of aerodynamics stating otherwise. Lucky for them, they don't use aerodynamics to fly.
  

Scientific name: Bombus Pensylvanicus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Insecta (insects)

Order: Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, sawflies)

Range: Eastern North America from Quebec south to Florida, west to the Rockies

Habitat: open fields

Lifespan: Up to a year

Diet: pollen (favors sunflower, clover, vetch)

Predators: Birds, spiders, other bees, small mammals

Conservation Status: Threatened

Other Information: Bumblebees live in a family colony. A queen emerges from hibernation first and begins searching for a suitable nesting site to lay her eggs. She feeds the larva, which grow into workers that feed the next batch of larva to hatch. In summer, males and queens hatch, then leave the nest to mate. The queens go into hibernation for the winter while the males and workers die. American bumblebees are a later emerging species. They are able to regulate their body temperatures like mammals do. American bumblebees, like other bumbles and bees in general, are declining in number. Several factors are thought to contribute, including habitat loss and pesticides.
This week's information comes from Iowa State University's Bug Guide and the US Forest Service. The pictures are from the State of Montana's Montana Field Guide.

Daffy Ducks

This week, let’s have a look at one of my favorite critters, ducks. Mallards are probably one of the most common birds in North America. There have always been a lot of them near me, whether I was living in Pennsylvania or Washington. Many species are migratory, but my mallards are year-round residents. Growing up, I could always count on a few in the back yard, as we had a small stream separating us from the town park.

A pair of ducks swimming in a stream

There are two kinds of ducks- diving ducks and dabbling ducks. Diving ducks, as the name implies, dive underwater for food. Dabbling ducks like the mallard flip their butts in the air and their heads in the water to find food, but remain afloat. Different species have different food needs, but as a group they feed on fish, insects, worms, mollusks, and plants.

A mallard (a dabbling duck) goes bottoms up for food

A Barrow's goldeneye (a diving duck) beginning a dive

Females lay eggs in a nest, then lead their hatchlings to water. One year, a mallard nested in a tree in my parents’ yard. It’s a common practice among wood ducks, but at the time such behavior was unknown to me or anyone else in town. City workers came and got the ducks out of the tree. They didn’t believe it until they saw it. Ducks with tree nests usually nest right above a body of water. After hatching, the babies will plop out of the nest into the water, following mom’s lead.

Wood duck hatchlings leaving the nest (Pintrest)

One thing I’ve been guilty of in the past is feeding the ducks. Since they were frequent visitors, and because no one likes the end piece of bread, I would tear it into little pieces and toss it to the ducks. Bread isn’t part of a duck’s natural diet and can lead to health issues down the road. It’s better to let wildlife be wild and not count on people for food, but if you must feed the ducks, give them grape halves.

Mother mallard and babies

Ducks are known for their stereotypical quacking, but that sound belongs to the female mallard alone. She seems to be especially noisy in a large group of ducks. Probably the best duck sound is the mutter. I notice this if I’m on a bridge or at the water’s edge and a duck swims by. They sound to me like they’re muttering something under their breath at me. My favorite duck behavior occurs during mating season. On many occasions, I’ve seen half a dozen or more males chasing a female around the back yard. There’s nothing like a bunch little footballs with heads waddling around as quickly as possible.

Maybe you see a lot of ducks in your area too. Are they so common as to become almost invisible? Slow down and take the time to watch them.

Species of the Month

This month’s species of the month was supposed to be a lichen called lipstick cladonia, but for being a widespread lichen there is very little information about it. So I changed it to something a little easier to research. This past weekend I saw my first eastern bluebird, so that’s what you get this month.

Scientific name: Sialia sialis

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class:   Aves (birds)

Order: Passeriformes (perching birds)

Range: east of the Rockies from southern Canada to Honduras

Habitat: open areas with trees  

Lifespan: 6-10 years, mortality highest in first year

Diet: primarily insects, also seeds, nuts, and berries

Male bluebird with a cricket (Audubon Field Guide)

Predators: Snakes, house cats, raccoons, black bears, American kestrels. Flying squirrels and chipmunks are egg predators. House sparrows and European starling kill bluebirds and/or compete for nesting sites.

Conservation Status: no special protection

Male with brilliant blue on full display (Smithsonian)

Other Information: Bluebirds are a social, yet territorial bird. At times they gather in flocks, but will also defend a nesting territory and feeding territory from other bluebirds. They also have an interesting dynamic with tree swallows. Two pairs of bluebirds will not nest in boxes that are next to each other, and bluebirds will drive away tree swallows if only one box is available. However, placing two boxes side by side will allow the bluebird and the swallow to coexist as neighbors. Male bluebirds have a brilliant blue backside and red breast; females are dull gray with brownish breast. Her eggs are blue, but sometimes white, in clutches of 3-7. Eggs hatch after 13-16 days and the young fledge nest 2-3 weeks after hatching. Pairs may mate twice in a season, and sometimes the young from the first clutch will help raise the second clutch.

Female bluebird looking with muted colors (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Information this month comes from the good folks at University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web again.

Species of the Month

Easter has come and gone, but the memory remains. Last year we took a look at the cottontail rabbit and this year the Easter species of the month is currently filling our ponds and creeks with quacks but will soon be joined by tiny peeping sounds. Enjoy a brief profile of the mallard duck.

Easter ducklings with mother

Scientific name: Anas platyrhynchos

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class:   Aves (birds)

Order: Anseriformes (ducks, geese, and swans)

Range: North and South America, Eurasia, north Africa

Habitat: ponds, wetlands, streams  

Lifespan: 5-10 years, oldest known was 27 years

Diet: plants, insects, worms, small crustaceans, cereal crops

Predators:  foxes, coyotes, birds of prey, humans

Conservation Status: no special protection

A group of mallards enjoying a warm spring day together

Mallard hen on the go

Other Information: The mallard is the most common waterfowl species in the world. They have adapted to life with humans, but still display a fear (which you’ve noticed if you ever tried to pet one in the park). They are dabbling ducks. Dabbling is what they do to eat- flipping head down in the water, tail up in the air. The females do the quacking. Mallards also make a sound that I describe as muttering at you under their breaths. Females lay clutches of 9-13 eggs in a nest on the ground. After hatching, ducklings follow mama to the water, never to return to the nest. However, there is always an exception to the rule. Mallards nested in a tree at my parents’ house, to everyone’s astonishment. Both male (drake) and female (hen) have iridescent feathers on their wings, and the drake also has an iridescent green head.

Mallard drakes, complete with iridescent green heads

Bottoms up! Dabbling drake

This week's information comes from University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web. Species comparisons will return next week. Stay tuned and be sure to like Nature Minute on Facebook.

Splitting Hares

Continuing last week’s theme of animal comparisons, we will examine the tortoise’s fabled racing opponent, the hare and try to figure out how it’s different from a standard rabbit. Both are members of the mammalian order of lagomorphs, along with a cute little critter called the pika (which we won’t discuss today).

Desert cottontail, a rabbit species (NSP)

Jackrabbit, a hare species in spite of its name
(NPS)

Unlike the functional differences between turtles and tortoises, the differences between rabbits and hares are mainly cosmetic. In general, hares are larger and have longer ears. But there are more differences, being on Day One (before, actually).

Hares have a longer gestation period, by about two weeks. If rabbit and hare litters are born the same day, the hares will have fur and open eyes. They quickly become mobile. The rabbits will be hairless, blind, and cold. Unlike you, they can’t regulate their body temperatures. If you see a baby bunny just keep in mind, baby hares have hairs.

Baby hares are called leverets (USFWS)

Baby rabbits are called kits or kittens (Rabbit Smarties)

Hares live in above ground nests, while rabbits with the exception of the cottontail, are subterranean nesters. Hares are also faster and skittish, while rabbits are more relaxed and make better pets. Don’t try to catch a wild one to keep as a pet though.

So like last week, we found some similar looking critters, but there are differences. One thing these wascally wabbits have in common is that they both multiply like rabbits. Or hares.

This week’s information comes from NationalGeographic.