Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

As my last weekend in Pennsylvania draws to a close, I decided on Friday night to go birding somewhere. But as I searched the local hotspots for migrants (which have since been growing thin as the main songbird species such as warblers have all but gone), I couldn't find an ideal spot. I had mentioned to friends at work about my interest about going to Hawk Mountain, but recent counts suggested that the "good" species had already filed through. So as I clicked on the lists and links of eBird, my eye was drawn to local sightings of Rusty Blackbirds ( Euphagus carolinus ), a particularly hard bird to locate due to their scarcity (their population has declined 99% in the past 50 years or so) and habit of sticking to small flocks of their own kind. A park about 45 minutes north of Horsham had hosted the birds within the past week and seemed to be worth a look. The report also detailed the presence of a juvenile Brant ( Branta bernicla ) that had been grazing on the shore of...

All puns aside, this is a post about the Whiskered Tern ( Chlidonias hybridus ) (sort of) and my visit to Cape May on Sunday. After working all last week and seeing report after report of this Code 5 Whiskered Tern at the state park at Cape May Point, I made the 2 1/2 hour journey from Horsham to Cape May and started my quest for the tern. After arriving at 10:45am and asking around at the hawkwatch platform, I was dismayed to find out that it had been visiting regularly in the afternoon instead. Despite this setback, I decided to comb the park for some year birds instead. I didn't have to wait long as I secured two Little Blue Herons ( Egretta caerulea ) and a Pied-billed Grebe ( Podilymbus podiceps ) on Bunker Pond, as well as a Blue-winged Teal ( Anas discors ) on the nearby ponds. The skies and bushes were filled with the sounds of nature. Overhead migrating raptors like Ospreys ( Pandion haliaetus ), an immature Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ), and soaring Turkey Vultu...