October 5-9, 2002
Bombay Hook/Cape May Bird Outing Excerpts
16 Members of the 3RBC enjoyed a tremendous trip to Bombay
Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware and Cape May,
New Jersey. What follows is an email conversation from Paul
Hess to various 3RBC members and others regarding the trip.
The Curlew was found by Pat and Sherron Lynch and identified
by Jim Valimont.
Hi all,
We had two tremendous rarities Tuesday during Jim's/Mike's
Three Rivers Birding Club outing to the Delaware and New
Jersey hotspots.
One was NJ's first-ever documented record of Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper, a Eurasian species that is a tremendous rarity
anywhere in the eastern U.S. The other was a Long-billed
Curlew, not so amazing as the sandpiper but still a
super-rare bird in the east. We'll send documentation on
both birds to the NJ records committee.
Mike Fialkovich discovered the sandpiper and Pat and Sherron
Lynch found the Curlew (Jim Valimont identified the Curlew)
on a single, incredible birding day. Great leaders!
Below are the messages to the NJ Rare Bird Alert sent out
after we quickly contacted them about each bird (and started
an immense scramble by some of NJ's top birders to see them).
As you'll see in two of the messages, Pittsburgh's birders
got the credit.
The postings' authors were Paul Lehman, a former editor
of Birding magazine, a member of the NJ Bird Records Committee,
and one of North America's foremost experts, and Laurie
Larson, who runs the NJ Birds e-mail listserv.
A final note: Thanks to Jim & Mike, our tour members
also saw two of those godwits. What a trip!
Best regards, Paul
From the New Jersey Rare Bird Alert:
"Subject: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Stone Harbor
From: Laurie Larson
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 13:05:50 -0400
Paul Lehman just phoned from the Wetlands Institute at Stone
Harbor, where about 20 people are looking at a juvenile
SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER asleep in a tide-pool. The tide is
up right now. Of course, we don't know what the bird will
do when the tide drops. If we have further information,
it will be posted later today. If you visit tomorrow, it
would probably be smartest to time it so you're there at
high tide, which will be about 11:20 am tomorrow. While
there have been previous reports, this will be the first
"seeable" Sharp-tailed Sandpiper for New Jersey
and I very much hope it stays a while.
Directions: From the Garden State Parkway in Cape May County,
take the Stone Harbor exit; go east to the Wetlands Institute,
on the right side of the road. Park and walk the trail that
goes past the building on the right and into the salt marsh.
Turn right on the boardwalk that leads west into the marsh;
the bird is in a pool off the end of this boardwalk."
"Subject: Sharp-tailed sandpiper, futher information
From: Laurie Larson
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 14:35:30 -0400
Another call from Paul informs us that the SHARP-TAILED
SANDPIPER was visible for only about 15 minutes after Paul
arrived; then it flew off southwards into the salt-marsh,
where it is "hopelessly inaccessible." Paul points
out that Sharp-tailed, like Pectoral, isn't a bird that
prefers open mudflats; it prefers small pools and grass
edges, a very abundant and hard-to-access habitat in the
area around Stone Harbor and Nummy Island. Unless the bird
reappears at the same Wetlands Institute pool tomorrow at
high tide, re-finding it will be literally a needle-in-a-haystack
search. Fortunately, it was photographed for documentation
purposes before it disappeared. The original finders were
visitors from Pittsburgh, PA.
"Subject: Long-billed Curlew, Nummy Island
From: Laurie Larson
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 16:04:50 -0400
A rare day when I post three updates. Paul Lehman is on
the road again, this time heading to the toll bridge at
the southern end of Nummy Island, between Stone Harbor and
Wildwood. A Long-billed Curlew has just been reported there
on the east (ocean) side of the road. An
update will be posted if/when more details are available.
You may recall that this species was reported from the Avalon
Seawatch on Sept. 30, not since.
Stay tuned...."
"Subject: Long-billed Curlew update
From: Laurie Larson
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 16:30:02 -0400
The LONG-BILLED CURLEW is present as I write. It has been
moving around, from one side of Nummy's island to the other
and further up the bayside, while Paul watched it. The best
vantage point is the toll bridge itself; birders can park
at either end of the bridge and bird from the sidewalks.
Stay tuned for the next exciting installment...."
"Subject: L-b Curlew update
From: Paul Lehman
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 20:27:13 -0400
The Long-billed Curlew at Nummy's Island, near Stone Harbor,
Cape May County, which was found by the same visiting group
from Pittsburgh who found the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper a few
hours earlier (!!), was present for several hours late today
(Tuesday) and seen by many. It was found a bit after 3PM
on tidal flats on the ocean side of the toll bridge (south
side of island), then moved to flats on the inland (west)
side of the toll bridge, and then flew north and spent most
of its time on tidal flats west of the middle or north-of-middle
part of the island (near a navigation post with a bright
green square on it). Scopes are needed; it was a fair ways
away at this spot. The bird was still there at 6PM. Tide
was low all during this time. There is certainly lots and
lots of additional good habitat the bird could go to in
this area if it wanted to (e.g., Stone Harbor Point). It
is assumed that this is likley the same bird seen in flight
about a week or so ago in the northern Avalon/Townsend's
Inlet area, farther to the north.
The juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper found in the marsh behind
(south side of) the Wetland's Institute on Stone Harbor
Blvd. near Stone Harbor was present at high tide, from around
Noon to 1PM. But then it flew off several hundred yards
to the south and dropped into extensive marsh that is inaccessible,
and it was not seen the rest of the day. Perhaps trying
just before and at high tide would be one's best bet, which
tomorrow would be from late morning to early afternoon.
But it does seem like the proverbial needle in a haystack..."
"Subject: the rare shorebirds--NO LUCK
From: Paul Lehman
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2002 20:39:23 -0400
Despite intensive searching today (Weds), NEITHER the Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper nor the Long-billed Curlew were seen. There is
the chance the curlew is still in the area, given what was
probably the same bird was seen a week earlier in the north
Avalon area. Perhaps the bird is working a large stretch
of marsh and mudlfat, anywhere between Townsend's Inlet
in the north and Wilwood to the south..... Time will tell.
Also, there are up to four Marbled Godwits in the Stone
Harbor area, so people should be aware that not all distant
large buffy shorebirds are necessarily curlews!"
