Cape May State Park and Nature Conservancy

Two of my favorite places for nature meditation are the state park in Cape May Point, and the nearby Nature Conservancy. Both always yield something of interest, and both provide an environment for contemplation and discovery.

A few highlights ...

Least Tern

Laughing Gull

Spotted Sandpiper

The Swamp Rose Mallow throughout the marshes was stunning ...

Swamp Rose Mallow

Swamp Rose Mallow

Mute Swans are exotics, and pose problems for native species, but there is no denying that they are beautiful birds, and magnificent in flight ...

Mute Swans

Equally magnificent in flight is the Osprey ...

Osprey

Osprey

This young Great Blue Heron caught a hearty breakfast, but could not figure out how to manipulate his catch so that it could be swallow head first. He flew a short distance to a dry patch of ground, dropped this fish, stabbed at it once or twice, then picked it up with head positioned correctly. In third picture, note the "throat bulge" of the swallowed fish ...

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Watching the Snowy Egret foraging in shallow water was a thing of delicate beauty (unless you happened to be a small fish) ...

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Good Birding!!

Waterfowl Aggression

Songbirds finish their breeding season and head south. The boys hang with the boys, and the girls with the girls, and life is peaceful until Spring returns and hormones flow again.

Not so with the waterfowl. They head south, mix among their species, and seem to get right at the battle for the sexes. Yesterday in Cape May, I watched wild aggression among several American Wigeons. When my companion asked me what was going on, I replied, "A couple of men are fighting over a woman."

I'm not being sexist, nor stereotyping. It is what happens among wintering waterfowl.

This drake American Wigeon is not stretching his wings; he is posturing toward a rival male ...

Birds of North America describes it this way: "Intraspecific aggression (threatening posture, rushing, chasing, biting, bill grabbing, pushing, and pursuit flights) is a common component of courtship, pair formation, and territorial defense. Most aggressive encounters on the wintering grounds, during migration, and early in breeding season occur during courtship and pair formation between conspecific."

Here are three more photos of the aggressive behavior ...

On a trip to Cape May in late October, I watched Mute Swans engaged in the same aggression - a male trying to drive off a potential rival. Nearby, a female just watched.

Although a bit more subdued, this shows courtship/pair bonding between a drake and hen Gadwahl. No aggression here, but the drake lurking in the background may soon provoke other reactions ...

Open, raised bills are often part of waterfowl pair bonding - foreground, Gadwahl pair - a 2nd drake looks on

We do not need to wait until the Spring to watch avian antics motivated by sex. Just look for wintering waterfowl.

Good Birding!

Bottoms-up - ID Post 1

 No. 1 - Gadwall

 No. 2 - Green-winged Teal

 No. 3 - Mallard (I love the curls on his tail!)

 No. 4 - Mute Swan

 No. 5 - Northern Pintail - note on these breeding plumage males the long "pintail"

No. 6 - Northern Shoveler

Quick Trip to Cape May

We were in Cap May for a family memorial over the weekend. The kids and grandkids were all there, so evening and Sunday morning were at the beach. If anyone is interested, you can pop over to "At Home in South Newfane" for a few pictures of the world's cutest kids.

I did get out one evening and early one morning for some photography and birding. The highlight bird had to be the Black-bellied Whistling Duck which has not been reported in Cape May for many years (it belongs in Florida and Texas); it had many local birders flocking for a look.

... and the bird obligingly scratched the itch of many ...

The Least Terns were busy over the Conservancy as they hunted food for their hungry young.

... and they were still as aggressive toward intruders as they were a month ago - quite unhappy with beach strollers like me ...

And for just a sampling of other feathered friends ... beginning with the Great Egret (always a favorite of mine, as readers know) ...

Many, many Mute Swans have nearly grown young and were moving about (these are not young) ...

In the nests at the State Park, Purple Martins had demanding young (redundant, I know, since the young of all are demanding, even cute grandkids) ...

... and at least one Mallard had a young brood (maybe a second on the year). Like all young, especially cute when they finally settle down for the night.

Good birding!

Mute Swan - Beautiful, Graceful ... and Invasive

An apology ... sort of. Every so often someone will excitedly call me or e-mail me: “Did you see the swans!?” I can seldom respond with any enthusiasm. Because - the swans that are being reported are usually Mute Swans, and unfortunately the presence of Mute Swans is not good news.

Mute Swans are elegant birds - luxuriant pure white plumage, long sinuous necks, graceful swimmers. But they are not native to North America, and like other introduced birds, they pose a threat to native species.

World-wide, there are seven members of Genus Cygnus (from the Latin for swan, coming from the Greek kyknos, also meaning swan), although typical of taxonomic classifications, there is debate whether some subspecies should be accorded their own species status.

Two swans are native to North America. The Trumpeter Swan, the largest native waterfowl in North America, has been returned from the brink of extinction and is being reintroduced in many parts of its former breeding range in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario. There are no recent records of the Trumpeter Swan in Vermont.

The Tundra Swan is our smallest swan, short-necked and gooselike. It nests on the Arctic tundra and migrates to wintering grounds. Many winter along the mid-Atlantic coast. A few may be seen in Vermont during Spring or Fall migration. Most recently, in November 2003 and 2004 Tundra Swans stopped briefly in the Retreat Meadows. The bill of the Tundra Swan is black.

The adult Mute Swan is most readily identified by its unique orange bill and the black mask with forehead knob.

In the last few years, the Mute Swan has become the swan most likely to be seen in southeastern Vermont. Last year a pair nested in the vicinity of the Hinsdale setbacks. To my knowledge, this was the first successful nesting in our area. Murin and Pfeiffer in Birdwatching in Vermont, report that the Mute Swan has “nested in Vermont but the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department probably won’t allow a repeat performance.”

So, what’s the problem? First, some background. The Mute Swan is native to Europe and western Asia. Its nature and character (elegant, aggressive, silent) made it the subject of many myths and legends. Occasionally it was domesticated for food. More often it was kept as an ornament in the gardens of the nobility beginning at least as early as classical times. The Mute Swan is the national bird of the Kingdom of Denmark, while in Britain, the Crown retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water. Magnanimously, the Queen only exercises her ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries. Swans continue to be a feature in the public parks of Europe.

In the 1800s, many growing American cities expressed their civic pride through the creation of public gardens, complete with paths and ponds. The ponds were decorated with Mute Swans brought from Europe, their wings clipped to keep them in the parks. The pampered swans enjoyed an easy life, settled down and raised families. Naturally long lived (nineteen years is the record for a banded wild swan - thirty to forty years is not uncommon for captive swans) swans often outlived the ponds and estates which kept them. They, or their offspring, went wild. With a high reproductive rate, a lack of natural predators, and an abundance of suitable wetland habitat, these feral Mute Swans have established significant populations, especially along the Atlantic Coast.

A survey conducted in the summer of 2002 found over 14,000 Mute Swans in the Atlantic Flyway. This number had doubled in just sixteen years. The pair that nested in Hinsdale on the Connecticut River last summer raised five young. About fifty swans are wintering in the Turners Falls area. As recently as ten years ago when I moved to southeastern Vermont, Mute Swans were a rare occurrence.

The growth of the Mute Swan population causes several ecological problems. They have voracious appetites and often are a year-round presence. They are capable of disrupting the natural food chain. “Several studies have documented large reductions in aquatic vegetation, and even the complete disappearance of certain plant species in some locales, because of heavy grazing by mute swans. In some areas of the Chesapeake Bay, efforts to restore native vegetation have been seriously hampered by foraging mute swans. In turn, there is a negative impact on native wildlife and fish species that depend on these plants for food and cover.”

During breeding season, Mute Swans maintain a four to ten acre territory, aggressively driving off any intruders, including native species attempting to nest. They have caused terns and skimmers to abandon their nests and have killed Mallard ducklings and goose goslings. Their aggressiveness is sometimes directed toward other animals and even humans. They can be, at the least, a nuisance to pets and people, and perhaps even a danger.

“Adults are not paired for life, contrary to the stereotype of the ‘pining swan’ who has lost its mate. In fact, some have been observed to have as many as four mates, or even ‘divorce’ one mate in favor of another. However, established pairs are more successful breeders than non-established pairs and mute swans do form monogamous pairs for at least a season.”

Ironically, Mute Swans seem to be the only effective control on Canada Geese nesting in many areas, but any benefit derived from limiting the goose numbers is outweighed by the damage the swans cause to aquatic vegetation. On the other hand, their need for a large territory directly competes with the Common Loon, which also needs a sizeable nesting territory. As the native Trumpeter Swan continues its recovery, it may also find itself competing with the Mute Swan for nesting territory.

In the interest of being as fair to the Mute Swan as possible, there is some evidence that it may have been, and therefore may still be, an occasional vagrant to North America. In 1585, while on a scientific exploration to America for Sir Walter Raleigh, John White painted a watercolor which he titled simply, “The Swann.” In the 1960s the British Museum labeled it as a Trumpeter Swan,” probably because its bill is black. However, scientists at the British Museum “say that lead in the paint used by White has degraded over the four hundred years, turning some colors grey or black. The curved neck, the knob, the lifted rear feathers, the entire countenance are consistent with Mute Swan. Research on the painting continues, as does debate as to whether the Mute Swan might have, or could today, occur naturally in North America.

One person’s good bird is often another person’s invasive pest. Good birding is sometimes a messy affair.

Quotations are from the web site of Pennsylvania Game Commission and from wikipedia.org.