Andy Bankert

Early on the week of May 15th, 2004 the Space Coast Festival Coastal Cuckoos went to New Jersey to start scouting for the World Series of Birding. Sponsored by Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant in Titusville, FL, the team consisted of Ross Gallardy (PA), Andy Bankert (FL), Zach Baer (MD), and Tom Johnson (PA). Tom and Zach scouted the southern end of the state, while Ross and I scouted the north. Since I had to fly up we got to the hotel at 3:00 a.m. Friday morning. Ross and I woke up at 4:30 to finish up the last of the scouting. We basically ran the northern end of the route in the morning. Taking it a little slower than the big day and I was learning my songs. Some of the highlights that we saw were Canada Lawrence's and 23 other species of Warblers, Oldsquaw, and Surf Scoter. The team met for the first time Friday afternoon in our hotel thirty minutes from our starting point.

After some sleep we woke up around 10:00 p.m. and left for the Great Swamp. After several attempts to find the right gate we finally got it right and drove back to find out where the birds were. After about 30 minutes of scouting the clock struck midnight. We heard a Swainson's Thrush fly over as our first bird. We heard several other key species like Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, Least Bittern, and Scarlet Tanager. We picked out our key rails and finally heard an American Bittern and then left. Since we had lots of time we stopped by another marsh. We heard Pied-billed Grebe, which we would not see or hear the rest of the day. While squeaking for a Barn Owl, we attracted a screech owl to come within sight. We also heard a fly-over Gray-cheeked Thrush.

As the sun was rising we were in the grasslands. We picked out some easy birds by call, but found out the Vesper Sparrow was at the top of the hill. All four of us ran up the hill as fast as we could, heard the sparrow and a bonus nighthawk then ran back to our car. We waited a little while for the Savannah Sparrow to wake up. They were still sleeping. We easily got Grasshopper Sparrow before anyone else then went back to where the groups were waiting for the sparrow. It finally woke up, and then the turkeys and pheasants started to call. On the way out we stopped by a Green Heron spot. We did not see the heron, but did hear a kingfisher.

We tried for Common Raven at the nest that was no longer in use. We did not see any ravens, but did hear the song of a Purple Finch. Other stops in High Point State Park produced some key species like Canada Warbler, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Common Raven. Our next stop at Stokes State Forest gave us Blackburnian Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Brown Creeper. At Culver's Lake we saw the staked out Common Loon, but did not see the Oldsquaw or the Red-necked Grebe which had been seen earlier in the week.

Our next stop, Van Ness Road gave us all of the stuff we had the day before like Blue and Golden-winged Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chat, Alder Flycatcher, and my life Black-billed Cuckoo. We kept moving and saw a Green Heron nest, Bay-breasted Warbler, and some Wood Ducks. At the next stop we heard a Worm-eating Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, and Winter Wren. There was a pair of Common Mergansers on the river on the way to the hummingbird feeder. The hummingbird came out about 30 seconds after the Nikon team nearly ran us over. Our last spot yielded a Hooded Warbler, and the North was done with. 122 species around 9:45. We picked up a Cooper's Hawk on the drive south to Florence, or that is what we thought. We had to head straight for the south after we missed the turn for Florence.

A few stops gave us some more herons and egrets. A Pectoral Sandpiper flew by only allowing two of us to see it. Mannington Marsh finally produced a Common Moorhen after 10 minutes. We tried for some more southern breeders without luck. We did hear a Kentucky Warbler at Dividing Creek. At Bivalves for some strange reason I seemed to just forget everything I know about birds. I could not identify anything, and called out several wrong identifications. After that the team was kind of upset with me, so I knew I needed to come through at the next few stops. Beaver Swamp gave us a staked out Gull-billed Tern and a singing Prothonotary Warbler. When we got to Avalon I picked out a Yellow-crowned Night-heron in the marsh, while everyone else was looking at the roost. I got on the Red-headed Woodpecker and quickly showed it to everyone else at the campground. Along with other birds out on the beach we saw the staked out Piping Plovers.

We got down to Cape May and picked up our Cattle Egrets, then hit the harbor. I quickly got on the Brant and Red-breasted Merganser. We had time to end daylight looking at herons and terns. Royal Tern was our last bird in the day light. After dark we rushed to hear chucks and whips at their stake out spots. Every team seemed to be at Jake's Landing trying for Black Rail. The bird did not show up, so we went to Stipson's Island to try for woodcock. It did come through for us as our 183rd bird of the day.

The Coastal Cuckoos' Big Day effort was good only for second place behind the CMBO team with 192. However, we felt good about our total considering that it was our first World Series, we all live outside of Jersey, and we had only all met each other for the first time on Friday evening. Even better, we all had a good time and saw many great birds. However, perhaps the most important aspect of the Big Day was that we beat the youth fundraising record with over $40 pledged per bird plus flat donations, giving us well over $7500 in raised funds to go to the conservation organizations of our choice.

Running our route for the 2004 World Series of Birding gave us incredible amounts of information that will be extremely useful in 2005 when the Space Coast Coastal Cuckoos invade New Jersey again, with First Place and 200 species in our plans.

A Children's Beginning Birding Trip at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Click on the picture for an enlargement. Use the BACK button of your Browser to return. Photos by Joel Reynolds.

Tom Johnson

At 11:30 on Friday night the Coastal Cuckoos were beginning to panic. First we had trouble locating the correct gate into the interior of Great Swamp. Then we got turned around on some of the winding roads through the refuge. However, we finally pulled things together and were ready to go well before midnight. Our first bird of the Big Day was a flyover Swainson's Thrush and the rest is all details. Both bitterns, three rails, and fifteen other species later we headed out of the Swamp at 2:15 AM with all of the necessary birds (except Great horned owl) and drove north to Sussex County.

At Libertyville Marsh we heard a Pied-billed grebe and some heard a flyover Gray-cheeked Thrush (It was 18 hours until we heard another GCTH so that it was a unamimous observation). Moving into the Unionville Grasslands ready to rumble, we took a dash up a long sloping farm field to listen for Vesper Sparrow. Once the bird sang and a bonus Common Nighthawk called, we sprinted down the hill, surprising some teams who were moving at a more relaxed pace. In the next fifteen minutes we found Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows, turkey, and pheasant, cleaning up our northern grassland birds.

Moving into High Point State Park we had Purple Finch at the ATT Tower but missed the Common Ravens that apparently left their tower nest. Then we began winding through the lush forests of High Point, knocking breeding warblers and other woodland songbirds off our lists mechanically as we moved through the subtle habitat changes. While almost all of the breeding birds that had been found by Ross were present, a noticeable lack of migrants hung over the area, only represented by numerous Blackpoll Warblers. Good birds we found at High Point include Common Raven (a lucky sighting sitting in a roadside tree), Wilson's Warbler, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; however, we had an unfortunate miss as well - our excellent driver, Ramsay Koury, informed us that we missed a pair of Rusty Blackbirds that flew by at spot where we intent on hearing a singing Canada Warbler (WSB rules prohibit non-birding drivers from assisting teams; therefore, we could not go back to locate the bird). Moving into Stokes State Forest we found Broad-winged Hawk, Blackburnian Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and cleaned up Yellow-throated Vireo. Culver's Lake was good for Common Loon, Purple Martin, and our first of many Easter Kingbirds of the day.

South of Stokes we visited a variety of scrub and forested habitats to add more breeders to the list. Van Ness road yielded all of its treasures to us in the forms of Alder Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Golden-winged, Blue-winged, and Prairie Warbler. We also picked up breeding Green Heron, Cliff Swallow, Winter Wren,

Worm-eating Warbler, and Acadian Flycatcher here. We also spotted the staked out pair of Common Mergansers and almost got run over by the intense Nikon/DVOC team while watching a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a feeder. Finishing up this area, we picked up the reliable Hooded Warbler at the Appalachian Trail crossing on Millbrook Rd. Heading south to Spruce Run Reservoir we had 123 species by 10:00 AM. A Cooper's Hawk was the only new bird at the Reservoir. Ross had done his job well, getting almost all of the breeders quickly so we could get south early.

Now we sat back for the long ride to Florence for possible gulls at the Tullytown Dump, Peregrine Falcon on the Turnpike Bridge, and Great Cormorant on the Delaware. However, we missed the road to the overlook due to navigator malfunction (cough* Johnson*cough) and in doing so sacrificed two probable species and lost some time. Now we settled in for the hour and a half drive to Birch Creek (where we opted to go to instead of Raccoon Creek where we had a close run-in with a train on the causeway while scouting) on which two of our young birders fell asleep. Come on, Andy and Ross, that's what the Dr. Pepper is for! The only new bird was a Great Egret, which we knew we would get later. Almost an hour later we arrived at Mannington Marsh, where two of us picked out a Pectoral Sandpiper from a flying flock of peeps. From a different spot at Mannington we picked a Moorhen from the vegetation. Moving on to nearby Compromise Road we had a rush of birds: American Kestrel on a wire at Cheney, Snow Goose, Eastern Meadowlark. Here, however, we missed the Blue Grosbeak and Horned Lark found during scouting.

Leaving Mannington around 2:30 PM we jetted south to Dividing Creek in the dead heat of midday. However, most of our staked out southern breeders were quiet. We did pick up White-eyed Vireo and Kentucky Warbler, striking out on the Yellow-throated and Prothonotary Warblers that were so abundant in the mornings while scouting. Next we headed to Turkey Point, where we picked up our first coastal birds quickly: Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet, Semipalmated Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Black Duck, Seaside Sparrow. Following this stop we ran through the cloud of black flies at Bivalve to find Semipalmated Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and clean up Osprey, missing the reported Wilson's Phalarope. We skipped Strawberry Lane and Stipson's Island Road in hopes of having more time further south.

A quick stop at Beaver Swamp near Goshen yielded a singing Prothonotary Warbler and a fish-carrying Gull-billed Tern. Shooting across the peninsula to the ocean side we quickly located the Red-headed Woodpecker at the Avalon Campground and headed out the causeway to our Yellow-crowned Night Heron and Piping Plover spots. The night herons were not at the roost, but Andy picked an adult out of the salt marsh. At 50th and Lois Lane we sprinted out the trail to the beach, where we had Least Tern, Common Tern, American Oystercatcher, Sanderling, Piping Plover on nest, and Northern Gannet out over the ocean. In Avalon we had our first Fish Crow of the day. Next we shot down the island to Stone Harbor and Wetlands Institute, where the overshoot Purple Gallinule was winning in a game of hide-and-go-seek in its shrubbery hidey hole. The Nikon/DVOC team arrived but only prompted the bird to call once, but only Andy heard it for our team. Pulling out of the parking lot without a checkmark next to gallinule, I glanced back and saw Nikon/DVOC cluster around one spot in the bushes, then sprint to their van. %*^$ ! Forgetting the incident, we drove back to the mainland and quickly ticked Cattle Egret, represented by about a half dozen individuals foraging on the ballfield near Cape May County Zoo. Now we headed for Cape Island with about 45 minutes of daylight left.

Our first stop in Cape May was at the harbor where Andy located both the Brant and the Red-breasted Merganser. A quick detour to Shell Bay for Whimbrel was a bust, so we headed for Poverty Beach, Sunset Beach, and Brainard to look at the ocean again. However, we didn't pick up any new birds here. Due to the closed Free Bridge at Stone Harbor Point which surely wrinkled many teams' plans, we waited until this point to go out to Nummy's Island for herons and shorebirds with the sun knocking on the western horizon's door. Here we picked up Little Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Royal Tern, and American Golden Plo- oops, never mind it's another Black-bellied Plover. We leave Nummy's intending to go across Route 9 to Indian Trail Rd. Here, fearing abduction by way of legions of Cadillac-sized mosquitos, we managed Chuck-will's-widow and Whip-poor-will. Hoping for Woodcock and Sharp-tailed sparrows, we headed north for Stipson's Island Road. However, possibly because of the increasing wind, the Woodcock were not calling along the road and by the time we made it into the marsh, the reeds were rattling in the wind, destroying our chances at sparrows. Our last shot for the Big Day came at Jake's Landing Road. However, after a twenty minute wait for the Black Rail to call in the wind, we left. Discussing the possibility of Red Knot and Ruddy Turnstone at night at Kimble's Beach, we decided (also due to the three snoring birders in the back seat) to pack it in. 24 hours, 500+ miles, and 183 species of birds later we turned in our checklist at Cape May State Park.

Without a significant migration and limited waterfowl reports leading up to the WSB, we were aware early in the morning that overall totals would be lower; however, time management and a scarcity of singing birds in the south contributed to our total being lower than our goal of 200 species. While we missed birds such as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Yellow-rumped and Yellow-throated Warbler, we had relatively few bonus birds.

The Coastal Cuckoos' Big Day effort was good only for second place behind the CMBO team with 192. However, we felt good about our total considering that it was our first World Series, we all live outside of Jersey, and we had only all met each other for the first time on Friday evening. Even better, we all had a good time and saw many great birds. However, perhaps the most important aspect of the Big Day was that we beat the youth fundraising record with over $40 pledged per bird plus flat donations, giving us well over $7500 in raised funds to go to the conservation organizations of our choice.

Running our route for the 2004 World Series of Birding gave us incredible amounts of information that will be extremely useful in 2005 when the Space Coast Coastal Cuckoos invade New Jersey again, with First Place and 200 species in our plans.