Slide show: Wildwood/Cape May 2010

OK, my Flickr album for this year’s vacation is done.  Or at least as done as I feel like doing right now.  I recommend the “full screen” button in the slide show.

Cape May: Photowalk

Went out this morning for a CMBO-sponsored photowalk at Cape May Point State Park.  It was another beautiful, clear morning without a cloud in the sky.

The park continues to be overrun by Monarch butterflies on every flower:

We spend a while at a brush pile along the dunes, working on some Palm Warblers:

Not much else to note from the walk.  The Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were not present at the state park while we were out.  They may have moved to the Meadows.

I heard back from Louise Zemaitis regarding the tagged Monarch we reported on Sunday.  It was a local tag, from Cape May Point on September 7.  Based on the date, she said that there’s a possibility that it was a breeding Monarch, rather than one that will migrate to Mexico.  But who knows—maybe it will be recovered down there this winter.

Cape May: Monarchpalooza, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Cape May is in the midst of an epic Monarch butterfly migration.  This morning at Cape May Point SP, they were on every flower, and in huge numbers overhead. 

(Click any photograph to embiggen.)

Among the half-million Monarchs in the area today, the Spousal Unit and I came across one with a tag from the Kansas University Monarch Watch program, tag number NMW 190.  We reported the tag recovery by email.

Buckeye butterflies were also numerous:

We also saw lots of American Lady butterflies:

We didn’t participate in any organized bird walks today.  There were a few nice raptors overhead (immature eagle sp., Osprey with fish, Peregrine Falcon, Coops & Sharpies).  The stars of the day, though, were the 4 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in a pond near the hawk watch: