V21 N1

Bird Droppings
Dispatches from the nation’s birdwatching capital… by Seymore Thanu
The calendar is closing in on February
14, the celebrated day of budding
romance and Cape May’s modern
kickoff to the tourist season. New
Jersey’s birds have been in the mood
since last year. As early as December, Greathorned
Owls begin establishing territories
and renewing pair bonds. Perhaps our most
abundant resident raptor, the jug-sized owls
with distinctive ear tufts and yellow eyes,
begin nesting in January and are incubating
now and will do so even beneath an insulating
blanket of snow. So why nest, now? Why not?
There’s lots of food for large owls. Rice rats,
voles, rabbits, skunks, possums, feral cats,
ducks. Skunks are particularly favored, and
it is rare to find a Great-horned that does not
smell of skunk. I once saw a Great-horned
Owl standing beside a rural road. Curious I
pulled a U-turn and discovered the bird had a
skunk in his talons that was too heavy to bear
aloft. Nonplused, the bird walked the skunk
into the woods and out of sight.
While mostly active at night, Greathorned
Owls begin calling at dusk. There
are places on the Bayshore where three to
four pairs can be heard at a time. This is the
classic, measured five to seven deep hoot call
with males making the deeper, lower-pitched
call, Great-horneds also make a hair-raising
shriek and a muffled, rapid series of hoots.
To see Great-horned Owls, position
yourself where you can view trees at the edge
of the marsh. Owls will often take perches of
strategic dead timber at dusk. Jakes Landing
is a fine vantage point. If you arrive early, scan
for Short-eared Owls that may be hunting low
and slow over the marsh. They’ll resemble
large, tawny moths.
Another bird incubating eggs, now, is
the Bald Eagle. Once rare, there are over 20
active eagle nests in our region with other
free-floating adults waiting their turn.
Feeding mostly on moribund fish, or fish purloined
from Osprey, eagles must work hard to
secure food before Osprey return to our region
in late March. Deer carcasses tide eagles over
until then, but they’re also adept hunters,
preying mostly upon puddle ducks. If you are
standing on the hawk-watch platform at Cape
May Point State Park and all the ducks lift off
Bunker Pond and head in one direction, look
the other way to see the incoming eagle.
Don’t be dismayed if the bird lacks a white
head and tail. Only adults have white heads
and tails. Juvenile birds take five to seven
years to gain these signature traits. Trust the
ducks to know an eagle when they see one.
February 9, 2023 EXIT ZERO Page 29