Boat-tailed Grackle males doing the “I’m taller than you are” duel for mating rites ritual. Followed by a Forster’s tern swallowing a large fish and terns mating and nesting.








Boat-tailed Grackle males doing the “I’m taller than you are” duel for mating rites ritual. Followed by a Forster’s tern swallowing a large fish and terns mating and nesting.
More birds from our Birding by Boat at Cap May, New Jersey. I replaced the skies.
I highly recommend Birding by Boat on the Osprey in Cape May: Ospreycruise.com. It is great for Birders to get closeup views and non-birders can enjoy seeing nature. The guide, Bob Lubberman, is knowledgeable and entertaining. My apologies for the inferior quality of the Clapper Rail photograph. It was only there for a second and I was the one who spotted it. The last one had me fooled. It looks like a cross between an ibis and a heron.
After checking in to our rooms in Wildwood we ate dinner at The Lobster House. The rooms in Wildwood were not worth what we paid. We had lovely rooms in Maui booked by the same vacation travel club for about the same price.
My list of complaints: The light in the living room will only work if the fan is at full blast, there is no way to turn off the fan (fixed later). The window opener in the back room is broken. There is no working pool as advertised. No outdoor grills (manager put one out for us later). The kitchen sink is clogged. We had one tablespoon for two people (manager provided a spoon). The Teflon frying pan had burned on food in it and had more scratches (manager gave us a new pan). Scratched Teflon should not be used, it is a health hazard. The coffee machine did not work (it was replaced). I had to buy coffee filter papers. No salt and pepper. No paper towels (roll provided later). Scratchy thin old bath towels (replaced with equally scratchy ones). The bottom sheet will not stay on the bed (replaced with a fitted sheet). AC is so noisy because the cover does not attach properly (did not use). This “resort” is like a cheap motel.
I reviewed it on Google Maps. The travel agent said I use the place and love it. The manager made excuses though he did fix some of the issues. My criticisms made them defensive rather than apologetic and with a promise to fix all the problems.
Nesting Great Egrets and herons at the Welcome Center. I didn’t see any chicks, but I did see some blue eggs.
Part two of our visit to Forsythe on May 14.
On our way to Cape May for a week’s stay we stopped at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge – Wikipedia in New Jersey. I love birding by car.
On a gloriously nice day we set sail from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York to look for whales in the Lower Bay on a Whale Watching & Dolphin Adventure Cruise in New York City aboard the American Princess (americanprincesscruises.com). One young humpback put on a show by reputedly leaping out of the water like a skipping stone. Some whales slapped the water to move the fish to lower depths. The 5 young humpbacks were feeding on the large schools of Menhaden – Wikipedia. So were cormorants, osprey, loons and other predators. The first image is a composite.