Given it is a New Year today, I thought I would post an update on the Allen's Hummingbird. The bird was still alive and present at the Wilson's feeders on Bayshore Road in Cape May as of today. The bird appears sporadically, sometimes every 10-15 minutes, other times not for two hours at a time. Late afternoon is particularly reliable, but other times are fine, too, just not particularly consistent. The Wilsons now have two heated feeders up, one at their front door and one near the back door. The bird visits both feeders equally. Unfortunately it is not possible to see both feeders at the same time, and the bird often visits for only 10-15 seconds at a time. So it helps to have two or more people looking and to have both feeders "staked-out" simultaneously. The bird is now only very rarely visiting Sheila and Marlene's feeder to the north.

In other news, the Lark Sparrow was still present in Cape May NWR property along Route 47 just south of Dias Creek on 29 December, but that was just before the snowstorm.... The Cape May Ash-throated Flycatcher has not been seen since 23 December. Barnegat Light/Inlet has c. 15 Harlequin Ducks but no eiders.

--Paul Lehman