NJBIRDS:

An immature male Black-chinned Hummingbird is frequenting the yard of Vince Elia and Val Driscoll in Cape May. The bird was first glimpsed yesterday (Saturday) and seen much better and ID'd today (Sunday). Vince and Val live at 809 Cape Avenue, which is a U-shaped road to the east of Seashore Road, about a third of a mile or so south of the Seashore Road bridge over the canal. If going south on Seashore, turn left on the first turn for Cape Ave, and 809 is the gray house on the left where Cape makes its first sharp bend to the right. Park on the street, walk up the short driveway to the right of the house and on into the corner of the back yard. Today, the bird was frequenting the pineapple sage along the right side of the backyard, would perch in the apple tree at the back right corner, would flycatch around the cedar tree in the back left corner pf the yard, and came a few times to the hummer feeder along the left edge of the yard. Just stand in that first corner of the yard, and stay out of the flower beds. The bird was appearing at one or more of those specific sites about every 15 minutes, but occasionally it would go almost 30 minutes between sightings. The bird has several irridescent dark feathers at the bottom center of the throat which are violet purple (not easy to see), the upperparts are a dull washed out gray-green, the crown and face are quite gray, the tail is barely longer than the wingtips and is pumped constantly when the bird is hovering and feeding, and the outer primaries are fairly broad and roundish-tipped, giving the tip of the folded wing somewhat of a recurved club shape rather then beeing more straight and narrow in appearance. To appreciate all these characters takes repeated viewings with a scope.

The Swainson's Hawk, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and "Oregon" Junco seen earlier this weekend were all NOT seen today, although it was an excellent day today for migrants in general (both passerines and hawks), with a few late passerines as well.

Paul Lehman