Hey everyone-

This morning myself and seven other birders hit New Jersey for a whirlwind
day of birding.  Monroe Harden, my dad, and I birded Barnegat Light State
Park from about 9:30 am until 11:30 am, while John Dennehy, Kevin Graff,
Joan Cwi, and Leslie Starr birded around Cape May.  An estimated count of
the species at Barnegat yielded:

Harlequin Ducks    18
Ruddy Turnstones  27
Purple Sandpipers  53
Common Eider       20
Black Bellied Plover  1
Common Loon        2
Long Tailed Duck (seen by one observer)  1
Brant                  22
Great Cormorant (seen by one observer)  2
Ring Billed Gull   approx.  50
Herring Gull     approx. 50
Great Black Backed Gull    5
Laughing Gull     2
Northern Cardinal   1
White Throated Sparrow    1

We then called the group and Cape May, and decided to meet up with them down
there, which we did at about 12:45 pm.  On the drive down, we had

Ring Necked Pheasant (seen by one observer)    1
Brant   at least 50
Turkey Vulture   7
Black Vulture   2

I don't have the statistics for Cape May, Kevin may be posting them later,
but I will say that the day ended with a really fantastic treat.  As our
last stop of the day, at 3:15 pm, we checked out the jetty across from the
ferry terminal in Higbee Beach WMA.  Seconds after we arrived, an SUV
barreled towards the parking lot and screeched to a halt.  The birder
driving said that a 
BLACK GUILLEMOT had just been reported near the jetty, and sure enough, when
we ran out there, it was swimming about 50 yards out.  In the next fifteen
minutes, a group of at least twenty birders descended on the premises, a
real spectacle.  This bird was apparently only the second record of Black
Guillemot for Cape May County, and the first south of the canal.  A
fantastic finish to a fantastic day of birding.

Pictures of the Harlequins, Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Black
Bellied Plover, Brant, and BLACK GUILLEMOT are at:

www.flickr.com/photos/nicobirdphotos

Nico Sarbanes
Baltimore

P.S. I'm hitting Cromwell Valley tomorrow with John Dennehy and Leslie Starr
in hopes of seeing and maybe photographing the shrike.  If we see anything
we'll post as soon as possible.