Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     For the past week I have been seeing reports of a Swainson’s haw k hanging around in Cape May, NJ. I have been looking to add a Swainson’s hawk to my life list for a while now.  It is a bird of the Great Plains and the western United States.    My several trips out west over the years, including this year, have never allowed me to cross paths with one.  The bird is rare in New Jersey, but seems to appear annually during migration in Cape May.  My past visits to the southern tip of our state also have never synched with that of a Swainson’s.  Usually sightings of this western hawk are of one day, often as they pass over the distinguished Hawk Watch platform at Cape May Point.  The fact that this bird has hung around for several days roused my attention.   Friends of mine headed down for the visiting bird Sunday morning and I dismissed the opportunity to take the ride with them.  Of course, as the morning wore on I became in...