Cape May, NJ, 1/6/2026 - Townsend’s Solitaire and Black-headed Gull

     On Tuesday I took a ride down to Cape May with a friend who wanted to see the Townsend’s solitaire that appeared at the state’s southern most community a few days earlier.  I have seen this western species as recently as October when I was in Arizona, where they should be.  I have seen one in New Jersey in my home county of Ocean back in 2019.  My friend wanted to see one for New Jersey so when she ask if I wanted to take a ride I agreed.  The solitaire is always a neat bird to see outside of its normal range, plus you never know what rare bird will show itself in Cape May at any given time.

On the way to Cape May, before leaving the confines of Ocean County, we made a brief detour stop at a park in Manahawkin.  My friend Larry had recorded 17 greater white-fronted geese there on Sunday.  The birds had dispersed before anyone else could find them but reappeared at some time yesterday.  When we arrived there at about 8:30, all 17 were out and about near the water’s edge across from the parking lot.  After getting enough photographs, we continued on to Cape May.

Greater white-fronted geese, Manahawkin, NJ.  © S. Weiss

We arrived at the known location where the solitaire had been frequenting.  It had not yet been seen for the day, so we waited it out.  During our stakeout we were joined by several other birders- one I knew, a few I have seen before on similar outings, and a few others I did not recognize.  After about an hour and a half, my friend thought she had seen the bird, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.  There were a few catbirds and a mockingbird in the area, and she was pretty sure it was not one of those gray birds.  Finally, after a few minutes, I spotted the bird through some vegetation, perched on a leafless tree branch.  I did not call it out by name but let everyone know I might have it.  The bird was distant, and the skies were overcast, through my binoculars I had a gray bird standing tall as it perched.  I could not make out finer features.  I then exclaimed that I had a gray bird, not completely gray as the previous mentioned birds, with a distinctive upright posture.  The distinctive posture had me feeling pretty confident it was the solitaire.

The rest of the group gathered quickly, and I had to give directions as to where they should look.  We all stood behind a chest high, vine entangled, wire fence looking across a short, overgrown field towards a tree line.  I pointed and said, “See those two dead snags straight ahead?”  “Look at the big tree immediately to the left.  Behind that is another tree covered in vines,” I continued.  “Behind that one is a smaller, skinny tree. It’s about half way up on the right.”  One by one, I heard, “Got it!” But I was waiting for one of the scope viewers to say, “That’s it!” Confirmation came quick.

Townsend's solitaires  

Left, Cape May, NJ, 1/62026.  Right, Manahawkin, NJ, 4/1/2019.  © S. Weiss

Despite the poor light conditions on the left, the white eye ring and darker primaries of the bird are discernible.  The upright posture is a characteristic of the species.

The bird moved about, coming closer towards us each time it moved.  Each reposition gave us a little better view.  It worked its way back to where everybody had parked.  It stayed in that area until everyone moved up, but then it flew back behind some trees.  A few observers saw it through the trees, but I had repositioned myself not too far away and called everyone over to my new location.  The bird was perched atop a tall, leafless tree with no line-of-sight obstructions.  It held its spot long enough to get everyone back on it before it flew back behind denser tree cover.  One by one, people began to depart, satisfied with what they saw.  We stayed a little longer just until we relocated it again.  It reappeared almost as far back as when we first saw it.

Before heading back to our mutual home town, we figure we’d try to pick up one more one of the rare birds that had been hanging out in Cape May recently.  There were reports of three trumpeter swans, an Eurasian wigeon and about a dozen and a half or so sandhill cranes popping up around town the past few days, but no one had yet reported them for the day.  However there was a young Iceland gull reported earlier, so went tried for that.  On the way there one of us half seriously said maybe we’ll see a black-headed gull or something.  (Hmmm.)

We arrived at the general location and the area looked familiar to us.  We remembered that it was the same street we parked at to find the chestnut-collared longspur back in October.  We began walking the narrow beach to where we saw a sandbar with a bunch of gulls gathering at a marsh outflow.    As we walked up to the birds, we did quick scans in case they scattered before getting closer.  We didn’t see anything striking us as a white-winged gull (Iceland or glaucous gull).  Amongst the mostly ring-billed gulls, we did notice some Bonaparte’s gulls, dunlins and even some overwintering Forster’s terns.  Then, looking through her scope, my friend spotted a (wait for it….) black-headed gull!

 

Young black-headed gull, Cape May, NJ.  © S. Weiss

The orange/red legs and red bill help separate this bird's identification from a Bonaparte's gull (pinkish legs and all black bill).

There were two other birders standing near the birds, so we walked up to them.  We knew they were probably looking for the Iceland gull but asked them if they saw the blacked-headed gull.  They had not until we pointed it out to them.  The bird flew even closer to us for great photos.  We started counting the birds for our checklist.  Somehow, in the brief moment that the four of us took our eyes off the gull, it disappeared.  We tried for a bit to relocate it but had no luck.  The person who reported the Iceland gull came back to see our gull.  He had to settle for just his gull, and we had to settle for just our gull.

We decided to head out of town on a high note.  We got the target bird and a few other good ones too.  Just as rewarding though was that we paid it forward by getting a couple of other people on these birds.