Our birding group is in Cape May for five days. This morning after we just finished scanning for birds at the Concrete Ship a text alert arrived as we were ready to head back to our rental home for lunch. I normally keep the text alerts off when I am birding since I don’t want to be distracted, but when in Cape May it is a good idea to know what is being seen in real time. This time it paid off. The text reported that a banding project had just captured a Yellow-green Vireo in its nets. The bird was healthy and would be released in 15 minutes, presumably after measurements and documentation were completed. We were only 3-5 minutes away. So should we go look at the bird being released or head home for lunch? Jeanine and I were both ready for lunch, but while driving home we changed our minds and both agreed that it might be fun to see this bird.
Why would be care about a Yellow-green Vireo? This is a species that had never been seen previously in New Jersey. It is a bird of the tropics; one that barely makes it into southern-most Texas, and the furthest north that it had been documented on the east coast was in North Carolina. So it was indeed a rarity. A mega-rarity.
We arrived at the Meadows with about five minutes to spare, and a group of 25-30 people were assembled, including many of Cape May’s elite birders. After a few minutes, CMBO director David La Puma announced that they were requesting permission to tag the bird with a device to monitor its movements, so the release would be delayed slightly. In the meantime they brought the bird out for a few photos. It was a lovely bird indeed, looking like a very bright Red-eyed Vireo and with a much larger bill.
The Yellow-green Vireo being shown to the assembled birders before being released.
The star of the show: New Jersey’s first Yellow-Greeen Vireo.
Permission was obtained to tag the bird with a monitoring device, so it was brought back into the banding shed, and five minutes or so later it was brought back out for release. The banders showed off the attached monitoring device, which weighs less than a postage stamp. A visiting bird guide from Uganda was given the opportunity to release the bird, which immediately flew off across Sunset Blvd., not to be seen in the area again.
Feathers of the bird were moved aside before release to reveal the tracking device.
A close-up view of the CTT tracking device.
The Yellow-green Vireo with its barely-noticeable tracking device antenna visible.
I have seen Yellow-green Vireos while in the tropics, so it wasn’t a new life bird for me, but it is always great to see birds close-up, and moreso to be present for a small part of NJ birding history. You never know what will happen in Cape May.