On Sunday I was birding at Huntley Meadows near Alexandria VA, and Kenn
Kaufman and about 20 others just happened to converge near me on the
boardwalk, 30 minutes prior to his talk at the park's nature center. The
infamous king rails and least bitterns failed to show, but it was a nice day
anyhow. I hadn't seen eastern bluebirds in a while, so that was a small
treat for me. Kenn Kaufman was full of information on various topics,
including butterflies.

Later, in the nature center, Kaufman gave an informal personal talk about
birding and his goals in writing his new books, took questions from an
audience of about 50 people, and was very candid and generous with his time.
He emphasized that he's not very energetic about bird book retailing, and
wanted to stick with birding matters.

When he was asked about what are some of his favorite books on birds, he
mentioned just three books that came to mind at that moment. Two were by
Roger Tory Peterson (Birds over America; In Wild America), and the third was
a book on PNW shorebirds by a fellow named Dennis Paulson. He said that
while it was written for the PNW, it covers species seen over much of the
rest of the country and was a valuable addition for VA birders; he also paid
a very nice compliment to the style in which it was written. I saw numerous
people in the audience enthusiastically taking notes, and I'm sure a few new
orders for Dennis' book are soon to be placed!

The highlight of my trip east was Cape May, NJ; while the numbers of
migrants were just typical of the cape, I was thrilled at the spectacle of
hundreds of raptors filling the sky each day. One short afternoon I saw
roughly about 8 merlins, 100 sharp shinned hawks, 20 cooper's hawks, 30
ospreys, 80 kestrels, 10 peregrines, 30 broad winged hawks, 100 turkey
vultures, 15 northern harriers, and 1 juvenile bald eagle. Just another fall
day at Cape May, sitting on the deck near the lighthouse. For a time the sky
was also packed with dragonflies, so many that it became a major distraction
from the raptors. Monarch butterflies can also be abundant in impressive
numbers here, but I hardly saw any on this trip.

Hours after sunset I walked the beaches in the light of the full moon, and
saw silhouettes of flocks of shorebirds at the edge of the surf. It's a
busy time at Cape May, for birders as well as birds.

Kevin Li
Seattle, WA
e-mail: kevin.li at metrokc.gov