Cape May, Hawk Mountain & Bombay Hook Sep 28—Oct 05, 2008
Posted by Louise Zemaitis
Louise Zemaitis
Louise Zemaitis is an artist and naturalist living in Cape May, New Jersey where she is a popular field trip leader teaching birding workshops as an Associate Naturalist wi...Related Trips
Coastal migration is all about the weather. During most of September there had been an unusual amount of easterly winds creating conditions for below average numbers of migrant birds. All we needed was one cold front to shake things up. On our first evening in Philadelphia, the tour began with a rainstorm, the bellwether of the passage of a good cold front. The next morning we got up early and headed straight to Cape May.
Cape May greeted us with all of its splendor. We went to the end of Sunset Boulevard where we could be right in the flight line. Here we witnessed a spectacular flight of Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels. There were hundreds of shimmering Blue Jays and many golden Northern Flickers, as the morning sun caught their wings. The variety of hawks seen was most impressive, including a Peregrine Falcon that grabbed one of the Blue Jays out of the air and took it to a perch on the nearby water tower. Our day was spent in a number of different locations in order to view migrants from every vantage point, from the morning flight at Sunset Boulevard to sea-watching from the dunes in Cape May Point, to hawk-watching at the Rea Farm in West Cape May and the Hawkwatch platform at Cape May Point State Park. It was at the Rea Farm that we saw one of the rarest birds of the trip, a juvenile Mississippi Kite! During our lunch at Cape May Point State Park, we enjoyed close views of warblers including Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Prairie, and Palm. On this day, more than any other of our trip, we were able to witness the full spectrum of migration.
We began each day in Cape May with an early breakfast at The Queen Ann (my sister's Victorian house). On our second morning we drove to the famous "Morning Flight" platform at Higbee where birders go to witness visible passerine migration. Here we caught an impressive flight that included Eastern Wood-Pewee, Scarlet Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, and a variety of warblers. The remainder of the day was spent enjoying the Cape May area. During a stop at Bill and Edie Schuhl's garden in Cape May Point, we enjoyed a Monarch tagging demonstration and studied butterflies as hawks and dragonflies buzzed over our heads. It was another big raptor day with highlights including 5 Bald Eagles and at least 50 Peregrine Falcons.
The next day was spent exploring the coastal marshes. An early start at Two Mile Landing produced perfect views of Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed and Seaside sparrows. In Stone Harbor we saw both races of Willet (numerous Westerns and a late Eastern), and at Stone Harbor Point we studied a flock of about 20 Piping Plovers on the beach, along with numerous Western Sandpipers and other shorebirds. Brigantine was absolutely filled with birds. There were hundreds of geese, ducks, shorebirds, and gulls. We made several stops along the wildlife route. It was on one of these stops that we saw a beautiful juvenile Ruff, the bird of the day. It even trumped the 5 American Avocets that were in the same pool! Throughout the day Michael conducted an informal shorebird workshop, and our final tally reached 21 shorebird species.
The northerly winds on our last morning in Cape May dictated another early start at Higbee. Most memorable was a Red-headed Woodpecker that flew over, enabling the Lincoln's Sparrow that we had been zeroing in on to give us the slip. During a stop at the Cape May beachfront we finally decided to count the roosting birds on the beach. It was a spectacular concentration of 800 Royal Terns and 1,000 Black Skimmers! After loading the van, making our last rounds through Cape May Point, and lunch at The Queen Ann, we headed to Pennsylvania for the next stage of our tour.
Friday, with its westerly winds, proved to be the best day to visit Hawk Mountain. After a hearty breakfast at the Nottingham Inn, we went to the nearby Wawa to make our lunch selections and drove north to the Kittatinny Ridge. We began our visit to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary at the visitor's center before making the one-mile hike to the North Lookout. The morning's chill brought promise of a decent hawk migration, which started out slowly but picked up by midday. It is always a treat to see birds from above, and we had excellent views of a number of hawks including Osprey, Bald Eagle, and Peregrine Falcon. Of particular interest was the fact that we witnessed at least 10 Blackpoll Warblers exhibiting onward migration, a diurnal southbound movement by an otherwise primarily nocturnal migrant. Another subject of keen interest was the presence of hybrid Carolina x Black-capped Chickadees. We were unable to find any pure Black-capped Chickadees, the only species present here a decade ago.
The changing autumn foliage throughout the trip was quite beautiful. On our last full day in the field, we drove south to visit Delaware's bayshore. The wildlife drive at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge was drier than usual, but we still saw a number of waterfowl and shorebirds, particularly when raptors came by to flush them. A non-bird favorite of the morning was a red fox that was seemingly awoken from its morning nap as we passed. After a delicious crab lunch, we went to Port Mahon. Here we found large flocks of terns and shorebirds. From the vans we had close studies of Caspian, Forster's, and Royal terns perched on the pilings, and Semipalmated, Western, and White-rumped sandpipers, and Dunlin on the beach. The lighting was spectacular!
On our final morning, after enjoying a nice variety of songbirds at White Clay Creek, we headed to the airport and bid each other farewell.