Reporting from New Jersey: Cape May

The capital city of bird-watching, Cape May, set at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, is renowned for epic migrations, as well as the rich birding community that has grown up here over the years. Conditions were a little challenging in some regards, with a prolonged north-easterly blow which didn’t allow for any major migratory movements, but our species count of 148 came in right about on our annual average for this tour. The easterlies made for some good looks at a few seabirds such as flocks of Black Scoters and several Parasitic Jaegers! We ended up with a nice selection of songbirds observed, with Alder Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireos, and Blue Grosbeak among the highlights and 18 species of warbler including Prairie, Black-throated Blue and Ovenbird. 

What was notable about this week was the incredibly high water levels due to the storm surge which made for some great shorebirding as birds ended up having large concentrations in just a few locales providing some excellent studies! We saw 20 species of shorebird, many of which gave us some cracking good looks! 

Another byproduct of the flooded salt marshes was some in our face looks at the normally skulky Saltmarsh Sparrow - our afternoon with them becoming a favorite memory from the trip for some! The high waters also allowed our salt marsh boat tour to really get into some of the back bays, and I’ve never had as many Clapper Rails on this tour as we did this year, as well as point-blank looks at a Great Cormorant!