Early fall birding

Sorry for the long delay in posting, but we've been constantly on the road this summer and early fall and time just seems to slip away. We've had nice moderately successful trips to Monhegan Island in Maine and a more successful trip to the Jersey Shore over the past several weeks. Jersey was by far the "birdier" of the two locations as the wind patterns over Monhegan were not conducive to the migrants which so often do show up there. Using some recommendations from birder friends Della and Alan Wells regarding Scarborough Marsh (also in Maine), we did spend two days there on our way to Monhegan with much better results. Many shore birds were using the marsh as well as the elusive Saltmarsh and Nelson's sparrows. Re Jersey, we spent several days working our way down the coast with stops at Barnegut Light, Brigantine, the SeaWatch at Avalon, and eventually Cape May. Our leader for the Cape May portion of the trip was Warren Cairo, and he did a great job in putting us on many of the migrants found in the area at this time of year. Images above include Monhegan Island, and a Forster's tern and Clapper rail from Brigantine. All-in-all, the month of September was busy and productive....what a great time of year to be out in the field!