Day 279: October 5th – South Jersey

Sunny, warm (80s), and calm

       An incredibly summer like day to begin a four day outing down to Cape May, New Jersey…..migration capital of the northeastern seaboard.  Each fall, we venture down to this migrant trap in the hopes of adding new year-birds to our list and getting great photo-ops in the process.  We started our endeavor at the Brigantine Unit of the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, and as we expected, we were not disappointed.

       Beginning at the boardwalk, we had our first migrant warbler of the trip, an Eastern Palm warbler.  Tail bobbing gives this bird away, and we had no trouble identifying this little brown job and adding it to the trip list.  Throughout the day, we found both the eastern and western varieties.  The western are much more deeply hued and made for fine photographs.

       A little further down the walk we had a Green heron which from talking to locals has been a regular here for at least two weeks now.  We were certainly glad that the bird decided to wait for us and come out onto the flats to pose.

       The rest of the 8 mile loop was equally productive with beauties like the Northern harrier,  Boat-tailed grackles, terns, gulls, egrets, herons, sparrows, and more.  We always find the Boat-tails at our haunts down in Florida, but they are not so common here and made for a fine photo.

       Night-herons, skimmers, Semi-palmated sandpipers, Black-bellied plovers, and the list just goes on and on.  Time was growing short, however, and we had a 4:30 appointment with our leader Warren down in Cape May. 

        At “The Meadows” in Cape May, we made the loop out to the beach and back through the wetlands collecting new species like the Gadwalls, Ruddy ducks, Wood ducks, Pintails, and Northern shovelers.  It’s great to see that the ducks have returned to our area.  Many of them will be content to hang around the northeast as long as the waters remain open and free from ice. 

       The “shot of the day” comes compliments of a Merlin which flew directly overhead in ideal lighting conditions.  I have gone for months without even seeing a merlin and now I have had at least 5 sightings this week.  Migration is a great time to be out in the field birding.

Merlin

       Tomorrow, it’s up and at’em early in the morning before sunrise and out to an area here in Cape May known as Higbee Beach.  With northwest winds helping to push the warblers into the area, we are eagerly anticipating big numbers of the birds, but the reality is….we can only wait and see what tomorrow brings.  Stay tuned……