This was a bad week for birding in Cape May. So far I've been here for four years, and for the most part it has been nothing but a disappointment. Spend more time taking ticks off my body than seeing birds, and the birds I see are common.
I'm never going back there again you here me, never!
(I'll be away for a few days, while I go back to Cape May.)
If it weren't for the great food, I'd never go back.
Okay, the great food, the hikes, the views, and the beaches. Cape May and its surrounding communities are an ecological paradise in the heart of the northeast- a few hours from DC, Philly and NYC, there are more miles of birding trails and estuaries, pine barrens and thick forests than in any other concentrated part of the region.
Cape May county is the triangle at the bottom of NJ. NJ is pretty much defined by the two rivers that form its eastern and western frontiers, the Hudson and the Delaware. The Hudson deposits silt and sand forming the northeastern coast and beaches of NJ, along with the many rivers that empty into the Atlantic on her southern flank. The west has the mighty Delaware river, which helps give the southwestern counties their rich and fertile farmland. NJ is "The Garden State" and this is not just a slogan, it is one of the lushest and greenest on the east coast. Take away the refinery smokestacks and the urban pollution of the northeast corridor and NJ is a spectacular environmental resource. As I'm typing this, hundreds of birder are competing in the World Series Of Birding, the premier event on the international bird watching calendar. So in honor of the WSOB (May 10, 2008) here is my Cape May Diary.
This little fellow is someone you don't get to see too often in the NE. He's a blue grosbeak, in the middle of changing from winter to summer colors. You get to see this with many birds, most commonly young male cardinals and scarlet tanagers, but in this case it's the grosbeak. In his full adult colors he's a deep blue bird with strong wingbars (you can already see them forming) resembling nothing more than a blue "cardinal". They are closely related- the original name for the northern cardinal was "cardinal grosbeak." These guys are all members of the finch family, with exceptionally large beaks ("grosbeak" is German for large beak). They earn their living from seeds and fruit, taking the occasional insect when in season.
There are many great places to bird in CM- I found him near the lighthouse, at West Cape May. Not too far away is Sunset Beach (pet the tortoise shell on the way to the gift shop, but be careful she isn't always friendly) with the famous concrete ship- yes, a ship made out of concrete- and a great beach filled with fossils and "Cape May Diamonds" and lovely sea birds. The cormorants and various species of gull use the shell of the ship as a sunning platform. If you look out into the Delaware you'll see tons of good birds, and once in a while a grebe or a loon. In the next few weeks a true miracle of nature will take place, the horseshoe crab nesting followed by shorebird migration. Tens of thousands of ruddy turnstones (see photo) red knots, various gulls and the occasional sandpiper or plover will gorge on their eggs while they make their way up to Churchill, Manitoba or Alaska, or The Yukon.
Take off, to the Great White North.
So while we turn horseshoes into bait or pet food, the birds are at risk of starvation. Some states get the message (New Jersey) and some are only beginning to see their importance, but this is an international treasure which is totally necessary for the survival of at least three or four species. The tributaries of the Delaware are another great place to bird, as is the local state forest, Belleplain. A word of caution; while you might see simply astonishing numbers of birds and species there, you might also leave with a body full of ticks. Use bug spray, tuck in your clothes, leave nothing unprotected and c a r e f u l l y inspect yourself immediately after you get to the showers. You don't want Lyme disease, or even worse... A birder in the World Series in IIRC 2006 died a month after birding Cape May. I have to assume he did virtually all of the sites mentioned here, so who knows where he got it?
Another great place near Cape May is the salt marsh on the far south end of Stone Harbor. Overlooking Wildwood, this quieter town has one of the most stunning beaches you'll ever see, and a few weeks before the height of summer you can pretty much have it all to yourself. Well not so much to yourself; you'll have to share it with the pectoral sandpipers.
The most popular birding sites is Higbee's beach, on the far northwestern tip of Cape May Island. I'll be spending another 10 or so hours there this weekend, trying to avoid the rare combination of frostbite and sunstroke that you can get there this time of year depending upon the winds. When Higbee is just right, there is no other place like it.
I'm going to be lazy now and just link to a website, same me the trouble of typing...
http://www.capemaytimes.com/...
On Saturday morning I was suffering through the fog and wind, and was returning to the parking lot (which is one of the best places to see birds on Cape May) and decided to go to the back woods, heading out towards the beach. There were a few parulas flying around, and a blue-winged warbler chasing one (which was quite an odd surprise, as that isn't a behavior you'd expect from them) and it led me to a large willow tree, which holds up an ancient grapevine (you can't see the vine this time of year, but you can eat the grapes in September or October- very good!)
All of a sudden I saw a yellow-rumped warbler on the tree, along with a Carolina wren and of all birds a white-crowned sparrow! Just a very odd pairing, not a terribly rare bird. Then for the next five minutes it appeared that all hell would break lose as several northern parula (a warbler), at least three or four blue-wings, a yellow warbler, a few prairie warblers and then a worm-eating warbler (my first in several years) showed up. Finally before it all died down a Baltimore Oriole passed by and sang for a few notes. For about 10 minutes it was the most intense birding I'd had all year (since surpassed in Alley Pond Park) in thick fog and heavy mist, as I was getting ready to drive away. Birding is really about being at the right place at the right time, and you honestly have no idea (or not a good one) where and when that is!
The only way to improve the odds, is to go out as often as you can.
There are a few other highlights- the Beanery, and the new Nature Conservancy path. I haven't had any luck at the Beanery, and this week the TNC path wasn't doing me much good. Maybe next time...
Now if you think Cape May is just about birds, it isn't. You'll see snakes and reptiles, mammals, and even people from time to time. This little fellow decided to chow down on some mallard eggs, laid by what must have been the dumbest bird ever, as she placed her nest in the middle of a trail, on a dune next to one of the hiking paths overlooking a marsh. Now I only had the 300mm with me, so with the 1.4 extender and the 1.6X conversion factor I had a very long lens, to photograph a very close snake... Wish I had another lens then, but you get what you can. Just to give you an idea, he must have been about a meter long, and very slow as he was attempting to digest two eggs.
And within five feet of the snake, was this little guy swimming along.
So Cape May has it all; a great place to commune with nature, enjoy the sights, shop, see the beautiful old buildings and eat until you burst. So what if I feel as if I've had rotten luck with the birds, I know I'd rather be there than almost any place else.
UPDATE:
Now with M O R E S N A K E S!
Same as before, but check out the tongue!
Different snake, seen a day later lurking about inside of an abandoned next box. And detail below.