My First Cape May Trip

     I've been to Cape May before. Eaten the salt water taffy, saw the cute little downtown area full of kitschy tourist shops, and even visited the zoo (it's a cute zoo!). I had never been on a birding trip to Cape May and Cape May is THE birding destination. So I was pretty stoked, to say the least.
     Birding has become such a large part of my life because it fulfills so many of the things I enjoy. This was such an amazing trip and it 100% met all my expectations. I even got a few life birds and am already excited to make a visit again.
     13 of us ventured down in a caravan of carpools, birding our way there and back. Many of us scoring life list birds, firsts of season, or firsts of the year. We celebrated together, watched in awe, laughed, and maybe even shed a few tears over how amazing some of our sights were. And the sights were oh so good...

Many of us took Friday off and began the trip down with a stop at Sandy Hook NWR. I had never been there before and it didn't disappoint. I finally saw a yellow-throated warbler that I had been furiously seeking in Prospect Park.
At one point we had two super cooperative rose-breasted grosbeak males.

One of them even posed a bit.

The forecast was in our favor in that it didn't rain, but overcast conditions made photographing bird tough so I skipped the camera for some portions of our trip.

We saw a lot of these: great crested flycatcher, which make some pretty funny noises.

We also stopped in Sea Bright for a nice rare sight, a Wilson's plover. a Life bird for many of us!

The misty, grey conditions made for really wonderful photos.

These birds don't too much venture past that Del-Mar-Va area, so seeing them in the middle of New Jersey was a treat!

We drove down to Cape May and made it at later in the evening. Giving us some time to explore the preserve down the road from our rental house.
The next morning we awoke, bright and early, at 5:15 AM to go down to the Higbee Beach Area. We had plentiful birds of blue hues, mainly indigo buntings but also (seen here) blue grosbeak.

We saw a lot of these. everywhere. osprey. so. much. osprey.

At Higbee Beach we were graced by the presence of a few living fossils: horseshoe crabs.

A male and female doing the deed. The thing that helps many a shore bird complete their migration northward.

We were also delighted to see dolphins out in the bay.

Later in the day, we all went to Cape May Meadows which also didn't disappoint. We were greeted by Purple Martin which were for quite a number of us a life bird.

Also, a treat, a close look at a killdeer parent on the nest.

A boardwalk took you through the marsh where we viewed familiar waders like great egret.

Also lots of these noisemakers... red-winged blackbirds.

A fun mammal sighting: Muskrat!

Then we watched this Osprey seek out its inner duck as it bathed.
American wigeon and gadwall watched on, perhaps they even admired.

We were ready to cheer on this pair of Foster's Terns...

And it was like, there they...

Stand,
They're standing. 

Still standing.

Least tern watches them.
As they stand.

And they stood just a little longer.
And then it was over.
The standing ended.

And all while that stand occurred we got a Bonaparte's gull and for many of us, our lifer whimbrel flew overhead.

At the beach we found this loaf of birb.

This great loaf of birb is the American Oystercatcher.

I love that the terns are trudging north. Especially these mighty little nuggets, the least tern.

A Northern redbelly cooter with its smaller painted turtle friends. 

A tree swallow claims a nest box as its own.

I kinda like the female purple martins better than the males...

They have very frogmouth-like faces when looked at head-on.

My favorite thing that birding has become is a way to make friends. You know you are in good company when you are all fawning over a killdeer, cheering on a friend as they get their lifer purple martin, or trying to help other friends, who are just getting their birding career started, break that 200 species mark on their life list. This has been the most rewarding aspect of birding, meeting some pretty kick ass human beings.

We on Saturday also went to the Cape May Lighthouse and looked at birds there too. From the Hawk Watch platform, I watched this robin with a mouthful of fresh ground spaghetti.

On some of the trails, a freshly fledged mourning dove followed its parent around the low branches.

A beautiful female blue grosbeak snacks on some tender spring leaves.

I like how she has these little hints of that cobalt blue under that honey brown plumage.

Oh hai.

Don't be fooled. This floofer is a top predator,
Don't mess.

Green frog.
...that's the species. Green frog.

A shimmering tree swallow. The only time the sun was fully out on our trip.

So shiny.

A little less shiny and a little more awkward, a Northern rough-winged swallow.

With those big doe eyes and that tawny coat, it's still damn cute. I have never had the chance to enjoy one so still at eye level.

A Forster's tern hovers to try and get a good look at prey before making a dive into the water.

Speaking of cute birds, field sparrow.

This is 100% a cute bird.
I love cute birds.

AND THEN.

A CAPE MAY WARBLER.

IN. CAPE. MAY.

This species was first discovered in Cape May. But it really doesn't spend too much time here, nor is it super common here. It simply just passes through as it moves towards either its breeding grounds to the north or its winter retreat in southern climes.

I've seen Cape May warblers before. But seeing this bird, flit around in this beach plum in full bloom, with our entire crew. This was absolute perfection. A perfect moment. A memorable moment.

Thanks, little buddy!

On our way home, we stopped at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR. We saw seaside sparrow (lifer), got some gull billed terns (lifer),  caspian tern (lifer), SAW a clapper rail, great gatherings of black skimmer, a single red knot and then these interesting Canada geese showing some leucism around their faces.
I call them panda geese.

This trip was amazing and I'm glad I got to share it with some pretty great people. I had never been on a bird trip with other bird folks and this was just a shit ton of fun. The weather was in our favor and so were the birds!

So, since the fun never ends, a few of us are raising money on Saturday by way of the Brooklyn Bird Club's Birdathon. We put together a Feminist Bird Club team and we are raising funds to Save the Choco, a region that runs from Panama, through Columbia and into Ecuador. It is a place where many of the birds that we hope to see (like warblers, tanagers, and others) spend the winter among many tropical species in this biodiversity hotspot. Please consider supporting our team... and more importantly, the Choco Region by donating on behalf of our team, The Rowdy Turnstones, here: https://forms.gle/7y8aRZpzkpvWouHW7