We flew into Newark NJ and were picked up by friend with car, loaded cool box and drove straight to CM hotel for the night.
Standard day was started at Higbee beach for fly over and drop in migrants. First day was quiet with only local indigo buntings and yellowthroats showing well. Moved on to Stone point for waders- tide wasnt great but Laughing gulls were everywhere, also Roya terns. Tricoloured herons popped up on the creeks with usual Snowy and Great Egrets. Osprey was the commonestlocal raptor as usual - sitting on any convenient pole eating fish etc.
The wetland centre near Avalon had a good 40 square yard carpark with Red winged blackbird. American Robin, Song Sparrow, House Finch etc. Also black crowned Night heron , forsters tern, belted kingfisher on the marsh boardwalk.
Nearby Cape May bird reserve ( small and local marsh with boardwalk) had Am Redstart, Carolina chickadee etc.
Drove to Kimble road and looked for migrants - found standard fare- Red eyed vireo catbird, cardinal, red breasted nuthatch, carolina wren blue grey gnatcatcher , Black and White warbler and cowbirds.
Finally made it to CM lighthouse area late afternoon and watched Pied billed grebe, Merlin , Am Redstart, Yellowthroat, American Wigeon, Green winged and Blue winged teal etc- these were the standard everyday birds here.
64 spp
Day 2
Higbee was again qiuiet - Peregrine, ruby crowned kinglet, Red eyed vireo , Bald eagle and LOADS OF MOZZIES!!!
Moved north to Cox Hall creek ( over grown ex golf course) - bit off the main CM beaten track but we knew of it and liked it.Grounded migrants were mainly in a flock near the lake- spent 90 mins working thru them- Parula- 3, Palm warbler - 20, downy wp- 3, Am redstart-10, eastern bluebird- 6, eastern kingbird, red eyed vireo, wilsons warbler-1, pine warbler-8, B&W warbler- 20, chipping sparrow 7, Blue grosbeak 3, also belted kingfisher, black duck, red bellied wp,
Moved down to CM bird obs and lighthouse area- Killdeer in carpark, american kestrel, chimney swift and northern harrier, plenty of Merlins passing over and odd Am kestrels and Sharp shins.
Finished the day at nearby Nummy's island for ( not many) waders but scored Clapper rail , Forsters Tern, and a walk down the south end of Stone hbr island ( long sandy beach) produced 7 Piping plover, Caspian Tern 6, semi-p plover, Royal Tern 10 , Ring billed gull, sanderling 100, western sand 30, Dunlin 3, Glossy Ibis 7.
Day 3- followed a similar pattern with visits up coast to Jakes landing ( Seaside sparrow- at last- my first LIFER! ) and finding Philadelphia Vireo, Nashville warbler and Alder Flycatcher.
Day 4-
Higbee produced more birds when we stood on top of the dike- Baltimore Oriole, Rose breasted grosbeak,Parula, Yellow warbler, eastern peewee,
CM lighthouse area produced Least flycatcher and 5 Merlin
CM meadow walk ( pools inside beach, obs platform, reed beds) had Pied billed grebe, merlins, Least sandpipers, 000's of Tree swallows, Blue wing teal
Nummy Island bridge at high tide produced Western Willet 5 , Marbled Godwit 1, Grey plover 30, Short billed dowitcher20, Knot 40,
Trip list reached 127
Day 5-6 followed a similar pattern and added the following spp.
Northern waterthrush, Gannet, Arctic Skua, Black throated green warbler, Cape May warbler, Red shouldered and Broad winged hawk, Northern rough-winged swallow, Ruby throated hummer, black throated blue warbler, Ruddy duck, Nighthawk, Clay colored sparrow, yelllow rumped warbler
Day 7 was the BIG DAY- NW winds dumped rain and migrants over night ( looking at theweather radar it could have been a colossal fall of migrants but instead it was just the bestpassage of the autumn so far the locals said)
We stayed at Higbee ( in the same spot) from dawn til gone 10am then worked the CM lighthouse area til lunch.
Northern flicker- 300+ Parula 100+ Red eyed vireo- 40. palm warbler- 40, cedar waxwing-60. am redstart- 20 +, B&W warbler 20 + red breasted nuthatch -20+, plus- eastern peewee Rose breasted grosbeak, blackpoll, magnolia, black throated blue,prairie, bay breasted, black throated green, blackburnian, Yellow throated and chestnut sided warblers. Scarlet tanagers, eastern kingbirds, eastern phoebe, yellow billed cuckoo, and assorted raptors including coopers hawk and merlin.
Moving to Cox hill creek we had lunch and swainsons thrush, rusty blackbird and more warblers.
Returning to CM observatory ( it's an optics and T shirt shop in disguise) we had yellow bellied sapsucker, white eyed vireo and more warblers. Dusk at the meadows gave us Pectoral and Solitary sandpiper and nighthawk.
Trip list 153
Days 8-10 were mop up days, we visited odd bits of habitat such as the local airfield for Horned lark and bumped into odd migrants like Dickcissel, Sora and old Brit birding buddies with whom we we swapped stories, got silly and quoted Monty Python- much to bemusement of nearby American tour participants .
En route back to Newark airport we emptied the cool box, re-filled the petrol tank for only the 3rd time and went to the Brigantine reserve but a problem with sluices meant the wader Nos were way down and the water levels right up.
The trip ended with 160 spp.
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Sounds like a good trip - even if some of the areas that you visited weren't as productive as you hoped.
seymouraves said: Seaside sparrow- at last- my first LIFER!
Having never yet made it "across the pond" I reckon that I would have managed somewhere in the region of 100 lifers on the same trip (give or take!) - I wouldn't know where to look first!
�