Cape May, New Jersey,
20-23 September 2018

 Cape May lighthouse

CAPE MAY NEVER DISAPPOINTS!

Each autumn I do a Cape May birding trip with David Wilcove. No matter the weather or winds, we find something special there, be it nature, old friends, or a fine dinner. This year was no exception. Changeable weather, generally unfavorable winds, great friends, and some nifty birds!

Merlin

Late September promises falcons no matter what the weather brings. American Kestrels and Merlins were abundant on this weekend, and there were plenty of Peregrines as well—63 of those big raptors on Saturday. There were also scads of Ospreys, often groups of 5-6 passing high overhead. It’s particular fun to watch the Merlins feeding on dragonflies while in flight.

Merlin with dragonfly

Out on Stone Harbor Point there were flocks of Semipalmated Plovers and Sanderlings and a few sandy-colored Piping Plovers up in the dry wrack far from the breaking waves.

Piping Plover

Caspian Terns, Royal Terns, Common Terns, and Forster’s Terns were out and about, but always outnumbered by young Laughing Gulls and Herring Gulls.

 Royal Tern hunting

On one occasion we came upon a feeding frenzy of Laughing Gulls near Coral Avenue at Cape May Point. These birds were feeding on baitfish driven up by snapper Bluefish.

Laughing Gull feeding frenzy

The gulls were joined by foraging Royal Terns and Common Terns and the occasional Forster’s Tern, which stand out because they are so white all over.

Royal Tern Diving

The feeding gulls and terns off Cape May Point (in the rough water called “the rips”) attracted plenty of Parasitic Jaegers, in search of food, which they collect from other waterbirds. The jaegers harass the gulls and terns, forcing them to give up fish they have caught. Jaegers are both handsome seabirds and wonderful acrobats, as made evident in the following images...

Parasitic Jaeger adult

Parasitic Jaeger pair on the prowl

Parasitic Jaeger chasing a tern

Parasitic Jaeger chasing a Laughing Gull

Parasitic Jaeger chasing a Laughing Gull

Parasitic Jaeger chasing a Laughing Gull

Parasitic Jaeger chasing a Laughing Gull

Saturday morning, after an abysmal visit to Higbee Beach in search of warblers in the shrubby field edges, we retreated to Sunset Beach to have breakfast with Louise Zemaitis and Michael O’Brien. While eating, Michael, ever on the lookout for a rare bird, spotted a dark form far out on the Bay. He put the scope on the bird, which proved to be a young Brown Booby, a tropical waif, presumably brought here by the winds of Hurricane Florence. The bird, which apparently had an injured wing, took to the beach and soon was surrounded by a gaggle of eager birders, once the word had gone out via social media.

Brown Booby juvenile

Booby admiring David Wilcove, Louise Zemaitis, and other assembled birders

The Brown Booby is rarely seen in the Mid-Atlantic. There are only a handful of records from Cape May. This was the bird of the weekend... 

Brown Booby juvenile preening

Sunday started with rain and yet the warblers arrived in numbers anyway. We saw a dozen species at Higbee Beach in the morning, and Wilcove added more in the afternoon, while I was stuck in miserable traffic head north toward the Delaware Memorial Bridge... going home via the Cape May-Lewes Ferry may have been a better option. Next year!

Outer Cape  1-15 September 2018

Fluke of Humpback Whale with whale boat in distance

For the third September in a row, I returned to Cape Cod for a getaway with nature. This time I was joined by my daughter, Grace, and wife, Carol. We based out of Wellfleet, and wandered to Monomoy Island, the Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary, the Atlantic and bay beaches of Wellfleet, and to Provincetown and the waters off Provincetown.

Marconi Beach. Wellfleet

After several balmy and sunny days, we got a dose of cloud and autumnal weather. No matter what, the Cape is the place to be in early September.

young Peregrine Falcon on North Monomoy

Carol and I went with friends to North Monomoy Island one day. The Outermost Marine shuttle boat dropped us off about a half-mile from the beach and we waded for about 30 minutes through chilly waters to get there (more time spent wading that our time in the boat!). Best to go on a high tide....

Least Sandpiper on North Monomoy Island

We had large numbers of Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Red Knots, and American Oystercatchers, plus a Peregrine and a whale skull on the flats. A Whimbrel flock passed overhead. But no Hudsonian Godwits... that disappointment was offset by the Gray Seals all about...

female Gray Seal

On five different mornings we visited the Audubon Sanctuary in South Wellfleet. The walk out to the Bay flats is very fine and always productive. There were swarms of Fiddler Crabs on the mudflats and nests of Diamondback Terrapins were hatching out (the little tiny hatchling were held in small cages until they were ready to disperse).

 Fiddler Crab male

Having heard of sightings of Long-tailed Jaeger and Hudsonian Godwit, one morning we visited the causeway to Lieutenant Island (in Wellfleet) and met up with a team from Manomet Observatory. The team was trapping Whimbrels to attach satellite tags that will allow those individuals to be tracked to South America and back.

Whimbrel in flight

The Cape Cod Bay beaches are lonely and very birdy (mainly gulls and terns) and well worth walking. The hike from Duck Harbor Beach south to Great Island is worth doing in the early morning. We saw a large group of seals on a sandbar here.

Common Tern

On several days we traveled north to Provincetown. Lots to do here in town (re: the arts) and out of town (biking, walking, beaching).

Carol on the Dune Shacks Trail, Provincetown

The Dune Shacks Trail took us up and over huge dunes out to the ocean. We did this at the end of the day and it was spectacular. One could get lost in these grand dunefields... Writer Eugene O’Neill spent time out in one of the dune shacks in 1919.

Wild Turkey flock

The Province Lands bike path took us through undulating dunes and forests of pine and beech and Red Maple. It was dotted with small ponds. Its a blessing that these lands were set aside by President Kennedy back in the early 1960s. So much of the outer cape is protected. This makes the adjacent private lands so much more attractive.

 High cliff of Great Island, Cape Cod Bay, Wellfleet

Wild Turkeys flocks were all over the place and were very confiding.

Gray Seal loafing aggregation near Duck Harbor beach, Wellfleet

On two mornings we took Dolphin Fleet whale-watch boats out to Stellwagen Bank to look for whales. Both trips were hosted by naturalist Dennis Minsky. Here is what we saw:

Common Eiders in harbor

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

A school of Harbor Porpoises

Humpback Whale spouting or blowing

Humpback Whale with propeller blade injuries on back

Humpback Whale fluking

Humpback Whale raising its pectoral fin

Humpback Whale spy-hopping

Humpback Whale adult breaching

Humpback Whale calf breaching

Humpback Whale hitting water after a breach--very noisy!

Blue Shark lazing about on water surface

On the two boat trips the only seabirds we saw were a few Cory’s Shearwaters and a handful of Northern Gannets—a far cry from the abundance of seabirds in September 2017. Each year brings a different experience—a compelling reason to repeat these visits year after year.