Cape May October 2015

The best way to come to Cape May, New Jersey is by car ferry across the Delaware Bay from Lewes, Delaware.

Laughing gulls follow behind the boat

You might even see dolphins or a gannet.

Birding begins before sunrise at the morning flight count near Higbee Beach.

One lovely path runs between the Cape May Point State Park and the Nature Conservancy's South Cape May Meadows

On the pond in the state park a mute swan, wigeons, and shovelers enjoy the duckweed

Here’s a stray black swan, an American wigeon and a mallard.

A great blue heron has caught a great big fish.

Shovelers have oddly shaped bills.

Far off across the pond,

in the middle of the circle of ducks

is an unusual Eurasian wigeon.

Along the path there are butterflies. Monarchs are migrating.

A clouded sulphur butterfly perches on goldenrod.

The crescent butterfly likes goldenrod, too.

A red admiral rests on a tree.

A sharp-shinned hawk perches in the woods. He's probably just finished eating a small bird.

This Blackburnian warbler is one of many confusing fall warblers.

Yellow-rumped warblers are everywhere.

We're always happy to see a phoebe.

It's a lovely day for a boat ride through the marsh and out toward the ocean.

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The brant summer in Nunavit and winter in Cape May.

Greater yellowlegs may stay through the winter, too.

A yellow crowned night heron hides in the reeds.

This great blue heron and two black crowned night herons are just three of the many herons we saw in these trees.

A common loon swims by

and ruddy turnstones sun themselves on a sea wall.

An immature red-tailed hawk sits on the jetty.

Further out, the oyster catchers like this jetty, too.

A peregrine falcon dines high up on the coast guard tower

and far in the distance, a marsh hawk hunts.

We enjoy sunset at the Cape May Meadows

and an early morning walk on the beach with Pete Dunne the next day.

Though he's retired, he still leads morning tours for the Cape May Bird Observatory.

	A pair of black scoters swim off shore.

A dunlin probes for small creatures in the sand and sanderlings run and dance just in front of the waves.

Another day we look for sparrows and other birds that like fields at the Beanery. These are song sparrows.

Here's a flicker and a kestrel.

We can always find skimmers and laughing gulls on the beach near the Convention Hall.

Double-crested and immature great cormorants sit offshore at the end of Sunset Boulevard and flocks of cormorants fly overhead.

For several days, we explore marshes and meadows and more with Michael O’Brian and Louise Zemaitis.

We try to learn to identify hawks in flight.

Is this a Cooper's hawk or a sharpshin? We look at the head and the rounded tail.

The bald eagle is easy.

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Here's a great egret and a tricolored heron.

Coots swim in groups.

as do green-winged teal, but here's one on its own.

Richard Crossley came to photograph our mystery bird.

It's a juvenile ibis -- maybe a white-faced ibis from the southwest

or maybe a glossy ibis who should have gone south.

A beautiful sunset over the lighthouse makes us hope to come back soon.