Birding Cape May
by Andy Spencer

As part of an 11 state driving trip, we arranged a too-short stop at renowned Cape May during spring migration May 15-17, 2007. The World Series of Birding competition had just ended with something like 265 total species seen by these professional and amateur teams. So there were birds to be seen.
First, you should know that “Cape May”, the birding area, is the southernmost end of New Jersey, and much like Pt. Pelee, ON, Crane Creek / Ottawa NWR in Ohio, both on Lake Erie, and Whitefish Point on Lake Superior, it is a natural concentration point for migrating birds as they approach a major water crossing going south, or the first land they reach after a successful water crossing going north. This birding area centers around the Cape May Point State Park (CMSP) and Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (CMMBR), but includes over 30 other named sites in an area about 30 by 40 miles in size; parts of 3 counties bounded by Delaware Bay on the West and the Atlantic Ocean on the East.
As you can imagine, people want to live and play in these coastal areas, but amazingly, significant areas have been set aside for wildlife. To effectively bird all of these sites is not feasible on a short trip. So we high-spotted. Since we are over 80 we tend to bird from the car or close to it. Our longest hike was a mile or so at CMSP.
First we did the Cape Mays (CMSP & CMMBR) and then a sampling of outlying sites as recommended in the field guides, and currently reported on the Hot Lines and by nature center personnel and chance contacts. Perhaps the most exciting sight for me was on Nummy’s Island, viewing thousands of shorebirds and waders feeding and roosting in shallow water or on emergent vegetation in the extensive salt marsh bisected by Route 147. Generally, parking was safe on both sides of the road as I remember. Joining occasional groups of parked cars helped us locate some special sightings, such as an American Oystercatcher on the nest, seen with binoculars and scope.
Other special sightings were Least Terns, abundant Laughing Gulls every place we looked, and photos of Brant (my first), common on Nummy’s I. No great rarities for me, but lots of new birds for Mary. We missed the famous horseshoe crab egg-laying—a feast for Red Knots, by only a day or two. No migrant fall-outs occurred while we were there. And we did not hike the woods for migrants. In fact much of our time was spent in just getting to know the territory.
There are lots of lodgings nearby. The Jersey Shore high season begins on Memorial Day. Before that, lodging is plentiful at off-season rates in nearby towns such as Wildwood, where we stayed.
Cape May has more or less all of the birds we see in Michigan (less Kirtland’s Warbler) plus ocean birds and strays seldom seen inland. A good guide is Birds and Birding at Cape May by the Suttons, 550 pages of maps, photos and detailed descriptions of over 30 favorite sites.