A friend and I spent the weekend in Cape May, New Jersey in the hopes of seeing huge amounts of Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles, and Ospreys pass by/rest as they made their way south.
Although calendar-wise we went at a great time, there were none of these birds to be seen en masse. We overheard one park guide tell a group that the winds that weekend, unfortunately, didn’t make it conducive for migration. Our trip was a bust in that regard but the sights of other birds, the beautiful city and landscapes of Cape May, and the Atlantic Ocean well made up for it.
Saturday sights:
Young Sharp-shinned Hawk:
Great Egret in the foreground (at the Cape May Bird Observatory):
Yellow-rumped Warbler:
A couple of Bottlenose Dolphins swimming parallel with the ocean shore:
Vultures:
The one on the right was most curious about me. It turned around and checked me out. I was taking these pictures while standing at the side of the road (a quiet residential road).
At a more secluded beach:
A Peregrine Falcon flew in our direction, looked curiously down at us, swooped around, then landed in a nearby tree:
Happy shake:
Trying to cough up a pellet:
Turkey Vulture:
A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk soared briefly across the way:
Belted Kingfisher:
We left the Peregrine still in its tree after hanging out with it for half an hour.
Sparrow:
A flash of an Indigo Bunting (molting):
Dawn on Sunday:
Sunrise in the windows:
Fish Crow:
Back at the Cape May Bird Observatory:
Yellow-rumped Warbler:
Preening Swans:
Hawk:
Swans:
Peregrine:
Warbler:
Belted Kingfisher:
At the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge:
Double-crested Cormorant:
Sign along the refuge’s dune trail:
