From: ditch@prefect.uucp (26217-ditch)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Cape May info wanted
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:01:21 GMT
Distribution: nj
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ

I've been having trouble with the local mail news server;
it has been intermittently leaving out whatever text I add
as followup, posting only the original article.  Sorry if this
is getting to be a problem to readers of the group.

Rich Ditch

In article <1992Sep28.175808.12881@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> ka1gt@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (robert.m.atkins) writes:
|-I would like to get some info on birding at Cape May. Specifically answers
|-to such questions as:
|-1 - The best times to visit, during October. Is it better to visit duing
|-the week, rather than at weekends to avoid crowds. Dawn vs. Dusk vs daytime
|-observations. Are any particular weather conditions likely to increase the
|-number of birds present?

Unfortunately, the tourist season extends further into the fall each
year, so October still can produce crowds, especially on weekends.
Most birders still visit on weekends, since it doesn't require taking
time off work.  Luckily, tourists and birders tend to keep to separate
areas, so if you can resist the Victorian houses and the gift shops,
you should have little trouble whether you visit during the week or
only on weekends.  An advantage of visiting on weekends is the number
of birders present who will share sighting info with you at each place.

For warblers and other dickie birds, the prime time is dawn.  Often
bird activity has virtually disappeared by 9:00 am in the prime spots
light the fields and wood edges of Higbee Beach. Passage or cold
fronts generally brings passerines to Higbee on the back edge of the
front.

Hawks are a major attraction of October, and the hawk watch platform
at the Cape May Point State Park (Lighthouse) can be good from 9:00
till late afternoon.  Easterly and southerly winds can produce good
numbers of merlins and peregrines in October.

The South Cape May Meadows (now owned by the Nature Conservancy
and called something like the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge) will
have waders, resting gulls and terns, anytime of the day.

The coastal waters off the Second Avenue jetty, the end of Sunset
Blvd (near the concrete ship wreck), and off Higbee Beach are good
all day but depend on the tide as much as anything else.

|-2 - Is "Cape May" just one site, or are there many viewing areas. Are there
|-blinds, or is all viewing done out in the open? Is a 500mm lens long enough
|-to get respectable photos of at least some of the species present?

"Cape May" is a collection of specific birding hotspots: the Meadows,
the Hawkwatch, the trails at the Sate Park, the various beaches, the
fields and woods at Higbee and nearby (Beanery, Hidden Valley, Cold
Springs campground).  Birds and birders can be found everywhere except
in the tourist section.

Other points of birding interest are Stone Harbor and Nummy Island,
about 10 miles north of Cape May, and Brigantine NWF (now called
Forsyth) about 40 miles north.

Viewing is done in the open.  There is a blind along one of the trails
at Cape May Point State Park that overlooks a pond that sometimes has
a muddy edge; I've taken photos of least bittern, green-backed heron,
and little blue heron here in dryer years.  The blind is useless if
there are any tour groups who decide to walk the boardwalk that leads
to the blind.

A 500mm lens can give good results of the larger species (herons, egrets,
ducks, the occasional soaring hawk) with some patience.  I always
carry my 400 and 1.4x (560mm equiv) and a tripod when I walk the
Meadows; I've gotten good shots of most of the herons and egrets here,
as well as yellowlegs, stilt sandpipers, pectoral sandpipers, various
peep, etc here.  Sometimes a song sparrow or yellow-rumped warbler
will sit still for a close portrait as well.  You'll have major
trouble trying to photograph the smaller birds at Higbee Beach.

|-3 - Is there any low cost lodging in the area, or perhaps up around
|-Wildwood, in October, or do most of the motels shut down after the summer
|-season?

I usually stay at the Jersey Cape Motel at 769 Route 9, Cape May.
They are just off the end of the Garden State Parkway (follow the road
towards the Cape May Ferry terminal about a mile).  Their phone is
609-884-7382.  They do close for winter; call first to see if they
are still open.  At other times, I stay at the Periwinkle Inn, on the
oceanfront at 1039 Beach Avenue in Cape May.  Their phone is
609-884-9200.  They are a cash/travelers check only business!  The
Periwinkle is recently remodeled, and fairly nice.  I prefer to be away
from this touristy area, but others in your party may like its location
better than the "remote" Jersey Cape Motel.  If you keep typical birder
hours, you will avoid the majority of the tourist problems.

|-I realise these are somewhat sweeping questions, but I'd like to plan a
|-visit to Cape May with friends sometime next month and any info on the area
|-would be very welcome. I restricted distribution on this message to NJ, so
|-appologies for wasted bandwidth if it gets out further!
|-
|-===============================================================
|-Bob Atkins  AT&T Bell Labs  email (direct)  att!clockwise!rma
|-===============================================================

You should get a copy of Bill Boyle's "A Guide to Bird Finding in
New Jersey," for about $20.  This has excellent info on Cape May,
as well as the rest of the state.  It is available at NJAS bookstores
(Frankiln Lakes, Bernardsville, Rancocas, Freehold, and Cape May),
as well as in many Waldens'Daltons/Encore stores throughout the state.

Also, the Cape May Bird Observatory, an NJAS nature Center at 707
East Lake Drive in Cape May Point (609-884-2736) can provide you
with a crude local map (8.5x11) showing the major locations.

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| Richard Ditch, in the New Jersey "Wilderness"    Voice: 908-758-2284  |
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