Just between us, we never felt that Cape May deserved all the love given by the birding community worldwide for being *the* place to visit during the fall migration. Due to its proximity, we have visited Cape May quite a number of times in the fall and never felt that the place lived up to its reputation. So this time, we were just going to spend half a day there before getting on the ferry to get to our main destination, the Delaware Coast.
OCTOBER 17, 2021 hawkathon
We left Brooklyn around 7am, breezed through unscenic New Jersey highways and were in Cape May before 10am. Our ferry was scheduled to leave from Cape May to Delaware at 4:30pm so we had til 3:30pm to bird the Cape May area. Our first stop was the famed but often disappointing Cape May Hawk Watch Platform. This was, in fact, the weekend of Cape May Fall Festival hosted by the New Jersey Audubon where who's who of birding community flocked to give lectures and walks. Expectedly, the Hawk Watch Platform was packed with amateur birders and volunteer expert birders. One obvious advantage of visiting the platform at Cape May is having the expert birders who were there to count birds and, most importantly, to point them to meer mortals like us. Those people could identify, with ease, any pea-sized birds in the sky.
We usually spend a few minutes there to get the feel of what birds are around but ended up spending close to an hour just on the platform that day. Well, how could we walk away when various raptors just kept flying in! There were Sharp-shinned Hawks (lovingly called 'Sharpies'), Cooper's Hawks, American Kestrels, Bald Eagles and many Turkey Vultures. And, yes we do admit that we were quite impressed with the volume of raptors passing by. We then walked the trail by the platform to see more flying raptors and literally thousands of Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Cape May Hawk Watch
Cape May Hawk Watch
Hawk Watch
Light House
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Our next stop was Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area, another must-visit birding spot in Cape May. We were expecting to see some sparrow species but the place was fairly quiet though we managed to see more raptors circling the sky.
It was almost 3pm and was time to head to the ferry terminal which happened to be right across the harbor. At this point, there were only two things left to do in Cape May. One was to catch a ferry and another was to get take-out dinner from our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Pueblo Taqueria. Just like the last time we visited the restaurant, it was closed and just like the last time, we ended up going to the next door to get pizza.
This ferry ride was not just a means of transportion to us but rather our main birding event. Basically we were going to use the ferry as the poor man's pelagic to pursue a mystic seabird species called Jaeger. Jaegers rarely ever fly close to the coastline so the ferry ride provided us with a unique opportunity to see this cryptic seabird. Luckily for us, Jaegers had been sighted from this very ferry the day before. Well, there was one major obstacle standing between us and a Jaeger: sea-sickness. We are both susceptible to any type of motion-sickness but sea-sickness tops them all. Loaded with Dramamine, we nervously got on the ferry, desparately hoping for a quiet sea. Once we left the bay, the water was pretty rough but we bravely stood on the dock in the freezing cold, binoculars in hand, determined to find the Jaeger. The ferry ride was about an hour and a change and believe me, we tried but today wasn't the day. It was cool to learn that seagulls followed the ferry from the start to the end. We were guessing that the disturbance of water caused by the ferry made the fish to come up to the surface, making them an easy catch for hungry seagulls. We were thoroughly entertained watching gulls after gulls sweeping down to grab a fish from the water surface.
It was almost dark by the time we got to Delaware. We drove to the Cape Henlopen State Park Campground just a few minutes away from the ferry terminal where we would be spending next 3 nights.
OCTOBER 18, 2021 pretty in pink... NOT!
Delaware has quite a few excellent wildlife refuges but Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge definitely is one of our favorites. The refuge is known for surprise rarities and this time was no exception. There was a report of a Roseate Spoonbill and a Tricolored Heron both of whom usually inhabit the warmer southern part of the United States. As the name suggests, the Roseate Spoonbill fashions gorgeous flamingo-like pink feathers and a large spoon-shaped bill, definitely a sight to remember. However, there is one big problem with this wonderful refuge: its immense size. Imagine finding a bird in an area expanding to whopping 16,251 acres. I would rather look for a needle in a haystack. Well, thanks to the modern technology and fellow birders, we did know approxiately where it was last seen so our hope was that it was still hanging around in the same area. We deligently looked for our targets while enjoying the sight of various interesting species such as American Avocets and a Clapper Rail. Despite our effort, we were unable to locate the Spoonbill, even after repeating the 12-mile auto loop only to look for the Spoonbill. Later, we had learned that no one had seen the bird that day on and the consensus was that the bird had left the area the night before. Timing sure is everything in birding. We did *think* we had seen the Tricolored Heron though. We made a stop to look for a Belted Kingfisher then a large heron flew out of a tree. Immedicately, we knew it wasn't a Great Blue Heron but then who else could it have been, a large heron with deep blue hue? Unfortunately, it happened so quickly we didn't have a good look; thus, couldn't be sure enough to claim the sighting. Depite missing the Spoonbill, we enjoyed every bit of time we spent at the refuge and it was now time to move onto our next destination.
Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
Shearness Observation Tower
Observation Tower
Trail to the Tower
Clapper Rail
Double-crested Cormorants
Eastern Phoebe
Foster's Tern
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
The main reason for us to visit Delaware is to catch up with our darling little feathered friend, Brown-headed Nuthatch. So we headed to Big Stone Beach Road, one of the most reliable places to see the Nuthatch. Against our wish, the road was unusually quiet. The road ended with the Big Stone Beach where we saw a lone Black-bellied Plover.
Despite missing a few targets, we had an action packed fun-filled birding day. We ended the day playing tennis at Milford High School. Initially, we had planned to go to nearby Georgetown to pick up dinner after tennis but we just were too exhausted and hungry to drive for another 30 minutes. So we decided to stop by at a no-frill Chinese take-out place, Hing Wang, on our way back to our campsite. It could be because we were both farmished, the Chinese food tasted like it came from a Michelin-starred restaurant. With full stomach, we were fast asleep by 9pm.
OCTOBER 19, 2021 we meet again, at last
Cape Henelopen State Park not only offers great camping but also amazing birding as well. As such, we were going to spend our morning hours birding the state park. We were immediately greeted by chirping Golden-crowned Kinglets, followed by always so active and energetic Carolina Chickadees. Soon after, we were inundated by thousands of Yellow-rumped Warblers (a.k.a. Butter Butts). Then we heard this squeaky toy noise and knew immediately our numero uno birds were nearby. It didn't take us long to spot a group of Brown-headed Nuthatches. Oh boy, were they cute. They certainly hold a very special places in our hearts. After our rendezvous with the nuthatches, we were ready to explorer the area where a White Ibis was reported.
Gordon's Pond is a 900-acre saltwater lagoon and its trail is a popular spot for locals as well as visiting birders like ourselves. The reported sighting of a White Ibis was already a few days old so we didn't have high hopes of seeing the bird and, sadly, we were proven right. Ibis or not we had a good time watching ever-so rambunctious Carolina Wrens and a pair of soaring Bald Eagles.
Our last stop of the day was Fowler Beach Road, a part of the marvelous Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge network. As much as we love the place, it brought us back somewhat painful memory of our last visit. Fowler Beach area is a reliable spot to see the enigmatic Short-eared Owls during the winter. On a frigid winter day, we waited for hours in a parking lot til dark and even came back the next day to do the same, only to find that owls were nowhere to be seen. Luckily, October is way too early for Short-eared Owls so we didn't have to play the agonizing waiting game with the owls but were certainly hoping to see some interesting vagrants. Well, it was pretty quiet but we enjoyed seeing many Northern Harriers sometimes at eye level patroling the area. As a bonus, while exiting the area, we saw this lone Coyote in distance.
Fowler Beach
Fowler Beach
Fowler Beach
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Canada Geese
Eastern Bluebird
Foster's Tern
Great Egret
Savannah Sparrows
Tonight being the last night, we were determined to take out from one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in Georgetown, Jalepeno Restaurant. I don't know the history nor the reason but Georgetown is a vibrant small town with very large Latino population. According to the US Census, 38.9% of the population was Hispanic or Latino in 2019. So when I say the restaurant is pretty authentic, the town population can attest to it. The food was as delicious as we remembered it.
OCTOBER 20, 2021 lost duckies
Why must good things always come to an end? Today was our last day in Delaware. We decided to re-visit places which we thought were good. First order of business, we had to say good-bye to our charming little friends, Brown-headed Nuthatches. We found them where we saw them the day before and relished the last precious moment with the cutest Delaware residents.
We then quickly drove through Prime Hook Road where we saw a beautiful Eastern Meadowlark flew out of a bush. We could not leave Delaware without stopping at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge one last time. The highlight of our visit was seeing a Turkey Vulture eat a dead snake.
American Kestrel
Bald Eagle
Eastern Meadowlark
Foster's Tern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Northern Harrier
Northern Shovelers
Pied-billed Grebe
Savannah Sparrow
Turkey Vulture
Our very last stop was not a wildlife refuge, not a state park, not a nature preserve but some small pond located in the midst of a residential community, definitely not a typical birding spot.
Why were we there then? You already know the answer... There was a report of a group of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks hanging around there for the last few weeks. Another southern residents totally lost during the fall migration. It was fairly easy to spot them as they look nothing like the ducks in the northeast. They are actually my personal favorite duck species, with the pink bill, slender long-ish legs and warm brown coat. What a fitting way to end our Delaware adventure! We saw a ton of exciting birds, missed some, ate well, slept great, and most importantly had the greatest time!!!
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