We spent a week birding near Cape May, NJ with members of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver. Cape May is recognized as a birding hotspot. The peninsula provides critical habitat for birds as they migrate through the region. This trip coincided with spawning by horseshoe crabs along Delaware Bay beaches.
Birding sites included Cape May Point State Park, The Meadows, Higbee Beach, Beaver Swamp Wildlife Management Area, Belleplain State Forest, Heislerville, Lizard Tail Preserve, Cape May Bird Observatory, Stone Harbor, and Jake’s Landing. We also made a brief stop at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge before our flights out of Philadelphia.
Below is the checklist from our trip.
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Wild Turkey
Common Loon
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Clapper Rail
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Least Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl – h
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker – g
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Swainson’s Thrush – g
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Cape May Warbler – h
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler – h
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler – h
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager – g
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Number of species: 141
G=seen only by guide
H = heard, not seen