Day 11 GOOD WARBLERS AND THOUSANDS MORE..

Day 11 Good warblers and thousands of shorebirds

A CAPE MAY MANSION

Yes it was finally the day when the warblers seemed to be moving into the area. But, let us start at the beginning of what was supposed to be a “sun in the morning and rain in the afternoon” day. It didn’t turn out that way as the sun shined most of the day.
Ruth wanted to get some of those good house pictures in Cape May so that is where we started. It allowed us a chance to walk about a bit and see some of the homes up close as well as look in windows of the stores as most all were still closed. Some built in the 1820’s. We noticed that many places in the off season open on Thur through Sunday. So traffic was almost nil. We could even pull up to the curb on these narrow streets and park. (See home pictures). All the parking was free today. They have those “one stop” parking meters where everyone puts their coins or credit card into the same meter and merely identify your parking spot number. It is a neat system.

EAST POINT LIGHTHOUSE NJ

The sun was still shining so we planned to visit two areas that were more than an hour’s drive from town. One was a State Park near the town of Woodbine called Bellefield. We headed there going up the Parkway but realized too late that exits on the southbound do not always match the exits on the north bound so we had to back track.(Ever done that?)
This was a huge State Park (thousands of acres) with hundreds of camping places although we saw no one camping at that time. There were some good possible birding areas with tall pitch pines and some brief undercover so we tried that first. Iy was terrific and Ruth spotted a Northern Waterthrush right of the bat. This led to some great warbler “ID ing” and we stayed there for about an hour checking them off one by one. The Worm Eating Warbler, Wood Thrush, Black and White Warbler and the Yellow Throated Warbler to mention some. It was exciting and worth the long drive.

THOUSANDS OF DUNLINS AND DOWITCHERS

Then it was time for lunch in the same place and we added an Eastern Phoebe .
Moving to the second spot we had hoped to try after lunch we found it just past the town of Heislerville near the Delaware Bay side of the peninsula at the estuary of the MauriceRiver an old oyster fishing center. This is an impoundment that has fresh water and lots of migrating birds. A few other birders were there waiting for some experts to lead them on a guided tour. We were on our own but did quite well. The main feature today was the 4,000-5,000 (numbers) flock of Dunlins and Dowitchers that habited the pond. They would take off all together sending their radar signals to each other so they knew when to turn and then in a big sweeping arc of a “shadow” come to rest on the shallow waters in the huge pond of 20 acres or so. We did also see about 30 Black Skimmers with their bright red beaks and black and white bodies. Gulls, and other shorebirds completed the rest of the species there. It was good birding.
The complete drive around the pond and the accompanying woods took about 1-2 hours. On the way out we stopped at the edge of the woods for sounds and saw a first for us. It was a Great Crested Flycatcher with its very bright yellow breast and rufous wings and sides . That was a treat!
Another lighthouse is near there so we visited the East Point Lighthouse, a smaller structure built in 1874. It fell into disuse when the oyster fishermen no longer used the Maurice River there, but was revitalized in 1954 as a navigational aid. (See pic).
On the way home we found out that this peninsula does have a problem. There was a large government building that was quite impressive and had a sign in the front saying, “MOSQUITO DEPARTMENT”. Should we be aware?
That was it for the day and tomorrow we head for Lewes, Delaware using the large Ferry on a 1 ½ hour ride . There should be some new birds on the Ocean to view. We will let you know.
See you in Delaware (Houston).