Trip Report — Fall for Cape May II 2024

September 29-October 5, 2024 with Megan Edwards Crewe

We had an unexpectedly long look at "that little terror that is the Merlin" when we found one perched at Higbee's Beach WMA.

Cape May is justly for its autumn bird migrations. Each year, tens of thousands of raptors, nearly 100,000 seabirds and untold numbers of passerines funnel down its peninsula on their way south. Our tour is timed to intersect with a slice of that river of birds, and it did just that! From our first morning, when a mix of Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks flap-flap-glided over the Cape May Point State Park (with a few Merlins and Peregrines sprinkled in) to the snow globe of Tree Swallows that swept past us in the dunes one afternoon, to that magical morning at Higbee’s when a host of birds trickled north (reorientating after a night of flying), we got to see the phenomenon in action.

You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/293980

Megan Edwards Crewe (Kestrel)