Cape May in Autumn

Summary

Cape May has long been heralded as the most exciting migration hotspot in the eastern United States. Each autumn over 300 species of North American birds – many in huge numbers – pass through and over the point as they migrate between their breeding and wintering grounds along the so-called ‘Eastern Flyway’. Bordered by Delaware Bay to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the peninsula acts as a natural funnel, eventually concentrating the birds at its tip. These weary migrants suddenly find themselves ‘trapped’ by water on three sides and many opt to land and rest rather than continue south over the bay and into Delaware. Such a concentration of birds in a relatively small area attracts plenty of keen naturalists too, and presents us with the opportunity to enjoy a week of outstanding, and easy, birding.

• An abundance of migrating songbirds including American wood warblers, vireos, flickers, buntings, and many other species
• Spectacular raptor migration, with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hawks, harriers and falcons possible in a single day
• One of the largest diversity of waders, herons and other shorebirds in North America
• Boat trip through New Jersey’s southernmost salt marsh for up-close views of shorebirds, herons, and other marsh birds
• Incredible Monarch butterfly and dragonfly migration