Conference Birding day 4 - Thursday - Day around Cape May

We made an early start and headed to Higbee for the migration watch. We parked the car and as we got out we could see small birds flying through in amazing numbers. The watch point is on top of a mud wall up a steep bank. There is also a wooden tower on the other side of the road. We struggled up and stood on the top watching small passerines, mainly Yellow-rumped Warblers, whizzing through by the hundreds. 

It was a bit windy on top of the wall so we carefully made our way down again and had a look round. We walked to the end of the track where there was a Brown Creeper in the bushes and more Yellow-rumped Warblers. 

As the numbers slowed down a bit we drove to Reas Farm, which was followed by a visit to the Hawk watch. This is an amazing site near the old lighthouse where there is a large wooden boardwalk/viewing platform, staffed by counters from Cape May Bird Observatory. We spent some time looking out for migrants and saw among the Blackbirds and Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Bobwhite that lives in the bushes and an Osprey, which seemed to be buzzed by a gull. We also had a Northern Marsh Harrier in the distance.

We decided to visit Stone harbour in the afternoon. We followed the directions but found the road closed towards the end so we parked in a bay and walked along the coast towards the tip. There were lots of waders, including Oystercatchers, Purple Sandpipers, Gulls, Terns and some interesting bits of flotsom on the sand.

 We drove back a different way and found ourselves on a narrow, toll bridge but we managed to sort out some dollars and got back to the hotel in time for the welcome drinks and nibbles. 

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