Strong East Winds = Shearwaters in Cape May

The continuing, steady east winds today produced a number of shearwaters and gannets that were visible from shore this evening.

Around 5:00pm, I saw a relatively close Greater Shearwater flying east offshore of the South Cape May Meadows, as well as at least five other shearwaters farther offshore that were quite likely Cory's. Bob Fogg saw two Cory's Shearwaters from St. Mary's during the same timeframe, and then tallied several dozen shearwaters from the Cape May Convention Center, with the identifiable ones all being Cory's.

Later on, an hour spent at the 8th Street Jetty (at the north end of Avalon) produced another Cory's Shearwater and another unidentified shearwater, as well as an excellent June count of 54 Northern Gannets. I had seen at least 25 Gannets from the Meadows earlier.

Winds will continue out of the east overnight and into tomorrow, which bodes well for shearwater searching. I'd suggest trying St. Peter's, St. Mary's, the 2nd Avenue Jetty, the Convention Center or Poverty Beach tomorrow morning.