Timeless

[Barn Swallows migrating past the South Cape May Meadows 

on August 18, 2018. Click icon at lower right of box 
to view in full screen mode. Video © Tom Reed.]   

Barn Swallows migrate by day and the flight at Cape May seems to be mainly confined to the immediate vicinity of the sea beach while most of the birds pass within a strip one hundred yards wide...The birds often fly only a few inches above the strand and rarely over six feet. Their course is somewhat erratic, drifting right and left and sometimes tacking back again for a few yards but the general progress southward is steady and rapid. During one of the August flights I stationed myself back on the meadows below South Cape May, some fifty yards from the dunes, where I had a clear view all the way to the sea. Apparently all the Barn Swallows were passing in front of me and selecting a definite line of bushes as a base I counted the birds as they passed it and the average was seventy per minute. Again on August 27, 1926, I counted the swallows that passed along the dunes and beach and the average was forty-six per minute and, so far as I could see, the flight continued at this rate for the better part of the morning and part of the afternoon...

– Witmer Stone, Bird Studies at Old Cape May

SHOREBIRDS WITH THE MAN WHO WROTE THE BOOK with Michael O'Brien - August 22 & 23

It is not surprising that Houghton Mifflin's landmark "The Shorebird Guide" (2006) sprang from the brains and hands of three Cape May birders and authors. Now you can experience some of the East Coast's best shorebirding while guided by one of them. Search storied locations like Bunker Pond, the South Cape May Meadows, Stone Harbor, and Edwin B Forsythe NWR for peeps, plovers, and yellowlegs, plus possible gems like phalaropes or godwits. Over 25 plovers and sandpipers are in easy reach, with some species numbering in the thousands. Learn to begin with size, behavior, and voice, and then move on to careful examination of plumage details. Preregistration required.

Wednesday and Thursday, August 22 & 23
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
$150 members, $200 nonmembers

Register now at CMBO School of Birding

BEACH BIRDS OF SUMMER - Special Field Trip - August 11

In summer, Cape May’s beaches not only attract vacationers, but an interesting range of terns, gulls, and shorebirds, and this Special Field Trip offers a golden opportunity to enjoy the subtle beauty of these birds. Common, Forster’s and Least Terns are plentiful at this time, and there may be a few Royal Terns and Black Skimmers around. We’ll search for uncommon gulls amongst the cadre of common species, and spend time looking at shorebirds, migrant and resident, such as American Oystercatchers, Sanderlings, Willets, and more! Join Program Director Brett Ewald and CMBO Associate Naturalist for an exciting morning on the beach!!! Preregistration required.

Saturday, August 11
8:00 - 11:00 AM
$15 members, $20 nonmembers

Register now at: CMBO Programs