Morning Flight Songbird Count-- Cape May Bird Observatory

A really spectacular sight on a good day, with thousands of songbirds whizzing by and above your head. A great and generally peaceful way to start the morning birding before birding the nearby Higbee's Beach trails and/or heading to the raptor count platform. Most days, you MUST arrive at sunrise (or very close to it) in order to see the bulk of the flight; most days it slows to a trickle by about by 8 AM. The official morning flight count starts August 15th and runs through October 31st for the first two hours after sunrise (occassionaly later if there is a big flight), and there is naturalist available to answer questions from September 1 through October 15th(ish). Early September offers the best warbler diversity, droves of tree swallows come through later in through early October, and late October often has the biggest flights of the season (mostly yellow-rumped warblers). Wind conditions are important; if you can be there for a cold front coming out of the northwest, that is your best shot for a good flight., though north or northeast winds can produce great flights as well. Sunny days are ideal, otherwise everything is back lit. You have two options for viewing: the dike to the east of the road and the platform to the west. The dike offers the best lighting on migrating birds as they zoom by, and that is where the official count takes place, but don't bug the official counter if they are busy, please! The platform doesn't have great lighting for most of the flying birds, but you can often get much better looks at birds that are moving through the bushes and pausing for a bit. The naturalist is generally on the platform as well, and they will do their best to answer your questions, though identifying birds flying quickly over your head by shape, wing beats, and flight call alone is difficult art to master! Full disclosure: I worked as a naturalist for a season at CMBO, but I am currently not affiliated with them and the opinions expressed here are my own. Info from personal experience and CMBO's annual publication, the Peregrine Observer.