Cape May Sunsets

A cape is a pointed piece of land jutting out into a body of water.  Therefore, you have opportunities for both sunrise and sunset on the water.  Sunset Beach is on the western side of the cape and is a wonderful place to enjoy the sunset.  There are some lovely benches set up on the beach as well as the Sunset Beach Gift store and The Grille.

Also at Sunset Beach is an interesting shipwreck.  During World War I, about a dozen ships were constructed out of concrete because steel was scarce. One of these ships, the S.S. Atlantus, was docked at Cape May after the war. A 1926 storm ran her aground at Sunset Beach.  What is left of her hulk rests out in the water. 

As I was waiting for sunset, I chatted with folks sitting on the benches with me.  One of them introduced me to Cape May "diamonds."  She even gathered some for me from the beach while I was photographing the sunset. I realized after the fact that I had captured some of these "diamonds" during my sunrise shoot.  These "diamonds" catch the light of the rising or setting sun and when they are wet, they glow.  The reality is they are water polished quartz about the size of pearls.  You can buy polished ones at the gift store at Sunset Beach, but I treasure my gifts from a generous stranger.

 

I shot different angles and exposures trying to capture the setting sun and the waves whipped up by the wind that day. I suspect other days have much smaller waves hitting the beach, but I had a beautiful, tranquil sunset to capture with my camera and to enjoy.

Cape May - Raptor Banding Demonstration

Certain days of the week there is a raptor banding demonstration near the Hawk Watch at Cape May.  I found it most interesting. Since they started banding hawks, they've banded over 132,000 and gotten data back from over 2000. One of the more interesting stories was of a chick that was banded in the nest Greenland and captured at Cape May a mere three weeks later! Amazing!

Most of the time, the birds are captured, banded and immediately released. For the demonstration, the raptors are put in these tubes because it calms them down.  They are only kept in these tubes a very short time, long enough for the visitors to see these amazing creatures up close and to learn about them in a way that would not be possible otherwise. The birds are released unharmed to continue on their journey south.

In order to capture the raptors to band them, you must set a trap using bait birds. The bait birds used are pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows. However, it is amazing how these bait birds are treated. They have flack jackets tailored for each size bird. The pigeon's protective gear is made from Lexus leather car seats.

The sparrow's is made from leather jackets. The sparrow one was so tiny and actually cute.

 We got to see  sharp shinned hawks,

a Cooper's hawks,

and a peregrin falcon. 

He showed us how their feet are specially made to capture their prey and how their heads don't move during flight so they can find their prey easier.

The crowd was fascinated, as was I.  I hadn't brought my big camera, but I couldn't help myself - I pulled out my iPhone and was shooting snapshots for memories.

Cape May - Sea Bird Watch

The Cape May Bird Observatory counts many different kinds of birds during the fall migration. Up at Avalon along the seawall, they have a sea bird count. They have a presentation at 2:00 where they show you how they identify these birds from such a great distance.  

This is Atlantic City in the background. This image was taken with my 300-800mm at 800 mm.  That bird in the center is a northern gannet.   I've left this as shot so you can see what the bird counters are seeing.  Yes, they identify these birds when they are just specs.  It is amazing!

I've cropped down so you can see it better.  To identify northern gannets here you look for large white birds with these black tips on their wings.  The body shape is much more elongated and sharp both the body and the wings than a white pelican would be.  The smaller dots are greater black-winged gulls (which are the largest gull), so you can get an idea of how large these gannets are.

 Double crested cormorants fly by in large flocks.  They are identified by the patterns the flocks make. While they sometimes do get into a V shape, they never maintain it.  They are always rearranging the pattern and snaking out.

Here is a closer look as they flew overhead - note the elongated head and still a different pattern in the sky.

I did crop this one down so you could see the three birds in the distance - they were surf scoters. You really need a scope to make the id between white winged scoters, black scoters and surf scoters.  The sea bird counter has a high powered scope to see more detail on the wings and face to make a good id for the count.  They have a different counter for each bird that they click as they see them.

This young gull was hanging out,  not bothered by the birders nearby. 

I spent about an hour two different days at the Sea Bird Watch and saw:

Double crested cormorant
Black duck
Sanderling
Black bellied plover
Ring bill gull
Great black-backed bull
Black scoter
Surf scoter
Herring Gull
Northern Gannet
Greater Scaup
Brown pelican

Cape May - Songbird Morning Flight

One of the daily events at Cape May during migration is the "Songbird Morning Flight."  There is a tower at Higbee Beach with an interpreter and on top of the nearby hill is a person who is counting the songbirds.  Officially Morning Flight begins at 8:00 A.M.  Songbirds migrate at night, so they fly in and get ready to forage and rest for the day.

I got up and out twice for morning flight. The first morning was right after the front had come through. It was pretty and sunny, but the wind was fierce.  There was only one other person besides me and the interpreter on the platform.  A few other people came and went Because of the wind, the interpreter was not expecting us to see much. The small songbirds were just getting bounced around too much. However, the large great black-backed gulls seem to sail with ease through the gusty wind.  The smaller hawks were visibly fighting against the wind. The first morning I saw the greater black-backed bulls,  yellow rump warbler, sharp shinned hawk, cooper's hawk, and a peregrin.

The second morning was a much calmer day in terms of the wind. I got to the tower at 8:00 A.M. and it was filled with people.  There were definitely more small birds in the air.  We had two interpreters in addition to the counter on the hill. I was actually a little relieved to see that even these "pros" couldn't identify all the little birds as they went zipping by.  They did identify a blackpoll warbler by its call as it went by.   The counter on the hill is expert at identifying the warblers, but apparently even so the count includes large numbers of "unidentified" warblers. We saw a number of northern flickers, a flock of kildeer.  and a lot of yellow-rumped warblers.  Crossing along the bay were double crested cormorants and a brandt.  I especially enjoyed seeing the common loon fly over us.  Two bald eagles passed over when I first arrived.  Good sightings of sharp shinned hawks and cooper's hawks.

People came and went from the platform during the hour or so I was there the second morning.  One group was an Audubon society tour from New York City.

My bird list for both days:

Warblers

Yellow-rumped warbler

Black poll

Hawks

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Peregrin Falcon

Kestrel

Merlin

Northern harrier Sparrows Dark eyed junco Swamp Sparrow Kinglets Ruby Crowned Kinglet Golden Crowned Kinglet

Double crested cormorant
Great black-backed gulls
Brandt
Common Loon (in flight)

Great blue heron


Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Robin
Mourning dove
Killdeer

Cape May

We spent 4 nights at Cape May.   I was enchanted from the first day.  We started the first morning at sunrise at Cape May Lighthouse. 

The lighthouse is tall and stately, and the beam still shines brightly.  

I always try to look around at my surroundings when I'm photographing. I noted the sky away from the lighthouse was filled with these lovely pink tinted clouds. So I'm playing with a composition taken before the sun was up, with the light shining and the pink clouds.  All true to what was there that morning, but I think this version still needs work.

After taking care of trying for dawn and lighthouse shots, I headed over to where the Hawk Watch was going on.  For several years, I've heard  and read about hawk watches. During the fall migrations, people pick places with high numbers of passing raptors and count them as they go by. Some are volunteers, some are paid.  It was on my list of things to attend sometime because you can learn so much about identifying raptors when you have so many passing over you in one day. But more importantly, you are surrounded by folks who really know how to identify hawks even when they are far away and only specs in the sky. 

While the day started sunny, there was a cloud bank coming in.

You could see getting larger and larger and filling the sky.

Before too long, it was dark and hard to see the hawks.

I did have a couple of people who were helping me identify the hawks and other species flying by. I think the most amazing thing was when the gentleman next to me spotted and identified a flock of blue jays just by the way the flock was grouping as they flew.  And . . . I had NEVER seen a flock of blue jays - only individuals. The tree sparrows also came by in large flocks and looked ever so much like a swarming bunch of gnats as they crossed the sky.  The raptor identification was still hard, but I saw a sharp shinned hawk, a Cooper's hawk, a merlin, and a peregrin that morning.