After tying West Virginia as my highest species total on my first day in a state to close out Week Nineteen, Delaware had left me with a very solid first impression. This impression was one that would be hard to keep up, but when I say that over the course of Week Twenty Delaware not only lived up the precedent it set on Sunday the 11th but blew those expectations out of the water and claimed the spot of probably my favorite state in which I’ve birded this year despite a quarter of my time in the state being plagued by rain, that is a statement that should carry some weight. I visited some pretty great places throughout Week Twenty, but the king of them all came right at the start of the week in the form of one of the most legendary East Coast birding sites: Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
I arrived at the refuge’s Headquarters area around 6:30am – a bit later than I’d originally planned – and after spending a few minutes I headed out to the Wildlife Drive. The start of the drive held an assortment of songbirds including Magnolia Warbler and Chestnut-sided Warbler, but the main highlight came in the form of the staggering numbers of shorebirds present. At several points along the drive there were flocks of thousands of assorted shorebirds, the bulk being Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, and Semipalmated Sandpiper, though there were also hundreds of Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpiper as well as some Black-necked Stilt, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, and Pectoral Sandpiper all in the mix.
If the shorebirds had been the only species of note at the drive it still would have been a worthwhile visit, but perhaps even more noteworthy than the shorebird numbers were the 24 Seaside Sparrows I counted teed up singing along the drive and at a few spots where I parked and hiked trails, as well as the impressive array of warblers including Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Wilson’s Warbler. Also present along the drive were my first-of-year Mute Swan, a Snow Goose, an assortment of herons including Black-crowned Night Heron, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Western Cattle-Egret, Great Egret, and Great Blue Heron, a Northern Harrier, over a dozen Clapper Rail, and a bunch of other birds.
By the time I left Bombay I had built up a list of 110 species. Throughout my previous birding I have only ever had 100+ species in a single day a dozen or so times, and only 100+ species on a single checklist twice: both times at Tawas Point State Park, and both only barely exceeding 100 species at 101 and 102 species totals. These few hours along the Delaware coast were without a doubt some of the best I’ve ever had birding, and the day was still far from done.
Following my departure from the refuge I headed north, stopping briefly at the Taylor’s Gut section of the Woodland Beach Wildlife Area as I made my way to the Cedar Swamp Wildlife Area. The purpose for this northwards journey was to spend some time birding in New Castle County, the last of the three Delaware counties in which I’d yet to bird. With birds like Least Flycatcher and Acadian Flycatcher Cedar Swamp built upon my already fantastic morning and made Delaware just the second state in which I’ve filled in my eBird map, joined only by my home state of Michigan (whose 83 counties mounted a far larger challenge – one that took years to accomplish).
Once I’d wrapped up at Cedar Swamp I made my way back south to a familiar site: Cape Henlopen State Park. On this second visit to the spot where I’d closed out Week Nineteen I snagged a Common Loon for my state list and an assortment of birds that were new for the day in Black Scoter, American Oystercatcher, Piping Plover, Pine Warbler, and Prairie Warbler. Despite having a few hours of daylight remaining I made the decision to conclude my birding for the day to get some computer work done, leaving the 12th to end at 128 species: the single biggest day I’ve had this year and the third biggest I’ve had in my life, with the top two coming from dawn-to-dusk state-wide efforts in Michigan.
The 13th and 14th, unfortunately, were plagued by inclement weather. On Tuesday the 13th I had planned to join along on a bird walk at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, though the walk was cancelled on Monday due to the forecasted storms. I still headed to the refuge after sleeping in a bit and managed a relatively productive morning, but spent the rest of the day trying to stay dry.
Wednesday was less plagued by rain, but in place of the precipitation came intense fog. I started the day with yet another trip to Cape Henlopen, and there added Brant, Tricolored Heron, and Lesser Black-backed Gull to my Delaware list. Eventually it was time for my departure from The First State, but rather than driving my way around by car I instead drove just a short distance to the Lewes Terminal Ferry, from which I would take the ferry across to Cape May. At the start of the journey across, while in the harbor waters, I spotted a group of Black Scoter with a couple Surf Scoter in the mix. As the boat headed further out from harbor in Delaware waters, I prepared to let my Delaware list come to rest at 152 species.
Behind the boat trailed Laughing Gull, American Herring Gull, and Great Black-backed Gull. The occasional Forster’s Tern, Royal Tern, or Double-crested Cormorant flew by, and then… something different. All dark, long pointed wings, flying low over the water with its wingtips nearly submerged. It gave me the impressions of a tubenose, likely a shearwater – and the only all-dark shearwater in the Atlantic is Sooty Shearwater, but there is no way I could call it with what I’d seen. Fortunately, however, I hadn’t been the only one to see it. Shortly after the bird’s passing another birder came over and asked if I’d seen the bird in question, and then said he’d gotten some photos of it. Upon examining his photos my suspicion was reaffirmed: Sooty Shearwater, Lifer #595, the last new bird for Delaware – albeit one I wish I’d gotten better views for.
Soon I crossed into New Jersey waters, and my wish was granted. After showing me the photos, the birder introduced himself as Scott Stolz, a birder from South Dakota who was on a trip with his wife. The two of us spent a bit of time chatting and scanning the waters around us, and while watching what we thought could have been a pair of Parasitic Jaeger trailing the boat, Scott spotted the Sooty Shearwater again. During this second observation I was able to spend a couple minutes watching it, getting great looks as it slowly trailed farther and farther behind and eventually disappeared.
Once I arrived at the Cape May Ferry Terminal I got started on building up my New Jersey list. I began driving towards the southern tip of the peninsula, spotting a handful of birds along the way until I eventually arrived at the South Cape May Meadows, where I was quickly, and coincidentally, joined by Scott and his wife. The three of us spent a bit over an hour birding together, picking up a few pretty good birds including Black-necked Stilt, Short-billed Dowitcher, Glossy Ibis, Cooper’s Hawk, Yellow-breasted Chat, Orchard Oriole, Prairie Warbler, and more. Eventually Scott and his wife needed to head out, though before he did I talked about my plans for Thursday to head out aboard The Osprey with Captain Bob for some birding by boat, giving high praise from my journey with Captain Bob back in my last visit to Cape May in 2020.
On the morning of the 15th I made my way to the Coral Ave dune crossing to spend a few hours at the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Spring Migration Count. There I joined Aaron Reb and a handful of others. The fog made the morning pretty slow, but birds like Red Knot, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and Common Loon made the morning not a complete wash. Eventually Tom Reed – the one who had extended me an invitation to join him and his fellow counters at the site – arrived, and soon after he did the fog lifted slightly and Tom spotted a flyby Roseate Tern. While I knew that Roseate Tern was a good pickup, for some reason I was under the impression that I’d seen one earlier this year in either South Carolina or Virginia. That impression was wrong: in fact, not only had I not seen one this year, neither had I seen one in any previous year; Roseate Tern was Lifer #596.
As the morning progressed it became time for me to head towards the docks, and soon after I pulled in I was once again joined by Scott’s familiar face. As we waited for the rest of the group to arrive for the Birding by Boat aboard The Osprey Wildlife Safari, I headed over and briefly chatted with Captain Bob, and during this chat mentioned that I was hoping he might be able to produce my biggest target for my time in Cape May: Great Cormorant. I knew that in the previous weeks one or two had been being regularly seen during the Osprey Safaris, but was concerned when those reports had tried up in the days leading up to my own tour. Thankfully Captain Bob delivered relieving news: the bird(s) had been being cooperative during his most recent trips out to the end of the inlet, however weather hadn’t permitted him to make it out that far as the waves were too big for the pontoon boat to handle. Today, the weather was permitting.
Eventually everyone arrived and after a bit of time birding around the docks our first destination was that end of the inlet. The fog made visibility a challenge but eventually the tower where the cormorants roost came into view, and atop it sat about a dozen cormorants. Two of them stood out: larger, stockier, more blocky heads, and the white in their underside being limited to a blotchy patch from the chest down. Lifer #597, Great Cormorant. Not long after the cormorants came a Purple Sandpiper, and for the rest of the safari I simply relaxed and enjoyed the birding. American Oystercatcher, Willet, Whimbrel, Black-crowned Night Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, and Clapper Rail rounded out the rest of the trip, and before we returned to the dock Captain Bob extended to me an invitation to spend my nights in Cape May at the dock’s parking lot. This offer was a fantastic one, as unlike most places I’ve birded this year the bulk of Cape May had especially strict restrictions in place prohibiting sleeping in public or quasi-public places, including in your car. Down by the docks in Lower Township, however, no such restrictions were in place, but there weren’t any suitable places to park for the night until this offer from Captain Bob.
After returning to the docks I headed to wrap up last week’s blog post (a day late), calling it a day on my birding for Thursday. On Friday I headed back to the Coral Ave. count, again joining Aaron Reb, and this time Jack McDonough. Friday’s count was much better than Thursdays, providing a handful of great birds including Baltimore Oriole, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Harrier, Black Skimmer, Scarlet Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, my first-of-year Common Nighthawk, and rather fittingly a Cape May Warbler. Eventually the fog that made yesterday dismal set back in, and so I made the decision to head over to the nearby Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area. where I tracked down a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a couple Prothonotary Warbler, and a few other new New Jersey Birds. After my walk at Higbee I headed back to South Cape May Meadows to close out my birding for Cape May before eventually ending the day with a second night spent down at the docks.
On Saturday morning I awoke rather early in order to head north. My destination for the day was one that would rival Bombay Hook and Loess Bluffs (Missouri) for the title of “Favorite Wildlife Refuge I’ve Visited This Year” – Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Arriving just after 7:30 am, I kicked off four hours of birding along the refuge’s 8-mile Wildlife Drive. Much like Bombay the numbers and diversity of shorebirds were staggering, and while I didn’t have quite as many species or total birds as Bombay, the main highlight was much the same: Seaside Sparrows. Where Bombay had a couple dozen, Forsythe held many, many more. As I put it in my eBird checklist to help explain my count of 51, “During the first 5 miles I don’t know that there was a single point at which I couldn’t hear at least one, and at many points I could hear 2-4 simultaneously. I would not be shocked if 100+ individuals were singing and observable from the drive.”
Other highlights along the drive included fantastic looks at a Black-crowned Night Heron, a Black-necked Stilt, a single heard-only Saltmarsh Sparrow, a couple Gull-billed Tern, and a Wilson’s Warbler. By the time I concluded the drive I had built up a checklist of 97 species, falling just short of Forsythe being only my 4th ever 100+ species checklist. Once I departed the refuge I headed north, following the Jersey Parkway towards New York City.
I’d planned to visit The City That Never Sleeps after concluding my Jersey birding – in fact, birding Central Park on a prime morning in May was one of the things I was looking forward to the most along the East Coast this year. Unfortunately, however, two complications combined to force me to change my plans. The first of these was that I was not looking forward to dealing with the traffic and parking situation required to drive to Central Park. This wasn’t going to be an issue, thankfully, due to the public transit system in the area presenting me with the opportunity to park my car in New Jersey at a rail station and from there take a day trip into the city. Those of you who live in the area or closely follow the news might have some idea of the second complication. Unfortunately for me, my timing coincided with that of a strike from the New Jersey public transit workers, resulting in not only public transit not being an option but a massive uptick in the already bad traffic that I was dreading. After some deliberation I came a conclusion that I’m not particularly happy about but with which I will make due: I would simply bypass New York City. After waiting until it was late enough for the traffic to die down, I headed the rest of the way north through New Jersey and into New York City – then quickly continuing along the highways out of New York and into Connecticut.
On Sunday morning I met Cody Limber at East Rock Park in New Haven, Connecticut to kick off my birding in The Constitution State. We had a solid walk; filled with an abundance of Gray Catbird, my first-of-year Mourning Warbler, and Cody’s first-of-year Cape May Warbler, East Rock was a very productive spot. Once we were done there we made a brief stop just across the road at the Connecticut Land Trust property where we snagged a Northern Waterthrush and some Orchard Oriole, after which we drove over to Milford Point. At the point we added a large variety of shorebirds including spot-specialty birds in Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher, as well as other great birds including Brant, Peregrine Falcon, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, and Least Tern.
Eventually Cody and I parted ways as he needed to take care of some errands, after which I headed partway back towards NYC to wrap up my Week Twenty birding at Sherwood Island State Park. With birds like Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Northern Parula, Bay-breasted Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Marsh Wren, and Indigo Bunting the state park closed out Sunday at 95 species – nearly making Connecticut my fifth state to hit the Century Mark on day one.
Next week I will spend a few more days in Connecticut before heading to the smallest state in the country in Rhode Island and eventually heading to (one of) the unofficial birthplace of American Birding in Massachusetts. In the meantime, Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
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Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
