NJ-Cape+May+Point+State+Park


 * =New Jersey eBird Hotspots=

Cape May County
=Cape May Point State Park= Cape May, New Jersey 08204 Cape May Point State Park web site Cape May Point Hawkwatch web site Cape May Point birding map

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Cape Island--CMPSP (Cape May Point SP)
Coordinates: 38.9338272, -74.9550854 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Cape Island--CMPSP--Hawkwatch Platform
Coordinates: 38.9328558, -74.9579416 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Cape Island--CMPSP--Lighthouse Pond--East
Coordinates: 38.9358783, -74.958287 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Cape Island--CMPSP--Plover Ponds
Coordinates: 38.9337448, -74.9503536 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Cape Island--CMPSP--State Park Beach
Coordinates: 38.9314387, -74.9535155 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Cape Island--South Cape May beach (CMPSP & CMMBR)
Coordinates: 38.9317636, -74.9461985 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

About Cape May Point Hawkwatch
Cape May is a peninsula, an extension of the New Jersey coastal plain bordered on the west by Delaware Bay and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. This makes Cape May a natural funnel, catching and directing southbound birds to the peninsula’s terminus at Cape May Point.

It is a fundamental tenet of the natural world that predators remain less common than their prey. A hopeful observer could spend hours in prime Cooper’s Hawk or Merlin territory and never catch a glimpse. Only during migration, when birds of prey are concentrated at key geographic locations are they readily seen. Cape May, New Jersey is without a doubt, the finest vantage point in North America.

Cape May’s regular raptors include Accipiters like the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and Northern Goshawk; Buteos like Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and Swainson’s Hawk; Falcons like the Peregrine, Merlin and American Kestrel. Also seen regularly are Osprey, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, as well as Turkey Vulture and Black Vulture (technically storks, but honorary raptors).

Some of these species (like Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Red- tailed Hawk) are common, even abundant, and their migration period is long. Observers can expect to see these species almost every day. Other species like the Swainson’s Hawk and Rough-legged Hawk are locally uncommon, seen only a few times a season, or have a migration period that is very restricted. What species you will see depends upon the time of your visit and the weather conditions you experience.

Unlike many other hawk migration sites, hawks are almost always visible from the Hawk Watch Platform during the count period (September - November). But what hawk watchers live for, are those days when weather conditions cause hawks to move in great numbers. These “flights” are caused by the passage of a cold front—a high pressure cell moving into the region from the north or west. The falling temperatures stimulate birds to migrate and the associated north to northwest winds ferry birds to the Atlantic Coast. Being reluctant to cross open water, many hawks concentrate along the coast, following its contours, south and west, until they reach Cape May.

In general, the smaller hawks, like the Kestrel and Sharp-shinned Hawk, are most common on the first day following the passage of a cold front. The larger, soaring birds, like the Eagles and Buteos, are more abundant on the second (or third) day of sustained north to northwest winds.

Northeast winds can also produce large flights, particularly falcons (which are not shy about crossing water and prone to migrate offshore). Southerly or southwesterly winds make for business-as-usual migrations, which means only several hundred birds a day during the peak of the migratory period, instead of several thousand birds. From Cape May Point Hawkwatch web site



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