Cape May Spring Birding Migration Tour 2025 (2024)

Experience the ultimate spring bird migration at America’s quintessential beach town. Historic Cape May in May is considered one of the top birding destinations in North America to witness spring migration, especially for songbirds and shorebirds. Timed for peak diversity and quantity, we visit famous New Jersey birding locations and little-known local patches up and down the coast, including the Cape May Bird Observatory’s nature center and hawk watch platforms, Delaware Bay beaches, and fresh and salt-water wetlands. Tour the world’s largest contiguous salt marsh by boat, explore Higbee Beach WMA’s forests and fields, bird the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, and participate in the Cape May Spring Birding Festival.

Cape May itself is a national historic site and offers incredible examples of Victorian architecture and charm, as well as some of the best seafood on the east coast. Our lodgings for the week are at a classic beachside hotel in historic Cape May. Each morning begins with optional sunrise beach walks in search of shorebirds and beautiful Black Skimmers. Daily trips range from exploring the many examples of tidal salt marshes by boat and van, to visiting one of the most successful beach and dune restorations in the United States.

It’s Cape May’s unique location, situated on a south facing peninsula where the Atlantic seaboard meets the Delaware Bay, that makes it a geographic migrant trap. Birds, both land and sea flyers, sometimes by the thousands, follow the coastline north and once they cross Delaware Bay find themselves in the forests, fields, salt marshes, and wetlands of Cape May; the perfect spot to stop and fuel up before heading to their breeding grounds. Far from the metro areas of northern New Jersey, the Cape May peninsula is home to forests, farmland, wetland meadows, and salt marshes. We watch migrating eastern warblers and experience the larger songbird migration, which peaks while we visit. Famous for its hawk migration too, we spend time at the Cape May Point hawk watch, nearby boardwalk trails, and freshwater ponds. Large numbers of shorebirds and seabirds are also in migration and they use the vast saltmarsh flats to feed on horseshoe crab eggs and invertebrates to refuel and rest. The Cape May Spring Birding Festival begins while we’re here—we register you so we can participate in a bird walk with a world renowned leader/author or an evening presentation.

Please keep in mind that weather, winds, and tides play an important role in the migration along the coast and while we visit all the great birding sites, we may rearrange activities accordingly.

• "Fantastic! It was great to be by the ocean, to stay in the same lodging for 6(!) days, to have wonderful guides, to see so many birds." — Carol Cook, 2023 Traveler
• "Cape May is spic and span with tidy colorful houses and meticulously groomed gardens of flowers and flowering shrubs...All the field trips were productive birding spots. Rick and Greg were outstanding in their collective knowledge of Eastern birds, migratory species and general natural history of the place. " — Kathleen Pasierb, 2023 Traveler
• "Really great exposure to biologists of different preserves and programs. And the horseshoe crab “flipping” was a unique treat." — Caryn Throop, 2023 Traveler
• “Carefully planned and organized…the combination of a beach location in tandem with the sighting of many species of shore birds was excellent…several new species for me!” — Robert Davis, 2023 Traveler
• “Thousands of birds and species we don't see in the Pacific NW. Also, great guides!” — 2023 Traveler
• “A wonderful experience of all birding all the time. Highlights included the number of raptors, especially sharp-shinned hawks and bald eagles and tree swallows congregating in the many thousands in the early morning…we saw a lot!” — Ross Millikan, 2023 Traveler
• “Absolutely wonderful. The guides were great, we saw over 130 species including 20 that were life birds for me, and everything was smooth and well organized. And some great meals, too!” — 2023 Traveler

Today we get to know Cape May. We stay close to this pretty beach town and familiarize ourselves with the island and the local spots that we visit throughout the week. We start at the Cape May Bird Observatory headquarters and gift shop to orient ourselves, get the local birding news, and pick up any birding necessities. Then we’re off to the Cape May Point State Park with its hawk watch platform and trails, nature center, and light house. There, we spend the rest of the morning birding and exploring the state park. Walking the nearby beach can produce sightings of Parasitic Jaeger, all three scoters, and many species of gulls and terns as well as nesting American Oystercatcher and the endangered Piping Plover. Walks around the park can push up nearly any migrating eastern passerine this time of year and multiple duck species as well. Lunch is at one of our favorite cafes.

This afternoon we explore the South Cape May Meadows Preserve. Owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy, this important coastal birding area is one of the most successful habitat restorations on the Atlantic seaboard. Almost anything can turn up in spring migration at the Meadows including Merlin and Peregrine as they work the meadows to catch that last dragonfly or shorebird snack before settling in for the evening. Multiple shorebirds, herons, egrets, rails, and American and Least Bitterns all can be found here in spring. The beach areas can offer a good selection of shorebirds, some like Piping Plover nesting on the protected beaches. We the dine at a local restaurant where we also get a presentation on shorebird conservation by a Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ field biologist.
Accommodations at the Sea Crest Inn (B,L,D)

After breakfast we head to Stone Harbor Point where many of the shorebirds, herons, and waterfowl in the area can be found. Common, Forster’s, Caspian, and Royal Terns are all possible. Monarch butterflies are common in the brush, as are migrant songbirds. We’re then off to further explore the salt marshes as we drive the intracoastal areas with stops at Nummy Island, famous for nesting Black-crowned Night-Heron and search for the ever-present Clapper Rail. Here we also stop at a local patch where Nelson’s, Saltmarsh, and Seaside Sparrows may frequent. Tides may require that we rearrange the activities today.

After a local lunch we head to Miss Chris Marina where we board the Osprey, a large pontoon tour boat, to explore the salt marshes along New Jersey’s Intracoastal Waterway. Here we have a chance to see many shorebirds and migrating waterfowl that utilize the sea grass islands and constantly changing tidal creek mudflats of the saltmarsh. We watch for the elusive Diamondback Terrapin, North America’s only saltwater marsh turtle. American Bottlenose Dolphin are also a possibility. We end today at Sunset Beach in Cape May Point to watch for terns, various gull species, cormorants, and scoters in Delaware Bay and of course enjoy a fabulous sunset. We then return to our hotel to freshen up before dinner at a local restaurant.
Accommodations at the Sea Crest Inn (B,L,D)

We start the day with an outdoor breakfast (weather permitting, of course) at Beach Plum Farm and walk the property’s trails and fields searching for migrating songbirds and raptors. We then visit Higbee Beach WMA with its many fields and deciduous forests just adjacent to Delaware Bay, often the first stop for exhausted and hungry migrating songbirds and raptors.

After lunch, we then head northwest towards Cooks Beach and Norbury’s Landing in search of large flocks of migrating shorebirds like Red Knot, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Ruddy Turnstone feasting on recently laid horseshoe crab eggs. These birds need to double their body weight in just a few days to successfully continue their migration north to reach their breeding grounds in peak condition. Their thousands of mile migration north is intricately timed with the horseshoe crab egg-laying. We may get back to Cape May in time for an evening festival workshop followed by dinner at a local restaurant.
Accommodations at the Sea Crest Inn (B,L,D)

We bird our way through the vast salt marsh areas north of Cape May today as we make our way up the coast to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (aka Brigantine), a 43,000-acre natural area with both fresh and saltwater marshes. Here we have great opportunities to see Clapper Rail, bitterns, migrating shorebirds, and waterfowl, as well as Northern Harrier and Bald Eagle hunting over the marshes. All the East Coast waterfowl and wading birds can be found here, too, and Brant should still be possible. Watch as Peregrine Falcon push around shorebirds that take flight in flashing waves of motion. Osprey are also common and we may even tire of seeing them! These thousands of acres of fresh and saltmarshes host almost every East Coast water bird.

After a picnic lunch and on the way south back to Cape May we stop at Belleplain State Forest located in the Pinelands National Reserve. Belleplain contains the greatest variety of habitats anywhere in New Jersey, including saltwater marsh, Atlantic white cedar swamp, and oak-hickory forest. Some spring Belleplain specialties are nesting Yellow-throated, Hooded, and Prothonotary Warblers as well as Summer Tanager and Acadian Flycatcher. We return in time to freshen up and then enjoy a seafood dinner at a local restaurant.
Accommodations at the Sea Crest Inn (B,L,D)

This morning after breakfast we join a NJ Audubon Spring Festival bird walk led by a local Cape May expert birder/author.

After lunch, the rest of the day is open to perhaps revisit some of our premier birding spots such as the Cape May Point State Park or the TNC South Cape May Meadows Preserve, based on what’s been observed recently on rare bird alerts or as weather conditions dictate. Guests can also have some free time if they desire in the afternoon to enjoy parts of historic Cape May on your own or continue with more local birding. Our farewell dinner tonight is at another wonderful Cape May restaurant where we finish our bird lists and reflect on the great week of birding we’ve experienced.
Accommodations at the Sea Crest Inn (B,L,D)