Sunday, May 18, 2014

CAPE MAY - DAY 1 - GETTING THERE

American Oystercatcher on the nest.
Monday morning had us on the road for Cape May, NJ. We went with our good friends, Jim and Lynda, and it was the first time to the area for all of us. It's a well known birding area and a beautiful beach town.  

It was an almost 12 hour drive including lunch and rest stops. It seemed we drove "right into summer" to quote Lynda, because when we arrived it was a balmy 82 degrees and the lilacs and trees were in full bloom.

We checked into our hotel, The Grand Hotel, located right on the beach, and before even checking out our rooms we went birding!

Rob spent a lot of the drive like this!
Lunch time! I hadn't been here in over a decade, loved it!
First stop after checking into our hotel.
Our first birding stop, and it was awesome!
They keep a large section of the beach roped off to protect the nesting shore birds. This is where we saw the American Oystercatcher on the nest, and also where I fell in love with Laughing Gulls.

Rob's first Snowy Egret, yellow feet!
It didn't take Rob long to get into photographer mode.
Rob's first Little Blue Heron.
Signs like this were all along the roped off areas.
Rob and Jim kept a very respectable distance from the Oystercatcher nest.
After the long drive it felt great to get out and do some birding! We saw many great birds at this area but for blogging purposes, I'm only going to mention my lifers each day.

Lifers Day One;
Laughing Gull
American Oystercatcher

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