NJ - Cape May - Day 2 October 11th

Saltmarsh Sparrow - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 
Image appears courtesy of David Hughes. 

We awoke to some seriously heavy showers and thunderstorms fueled by a brisk south-easterly wind. Our plan for seeing the Morning Flight at Higbee Beach was washed out on the first morning of the tour so we ultimately opted for a seawatch under cover at the end Sunset Boulevard on Cape May Island. Within minutes we started to see Parasitic Jaegers passing south, some distant but many fairly close to shore between the beach and the 'Concrete Ship'. We settled in for what would become an extremely enjoyable three hour seawatch tallying around 100 Parasitic Jaegers along with a seemingly endless stream of Laughing Gulls, Forster's Terns, some Royal Terns and a few Common Terns, plus flocks of Surf and Black Scoters and with a single southbound Brown Pelican. Bald Eagle, Osprey, Peregrine and Great Blue Heron all came in off the bay whilst we were there.

Brown Pelican - southbound over Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

This would prove to be the only Brown Pelican of the whole tour. 

Black Scoters - Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

Laughing Gulls and Forster's Terns  - 'Concrete Ship' from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

Great Blue Heron - southbound over Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 

Parasitic Jaeger - southbound over Delaware Bay from Sunset Beach, Cape May Island. October 11th, 2018. 
An excellent morning for this species with around 100 counted over three hours from 07:15 am.

After an enjoyable brunch at a Beach Ave restaurant, we headed north with some tricky salt marsh species in mind, in particular the Ammodramus sparrow group. Fortunately, though windy, the weather cleared up enough for us to spend several hours at Two Mile Landing where we ultimately had a brilliant sparrow study with exquisite views of Seaside, Saltmarsh and Nelson's Sparrow close together. A Clapper Rail jumped in on the action too and with Brant, Semi-palmated and Least Sandpipers and Boat-tailed Grackles all on show, we were kept busy for a while. After a short coffee break in Wildwood with Fish Crows calling around the cafe, the showers returned and set in for the evening. We ended up back under cover at the end of Sunset Boulevard where we were treated at an amazing show of Royal Terns streaming south, presumably heading for  roost, and a huge flock of Black Skimmers heading NW across the bay.

Nelson's and Saltmarsh Sparrows - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 

Nelson's Sparrow - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 

Seaside Sparrow - Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest, Cape May Co., NJ. October 11th, 2018. 

A brilliant (if not a little challenging) first day came to an end with a fine evening meal at a local Cape May restaurant.