Cape May Fall Birding
Sept. 27 - Oct.4, 2025
Birding Tour in Cape May, NJ
The historic town of Cape May New Jersey is legendary as a fall migrant trap with large waves of shorebirds, songbirds and especially raptors staging before crossing the Delaware bay.
Situated on a southern peninsula where the Delaware Bay empties into the Atlantic, Cape May collects birds on their southern migratory routes as they wait for northern winds to cross the open water. We’ll visit the famed Cape May Hawkwatch Platform, where sometimes hundreds of raptors can be seen riding the winds. We’ll also bird the beaches, salt marshes, meadows and forests in search of other fall migrants!
Cape May Tour
Dates: Sept. 27 - Oct. 4, 2025 (eight days, seven nights)
Cost: $3,450 per person double occupancy. If you would like a private room, the single supplement is $750.
A $500 nonrefundable deposit will be charged to reserve your spot with the balance due on June 1, 2025.
Guide: Peter Burke
Highlights:
Experience the famous Cape May fall migration!
Practice identifying raptors on the wing from the Cape May Hawkwatch Platform.
Take the ferry to Delaware to visit Cape Henlopen State Park and Prime Hook NWR.
View thousands of shorebirds at the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, a.k.a. “Brig.”
We’ll keep it simple by staying in one hotel for the week.
This tour is timed to avoid the mayhem and the big crowds from the following week’s festival.
Rocky Mountain Birding tours are small and fill quickly!
Book today! Please click on the button below and complete the simple form based on your birding interests. We will be in touch to walk you through your birding or wildlife adventure of your choosing!
Learn More:
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Included:
Guided birding for 8 days
Lodging seven nights at TBD
Meals beginning with dinner on the first night through breakfast on the last day
Transportation including airport pickup and drop off where possible
Optics – I will have a Kowa 99mm scope available throughout the tour.
NOT Included:
Flights to and from Philadelphia Int’ll Airport (PHL)
Lodging/Meals prior to or after the tour dates: Sept 27 - Oct 4.
Personal items such as alcohol with meals, laundry, etc.
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Saturday, Sept. 27
Arrive in Philadelphia Int’ll Airport (PHL). Plan to arrive no later than 12 noon and we can meet at the airport and drive to Cape May together. We’ll enjoy a welcome dinner and review our plans for the coming week.
Sun. Sept. 28 – Welcome to Cape May!
After a nice breakfast near the hotel, we’ll make the short drive to Cape May Point State Park to visit the hawkwatch platform and walk the trails. We can access the beach from here to check for all three species of scoters, loons and possibly a Parasitic Jaeger.
We’ll enjoy lunch then explore the South Cape May Meadows preserve, a birdy property run by The Nature Conservancy that can be great for migrant songbirds and if often patrolled by Merlins, Cooper’s Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks.
Mon. Sept. 29 – Higbee Beach Morning Count
We’ll get an early start to check on the morning count at Higbee. On nights with good migrant flights and NW winds, Higbee can be awesome at first light. When migrants find themselves over the Atlantic, they quickly dart back to land and a great many of them pass over the dikes at Higbee.
After a late breakfast, we’ll drive to Stone Harbor Point and Nummy Island to look for shorebirds and saltmarsh sparrows. We’ll visit the Wetlands Institute where we may find Willet and it’s not unusual to hear clapper rails and Sora grunting and laughing unseen from the marshes.
Tues. Sept 30 – Brigantine and Avalon Sea Watch
This morning we’ll drive north to the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, a legendary birding location with both fresh and saltwater marshes that hold ducks, geese, herons, egrets and 20+ species of shorebirds. Eagles, Osprey and falcons are often in the mix, and we may find Savannah, White-crowned, Swamp, Song, Nelson’s, Seaside and Saltmarsh Sparrows too.
We’ll break for lunch and then visit the Avalon Sea Watch where we will likely find many shorebirds, gulls and terns plus large numbers of scoters flying south in long lines. It’s possible to spot Northern Gannets from shore here. If there’s time, we can stop by the hawkwatch platform for a few minutes before we get ready for dinner.
Wed. Oct. 1 – Delaware, Cape Henlopen State Park and Prime Hook NWR
We’ll take the ferry to Lewes, Delaware this morning. It’s a pretty ride that can double as a mini pelagic, with Northern Gannets, jaegers and scoters that spent the night afloat. We’ll visit the pine barrens of the Cape Henlopen State Park, the northern limit of the Brown-headed Nuthatch’s range.
After lunch in the historic downtown area, we’ll make the short drive north to Prime Hook to walk the boardwalks. Our afternoon return on the ferry will give us another chance to spot seabirds, then we’ll find a nice spot for dinner after a full day of birding!
Thurs. Oct. 2 – Beach Plum Farm and Migrants
This morning we’ll have a delicious breakfast at the Beach Plum Farm, a 60-acre sanctuary in West Cape May. Afterwards we can wander the trails and look for mixed flocks. Later in the day we’ll check some local migrant traps like the dunes at Coral Ave.
Fri. Oct. 3 – Cape May Hotspots
We’ll spend the morning birding hotspots on Cape Island and checking the rips for jaegers. We may walk the trails at the Beanery if it’s a good day for migrants, or we could decide to return to the hawkwatch if the winds are right.
Sat. Oct. 4 -- Departures
After breakfast we’ll pack up for the drive to the Philadelphia Airport. On the way, we may have time for a quick stop at Moores Beach or Heislerville to get some final birding in. Afternoon departures from PHL.
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