Sometimes when you live close to a special place you tend to take it for granted. Myself and others have never or only recently visited Niagara Falls or the Statue of Liberty. Similarly we are spoiled to be near one of the globally ranked bird migration stopovers, Cape May and Cumberland Counties, NJ.
South Jersey is a strategic area at specific locations to see uncommon species, sometimes in good numbers, as they return to terra firma for rest after a northbound crossing of the Delaware Bay and the Delmarva Peninsula. During fall migration the area can be spectacular, as young birds swell the population, with the looming bay and ocean forcing a respite from further flight. This spring we decided to appreciate the pulse of migration.
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
Although we pulled out the camera often, this was more of a targeted effort to see a few species; we looked for some of the more uncommon passerines and shorebirds.
Regardless we recorded well over 150 species; highlights were Curlew Sandpiper, Red Knot, Kentucky Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Summer Tanager, Least Tern, Yellow and Black-Crowned Night Herons, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Blue Grosbeak, Swainson's Thrush, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Acadian Flycatcher, Hooded Warbler, Seaside Sparrow, Virginia Rail, American Oystercatcher, Clapper Rail, Glossy Ibis, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Orchard and Baltimore Oriole and many more.
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| Semipalmated Plover |
This article represents what four of us saw and two of us photographed on the weekends of 5/6/16, 5/13 and 5/20 during only 48 daylight hours. Conditions during this spring continued----cool or cold, showers, with N winds. Photography was challenging, lighting was far from optimal so we pushed up the ISO and opened the shutter speed!
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| Summer Tanager |
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| Bald Eagle |
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| American Avocet |
Development Of Migration
Short distance migration such as moving south a few US States in fall likely developed from daily movements towards areas with more resources and better weather.
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
Long distance migration patterns that we see today developed incrementally over tens of thousands to millions of years and the origins are more complex. Many components of migration, such as seasonality, direction, distances, general destination, etc. are innate responses. Migration also incorporates the animals contemporary and sometimes pensive response to temperature, photoperiod, weather, geography, wind direction, food sources and other factors.
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| Eastern Kingbird |
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| Least Sandpiper with darker or muddy legs |
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| Dunlin |
Although it might seem counter intuitive for birds to move away from warm areas, for example Costa Rica, to Maine or Canada, cooler places, these areas do have abundant seasonal resources. The annual tilting of the Earth and the concentrated activity periods of northern plants and animals, especially invertebrates, provides tremendous breeding opportunities for animals that can utilize them.
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| Northern Waterthrush |
The seasonality and concentration of insects and longer days allows migrant species to raise on average 4-6 young which is more than tropical populations of the same species or related species which average 2-3 young per year.
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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| Least Tern |
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| Black-legged Kittiwake, not found in this May |
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| Gull-billed Tern |
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| Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge and its many channels and pools |
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| Least Sandpiper |
During interglacial periods breeding zones moved north and the birds continued to return to their tropical homes as winter weather and declining food supplies made southerly retreat necessary. Supporting this genetical theory is the fact that most North American wrens, swallows, vireos, flycatchers, tanagers, warblers and orioles, and have evolved from taxa that originated in the tropics.
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| Prothonotary Warbler |
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| Chestnut-sided Warbler |
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| Northern Diamondback Terrapin |
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| Blue Grosbeak |
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| Willet |
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| Rough-winged Swallow |
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| Bay-breasted Warbler |
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| Clapper Rail |
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
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| Northern Flicker |
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Black-crowned Night-Heron
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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Gull-billed Tern
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
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| Short-billed Dowitchers |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| The "Meadows" of Cape May looking S towards the large, man-made ocean dune. |
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| Eastern Kingbird |
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| Blue Grosbeak |
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| Harlequin Ducks; this is a winter picture from the NJ coast. They usually leave in March. |
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| Purple Martin |
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| Forster's Tern |
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| Forster's Tern |
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
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| Prothonotary Warbler |
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| Clapper Rail |
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| Western Willet |
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
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| Eastern Willet |
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| Least Tern |
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| Kentucky Warbler |
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| Swainson's Thrush |
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| Orchard Oriole |
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| Dunlin |
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| Kentucky Warbler |
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| American Egret |
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| Wood Thrush |
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| American Oystercatcher |
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| Orchard Oriole |
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| Summer Tanager |
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| Chestnut-sided Warbler |
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| Orchard Oriole |
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| Curlew Sandpiper |
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| Veery |
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| Eastern Kingbird |
Development Of Migration
Short distance migration such as moving south in fall a few US States likely developed from daily movements towards areas with more resources and better weather.
Long distance migration patterns developed gradually over millions of years and the origins are more complex. Many components of migration, such as seasonality, direction, distances, general destination, etc. are innate responses. Migration also incorporates the animals contemporary responses to temperature, photoperiod, weather, geography, wind direction, food sources and other factors.
Although it might seem counter intuitive for birds to move away from warm areas, for example Costa Rica, to Maine or Canada, cooler places, these areas do have abundant seasonal resources. The annual tilting of the Earth and the concentrated activity periods of northern plants and animals, especially invertebrates, provides tremendous breeding opportunities for animals that can utilize them.
The seasonality and concentration of insects and longer days allows migrant species to raise on average 4-6 young which is more than tropical populations of the same species or related species which average 2-3 young per year.
During interglacial periods breeding zones moved north and the birds continued to return to their tropical homes as winter weather and declining food supplies made southerly retreat necessary. Supporting this genetical theory is the fact that most North American wrens, swallows, vireos, flycatchers, tanagers, warblers and orioles, and have evolved from taxa that originated in the tropics.
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