Running Away to Sea

We've been talking lately about Cape May, NJ.

How the hawk watch is there, and fall migration is supposed to be pretty spectacular.

This tiny, thumbnail-sized crab really made my day

Saturday night, Alan said, "Let's go tomorrow."

So we did. 

The drive down was uneventful if long. Cape May is something pretty unexpected for New Jersey, more like you might expect a small town in Maine to be. Lots of sea food restaurants, wonderful dunes, people on bikes and walking, and the sea......

Green-winged Teal

Yeah, that does it for me. The sea. You could see the light from miles away...

You don't want to know how much sun block, plus hat, flannel shirt, etc. was needed to get me through a day of tromping along sea shell and sand paths, wading down the deep sand to the beach, and staring up at eagles and warblers. Let's just say on the way home the sunblock melted and ran in my eyes.

It hurt.

However, what a beautiful place. The birding didn't really measure up to Montezuma. Maybe the time of day...noon is not the best for birds....

Or the big crowds....there were a lot of people.

But for whatever reason, we saw few species that we don't either see at home or at the swamp. They were tame and close though, all the better for photography,

And it was so pretty...so unexpected....so nice. On the way home we listened to a Harry Potter book on Audible and a good thing too. As nice as the drive down was the return was equally horrendous. Traffic! Terrible, terrible traffic!

Still, it was a day I will remember for a long time to come. Alan is getting pretty good with that camera.....photos are labeled as to which of us took them....

from Northview Diary http://ift.tt/2enGIl0