Looking ahead to the upcoming Fall Weekend here in Cape May, things couldn’t be much better. Well, if we could get a large rain event to really put the birds down right along the coast then that might be better for birders- although you’d be guaranteed to be soggy by mid-morning. That’s not going to happen. Instead the precipitation outlook is nil, and the conditions for migration are excellent.

We’ve got WNW flow on tap for Thursday night which will bring some birds down the state for Friday morning.  Right now it looks like the stuff in NY will have to wait until Friday night, when the northwest winds kick in up there. That’s fine, because it’ll guarantee a steady increase in both nocturnally migrating land birds and diurnally migrating raptors throughout the weekend. Look for heavy migration into NJ on Friday night into Saturday morning as winds will be out of the northwest across NY and New England. On Saturday night we will see winds switch around to the WSW for a bit, but then turn back around to the northwest again early Sunday morning. This should lead to a buildup of birds in Cape May on Sunday, as no birds will leave the region but new birds will arrive during the day on Sunday (plus something interesting could show up on the southerly winds… at least a Cattle Egret or two). If you can stick around another day, the northwest winds will continue on Sunday night, making for another great day in Cape May on Monday!

If you haven’t yet registered for the CMBO/NJAS Autumn Weekend, you can do so here: http://www.birdcapemay.org/autumn.shtml

The lineup of top notch field guides, great speakers, informative workshops, and prospect of birds this weekend make this an event not to miss.

Full disclosure:  I’m leading a walk at the Rea Farm (Beanery) on Saturday morning (7:30am) and at Higbee’s Beach on Sunday (7:30am).

Hope to see you afield!

Good Birding

David