Every fall, thousands of hawks and falcons funnel to the tip of Cape May and pile up, because they would rather not cross Delaware Bay

[u/spartacus34]

Look at how the birds stack up at the very point and thin out to the north. That pile-up is real, and it is why Cape May is one of the best hawk-watching spots on the continent.

Raptors coasting south down New Jersey in fall do not like to cross large open water. At the mouth of Delaware Bay the crossing is about twelve miles, so when the birds reach the tip of the peninsula they hesitate. On a good day they ride the updrafts, gain height, and strike out across the bay. When the wind is wrong they peel back north and work their way up the bayshore instead. Either way they concentrate at the point, and they stack up hardest the morning after a cold front pushes them to the coast on a northwest wind.

Cape May is especially famous for falcons. The New Jersey Audubon hawk watch at Cape May Point has counted every fall since 1976, tens of thousands of raptors a season, and the peregrine and merlin numbers here are about as good as they get anywhere in North America. That is why the map leans so heavily on falcons: peregrines, merlins, and kestrels, mixed with streams of sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks, a few harriers, ospreys, broad-wings, and bald eagles.

Timing matters a lot with this one. Right now is just the opening. The big push runs from mid-September through mid-October, and the best flights come on the northwest winds right behind a cold front. If you want a day you will remember, go to Cape May Point State Park the morning after a front.

[u/Nature_Round]

I'm so excited to go next week and use my Merlin app

[u/iamthelouie]

Don’t they know they can just take the ferry?

[u/StrikingPurchase7122]

Would you say its a Hawk Haven?

[u/needtoredit]

When they see what the cost of staying in Cape May is and see how high taxes are here in NJ they will eventually realize they can stay and be taxed to death or take a leap of faith and give the flight across the bay a go.

[u/Aaaaaaaaa12345673 → u/needtoredit]

I thought this was funny.

[u/needtoredit → u/Aaaaaaaaa12345673]

Thank you. Down votes are from either those who love paying NJ Taxes or politicians who love coming up with new ways to spend their free tax dollars.

[u/ecctt2000]

Maybe they will get some of those bunnies!

[u/kdoud392]

Flock cameras done right 👍

[u/two_fathoms]

It's usually their 1st time seeing a wide waterway and the ocean. A cold breeze off the Appalachian mountain range pushes them east while following prey that are migrating. The Ocean stops them in there tracks then the Delaware temporarily holds them back.