Visiting mid-east coast area, April 2008 (1 Viewer)

Hi, my girlfriend is trying to persuade my to accompany her on a visit to the states in April, to visit a friend from her college days who lives in Philadelphia and also to have a break and have some holiday time. And she says we can go birding whilst we're out there

Anyway, it'll be about 7th april for maybe 10 days, I'm wondering what would be the best plan?

Thought after a few days around Philadelphia (and after the socialising is out of the way ) might be nice to move on somewhere else for a little while.

The coast nearby, especially NJ would be the obvious choice I guess, where would be good? The main attraction as I see it is Cape May, but would that be a good time of year? Would it be a reasonable (and cheap) place for a holiday? Would we need to get a hire car?

I have visited before (Florida and California) and so some relaxed (ish) birding catching up with more temperate species won't be a problem.


Any ideas? I'd appreciate any advice /suggestions . . .

Cheers a lot, Dan

(posted similar to above in PA section, but was suggested and yep I agree, might be worth asking specifically in this section also!)

Your immediate getaway for a half-day of birding could be Palmyra Cove, right acroaa the river in New Jersey, good habitat here including planted natives and hummingbird garden :
http://www.palmyracove.org/

There are other options I could suggest later in the week, Im off to work now!
stephen

dantheman said:

Cape May, but would that be a good time of year? Would it be a reasonable (and cheap) place for a holiday? Would we need to get a hire car?

Click to expand...

I was asking similar last year and the consensus seemed to be a car was really needed to get the best out of Cape May, so I instead opted for New York City which was fabulous for birding, Central Park and Jamaica Bay easily occupying my whole week there. I would guess mid-April is too early for the peak migration in Central Park (but there must be something on the move by then), but Jamaica Bay should be excellent.

If you do think to take this option, there is a report on my website which may be of interest.

Dan, see my post in your NJ Thread here.

Thanks for the responses, we've booked the flight for 7th to 21st April, into JFK airport NY, so definitely will have a look at the NY birding scene. But thinking of staying at Cape May for a couple of days also, as we'll be hiring a car anyway, and yep, birding a bit around Philadelphia as we'll be staying there one weekend at least.

Nice trip report Jos (and site of course ).

Stephen - cheers, if you think of any more places that'd be cool.

One other thought - given it'll still be April would it be worth taking a trip north for a day or two (we may have the time), ie to Canada (or birding places on the way)? (We'd get it on our country list at any rate ) Will there be many birds that different that'll be easy to connect with? and will it still be almost winter still??

(maybe I'll post this last one in the general section, our plans are evolving as we find out more!!)

Cheers, Dan

Dan ,
You would have to travel to the beginning of Boreal forest habitat in the Adaradaks in New york State to get into real different set of species and that would be tough. Here is a rundown of Adubon Centers in New Jersey .
http://www.njaudubon.org/Centers/
You could score some good grassland species at some of the Sod Farms in South Jersey or maybe at Plainsboro Preserve.

My favorite Grassland habitat is Six-Mile run area in Franklin Township, NJ: (Bobolink,Grasshopper Sparrow,indigo Bunting,Am Kestrel,E.Meadowlark,Prarie Warbler)

Cheers for the suggestions given. We were quite early (but we knew that) for a lot of the grassland species and hummers etc, but had a good few days in the Cape May area, and could have gotten even more out of the area.

For others interested in trips to the area, I've put our trip report on BF;

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=114065

Cheers, dan