Cape May Point State Park and South Cape May Meadows Nature Preserve

Today Noelle and I went on a date to explore Cape May Point State Park and its environs. We headed to the park and immediately looked for birds at the observation deck near the parking lot. We didn't see a whole lot from that area and so we headed over to the trails. We opted to start our hike on the yellow trail. We passed some nice views of the Cape May Point Lighthouse

and over to some ponds

where we spotted

some mute swans, northern shovelers, and Gadwalls. We also saw two muskrats and a lonely cottontail rabbit.

We walked some boardwalks,

then passed an area that is closed for nesting birds

before heading over to the nearby South Cape May Meadows Nature Preserve.

The preserve is managed by the Nature Conservancy and contains similar habitat to what you find in the state park. The area was once a neighborhood that was often flooded. We walked the trails and looked for birds.

We saw another muskrat

and a Canada goose on her nest right off the trail.

Then we headed to Wawa for lunch which we ate at a picnic table near the Fisherman's Memorial

and the Coast Guard station. We saw lots of interesting birds including brants, a short necked goose species, lots of mergansers, and double crested cormorants.