Walking, Wildlife & Environmental Tours
CELEBRATING OUR 21st YEAR!
Join us for a week of outstanding birding and sightseeing in New Jersey, culminating in our participation in the World Series of Birding on May 12th 2012 (aka Big Day), a 24 hour birding marathon to raise funds for New Jersey Audubon Society. 
For its relatively small area (7836 sq. miles), New Jersey attracts a disproportionate variety of birds, with its current species list standing at 465 species. This is partially due to it being wedged between the Appalachian Mountains to the west and the Atlantic ocean to the east, thus acting as a funnel point along the great Atlantic Flyway.
This tour will cover a selection of NJ’s best bird sites, from Sussex County in the northwest to Cape May County in the south. For Big Day, Walking Experiences will make a generous contribution to the NJ Audubon Society for each species we record. May is the peak month for spring migration, and a large variety of species are typically recorded in the state during this month. In 2011 the winning Big Day team recorded 220 species, while many teams recorded 120 + species. See here for a good overview of Big Day 2011.
YOUR ITINERARY
Sat. May 5th- Day 1: Arrive into Newark airport. Meet at the nearby Marriott Hotel at 2 pm. Leave by van to our first hotel in Sussex County, about 2 hours away. We’ll stop en route at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge to get our eye in on the local birds. Regular species include Yellow, Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Green and Great-blue Herons, Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, American Kestrels, Eastern Bluebirds, Wood Ducks and more. Overnight near the town of Sussex, two nights.
Day 2: Sussex County is the state’s most northerly county, and varies from wet woodlands, swamps and lakes to the highest mountains in the state. This variety of habitats accounts for the extraordinary biodiversity to be found among all taxa in the county, with 50+ terrestrial mammal species, 150 Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), and over 200 breeding bird species. Much of the county is protected for its wildlife and natural resources by a variety of state and non-governmental organisations.
Our day will take us to a mix of habitats, with hikes in High Point State Park and through the Pequannock Watershed, along wonderful trails through relatively untouched habitats. Target species will include northern breeders such as Blackburnian, Canada, Black-throated Blue and Cerulean warbler, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Northern Waterthrush, Olive-sided and Alder Flycatchers. There is also a good chance of seeing Black Bears which are fairly common in this area. We’ll listen in the evening for the more common owl species such as Eastern Screech, Barred and Great Horned Owls.
Day 3: We’ll move south and east to Garret Mountain, a migrant hotspot on the first ridge in from the coast. The site’s deciduous forests, riparian habitats and ponds are a significant stopover for migrants. It can host up to thirty warbler species on any one day, and is a phenomenal migrant trap at this time of year. It is one of the best sites for the elusive Cape May warblers, but also attracts vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, orioles and others. If time allows we’ll visit the NJ Audubon-owned Scherman Hoffman sanctuary, where we’ll look for Pileated Woodpecker, Indigo Bunting,Louisiana Waterthrush, Brown Creeper and Acadian Flycatcher.
We’ll finish our day at Sandy Hook Gateway National Park, a long sandy promontory pointing north towards Manhattan. The Hook acts as a natural funnel for migrants, from hawks to warblers and seabirds. Breeding birds include the rare Piping Plover, Black Skimmers, Forster’s and Least Terns, as well as a number of nesting Ospreys. Overnight in Highlands, two nights. 
Day 4: We’ll spend the day on Sandy Hook exploring its maritime forest of cedar and hardwood trees, use the hawkwatch point to scan for migrating raptors, and check the shore and wetlands for Willets, Clapper Rails, Seaside Sparrow, Marsh Wrens, divers, gulls, waders & terns and waterfowl. Black and Surf Scoter are regular migrants here, as well as Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead & Greater Scaup.
Day 5: We’ll move south along the coast, stopping at a local reservoir to watch the nesting Bald Eagles, before heading inland to explore a section of the Pine Barrens. This is an enormous area characterized by excessively drained, bleached sand overlaid by mixed lowland forest and scrub, as well as forested wetlands, grasslands and Atlantic White Cedar swamps. It is also the premier region for growing blueberries in NJ. Pitch pine (Pinus rigida) is the dominant tree species in this area with some hardwoods, mostly oak species. Here we’ll expect some southern breeding species such as Prothonotary and Kentucky Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager etc , as well as Red-shouldered Hawks, Savannah Sparrows, and Blue-winged warbler. For the evening hours we’ll watch and listen for Barred Owls, American Woodcock, Common Nighthawks (photo), Whip-poor-will and Chuck-Will’s-Widows. Overnight near Hammonton.
Day 6: After another morning exploring the Pine Barrens, we’ll head back to the coast and tour the Edwin B. Forsyth National Wildlife Refuge at Brigantine, looking through the waders, terns, ducks and geese. Regulars include Clapper & Virginia Rail, Glossy Ibis, Black Skimmers, Salt-marsh Sparrow & American Black Duck. Rare terns such as Caspian, Gull-billed and Royal all turn up frequently, and thousands of waders pass through on their way north. These include Semi-palmated, Least and Western Sandpipers, Dowitchers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Upland Sandpipers and many more. Overnight near Cape May (two nights).
Day 7: The Cape May area consists of a wide variety of habitats ranging from beach/dune habitat and tidal salt marsh bordering the Delaware Bay to small woodlots, fallow fields and gardens. The area is a well-recognized, critical stopover site for major concentrations of migrants, both terrestrial and maritime. It is regarded as one of the top birding sites in the U.S. The town itself is filled with charming Victorian houses and great local shopping and restaurants. We’ll spend today birdwatching and familiarising ourselves with some of the ground we’ll cover on Saturday - Big Day. Scarlet Tanager, Black-billed Cuckoo, Black & White Warbler, Orchard Oriole; all breed locally. Seawatching can be very good at this time, with regular gannets, cormorants, ducks, and shorebirds. Oddities this past May included decent numbers of Wilson’s petrels, Surf Scoters, Mississsippi Kites, Brown Pelicans, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Sooty and Cory’s Shearwaters, and even a couple of Frigatebirds. If it flies, it can turn up at Cape May!
Day 8: BIG DAY! We will be registered as an official competing team for this fun event. We’ll concentrate on Cape May County, which covers 620 Square miles of southern New Jersey. The 2011 winning team had 163 species in Cape May County and the state winners had 221 species. These are great tallies considering that Big Day 2011 was not a great day for migrants.
You can choose to join all or part of the day, depending on your stamina. We’ll start at midnight for owls, nightjar species and rails, catch the dawn chorus, then work our way around the county’s best habitats for different species. We’ll search for those migrant warblers we may have missed so far, scan flocks of shorebirds, and spend some time on a seawatch. It will be all fun, and Walking Experiences will pay $2 for each species recorded today! This will be donated to NJ Audubon to support the conservation work of one of their observatories.
Day 9: After a well-deserved lie in, we’ll make our way back to north Jersey area for evening flights from Newark.
Cost: The price for the week will be 1995 euros or $2700. This includes collection and return to Newark Liberty Airport, eight nights hotels- accommodation only, van hire and fuel, local guides, and our services as driver/guide for the week.
Not included are flights, meals, and items of a personal nature such as drinks and telephone calls. Meals will be taken at local diners and restaurants.
