As the fall migration season drew to a close, Week 12 of the Cape May Songbird Stopover Project delivered a fitting finale. This week was full of weather shifts, migration surprises, and a celebration of another successful season at the South Cape May Meadows.
After days of high winds and rain from the late-October nor’easter, the banding team was eager to get back into the field. On November 1, they were greeted by a wave of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle), with a near-perfect Myrtle Warbler Species Index of 0.9957! Out of 217 new birds banded, 216 were Yellow-rumps, with a lone White-throated Sparrow rounding out the day’s catch.
The next morning, November 2, a strong cold front swept through, ushering in both brisk air and a refreshing mix of species. The Myrtle Warbler Index dropped to 0.7055, as sparrows, cardinals, catbirds, kinglets, and thrushes joined the movement through the meadows.
By November 3, migration slowed, giving the team a welcome opportunity to share their work with visiting guests and demonstrate the bird-banding process up close.
On November 4, the Yellow-rumps made a strong comeback, with 150 newly banded birds, including one particularly special individual, a leucistic female Yellow-rumped Warbler, whose pale plumage stood out among her flock mates.
The steady stream of migrants continued into November 5, when 171 new birds were banded. Highlights included the first Orange-crowned Warbler of the season and the second Blue-headed Vireo, both exciting late-season surprises.
November 6 brought back the wind, forcing the team to close nets early after just 45 minutes in operation and a single Yellow-rumped Warbler was banded.
Finally, on November 7, the banding team opened the nets one last time for the 2025 season. The day ended on a high note with 161 newly banded birds, including a season first American Woodcock—a perfect finale to an eventful fall. The team welcomed many visitors throughout the day to help celebrate the end of another successful migration season in Cape May.
As the last nets were closed and the final bands recorded, Week 12 reminded everyone of the wonder of migration. Its rhythms are shaped by weather, timing, and chance encounters. The Cape May Songbird Stopover Project looks forward to another year of discovery, data, and dedication to understanding and protecting the birds that make their incredible journeys through the Cape.
This season, the team caught a little more than 9000 birds (unofficial), ~90 species (unofficial), and had three new birds for the station (official): Sora, Dickcissel, and Vesper Sparrow. Thanks to our ongoing collaboration with Cellular Tracking Technologies, thank you Mike Lanzone and David La Puma, we also tagged 57 birds with BluBat transmitters. This greatly advanced our understanding of migration ecology and behavior in Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush, Gray Catbird, and Swamp Sparrow.
We wanted to say thank you to the Cape May Songbird Stopover Team, Maia Nguyen, Stephanie Bartlett, Noah Nei, Paulo Ditzel, David Mizrahi, and Lena Usyk, for another amazing season. We also couldn’t have done it without the help of a plethora of volunteers and CMBO staff. Be sure to check out Cape May Bird Observatory’s social media pages for more in-depth reviews of the data we’ve collected this season!
All bird capture, handling, and banding are authorized under appropriate state and federal permits.
American Woodcock by Maia Nguyen
Blue-headed Vireo by Paulo Ditzel
Mourning Dove by Maia Nguyen
