Eco Travel

CAPE COD WINTER VAN TOUR

With Scott Barnes, Senior Naturalist-Cape May Bird Observatory
Friday February 13—Monday February 16, 2026

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Cape Cod extends some 30 miles east into the Atlantic Ocean and is an excellent place to see New England’s winter birdlife, pristine beaches, quaint harbors and towns, and maritime forests. The Cape’s harbors and open ocean host high numbers of sea ducks, including all three scoter species and Common Eiders. It can be excellent for alcids as well—especially Razorbills. In some years Common or Thick-billed Murre may be present. Gull diversity may also be high, and we’ll search for scarcer species including Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous, Iceland, and Black-headed Gulls. Windswept beaches may host Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, and perhaps Lapland Longspur. If any winter finches such as Evening Grosbeak or Redpoll are around, we’ll make an effort to track them down.

PACE, WEATHER, AND TRAVEL CONDITIONS:

We will depart the hotel each morning around 7:00 am for our days afield and should return to the hotel by around 5:00 pm. Weather for this tour will likely be cold, with average daytime highs around 40 degrees F and overnight lows around 25 degrees F. Rain or snow is a possibility; if we encounter such conditions we can still do a lot of birding from the comfort of our vehicle.

GROUP SIZE: Travel during this tour will be in a passenger van with no more than 7 participants plus the leader.

ACTIVITY LEVEL:  Easy to Moderate
The trip involves light to moderate amounts of walking but no strenuous hikes. Expect cold temperatures with the possibility of windy conditions. If necessary, we’ll mitigate this by spending time birding in or near the tour vehicles where you can warm up. Some walking in snow or on ice-covered surfaces is possible.

TOUR PRICE: $1,450 based on double occupancy. Single supplement $300. Tour price includes transportation from Bernardsville NJ, 3 nights lodging, all entrance fees, and leadership. It does not include meals. A deposit of $500 will hold your space until January 14, 2026 when full payment is due.

SEND DEPOSITS & OTHER PAYMENTS TO:

NJ Audubon Eco-Travel, Attn: René Buccinna, 2350 Route 47 North, Building #1, Woodbine, NJ 08270 tel. 609-400-3852. Email [email protected]   Please make checks payable to New Jersey Audubon.  Visa, MasterCard and Discover are also accepted.

MEETING LOCATION: The tour starts at NJ Audubon’s Scherman Hoffman Sanctuary in Bernardsville, NJ at 7:15 am on Friday February 13. We will return to Scherman Hoffman on Monday February 16 at approximately 7:00 pm.

TOUR LEADERS:

Scott Barnes began birding in the mid-1980’s and has been an avid naturalist ever since.  Encouragement and learning came from his parents and many birders, including members of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club and staff of New Jersey Audubon. An interest in travel and natural history has led him from the Bering Sea to the desert southwest to the tropics of Central America in search of birds and other wildlife. Scott has compiled the Sandy Hook Christmas Bird Count for over twenty years, served for thirteen years on the New Jersey Bird Records Committee, led for See Life Paulagics tours for nineteen years and leads on Hillstar Nature Pelagic trips, serves on the NJ Waterfowl Stamp Advisory Committee, teaches Beginner Birding Courses for Princeton Adult School, and is an eBird reviewer for NJ. He is the assistant director of the NJ Audubon Travel Program.  Scott has led NJ Audubon tours in 23 states in the U.S., Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Spain, and Trinidad & Tobago. Scott co-led the Minnesota in Winter 2024 Tour.

PROVISIONAL ITINERARY:

Friday February 13: Meet at NJ Audubon’s Scherman Hoffman Sanctuary in Bernardsville at 7:15 am. We’ll drive northeast through Connecticut and Rhode Island, stopping if there’s good birding at one of the many coastal locations where waterfowl, loons, grebes, gulls, and other waterbirds may be found. Possible stops may include Hammonasset Beach State Park (one of the best birding locations in Connecticut) or coastal locales in Rhode Island. By late afternoon, we will reach West Yarmouth, Massachusetts—our base for three nights.

Saturday February 14: Today we will explore several locations on the cape, with possible stops including coastal harbors and points around Chatham and the mid-Cape, the scenic Nauset Light and marsh, Fort Hill, Great Pond, and other locations. Species we will seek include a variety of gulls, diving ducks like Greater Scaup and Common Goldeneye, and wintering songbirds. Flocks of sea ducks should include plenty of Common Eiders, White-winged Scoters, and Harlequin Duck among other species. We’ll also search for any alcids that may be around, possibly including numbers of Razorbills. Rarer species we’ll keep an eye out for include King Eider, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Dovekie, and Glaucous Gull.

Sunday February 15: An hour north of our hotel is Provincetown and famed Race Point—one of the best places to look for seabirds from land in the eastern U.S. We’ll also visit MacMillan Warf in Provincetown, where birds may include all three scoter species, eiders, and with some luck Iceland or Glaucous Gull. If we’re lucky, sometimes a rarer alcid like Thick-billed Murre turns up in the harbor. Black-legged Kittiwake occasionally land on the beach at Race Point, where we’ll spend time seawatching for Razorbill (often present in numbers), Common and Red-throated Loons, and other oceanic species. In recent years, Pacific Loon has become somewhat regular, but not to be expected. Race Point is the kind of place where you never know what might fly by!

In the afternoon, we will explore some of the many other locations that are part of Cape Cod National Seashore, as well as Pilgrim Heights, Wellfleet Harbor, Head of the Meadow Beach, and the Pamet River Valley as we enjoy the Cape’s mix of heath barrens, dunes, headlands, and harbors. Other species we hope to see include Black Guillemot, Iceland Gull, Red-necked Grebe, and scarcer ducks like Redhead. Rarities that could appear include Barrow’s Goldeneye or Tufted Duck.

Monday February 16: Depending on what we’ve seen we’ll have half a day to search for more birds around the middle of the cape, or stop somewhere in Rhode Island or Connecticut for a half day’s birding before starting our drive back to New Jersey. Estimated return time to Scherman Hoffman is 7:00 pm.