A Cold And Windy Hike Along The Cape May Shore. The Ducks Didn’t Mind, But I Sure Did

I finally returned to Cape May on Thursday. I wanted to return all Summer, since my last visit in May. I booked a hotel and began to drive down two weeks ago, but had to cancel that trip because of some complications from my recent bout with Legionaries pneumonia , dengue fever and and E.  coli infection, all  souvenirs from my recent visit to India.

Well, I finally made it  this past weekend.  It was last minute, but  I decided to take the 3 1/2 hour drive to Cape May from  my home in Luzerne County Pennsylvania early Thursday morning. As usual, I stopped for breakfast along the way.  This time  I stopped at a  the Meadows diner  along Route 42 in Blackwood New Jersey.  I love to eat and to share my meals when I’m on the road with my friends on social media. And, I love diners.  I had a great breakfast,  a veggie  omelet with home fries, sour dough toast with strawberry jam and a lot of  coffee.  I love here  chatting  with the y waitresses about the local area and the staff here was very friendly. They were  proud of the diner. They said it was a local favorite for over 40 years  and that it got  5 star reviews in regional food magazines. .  After my late and delicious breakfast  I finished  my drive and arrived at my hotel around 2 PM.

I was staying at Jetty Hotel, the most southern hotel on the New Jersey shore.   I love this relic of the past hotel. Built in the late 1950’s it is as old as me. I feel in love with it on my first visit. It is  not a five star hotel but it’s rooms are clean and comfortable. I love ocean front hotels. I love sleeping with the windows open and hearing the crashing of the waves. 

And I love it quiet location at the end of Beach Avenue across from the ocean and Sunset Pavilion .

It is a shirt walk to Cove Beach and t to the Cape May Meadows Conservancy nature preserve.

Unfortunately, the owners wish to demolish the hotel and built a modern resort but the neighbors are fighting the zoning permit arguing it is a historic hotel and should be preserved. I hope the neighbors win their battle.   This is a link to an article on the zoning appeal. https://capemaycountyherald.com/article/jetty-motel-owners-lose-on-appeal-but-have-a-thread-left/

I  checked in at the front desk and quickly unpacked, set up my electronics , changed and was off to explore the beach and  meadows. As I approached the beach I got a unpleasant surprise.  A nasty wind blowing off of the ocean. It was sunny and the temperature was near 40 degrees but it felt so much colder with the raw, bone chilling wind.

I walked over to the stone jetty, where I thought I may see some harlequin ducks and other shore birds. There were none in the  crashing surf created  by the roaring  winds.

Only a few birds flew over the ocean in the heavy winds,  including this American herring gull,

and this great black-backed gull. I  enjoy seeing these birds after seeing them on the other side of the Atlantic on my visit to Spain last year.

I  walked along the shoreline as the waves pounded  the beach.

I was surprised there where were  no sea shells, sea weed or other aquatic plant or animal life tossed up  on the shore in the heavy surf. And I only saw one bird, a sanderling, foraging in the barren sands along the beach.

I  gazed at the famous Cape May lighthouse in the distance. I was the only one on this  cold and isolated beach and I enjoyed the peacefullness of the solitude, dispute being very cold form the wind.

I had to get out of the wind so I decided to walk up on the dunes and head toward  into the South Cape May Meadows preserve.

On the dunes I finally saw some sea shells,

and a lot of last years brown and shriveled  American beach  grass.

I took a path  through the dunes and onto the dune trail  in the South Cape May Meadows.  The 200 acre preserve  of wetlands, marshes, and small ponds is managed by the Nature Conservancy.I had hoped to get out of the strong winds on the trails in the preserve. It was less windy here however I was not totally out of the swirling winds, and I realized it was going to be a cold hike.  

I walked a short distance and  onto the East Spur trail.  Last spring I saw a lot of migratory songbirds. I had hoped to see some Winter resident birds here in the barberry and cedar shrubs and woodlands.

It was very quiet.   I was surprised to only hear a few yellow rumped warblers active in the strong winds.  I was only able to see and photogprah this one. I continued to hear them, and ,   I believe, the yellow rumped warblers and  many of the other birds were staying low and  sheltering themselves so they wouldn’t have to  exert themselves  flying in the strong winds.

The trail crosses a stream and I  did see some mallard ducks  here.

 I walked back on the East Spur Trail and then  followed the East Trail as it took me it through  an Anerican reed marsh. I came to a bird blind  where  I saw a lot of ducks and other water fowl last Spring. There wasn’t a bird on the pond  on this windy Decemeber morning.

I then walked to an observation stand,

on  a pond on the other side of the trail.

Here I saw dozens of Canda geese and mallard ducks on the pond and shore.

There were hundreds of tree swallows flying , ot being blown, in the wind.

A few brave mallard ducks joined them.

I turned around and followed the Dune Trail back toward the Lighhouse.

The trees,grass and shrubs along the trail were  mostly brown, yellow and gray, the only green being a few cedar trees, some blackberry leaves ,

and invasive Japanese honeysuckle leaves.

The trail took me along the Plover Pond. There were alot of geese, ducks and a few mute swanson the pond but they were dificult to photogrpah because of the glare from the sun now low on the southwestern horizon. The trail left the Cape May Meadows Preserve and entered the Cape May Point State Park.  Like the Cape May Meadows, this 244 acre park includes meadows, dunes. beaches, ponds and even a small forest. The historic Cape May Lighthouse is located in the center of the park and  towered  above the trail in the distance.

There were two  Plover ponds on the Plover Trail and here I found many species of ducks swimming on the ponds,

including this pair of gadwalls. These dabbling ducks breed on the Great Plains and near the Great Lakes and migrate here in the Winter,

a pair of American wigeons, these birds  migrate form the upper  Great Plains and western Canada,

another Great Plains migrant,  colorful northern shoveler ducks,this is a male,

and quite a few colorful bufflehead ducks also migrants from the  Midwest.

Not wanting to be out done by these colorful migratoty ducks, this male mallard duck seemed to be showing off and asking me to take a photo.

A great egret flew overhead,

and I saw this great blue heron standing motionless in the reeds as a parade of ducks swam past.

I could have stayed here for hours watching the ducks. but is was cold and it was getting late. The weak December sun set at 4:38 p.m. So I began my hike back to my hotel.

This time the setting sun  was shining on the Plover Pond and I was able to photogrpah the invasive mute swans. These swan damge the marshes and wetlands by consuming ponds of vegetation every day.

They were surrounded by a large flock of bufflehead ducks,

many flying off as I approached the pond.

I also saw one more species of duck, ring-necked ducks. These ducks breed in Canada. This is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos of the birds I saw on my 5 mile hike. Cape May birds December 11 2025.

I walked back to the dunes,

where the setting sun illuminated the American beach grass,

and the sand dunes along the beach. 

The scenery was beautiful but the wind was brutal.

I walked along the beach as the winds blew sand into  my face.

I was still hoping to see a harlequin duck so I walked back to the stone jetty, there were no birds,

so, as cold and tired as I was I walked to a second,  and then third jetty further up the beach. There were no shore birds. I learned that the harlequin ducks are  only rarely seen in Cape May.

Well,  I wasn’t disappointed since I got to see a beautiful Winter sunset low in the southwestern sky.

I was frozen but waited for the sun  to drop below the horizon before I headed backto my hotel.

I had walked over 5 miles in the cold and wind and I was frozen, tired and hungry. I wasn’t complaining.  I enjoyed the spectacular beach scenery,  I saw a lot of ducks and water birds, and I worked up a good appetite. It was time to eat. This is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos from my frigid 5 mile hike. Cape May December 11 2025.

I had an early dinner reservation at the Sapore Italiano Restaurant, my favorite Cape May restaurant, and only a few block from my hotel.  I was seated and ordered a delicious, and filling Mediterranean salad,

and had seafood linguine in a white sauce as my main course. It, too, was delicious, and, this photo doesn’t  showit, but there was very generous portion. I had a hard time finishing it. I wanted to have one of their  famouis deserts but I was too full.  I was back at my hotel early and spent the night listening to the howling wind and editing photos. I fell sleep glad to be near the ocean and looking forwardto another day exploring Cape May.

…I have seen the sea when it is stormy and wild; when it is quiet and serene; when it is dark and moody. And in all its moods, I see myself…” — Martin Buxbaum