Cape Henlopen and Lewes Beach, Delaware

On Dec 22-23rd hubby and I took a quickie trip to the Delaware Shore. We had been having some nice weather and we thought an overnight at the beach would be a great early Christmas celebration.

Whitetail deer seen across the street from the Cape Henlopen's nature center.

Our first stop on the 22nd was at the Cape Henlopen State Park, it is a great place for birding and has a beautiful beach. The Fort Miles is also part of the park and you can visit the old fort and lookout towers.

This is the beach on the Delaware Bay side of the point at Cape Henlopen Park. We walked the loop trail along the beach on the bayside to the point and around the point to the Atlantic beach and then to the trail back to the parking lot. Except for a few people fishing and a couple of horseback riders we had the beach to ourselves.

After leaving the Cape Henlopen Park we continued along the Rt 1 Hwy toward the beaches. We did not make reservations but at this time of year and all the hotels along the beaches we did not think we would have a problem finding a room for the night. The Best Western was located right on the Coastal Hwy and we were always happy with the Best Western hotels in other places we visited.  I have to mention the Best Western had a great price and a nice room for our night stay.

 Above is the beach at Lewes, Delaware just a short walk from our Best Western hotel.

From our room which had a nice view of the bayside, just off of the coastal highway. We had a delicious dinner at a local Lewes restaurant called The Port. Very good food, the cream of crab soup was delicious.

Just down the Coastal Hwy is the Indian River Inlet it is very popular spot for fishing and a favorite spot for birders. We were able to park and take a walk along the Indian River to where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. 

To see more beautiful and scenic shot click on my link Scenic Sunday.  I hope you enjoyed my post on the Delaware beaches. Thanks to the Holleys for hosting Scenic Sunday and thanks for stopping by to see my post. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Barnegat Lighthouse, New Jersey

 Having off work Friday ( a mental health day) and a forecast of beautiful weather convinced hubby and I to head to the Jersey shores for some birding. Our first stop were the beaches at Avalon-Stone Harbor and then we headed north to Barnegat Lighthouse.

Here are some of the highlights from Friday the first day of our visit to New Jersey.

The first shot is of the sunrise at we headed across the Delaware Memorial bridge, in the second photo are hundreds of Sanderlings on the beach at Avalon, the last shot above.. a few Brants at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Sanderlings and seagulls a plenty on the Jersey beaches.

Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones(orange legs) seen along the jetty.

Brants walking along the beach at Barnegat. Winter time is a great time for viewing the ducks along the coast. I do think this warm weather we have been having lately is having an affect on the numbers of ducks we are use to seeing in the winter. I am loving this warm weather and I hope it continues thru January.

In the mosaic above are shots of the Barnegat Lighthouse, A few Purple Sandpipers at the Stone Harbor jetty, a Common Loon and a group of Long-tailed ducks at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Above, a Harlequin couple seen at Barnegat.

The Long-tailed ducks seen at Barnegat. Barnegat Lighthouse beach is known as a great place for birders to see some great ducks like the Long-Tailed, Brants and the Harlequins. We also saw Common Eider, tons of Common Loons and Surf Scotors.

Thank you for visiting my blog and post and for the lovely comments. I hope everyone has a great week ahead and Happy Birding.