The largest concentration of Cape May Warblers I have ever seen was in 1990, on Key Largo, at the end of April -- this was the area that s now the Shaus' Swallowtail reserve but wasn't at the time -- in low coppice (broad-leaf native vegetation) -- must have been dozens of them everywhere!

In Maryland the largest number I have ever seen was in autumn 1980, in the yard of my old house, in a diseased and dying Sugar Maple which was filled with some small flying insect (like a gnat in flight, but apparently all over the leaves) -- the tree was filled with warblers of many species for weeks and I could sit in my bathroom and watch them out the window. Cape Mays (mostly immatures and females) were among the most regular and it was not until later that I realized that they were, in fact, rather hard to see in Maryland! They are regular but not common at Rock Creek, though we have had days with multiple birds. For Bay-breasts, my best spot was actually an open oak grove in upper Sligo Park, where on one May Count I had 5 singing males in these trees, all easily observed form the parking lot of the Lamberton Drive, Silver Spring, Giant supermarket!

Gail Mackiernan
Colesville, MD

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Steve Sanford <>
> Someone recently asked if you can find Cape May or Bay-breasted 
> Warblers in spring around Baltimore: the answer is Yes, but very 
> rarely in my experience. I think I have only seen 5 or 6 of each in 
> this area in spring in 20 years of pretty active local birding. Rock 
> Creek seems to catch them and catapult them directly to their northern 
> homes. In fact, I have had little luck finding them even in their home 
> turf, like Quebec or New Brunswick in June.
> <snip>