Cape May Point State Park

Monarchs and hawks at the tip of New Jersey, September and October Migrating monarchs use the coast as a guide on their way south, and west or northwest winds push more of them to the shore, piling them into the dunes at Cape May Point while hawks pass over the park's hawkwatch platform. In 2024 the monarch movement peaked in the second week of October, with about 1,500 passing on the single busiest day. The state park hosts public tagging demonstrations through the season, a friendly hour on the project and monarch biology that ends with tagged butterflies heading on toward Mexico. The catch is the wind: in 2025, northeast winds pushed migrants inland and left the Point unusually quiet, so check the forecast before you drive down.