Jersey Birds

Time for more photos from Forsythe.  We went out to Atlantic City a few weeks ago and of course took the time to drive up to my favorite wildlife refuge, once on Saturday and again on Sunday.

Pine trees and egrets, what a mix.  You don't see the two together a whole lot, but this Great Egret was proud as a peacock up in his perch.  The flexibility in these guys' necks never fails to amaze me.

Birds were somewhat scarce (although scarce for Forsythe means there's still plenty around.)  But maybe two miles down the dikes, we found a huge group of several types of birds in what appeared to be a feeding frenzy.  This is the best shot I could get of it, and it's missing maybe half the birds that were there.

There were:  Double-crested Cormorants, Great and Snowy Egrets, plenty of Laughing and other Gulls, and about 30 Glossy Ibis.

Here's a cormorant close-up, sixteen of them in this shot alone.  It must have been a good day for birds in groups, because about three quarters of the way around the wildlife drive, we came upon this small tree covered in Great and Snowy Egrets.

This is really just about a third of the tree, there were many more birds hanging out in it.  Funny, because we've been going to this refuge for years now, in all seasons, and this is the first time I've really seen any kind of heron hanging out there.

Lastly, a Snowy Egret we found making use of a piling and giving us a very good demonstration of the leg and feet colors that are so distinctively identifiable.  Adults usually have a strong break between the yellow of the feet and the black of the legs, but this one doesn't, so I'm thinking it's a juvenile bird, hatched just this spring.

BrigFoot

It seems like a long time ago now, but two weekends ago we were at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, affectionately known as 'the Brig' (its old name was Brigantine NWR).

The Brig has an 8-mile auto tour route.  But this time we walked it.  Twice!  We have walked a portion of it before, two winters ago, when snow closed the roads and we REALLY wanted to see a Snowy Owl.  This time we hiked the auto route on Saturday, then came back Sunday and did it over with a few trail segments to up the mileage.

First up was a pair of white egrets:  a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret.  These guys actually look fairly similar, but the size differential is huge:

Another treat right at the start of Saturday's walk was a flock of 40+ Glossy Ibis.  In the right light, they are a surprisingly warm shade of cinnamon, for a bird that usually looks iridescent black.

Some other highlights from both days included a White Pelican.  This guy was faaaaar out in one of the pools, but was unmistakable.  They're huge!

We also saw 6 American Avocets, but they were even farther out and required a scope to even see them.  Even so, we were surprised to find both unusual species with so little heartache :)

Ospreys were everywhere.  Many couples were taking advantage of the nesting posts located near the drive.  This one has a fish, or at least, part of one.  

Near the end of the loop, or the salt marsh part of it, anyway, we found an American Oystercatcher.  This is a comically striking bird, and I can't remember seeing one up and out of the water like this before.  

Lastly, we found this directional sign that had a sticker attached.  It said, "I'd rather be birding."  It cracked me up because, geez, what else would you be doing mid-way through a big wildlife refuge like this!

The Brig & Barnegat: Part 2

Barnegat Lighthouse State Park has the light house, of course, but also a looooong stone jetty that reaches out into the Barnegat Inlet.

It was a pretty quiet day at Barnegat, too.  By far the most common waterfowl near the jetty were Red-Breasted Mergansers. 

Other groups of shorebirds were present, here and there, and not in large numbers.  A group of about 15 Ruddy Turnstones were investigating the rocks. 

Harlequin Ducks are always a treat.  They never look quite real to me, with their bold markings.

The first time I visited Barnegat, we saw all three kinds of Scoters.  This time, Surf Scoter is the only kind that made an appearance.  The black bird below is a male Surf Scoter, although its plumage and bill does not match a regular adult.  It may be transitioning from juvenile plumage.  The brownish one is a female Common Eider.  There were hundreds of eiders floating just down the coast in large rafts.

Common loons were also scattered more or less all over, being solitary fishermen.

Near the end of the walk, we found a Scaup hen with a big problem.  The bird did not seem distressed, however.  I'm hoping a knock up against a rock will solve its problem!

Lastly, we found a Horned Grebe, far out in the inlet.

And, as usual, I did not get pictures of two of the most memorable parts to the day.  First, three Northern Gannets did fly-bys of  the end of the jetty.  I haven't seen Gannets since Cumberland Island in Georgia, which was probably five years ago.  And second, I was using my scope to try and spot a loon when, instead, I saw a seal's face looking back at me!  I don't know why, but I never realized New Jersey's coast had seals! 

The Brig & Barnegat: Part 1

Last weekend, we visited two great New Jersey birding spots. The Brig (Edwin B. Forsythe NWR), which we go to all the time, and Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, which I have only been to once before.

Here are photos from the Brig part of the trip.  One of the better photo opportunities came from the only thrush that typically spends the winter this far north, the Hermit Thrush.

For the most part, it was a quiet day because most of the water in the pools was frozen. But even with that, I found one Great Egret and 3-4 Great Blue Herons trying to overwinter.  There were also quite a few Bald Eagles in the vicinity.

Another prime attraction was a snowy owl that had been seen a few days prior.  Normally, to find a snowy owl, you just go around looking for the crowd of people looking at the owl.  This time, Justin was able to pick the owl out of the snowy ground all on his own.  Can you see it?

This was a time I was very happy to have my scope with me.  With bitter winds and low temps, we didn't spend a lot of time observing outside of the car, but I did manage to snag the picture below with the maximum digital zoom on my camera.

Snowy owls are coming south this winter, like they did last winter.  Not in the same large numbers, though.  From what I have read, this is normal when a huge rise in population occurs.  Some really great research has come out of the whole owl invasion process and you should google Project SnowStorm to find out more!

Pinelands by night

The nights we camped in the Pinelands of New Jersey were blessed with a bright moon.  So bright, I thought it would be neat to try a little night photography.

Here's what I ended up with - pine branches backlit by the moon.

Quality time at the Brig

How many times is the weekend you picked to go camping also the weekend with the most gorgeous weather?  We really lucked out!  We were at Bass River State Forest in New Jersey.

But of course we didn't stay in camp, we also went to Edwin B. Forsythe NWR ("the Brig") for a spin around the wildlife loop.  Saturday AND Sunday :)

At the Leeds Eco Trail, which is partly a boardwalk out over the marsh, you always see barn swallows in warm weather.  They nest underneath.  The top shot isn't super sharp, but I love the action.

Another denizen of the eco trail area - a willow flycatcher.  I saw one here last fall, and now this trip.  And that is the two times in my life I've seen willow flycatchers.  They look like a lot of other flycatchers, unless you pay sharp attention to detail.  But, man, once they open their mouths, their songs give them away.

Oddly enough, there was a report of a scissor-tailed flycatcher the evening before we arrived.  That's a bird that usually comes no farther north than Texas and Oklahoma, so way out of range.  But there was no sign of it Saturday morning!

Shore birding and bunting

Two or three years ago, we went on a field trip with the local bird club to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park in New Jersey.  It was a fantastic trip, and it introduced me to a group of birds I was not at all familiar with.  I haven't been back to check out the sea ducks and other various wintering coastal birds, until this weekend.  I'll have a post or two on those later, but first, a detour.  

Word on the internet was that an very rare Smith's Longspur had been sighted at Stone Harbor Point, to the north of Cape May.  The most recent news was that it hadn't been found in a day or so, so our hopes weren't set on seeing it.  But it was also supposed to be a good place to find these guys:

Snow buntings aren't shore birds per se, but they can be found in the dunes.  For not being a particularly rare bird in the winter, this is my first encounter with them.  So, that was exciting, finding life bird #1 for the day.  There was flock of about a dozen, scurrying back and forth through the grassy dunes.

This group was very tolerant.  We were within 10 feet or so of some.  A few were messing in and around an old washed up tire.  Later, one jumped up and posed for us.  

Birders drifted in and out while we were walking around Stone Harbor Point.  One told us how to find a pair of king eider hens hanging out with some scaup two bridges over.  King eiders are unusual in New Jersey, but nobody told these two.  They have been in the area since some time in December.

These two were easy to find, but hard to actually observe.  The only clear views were distant ones, so a documentation-quality shot will have to do.  The eider are the two brownish birds at the back left.  An unexpected life bird #2 for the day!