Birds and Other Nature Sightings

The Friday after Christmas I got back out on the water with my friend, Captain John.  He had been chasing winter bluefin tuna lately and he had a spot for me on his boat this time.  I saw this as an opportunity to catch some maguro , spot some whales and maybe find some alcids.  It turned out to be a good time as I accomplished that trifecta. There was four of us on board and we left the dock at 6 a.m.  There was a chill in the air.  The wind was pretty much calm though, and once the sun rose high enough the air temperature was comfortable.  The water was calm with minimal two-foot swells, at well-spaced intervals.  On the way out, scoters began taking to the air from their night slumber to avoid our oncoming vessel.  Gannets began their serial search for food.  As the sight of land grew smaller, I started to see my first few target species:   dovekies and razorbills .  The calm water made it easier to spot the little dovekies on t...

     Earlier this month I went on a 12-hour pelagic trip out of Cape May, NJ.  During that trip with the Cape May Whale and Research Center we encountered a pair of endangered North Atlantic right whales.  The whales were interacting with each near the surface.  We spent nearly an hour watching the whales from a safe and required minimum distance.  Everyone on board enjoyed the encounter and many photographs were taken.   Two North Atlantic right whales off of Cape May, 12/14/2024.    © S. Weiss Their partial genealogies come to light. As I normally do when I have a whale encounter, I sent some of my photos to research organizations that track and maintain catalogs of whales.  I sent what I thought were the best photos I had which I felt would best be useful in identifying the individuals.  For right whales I know that scientists use the callosities found on and around their heads.  The callosities are unique to right whal...

     Last Saturday I was aboard the Cape May Whale and Research Center's 12-hour pelagic trip.  Early on we were seeing some of the usual birds, many or all of which one could see from land.  We had scoters, gulls, gannets and loons.  Then we had a great encounter with a pair of North Atlantic right whales. But a little bit of concern started to creep in to some on board that the whale sighting would be the highlight of a boring bird day.  Besides not seeing a great skua yet again, we did not come across any Atlantic puffins or northern fulmars.  But not long after the whale sighting, we began finding some other birds to make the trip both a good whale day and a good bird day. We did have two species of alcids, the first of the winter season for most of us.  We had several razorbills and several dovekies.  The tiny dovekies are a winter favorite for many of the birders on board.  Because we spent quite a bit of time enjoying the rig...

     Saturday was another 12-hour offshore trip to find pelagic species.  This is the time of year to look for a Great Skua, but the large, brown, gull-looking bird continued to be elusive.  The lack of adding a new skua species to my personal list did not lessen the value of the trip.  We spotted several first of the season birds as well as a pair of endangered cetaceans.  It was around the nine o'clock hour when a whale spout was spotted in the distance.  Several more spots were seen as our boat headed towards that area.  When the blow spouts became more discernible, the whale's identification appeared to be a North Atlantic right whale. North Atlantic right whales are among the world's most endangered species.  Their estimated population is only around 370 individuals.  Only about one-third of them are breeding-capable females.  Their blow spout has a distinctive split, or V, shape.  As we neared the whale's approximate...

     After seeing my first cave swallows last weekend in Point Pleasant, I went to Island Beach State Park hoping to find one there.  I actually have been keeping an eye out for cave swallows at the park all month.  That would be a new patch bird for me, and I was anticipating that the recent influx of cave swallows along the eastern seaboard would give me the best chance of spotting one.  I figured the bathing beach area would be the best spot to look.  There are open beach, dunes and large pavilions.  Plenty of areas for swallows to forage and roost.  I met my friend Alex on the beach.  We scanned the area for a while with no luck.  There were no alerts coming in from any of the locations that had been reporting them from Rhode Island to Delaware.  No cave swallows. We turned to sea watching since the only real activity was on the water.  The fishermen were up and down the beach chancing the striped bass that were feedin...

     This past Sunday I was pretty much just hanging around the house when I received an early afternoon text from my friend Scott.  He was birding Island Beach State Park and had found a sedge wren .  He asked if I needed one for the park.  I immediately answered, “Yes.”  I gathered my camera and binoculars and set out for the park.  Luckily for me the park is only a ten to 15 minute drive away. Scott is a great birder and often leads birding walks at the park.  We try to help each other out by alerting the other if either of us finds a personal new patch bird there.  Except for the crazy accidental birds or locally extirpated species, there are not many birds that the two of us have not seen there.  Sedge wren was a new one. Sedge wren, July 2023.   © S. Weiss Sedge wrens were once breeders in New Jersey but are now considered rare throughout the state.  A few are encountered annually, mostly as migrants in the fall and ...