Finally, More Like Spring 4/4/25

After gusty winds yesterday and plenty of rain overnight, today turned out to be much nicer than I expected. It remained mostly cloudy, but warm. The wind was negligible and it was comfortable to be out in a tee shirt. After a morning doctor’s appointment, I set out for Island beach State Park to see if the weather had brought any new year birds into the area. As I approached the front gate of the park, I had to stop and safely back up when something caught my eye in the field outside the main entrance. The birds that grabbed my attention were three Eastern meadowlarks . They were my first of the year, and signaled a good start to the day. First-of-the-year Eastern meadowlark, 4/4/2025. © S. Weiss I spent a little over three hours at the park, walking five miles mostly on the bayside trails. I tallied 63 species for the day, five of which were new for the year. I picked up my first blue-gray gnatcatchers of the...