Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     Four new birds visited New Jersey last year to bring the state list to 503 species.  Two of the new birds are newly recognized species, having been split from other species last year.  The four new birds to visit the Garden State last year were common swift , Vega gull , Fea’s petrel and Scopoli’s shearwater .  Here is a summary of the new birds visited. On March, 9, 2024, a Vega gull was found at Gateway National National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, Monmouth County.   Vega gull became a new species in 2024.  It and three other new species were split from herring gull .  The other three species are American herring gull , European herring gull and Mongolian gull .  Vega gull is an Asian species.  It is very similar to American herring gull and its identification needs to be carefully scrutinized. On May 17, 2024, a swift larger than the expected chimney swifts was noticed in Cape May.  The original spotter photograph...

     In my last post I wrote about the influx of greater white-fronted geese in the northeast and I made mention of two different bean geese north of New Jersey.  A taiga bean-goose had been reported in upstate New York and a tundra bean-goose was found in Rhode Island.  The taiga bean-goose was discovered at the end of last year north of Albany and had most recently been reported earlier this month.  The tundra bean-goose was discovered on January 18 in Portsmouth and still continues there.  Ironically, my daughter was living in Portsmouth up until about a year or so ago before moving elsewhere in Rhode Island.  Even though I have never seen a bean-goose (they are both Eurasian geese that rarely wander to America), and despite my daughter being a very short drive away from the tundra one, I chose not to make the chase for either. My thoughts for trying to see the tundra bean-goose changed last week when my daughter came home (her home away fro...

     I have noticed this winter to be a decent year for common mergansers and geese other than the widely distributed Canada goose species.  Common mergansers and other-than-Canada geese are not local breeders and are uncommon or, depending on the species, rare around Ocean County.  There are very few spots in the county to find common mergansers when they are around.  Many times, some of the sightings for common mergansers are incorrect identifications of the much more probable, red-breasted mergansers .  Sightings of the former are up this season.  They have been reported in several locations with as many as 135 at one location.  I saw mine for this year in January while checking a popular waterfowl hotspot at a local retail shopping mall.  While I was scanning the variety of duck species on the water, five common mergansers dropped on the water in front of me.  They were a nice change to see from all the red-breasted ones, and ...

     Last week I traveled down to St. Augustine, FL.  My daughter had a couple vacation days she needed to use and wanted to go back to her college home town.  I took the trip with her and it was my first time back there since her graduation a few years ago.  St. Augustine is in St. Johns county, just south of Jacksonville, on Florida’s northeast coast.  Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States.  The Spanish origins of the city are preserved in much of the architecture and cobblestone streets downtown.  Down on Magnolia Street is the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park where Ponce de León supposedly discovered his legendary fountain of youth.  Over on King Street is the beautiful and historical Ponce de Leon Hall, formerly the Hotel Ponce de León, the centerpiece of Flagler College. Statues of St. Augustine’s most historic figures stand on either side of U. S. 1 at the city’s north en...

     After Christmas I went on a fishing trip and photographed several humpback whales during the day.  I submitted some of the better photos to Happywhale.com for possible individual identification.  Barely a week later I received an email that one of the whales had been identified as Saucer .  Saucer is at least seven years old as it was first photographed in 2017.  Saucer's sex and exact age have not yet been determined. The other day I received another email from Happywhale stating that two more of my whales have been identified.  One whale is named Wizard .  Wizard is a female at least 12 years old.  She was first recorded in 2012 off Maine.  The other whale does not have a name yet but is identified with a catalog number.  This whale's identification is HDRVAMn033 .  The sex of this whale has not been determined yet.  It is at least nine years old.  It was first recorded in 2015 off of Virginia. Wizard, 12...

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...