Birds and Other Nature Sightings

 Yesterday I took advantage of a break in humidity following yesterday’s rainstorms and ventured inland to Double Trouble State Park.  The park’s physical address is in Bayville, NJ where the extinct Double Trouble Village is located.  The defunct village once was a cranberry operation in the Pine Barrens, but it is now part of the 8,000-acre state park sprawled across the neighboring townships of Berkeley and Lacey. My intent was to find the hooded warblers that summer there and the yellow-breasted chat that has returned for a second summer in three years.  Neither species is a new bird for me, but I have not seen a hooded warbler yet this year, and I wanted a better photo of a chat.  The known locations of the birds are near each other.  I tried for the warblers first and, like the previous two attempts, did not see or hear one.  I walked over to the large restoration area where the chat has been residing, but it too was neither heard nor seen.  Upon returning from a walk deeper into

 Today I drove down to the end of Island Beach State Park in the morning just to see if anything interesting had turned up ahead of the predicted thunderstorms.  It turned out to be rather uneventful.  There were the usual and expected sea birds around, but little else bird-wise.  Most of the shorebirds have not yet returned from their northern breeding grounds.  But a walk towards the back of the inlet provided me with some sightings to share. Besides the seaside pea and poison ivy that line the beaten path heading towards the end of the jetty, some colorful plants were noticeable.  Rugosa roses and virgin creepers were sporting red colors.  Hoary mugwort, now past its flowering stage, was lush in its minty blue hue. Rugosa rose, or beach rose, is an introduced species from Asia.    © S. Weiss   Left, a virgin creeper (genus name), most likely Virginia creeper.  Right, hoary mugwort, a naturalized coastal plant.         © S. Weiss I did not see many butterflies or moths today, maybe b

 Recently, I mentioned to a friend that my wife was searching for quick vacation getaways and that she found a good deal on a four-day cruise to Nova Scotia.  My friend’s response was, “Oh my God! I did that cruise.  You’re going to love it.  You’ll see birds and marine life from the ship!”  A few minutes later I texted my wife telling her that I was all in for the cruise.  So, this past week we took our cruise to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I followed eBird reports for a few weeks before we left and most of the birds being reported in Halifax were the spring warblers that had already migrated through Ocean County a few weeks ago.  Potential life birds, like Canada jay, pine grosbeak and black-backed woodpecker were not being seen near where we would be in Halifax.  So, with more than two full days at sea at nearly 100 miles offshore, I looked forward to this as being more of a comfortable pelagic sightseeing trip. We left Port Liberty in Bayonne late afternoon and before the sunset on the f