Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     Yesterday I went up to Monmouth County to see the state’s first limpkin .  Today I drove down to Atlantic County to find the sage thrasher that had been reported the day before.  This was going to be a life bird for me, one that I missed on previous trips to Arizona and California.  This wayward bird, whose normal range does not extend east of Texas, was found along Wildlife Drive at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway.  I waited until there was a positive report that the bird was still around.  I headed out when it was reported to be in the same area as it was yesterday. I started the eight-mile, one way loop known as Wildlife Drive looking for marker 10.  That is where the bird was hanging out.  Marker 10 was about 2.5 miles from the start of the drive.  As I drove closer, I could see several cars parked along the unpaved road.  I figured that is where other birders were looking for/viewing the bird.  I parked at the back end of the line of vehicles so I

     Yesterday, reports were circulating of a limpkin  at a private residence in Manasquan, Monmouth County.  Pictures of the bird appeared on a Facebook page.  The reports were confirmed, and this was the first limpkin for New Jersey.  Pending acceptance by the New Jersey Birds Record Committee, this will be the 497th species recorded in the state. I am not a Facebook subscriber, so I did not hear about the bird until late on Sunday.  Earlier today, an administrator of the NJ Rare Birds GroupMe reported that the bird was still in town and the homeowners were allowing viewers to see the bird.  I saw that report in midafternoon.  I have seen the bird many times in Florida, where it should be.  I always threw that bird name out whenever there was a discussion about what would be among the next possible birds to appear in the Garden State.  So, after some self-contemplating, I decided to give it a try.  I put the address in to my car navigation system and I was less than a half hour away.

     Over a year ago I started a project to document all the birds recorded at my favorite spot, Island Beach State Park in Ocean County, NJ.  I wanted it to be in book form so that my work would be available to the public.  Since I wanted to be in full control of the project, and work with my own timeline, I chose to use one of the self publishing companies available on the internet.  I chose to format the book as a summary account of all the birds found at the park, instead of a field guide.  I used available data from several sources, such as eBird , New Jersey Birds Record Committee and historic bird banding records.  When all the research was done, the final tally was 350 full species for the park. Front and back covers.   © S. Weiss The birds were presented in the latest taxonomical order with both common and scientific names.  Each bird’s abundance is described, such as common , scarce , rare , historical , etc.  The most likely place within the park to find most of the birds a

     Yesterday morning I heard my phone making the familiar text message pings.  I wasn’t in a rush to read or answer them.  But since my wife brought the phone over to me, I checked the messages.  Friends were advising me of a rare bird at Barnegat Inlet.  The bird sighting was posted on a GroupMe chat, but I had left that group months ago because of too much nonsense.  A smaller group of us now keep each other up on such reports through text messages.  I told my friend Al who was in on the text chat to meet me at my house, and we would drive down to see the bird, a black guillemot .  This was not a life bird for either of us, but still a rare bird to see from land in New Jersey. I have a mobile sport fishing permit that allows me to drive on the beach at Island Beach State Park.  Barnegat Inlet is at the southern end of Island Beach, separating it from Barnegat Light State Park.  From the end of the paved road at Island Beach, there is about a mile and a half stretch of beach to the