Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     Usually I wait until the after the current year has passed and give a synopsis of new birds added to the New Jersey species list.  I prefer to wait for any potential new species to be accepted by the state’s Bird Records Committee, but this latest visitor is too incredible not to share now.  On May 11, three birders aboard the Cape May - Lewes Ferry photographed a shearwater in New Jersey waters.  Photos of the bird were posted on social media to help with its identification.  The odd shearwater turned out to be a streaked shearwater ! The normal range of streaked shearwaters is the Western Pacific Ocean,  basically from Australia up along Japan and the Korean Peninsula during breeding season.  Sometimes they reach east to New Zealand and Hawaii out of breeding season.  Occasionally they have reached the U. S. mainland’s west coast.  This, however, is the first record of the species for the entire North Atlantic Ocean! AI gene...

      Last week my younger daughter, wife and I took a trip out to San Diego.  We wanted to follow up on a whale watching trip we took there last year.  In February 2024, we had a great time seeing several gray whales and a few hundred common dolphins .  We went out in May this year because we were told that is when we could see blue whales .  Unfortunately, after booking our flights and stay there we learned that June through July is actually the best blue whale season.  We kept our plans anyway and headed west.  What we also learned post-booking is that May is called Gray May in San Diego.  Yup, a marine layer from the Pacific Ocean forms over the coast creating mostly cool, overcast and moist conditions.  Left, Children’s pool and seal haul out at La Jolla Cove.  Right, ground cover draping the cliff sides at La Jolla Cove.   © S. Weiss The gray May conditions might have affected our whale watching trip.  We wen...