Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     Along with the recent alcid irruption along New Jersey’s coast, there have been more than the normal sightings of small winter gulls from land.  Four small gulls in particular are Bonaparte’s Gull , Black-headed Gull , Little Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake .  The kittiwake is the only true pelagic gull of this group, so land-based sightings of these are special.  In the adult breeding stage of the four gulls, kittiwake is easy to separate from the other three because it lacks a dark head.  But in subadult stage, all four have a black spot of some sort behind the eye, all have tails with black tips and all sport an “M” pattern to varying degrees on their backs.  Since this is the nonbreeding season, the focus here will be on nonbreeding, or basic, plumage. Black-legged kittiwake is the least likely to be seen from land here.  It is the largest of the four gulls, but that requires a direct comparison to the others.  Its legs are bla...

   Since the start of October, I have turned my birding attention to mostly Island Beach State Park.  My years of birding there have shown that October is the best time to find local rarities like American golden-plover, Baird’s sandpiper and lark sparrow, or fall specials like jaegers.  This October has not disappointed me because not only did I find all of these species so far this month, but I also added a black-headed gull to my park list. Back on October 3, I found a pair of lark sparrows in a grass field just outside of the park’s main gate.  This field hosts a weekly farmer’s market during the summer, but in the fall, sparrows enjoy the vacated lot.  In past seasons there have been clay-colored sparrows, dickcissels and meadowlarks occasionally mixing in with the regular song sparrows, white-throated sparrows, chipping sparrows and dark-eyed juncos.  The lark sparrows, along with a clay-colored sparrow, lingered at the field for several days to ...