Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     On Sunday, I left home at 4:30 in the morning for Cape May to join a 12-hour pelagic trip aboard the American Star.  It was cold, about 35 degrees, but for mid-February in New Jersey that is not bad.  I go out on pelagics whenever I can because there are birds and other sea life out on the ocean that you just cannot find on land.  My previous pelagic trip last month was windy, colder with snow flurries.  Weather conditions this time were better, and my expectations were a little high.  This winter has been exceptional for alcids along the northeastern Atlantic, from New York to North Carolina.  I knew leaving home that this was an opportunity to see maybe five different alcids:   razorbill , dovekie , Atlantic puffin , common and thick-billed murres .  For the day, we scored four of the five; only missing a thick-billed murre.  The tally for the day was 282 razorbills, 55 dovekies, one puffin and one common murre, plus s...

     This past Sunday my friend, Captain John, invited me back on his boat for a day of tuna fishing.  While tuna was his target, and I love deep sea fishing as well, I really was hoping to finally find some pelagic birds on the trip.  This day would be the 1,500th consecutive day submitting an eBird checklist and I wanted it to be memorable.  The only reason I am aware of this streak is because my eBird homepage reminds me every day with that stat prominently displayed on the top banner.  Submitting at least one checklist a day sounds easy, since I can list any bird that comes to my backyard feeders.  But I can see how life can get in the way for many people, COVID being one reason.  Lucky for me, I have been able to report at least one bird each day for over four years. The previous two tuna trips provided little in pelagic bird diversity, with only great shearwaters, Wilson’s storm-petrels and a few Cory’s shearwaters to report.  Bein...

 This past weekend a friend invited me to join him on his boat for a tuna fishing trip.  I didn’t hesitate to take his offer.  The trip offered me two of my favorite activities - fishing and wildlife viewing.  Luckily, the weather, the tuna and the marine life all cooperated for me.  We caught yellowfin tuna and saw plenty of dolphins, whales and a few pelagic birds. We left my friend’s dock at around 1 a.m. aboard his 36-foot fishing boat.  The boat, all decked out with offshore fishing gear, headed out of Barnegat Inlet on a course about 90 miles to the northeast.  We arrived at the fishing grounds around 5:30 a.m.  I can’t identify the exact location because my friend, like any other dedicated fishing captain, doesn’t give out his secret GPS coordinates.  But eBird decided to place my checklist in New York waters. Left, Wilson's storm-petrel.  Right, Cory's shearwater.    © S. Weiss Left, great shearwater.  Right, grea...

 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 a...