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...

     The past two days birding were very productive for winter sea birds.  On Monday I joined a group of birders on an inshore pelagic trip as part of the Barnegat (NJ) Christmas Bird Count.  We spent about ten hours on a boat patrolling the ocean boundaries of the area covered by the Bird Count in Ocean County, from Barnegat Inlet to the southern end of Holgate.  On Tuesday I spent about four hours at the opposite end of the county, at Manasquan Inlet standing on the jetty on the Point Pleasant side.  Both days were mostly highlighted by alcids - Razorbills  and Dovekies , and small gulls - Bonaparte’s and Little . The front end of a line of razorbills during morning flight.   © S. Weiss For the previous week or so, razorbills had been reported in huge numbers along the New Jersey coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May.  Observers reported hundreds of birds passing each day.  The birds didn’t disappoint us on Monday either.  ...