Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     Yesterday (5/30) I went back to my favorite place, Island Beach State Park, to see what a couple of consecutive days of stiff northeast winds might have pushed in from offshore.  Last week I got my first Sooty Shearwaters of the season for the park.  Yesterday I was hoping the winds would bring in my first-of-the-year Great or Cory’s Shearwaters or Wilson’s Storm-petrels for the park.  I did not find any of my target birds, but I did tally 21 sooty shearwaters during my five mile sea watch drive along the beach.   Today (5/31) the wind was still out of the northeast, but died down a bit.  I gave the sea watch drive another try.  Starting at the inlet I took my time driving north to area A7.  There still were some swells out on the water, but not as big as the day before and that would make it easier to spot storm-petrels; or so I thought.  I was getting closer to the end of my drive and I had no storm-petrels and only two s...

     On Memorial Day I decided to change up my usual spots for walking, so instead of sticking near the beach areas I headed inland.  I headed over to Double Trouble State Park in Berkeley Township.  Birding wasn’t going to be my primary activity.  Most of the migrating land birds have already passed through the area, and those that have chosen to stay are likely in nesting mode.  It’s unlikely now, for awhile, to find new land birds for the year, unless I come across a resident that I just haven’t seen yet.  As it turned out, I did have a Blue Grosbeak , my first of the year, fly across my path as I was walking a trail.  None of the other 29 birds I checked off for the day were new for 2023. I met my sister’s boyfriend John at the park.  He isn’t so much a birder as me, but more of a snake person, or a Herper , as they call themselves.  I am more of a casual snaker, not really part of that community, hence I don’t feel I am worthy ...

     This past weekend I travelled to Hatteras, North Carolina with some birding friends for two days of pelagic birding on the Stormy Petrel II.  Unfortunately, weather conditions along the Outer Banks on Saturday made the seas too rough for a boat load of birders to be standing at the vessel’s rails with binoculars and cameras in their hands.  So, with an open day at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, we set out for impromptu birding. Since we were already near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the winds were mostly out of the east, we decided to spend the morning birding the ocean side.  The early part of the morning featured on and off rain that was heavy at times.  We birded the flooded lots of the lighthouse campgrounds by car until the rains tapered off around mid-morning.  We finally were able to walk out to the beach area and very quickly spotted a late Iceland Gull sitting on the beach.  After scanning the nearby roosting Black Sk...

     For the past couple of weeks my daily walks at Island Beach State Park were a slog.  Trying to find new year birds was becoming a chore.  It seemed as if the spring birds were way behind schedule, since the trees were already leafing out, and the tree snot (technically the catkins) on the oaks were hanging silently waiting to be gleaned by warblers, tanagers, orioles, vireos and the likes.  I had to keep reminding myself that the crazy warm days we had back in February and March actually put the trees ahead of schedule.  This migration thing has been going on for quite a long time, and Mother Nature always seems to get things right. Tree snot, properly known as catkins.   © S. Weiss Things started showing up last week…finally.  Last Thursday, after unsuccessfully trying to relocate New Jersey’s first Black-whiskered Vireo that only two fortunate birders were able to see and photograph, I was one of a handful of birders to see a Kentucky...

      In my last post I gave a brief review of the eight birds that made New Jersey’s State Bird List in 2022.  Well, since then, two more birds made their first appearances in the Garden State.  Pending review and acceptance by the NJ Bird Records Committee, the state list may jump to 496 species. On May 1, a Red-footed Booby was photographed on a farm in Burlington County.  The wayward bird was on private property, and a few people with permission to find the bird for possible rehabilitation rescue were unable to relocate it.  It presumably continued on elsewhere.  Red-footed boobies are tropical ocean birds and are rarely seen in the continental United States.  One was most recently seen in Wake County near Raleigh, NC this past March. On May 2, a keen and seasoned birder photographed a Black-whiskered Vireo at Island Beach State Park in Ocean County.  This bird has yet to be relocated, and may also have moved on to new environs. ...

     2022 turned out to be an impressive year for birding firsts in New Jersey.  The state species list grew from 486 species of natural origin (including now extinct species) to 494.  The New Jersey Bird Records Committee (NJBRC) reviews,  confirms and maintains the records of all reviewable bird species sightings in the state.  A complete New Jersey State List can be found at  http://njbrc.com/documents/NJStateList.pdf  .  Most of these new bird sightings fell into the one day wonder category, and as such, I personally added only one to my life list (one was already a life bird outside of New Jersey).  A brief chronological recap of New Jersey’s newest birds follows. At Sandy Hook, Monmouth County on January 23, my friend Jason found the state’s first Common Gull .  Jason is considered by me and many in the birding community as the state’s leading gull and tern expert.  Common gull (formerly Mew Gull ) is an Eurasi...

     A few posts ago, I talked about finding one of Ocean County’s ghost birds, the Pileated Woodpecker.  Well, Friday I finally found my nemesis bird for Island Beach State Park, the otherwise ubiquitous Tufted Titmouse! Yes, tufted titmouse; pretty much common across New Jersey, but actually rare on barrier islands.  I see at least two every day in my yard, but not a one at my second most birded spot.  So, on my 1,315th checklist for Island Beach since 2001, it got got.  Since I rarely submit multiple checklists for the park for the same day, the math says that equals to roughly three-and-a-half years of daily lists. When I saw a small bird moving in the upper half of a pitch pine, I raised my binoculars to see what it was.  Instantly my inner voice said, “ Oh my, it’s a titmouse! ”  I lowered the binoculars and switched over to my camera to fire off some documentation photos.  I texted a pic to some friends who know what a bane this b...