Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     Yesterday I went up to Monmouth County to see the state’s first limpkin .  Today I drove down to Atlantic County to find the sage thrasher that had been reported the day before.  This was going to be a life bird for me, one that I missed on previous trips to Arizona and California.  This wayward bird, whose normal range does not extend east of Texas, was found along Wildlife Drive at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway.  I waited until there was a positive report that the bird was still around.  I headed out when it was reported to be in the same area as it was yesterday. I started the eight-mile, one way loop known as Wildlife Drive looking for marker 10.  That is where the bird was hanging out.  Marker 10 was about 2.5 miles from the start of the drive.  As I drove closer, I could see several cars parked along the unpaved road.  I figured that is where other birders were looking for/viewing the bi...

     Yesterday, reports were circulating of a limpkin  at a private residence in Manasquan, Monmouth County.  Pictures of the bird appeared on a Facebook page.  The reports were confirmed, and this was the first limpkin for New Jersey.  Pending acceptance by the New Jersey Birds Record Committee, this will be the 497th species recorded in the state. I am not a Facebook subscriber, so I did not hear about the bird until late on Sunday.  Earlier today, an administrator of the NJ Rare Birds GroupMe reported that the bird was still in town and the homeowners were allowing viewers to see the bird.  I saw that report in midafternoon.  I have seen the bird many times in Florida, where it should be.  I always threw that bird name out whenever there was a discussion about what would be among the next possible birds to appear in the Garden State.  So, after some self-contemplating, I decided to give it a try.  I put the address in t...

     Over a year ago I started a project to document all the birds recorded at my favorite spot, Island Beach State Park in Ocean County, NJ.  I wanted it to be in book form so that my work would be available to the public.  Since I wanted to be in full control of the project, and work with my own timeline, I chose to use one of the self publishing companies available on the internet.  I chose to format the book as a summary account of all the birds found at the park, instead of a field guide.  I used available data from several sources, such as eBird , New Jersey Birds Record Committee and historic bird banding records.  When all the research was done, the final tally was 350 full species for the park. Front and back covers.   © S. Weiss The birds were presented in the latest taxonomical order with both common and scientific names.  Each bird’s abundance is described, such as common , scarce , rare , historical , etc.  The mo...

     Yesterday morning I heard my phone making the familiar text message pings.  I wasn’t in a rush to read or answer them.  But since my wife brought the phone over to me, I checked the messages.  Friends were advising me of a rare bird at Barnegat Inlet.  The bird sighting was posted on a GroupMe chat, but I had left that group months ago because of too much nonsense.  A smaller group of us now keep each other up on such reports through text messages.  I told my friend Al who was in on the text chat to meet me at my house, and we would drive down to see the bird, a black guillemot .  This was not a life bird for either of us, but still a rare bird to see from land in New Jersey. I have a mobile sport fishing permit that allows me to drive on the beach at Island Beach State Park.  Barnegat Inlet is at the southern end of Island Beach, separating it from Barnegat Light State Park.  From the end of the paved road at Island Beach...

     On Wednesday I wrapped up my day of birding at Island Beach State Park with a drive along the beach.  It was a nice day, and I was picking up most of the usual fall birds.  While I was scanning the ocean for a possible jaeger (or two), I saw a blow spout not too far off of the beach.  Whale sightings from the beach are not rare, especially this time of the year.  Large schools of menhaden (bunker as we call them here), peanut bunker and other bait fish are plentiful now and right along the beach.  Eventually striped bass and bluefish will find this bait, but for now bottlenose dolphin and humpback whales are following the bait. Humpback whale " waving " with one of its pectoral fins.   © S. Weiss I enjoy watching whales any time, whether it be from the beach or a boat.  They are mammals like us.  They breathe air, give live birth to their young and nurse them with mother’s milk.  And, I take the word of the biologists...

      Finally, after five days the rain stopped and the ocean was kind enough to allow boats to return to work.  The main purpose of our Washington trip was to get out on this pelagic venture and now it was time.  We were the first participants to arrive at the dock, or float as the western locals called it.  We were sailing on the Monte Carlo from Float 10.  The Monte Carlo is about a 50-foot vessel, smaller than the pelagic boats we are used to riding on the East coast.  There were only 18 participants for this ride, so comfort wasn’t a problem.  After a brief introduction and orientation, we set off at about 6:30 a.m.  The seas seemed much better than the forecasted five to six foot swells. The sun rising behind Mt. Rainier, WA.   © S. Weiss Heading out of the inlet Friday morning, the silhouette of Mt. Rainer about 160 or so miles away is impressive. As we made our way out of the inlet onto the Pacific, we slowly began pi...

     On Monday morning we woke up in Westport with a wonderful view of the Pacific Ocean outside our apartment window.  The ocean however was angry, quite the opposite of its name.  It was understandable why the pelagic was postponed.  Westport is a small fishing community, much like Hatteras, NC where we also travel to for pelagic trips.  The local marina was filled with fishing boats, all idle waiting for the sea to settle down.  The boats should have been out catching salmon, cod, shrimp, dungeness crabs and the like.  We did not see the first boat head out of the harbor until Thursday. After a few hours of morning birding from the nearby jetty along the southern side of the inlet, we had to decide about extending our stay to the end of the week.  The captain of the pelagic boat said that conditions looked good for Friday, and the three of us would give him enough participants to sail.  So after a few searches on the internet and...