Spring Trips - Migration Fever

It happens every spring.  NOT baseball but massive bird migration.  And with the movement of the birds and the warmer days we cannot reisist taking little trips to some of our favorite places.  Last week we headed to Cape May which is where we spent some of our courtship.  For us it is a dual pleasure of a romantic getaway and a terrific birding spot. 

Cape May is sort of a wonderland of miracle birds.  We have seen our first of alot of species in and around Cape May.  Not so this year.  It was the right time of the year but the weather had not brought the usual flocks of warblers and shore birds into view for us.  We did catch a great look at laughing gulls feeding on horseshoe crabs eggs.  At least that is what we assume is at the bottom of this pile.

Spring rituals that happen every year assure that the laughing gull population will continue to thrive.

Birds everywhere are seen in twos.  These two oyster catchers were feeding in the mud on one of the many crowded beaches.

We did not neglect our little songbirds.  At Higbee Beach even a slow day has a few highlights.  This indigo bunting serenaded us from the treetops and the prairie warbler followed us around singing his chromatic scale.  We almost met up with an unwelcome mammal as this skunk crossed our path while our eyes were on the treetops!

This weekend sent us in search of the king eider that was spotted at Sandy Hook.  As we walked  a quarter mile on a soft sandy path each person carrying a scope or binoculars assured us that there was not one but TWO male king eiders.  Just as we were rounding the end of the path and heading out to the beach the story changed.  They were there until a couple of fishermen flushed them.  We were assured that they always return soon.  We stayed for over an hour looking at other shore birds but of course the eiders never returned.  We did catch a glimpse of oyster catchers, black skimmers, numerous gulls and terns and sandpipers.  The ruddy turnstones above were flying overhead.  By far our favorite little shore bird it the endangered piping plover.  We found a this pair flirting with our camera on the beach.   

The Gems of Spring

Warblers are the gems of spring for sure.  They are little and colorful.  We have a love/hate relationship with them.  When we see a warbler it is usually only for a few seconds.  They often perch high in a tree to sing and show us only their belly and legs as they throw their head back to serenade us.  In preparation for spring we listen to Birding by Ear CDs  and the Ohio Warbler Songs CD.  We review past seasons sightings of when and where we saw a particular warbler.  We look online at the sightings reported around the state to find the best spot.  It is a study that consumes late April and early May.  You may ask why not all summer?  Well these little gems are not only hidden by the leaves in the treetops that follow in late May but they are often transient and only in our area for a few brief days and then move north to nest and raise their young.

This week we traveled to several new locations and our old favorites in search of the early warblers.  Spring has been slow developing for us and we impatiently scurry around to our haunts listening and watching the treetops.  On Wednesday we caught the familiar Bee-Buzz song of the Blue Winged Warbler.  He is quite the stunning little fella and with great persistence and a bit of luck we caught him.

While searching for the little gems some of our old favorite non warbler friends welcome us to the woods.  When you speak of gems you cannot over look the Northern Cardinal.  He sings his welcome to all who enter his domain.  Our other frequent woodland distraction is the Catbird.  With his antics he rarely goes unnoticed.

Friday morning was eventful  at Manasquan Reservoir.While we were chasing after a belted kingfisher who never quite landed, we caught a spotted sandpiper on a stump.  He posed only for a second before moving on.  Standing in the very same spot we caught Mr. Mallard who was very friendly and beautiful against in the morning sunlight.  King birds were plentiful and this one was particularly beautiful. The bird of the day on Friday was the Warbling Vireo.  We found him on the trail at Manasquan Reservoir singing and flitting among the trees. 

On Saturday we found ourselves off to Brigantine looking for the plovers and sandpipers of spring.  Apparently they did not get the memo that migration was due and we really only saw egrets, whimbrel, yellow legs and terns.  While on the road leading out of the the marsh we caught a life bird for both of us, a yellow throated vireo.  He was beautiful and we got really good looks at him but the camera was already in the bag so we did not get pictures. 


Our final stop on Saturday was an after dinner stroll through Allaire State Park.  The woods were quiet and bicyclists, joggers, dog walkers and adventure seeking families had found their way home for dinner.  We were left in the woods with only the stillness of the evening and the birds finishing the last bits of food from the feeders and finding a place to tuck in for the evening.  There was a very busy pair of Blue gray gnatcatchers preparing for the arrival of their young.  When we realized that they were nest building, we were able to capture their nesting to share with you here.

Our brains have gone to the birds for the next couple of weeks.  We are planning a return to Garrett Mountain and a trip to Cape May.  It should be a great spring.

Easter Specials!

We were not able to be out and about as much as usual this week.  It rained and was generally gloomy some of the days and we were waiting at home for those infernal never arriving workmen some of the week.  We were out for a bit on Sunday and Thursday and Friday.  They were good days just because there is a spring migration in progress.

Sunday we tripped around Allaire and Manasquan Reservoir and found little to be interested in.  The birds were sleeping or they were not there.  On the tip of Rob Melone we caught a red throated loon on Lake Como.  The wind kept the loon moving in the waves - getting even a bad picture was hard.  And then to add insult to injury the loon blinked!


On Thursday we took our first ever trip to Garret Mountain.  What a treat that was for us.  The ridge was alive with kinglets, yellow rumped warblers and gnat catchers.  The Towhees were in abundance and flickers kept appearing.  I was not able to catch the flighty little kinglets for a picture but we did get a gnatcatcher, flicker and towhee.

It was a cloudy day when we went to Brigantine on Friday morning.  We saw a wood duck on the way into the park.  We found the areas around the parking lot very quiet but since we had driven all the way down we headed through the marsh.  With the cloud cover we were seeing only Great egrets and snowy egrets. Then the sun broke through the clouds and the marsh became alive with whimbrel, dunlin, yellowlegs, black bellied plover, and willet.

We saw Canada geese.  One goose family of three goslings crossed our path near the end of our drive.  The best bird of the day is shown above.  It is a Blue Goose, a dark morph of the snow goose and a life bird for both of us! 

In Search of Migrants

This week found us searching for the migrants that we so anxiously anticipate each year.  It was cold and rainy most days but we were out and about!  Finding subjects to photograph in the rain and gloom was difficult.  We would think the sun was about to break through and then it would hide behind the clouds as soon as we were on the road. 

On Tuesday a couple of scout purple martins were checking out the housing opportunities in our backyard. That prompted us to make the martin houses ready for new tenants between rain showers.  We took the returning martins as a sign that there would also be warblers in the woods. 

On Wednesday we headed up to Sandy Hook to take a look around.  The weather man predicted sun and windy conditions and it was colder than we like but we went to our warbler place to see if the birds had returned.  There was a blue gray gnat catcher but he refused to sit still for a picture.  Disappointed we continued toward the back of the park.  As it turned out the hawks and vultures were in full force.  We saw a great number of turkey vultures and black vultures.  There were hawks circling everywhere. We caught a couple of red tail hawks and a sitting turkey vulture. The Osprey is on a nest in the chimney of one of the old buildings near the back of the park.  We think you will agree that the turkey vulture is the ugliest bird ever. 

Even on a terrible weather day, we see brant at the little park across from 7- eleven in Point Pleasant while we drink our coffee.













Knowing that we should be seeing the pine and palm warblers we went out to Manasquan Reservoir and Allaire State Park almost every day this week.  Today that trip paid off big time when we caught the pine warbler ground feeding at the feeders at Allaire.  The bluebirds and phoebes were apparent too. 

We also took a little side trip to Manasquan Greenway on West Farms Road.  This is a new favorite spot for us and we saw bluebirds, goldfinches, tree swallows, red tail hawk, field sparrow and song sparrow there. 

Bluebirds are Back!

Bluebirds have to be one of our favorites and they are a regular at Allaire State Park.  We were there yesterday. Bluebirds were not.  Today somehow our wheels rolled back to Allaire and greeting us were our favorite pair of bluebirds.  We also saw a pine warbler (no pictures).  It was a good day.

Spring has Sprung

Spring has sprung
The grass is riz'
I wonder where
The birdies is ?






We have had an eventful week.  Upon reviewing our photos from the past year we decided it was time to invest in more mega pixels for our birding adventures.  Our aging Canon EOS 20D has an effective 8.2 mega pixels.  Not too shabby for knocking around but with our telephoto lens and edits after the shot the newer technologies were showing up the old trusty camera.  After a little research and debate we purchased a new Canon 7D with an awesome lens and a whopping 18 megapixels.  The new lens works with the old camera  for wide angle shots and a back up if something goes awry with the new one. But the 7D so far has made some great pictures.

We were out this morning to Island Beach State Park.  We drove through seeing the usual nuthatches and other brown birds too quick for our eye.  At the first pull off area in the park,  a very unafraid little red fox was hanging out (probably waiting for a free lunch).  He posed for a bit before moving on.

As we were leaving the park we happened upon an osprey enjoying the fish du jour.

 

Encouraged by reports of some spring migration movement, we took to the road heading to one of our favorite birding spots, Allaire State park.  We like to walk from the first parking lot to the nature center and have often had very productive walks.  Today was quiet with only remnants of winter birds frequenting the feeders and trees.  Still, it was a good chance to hone our bird photography.

 

 

With no spring birds about, we had plenty of chances to observe the changing seasons in the molting feathers of some of our subjects.  The white-throat sparrow and the gold finches were wearing a combination of new spring finery and the old worn coat of winter.  

Tail Trails

Today we headed back to Bradshaw's Beach to check on the progress of our little stranded seal.  The sky was blue and even though it was a cool 39 degrees, the sun was warm.  The ocean was blue and calm with gentle waves breaking over the beach.

Where the baby seal had been there was only a trail leading down to the high water line where he apparently took to the ocean once again.  We were glad to see him gone and equally glad to see his flipper marks in the sand return to the sea. 

Bradshaw's Beach returns to await the summer visitors with their books, beach towels and sandals.  No one will know while they are running in the surf that their beach was a home for a few days to a stranded baby seal.