Today was the last day of the 2024 Great Backyard Bird Count. Day 4 is usually a quieter birding day for me since it’s on a Monday. I ended up going to Long Bridge Park, which is a place that I haven’t gone birding at too much. I did a trip there in December for the Christmas Bird Count and we had a pretty productive morning, but this afternoon was pretty quiet.
Long Bridge Park (10 species, 55 individuals)
5 Canada Geese
15 Mallards
1 Mourning Dove
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 Golden-crowned Kinglets
2 Carolina Wrens
6 Dark-eyed Juncos
19 White-throated Sparrows
It was a really great count weekend. Overall, Team BirdNation saw 43 species. I’m looking forward to seeing the finally results from around the world!
A view of Rancocas Creek (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Today was a chilly but lovely day, so we ended up birding at two parks for day 3. First my in-laws joined me for a hike at Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area. We saw 10 species, with highlights including Eastern Bluebirds and a pair of Northern Mockingbirds. There also was a beautiful male Northern Cardinal who posed for a picture.
A beautiful male Northern Cardinal (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area (10 species, 66 individuals)
3 Canada Geese
24 Mallards
14 Ring-billed Gulls
12 Turkey Vultures
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Tufted Titmouse
2 Northern Mockingbirds
4 Eastern Bluebirds
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Northern Cardinal
After Boundary Creek I ended up going to Strawbridge Lake. There have been some Common Mergansers in the area, so I wanted to see if they were around today. I started noticing Common Mergansers at Strawbridge within in the past 5 years, which was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately they weren’t at the lake today but I did see some other species.
Strawbridge Lake (12 species, 38 individuals)
13 Canada Geese
4 Mallards
3 Mourning Doves
2 Ring-billed Gulls
2 Turkey Vulture
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 American Robins
4 House Sparrows
1 House Finch
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 White-throated Sparrows
1 Northern Cardinal
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology released their “halftime report” today. At the time of writing this post, 7,373 species have been seen and over 191,000 checklists have been submitted from 192 countries. Last year’s species total was 7,538, so it would be amazing to see if that total could be beat this year.
Today we explored Palmyra Cove Nature Park for a little snow birding. Last night we ended up getting a few inches of snow and by mid-morning it already started melting! It seems like Palmyra got a little less snow than where I live, but it was nice to be out in the quiet of winter.
We were greeted by a number of songbirds right in the parking lot: a first-of-year Brown Creeper, White-throated Sparrows, a Northern Cardinal pair, a Tufted Titmouse, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a Downy Woodpecker. A female Bufflehead at the beaver pond was a pleasant surprise as hundreds of gulls flew overhead. We even saw a mink! We ended our walk with 4 Cedar Waxwings near the visitor center. Overall we observed 17 species.
Palmyra Cove Nature Park (17 species, 314 individuals)
9 Canada Geese
2 Mallards
1 Bufflehead
1 Mourning Dove
60 Ring-billed Gulls
150 Herring Gulls
1 Turkey Vulture
3 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Hairy Woodpecker
5 Tufted Titmice
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 Brown Creeper
3 Carolina Wrens
4 Cedar Waxwings
16 Dark-eyed Juncos
50 White-throated Sparrows
5 Northern Cardinals
Bufflehead female (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Angry Canada Geese (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
We are halfway through the count weekend and Team BirdNation has observed 36 different bird species and 2,412 individuals. Other fun finds the last two days were a mink, deer, and a backhoe. Let’s see what the second half of the weekend will bring.
Have you participated in the first two days of the bird count? Share some species you saw in the comments below.
Hi everyone! It’s time for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)! This annual event takes place this weekend from February 16-19. It’s easy to participate, so check out https://www.birdcount.org/ to join the fun!
Today Dave, Baby Birder, and I made our way out to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge for the first day of the count. It was a fairly chilly and windy morning. As expected there was waterfowl galore and lots of gulls. We observed 27 species. Highlights included a Northern Harrier, two Bald Eagles, and a large amount of Gadwalls.
Gull Pond
Edwin B. Forsythe NWR (27 species, 2098 individuals)
450 Snow Geese
70 Brant
255 Canada Geese
9 Tundra Swans
200 Northern Shovelers
160 Gadwall
24 Mallards
150 American Black Ducks
60 Northern Pintails
7 Green-winged Teals
35 Bufflehead
14 Hooded Mergansers
55 Ruddy Duck
470 Dunlin
8 Ring-billed Gulls
87 Herring Gulls
2 Double-crested Cormorants
2 Great Egrets
7 Great Blue Herons
9 Turkey Vultures
1 Northern Harrier
2 Bald Eagles
11 American Crows
1 Carolina Wren
3 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Common Grackle
5 Yellow-rumped Warblers
Dunlin flock (Image by David Horowitz)Hooded Merganser male (Image by David Horowitz)
We had an unexpected surprise on the wildlife drive today. Baby Birder, being well into toddlerhood now, isn’t super into birding. He likes birds just fine and is fairly familiar with ducks, geese, and eagles (my favorite was when he saw a Wild Turkey and called it a “duck-eagle” 😂). However, his true passion (obsession lol) is vehicles, so while he likes to see the birds his favorite part of visiting Forsythe is the other vehicles on the wildlife drive. And special for bird count weekend we had…a backhoe!
A GBBC first…a backhoe!
He was quite thrilled to see a backhoe laying gravel out on the road today, so we all had a lovely morning for GBBC Day 1. It’s supposed to snow 2-5 inches tonight into tomorrow so we’ll see what happens for Day 2.
We visited family in New Jersey for Memorial Day weekend. On May 28 Dave, BB (Baby Birder), and I spent the morning at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. It was a lovely morning with loads of shorebirds and seabirds. We observed 48 species and added 2 new birds to our life life: a Marbled Godwit and Bank Swallows. Here are some of the highlights:
Seabirds: Common Terns, Forster Terns, Least Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Black Skimmers, Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants
Forster’s Tern (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Black Skimmers (Image by David Horowitz)
Ruddy Turnstone breeding adult (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Other Highlights: A Clapper Rail running across the mudflats, 24 Osprey, Marsh Wrens, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, a horseshoe crab, and many Diamondback Terrapins
Diamondback Terrapin (Image by David Horowitz)Diamondback Terrapins basking in the Sun (Image by David Horowitz)
I found a fun sequence while looking through old Barnegat Light pictures: a second year Great Black-backed Gull getting ready to eat a small dead shark. Gulls are omnivores and will pretty much eat anything, including small sharks. Just type “daring seagull eats live baby shark” into YouTube if you want to watch a gull in action. The bird on the right in the two top pictures is a Herring Gull. The captions are what I imagine they were saying to each other :-).
“A shark?…Looks like a treat!”Herring Gull: ” Hey Black-backed, you gonna eat that?”“Of course I’m gonna eat it!”“This shark is mine! ALL MINE!”
Hi everyone! I took a little break from blogging since the move to New Hampshire. The transition has been a little rough, but it’ll get easier over time. Since I last wrote we went back to Chincoteague, VA, added Maine to our birding map, and added a few lifers to our list. I’ll catch you up on all of that soon, but this past weekend we visited family back in New Jersey and of course made some time for birding. I was able to visit some of my old stomping grounds: Palmyra Cove Nature Park and Haddon Lake Park.
Palmyra Cove Nature Park, Palmyra, NJ
I really missed Palmyra. Even in the heat of the day, we still observed 34 species. Highlights included a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, American Redstarts, Chimney Swifts, 2 Ospreys, and Wild Turkeys. We also saw a nice variety of butterflies and dragonflies, some turtles, and a groundhog.
Haddon lake park, audubon, nj
The ducks at Haddon Lake are now in eclipse plumage. Waterfowl undergo a simultaneous wing molt, meaning they are rendered flightless for about 20-40 days. Therefore, males, who are usually much more colorful than the females, molt their head plumage in order to blend in. I also learned (thanks to a helpful person on Instagram) that there was an American Black Duck amid the Mallards. We also saw a Red-winged Blackbird fledgling being fed by its parent.
Green Heron (Image by BirdNation)Red-winged Blackbird juvenile
Spring is almost here, and we are certainly getting signs of the coming season in New Jersey. The weather is finally starting to warm up a bit, and I’ve been hearing American Robins start their bouncy spring songs each morning. The spring migrants are returning, and that includes a very fascinating and unique species…the Timberdoole!
Well, the Timberdoodle is its nickname (and an awfully cute one at that). I’m referring to the American Woodcock, a small bulbous shorebird that migrates through New Jersey in March.
I heard about these birds pretty early into my life as a birder, but never have had the chance to see them because…I would forget. I would be so busy in the spring that I would remember about the timberdoodle after it already passed through the area. I knew this year would be different.
Dave and I went to Rancocas Nature Center (where I’m a teacher naturalist on some weekends) to watch the display. The meadow at RNC is a great place to check out the Timberdoodle. The Timberdoodle is not just a bird you simply go to just get a sight of, the allure of this little bird is the famous “Sky Dance”.
American Woodcock (Image via Pinterest)
Timberdoodles like to spend their time in brushy fields near deciduous forests. In the cover of darkness, the male Timberdoole will give a distinct buzzy “peent!” to get the female’s attention. After a few calls, the male rockets up into the air with a flutter, soaring up and circling about 200-300 feet in the air. As the male ascends into his dazzling display you can hear his wings twitter. After reaching his peak, the male circles back down to the ground and land in the same spot next to the female. These aerial display can last into the night and take place around dawn as well. Once a pair does mate, the male provides no parental care. Males usually mate with multiple females. The female will feed the chicks for a week, and about a month later the chicks will become independent.
It was really amazing to see the American Woodcock’s sky dance. We observed at least 4 birds participating in the display. We even had a pair fly right over us! I’m so glad we had a chance to observe these magnificent birds in action.
I was able to get a short recording of the “peents” at the beginning of the display (I was too mesmerized watching to record anything after it start lol). You can hear a few peents through the wall of sound that is a bunch Spring Peeper frogs calling.
American Woodcock “peents!” with Spring Peeper background
Have you seen a Timberdoodle? Tell me about your experience in the comments!
Dave and I made our way out to the Jersey Shore today for the Great Backyard Bird Count. We went birding at two locations: Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on LBI and Cloverdale Farm Park in Barnegat. We added a new bird to our life list: the Red-breasted Nuthatch. I went to Cloverdale last week with my mom and sister to look for the Red-breasted Nuthatch, but we didn’t find it (however, we did see Pine Siskins, a lifer for us!)
Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, Barnegat Light, NJ (20 species, 461 individual birds)
42 Brant
3 Greater Scaup (1 male, 2 females)
3 Common Eiders
15 Harlequin Ducks (mostly male)
30 Black Scoters
45 Long-tailed Ducks
10 Bufflehead
13 Red-breasted Mergansers
3 Ruddy Turnstones
1 Sanderling
85 Dunlin
25 Ring-billed Gulls
136 Herring Gulls
26 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Red-throated Loon
14 Common Loons
6 Double-crested Cormorants
1 Merlin
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 Savannah Sparrow
Bonus find: 6 Seals!
Greater Scaup (Image by David Horowitz)
Black Scoter (Image by BirdNation)
Common Eider (image by BirdNation)
Ruddy Turnstone (Image by BirdNation)
Savannah Sparrow (Image by BirdNation)
Cloverdale Farm County Park, Barnegat, NJ (16 species,45 individual birds)
2 Mallards (male/female)
1 Bufflehead
1 Belted Kingfisher
3 Carolina Chickadee
3 Tufted Titmouse
2 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
5 Eastern Bluebird
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 House Finch
1 American Goldfinch
16 Dark-eyed Junco
2 White-throated Sparrows
1 Pine Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Image by David Horowitz)
It’s always a pleasure visiting the Jersey Shore. Tomorrow is the last day of the 2019 GBBC. Stay tuned!
Today is the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count!
We had a lovely day today in New Jersey. The temperature was around 60 degrees with a slight breeze. It was the perfect weather to kick off this year’s count. Dave and I spent our first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count at Amico Island in Delanco, NJ. We’ve been to Amico Island countless times over the years, but today we took a new trail that brought us along the water’s edge. It’s always fun discovering “new” trails at familiar parks.
Amico Island (23 species, 264 individual birds)
20 Canada Geese
9 Mallards
3 Green-winged Teals
2 Hooded Mergansers (male/female pair)
19 Common Mergansers
2 Mourning Doves
120 Ring-billed Gulls
8 Herring Gulls
9 Great Black-backed Gulls
10 Great Blue Herons
5 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Hairy Woodpecker
3 Carolina Chickadees
1 Tufted Titmouse
4 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 Carolina Wrens
8 American Robins
1 Northern Mockingbird
2 European Starlings
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
15 White-throated Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
4 Northern Carindals
This year’s bird count is already off to a get start! Tomorrow we are heading over to Palmyra Cove.
Did you participate in the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count? Tell me about it in the comments.
BirdNation 