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)
Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification by Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson
Gulls can be a tough group of birds to identify. Yes, as a whole gulls are pretty conspicuous, standing around on the beach, flying not far offshore, or harassing you in a parking lot. But what are you looking at really? Is that a second summer gull? Juvenile? Subadult? Gulls go through so many seasonal plumage variations that it can leave the average birder feeling frustrated. However, if you are up for the challenge of setting your gulls straight, look no further than Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification.
Gulls Simplified was written and photographed by two very accomplished New Jersey birders: Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson. They have both authored field guides and birding books so I was not surprised at the high quality and breadth of information and photographs in Gulls Simplified. (Kevin T. Karlson co-authored The Shorebird Guide, a field guide that I highly recommend for all birders).
Dunne points out in his introduction how many field guides are plumage driven. However, since gull plumage varies significantly, approaching gull identification through the lens of body structure, size, geography, and behavior would be more helpful. The book starts with basic gull id strategies, issues, and a small section about gull-like birds.
The species accounts are broken down into 5 main sections: “small to medium-sized gulls and hooded gulls”, “gray-backed white-headed gulls”, “large dark-backed gulls”, “dark horse gulls (rare or unlikely gulls), and “hybrid gulls”. There is also a chapter that features quizzes where the reader can test themselves on challenging ids. Keep in mind that this book features North American Gulls, but could be an interesting read for someone not from that region of the world.
My favorite feature of Gulls Simplified are the beautiful , high quality gull photographs. There are hundreds of exquisite gull photos that captures the fine details of the bird’s plumage and demonstrates the size/structure strategy that Dunne teaches us in the introduction. I especially love when the authors have a block of about 6-8 photos of the same species to compare its plumage changes as the bird grows and molts. The captions are also very helpful and descriptive. I’ve heard discussion from birders in the past about photographic versus hand-drawn/painted field guides. While I think both have their benefits (for example, I believe one of the top field guides is the Sibley’s 2nd edition which is all paintings), I think photographs are the best medium for Gulls Simplified since it reflects what you would really see in the field.
The other feature I enjoy about Gulls Simplified are the photo quizzes. Not only is there a section in the back of the guide with quizzes, but they are also interspersed throughout the chapters. With the quizzes you can not only practice the gull id skills you’ve learned, but identify other bird species you might find mixed in with a gull flock.
Dunne and Karlson bring up an interesting topic in the section called “Traditional Gull ID Problems”. According to the authors, they believe that sometimes people make gull id “complicated” because they are so busy looking for “rare” gulls in their region, making the identifications more about plumage than anything else. By accepting the idea that these “rare” gulls are indeed rare and unlikely to be spotted in certain regions, then we can “simplify” our gull id experience by focusing on our regional gulls that we are likely to spot. Not that those rare gulls can’t happen, but if we learn to appreciate our local gulls then a rarity would be more easily recognizable and special.
I highly recommend Gulls Simplified for all birders who have any sort of interest in gulls. This guide features interesting information, wonderful photographs, and useful strategies to help make your gull identification experiences easier and more rewarding.
What isyour favorite gull species? Tell me in the comments! (Mine is the Ring-billed Gull)
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) began World Albatross Day in 2020 to honor these amazing seabirds while educating the world about the conservation issues they face. June 19th was chosen because it was the date the Agreement was signed in 2001. 2020’s theme was “Eradicating Island Pests”. 2021’s theme is “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries”.
There are 22 albatross species in the world. According to the IUNC Red List of Threatened Species, 6 species are vunerable, 6 are near threatened, 7 are endangered, and 2 are critically endangered. Only one 1 species out of the 22, the Black-browed Albatross, is considered a least concern due to an increasing population trend. Currently the two of most threaten species are the Tristan and Waved Albatrosses, which are being featured by the ACAP in 2021.
Albatrosses, like many other species of seabirds, are facing considerable challenges that threaten their survival. One of the main issues is plastic pollution and marine debris which is accidentally being ingested by the birds at an alarming rate. Longline fisheries are perhaps the albatrosses’ great threat. Lured in by the bait, approximately 100,000 albatrosses are killed by longline fisheries each year. Invasive species and lead paint are also issues that are harming albatrosses.
There are many actions we can take to help albatrosses and other seabirds. These include:
Reducing single-use plastic consumption, as well as recycling
If you spot these birds in the wild keep your distance to avoid disturbances
Educate yourself and others! Knowledge is power!
We have the power to make great changes that can benefit our planet. If we all take action, even if it is something small, then we can make a difference and help not only albatrosses and seabirds but other species as well.
What is your favorite species of albatrosses? Tell me in the comments! (Mine is the Laysan Albatross)
January 6th is an important day to me for a few reasons. One reason is that it’s my wedding anniversary. Of course birds were part of the wedding design- my dress had birds on it and some of our photography was featured at the tables at our reception. But one year before our wedding on January 6th 2017, I had a significant birding experience with my mom and sister. January 6th will always be “Day of the Pelican”. The American White Pelican was our first bird we found from the NJ Rare Bird List.
American White Pelican (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
I lived in New Jersey at the time and the range of the American White Pelican is the Western/interior of North America and the Pacific and Gulf Coasts. So it was quite a surprise to NJ birders when in late December/early January a juvenile American White Pelican showed up at Stanley H. “Tip” Seaman County Park in Tuckerton, NJ. The pelican was observed skating over the ice and befriending Mute Swans and Canada Geese for about a week or two before leaving the area. I’ve seen American White Pelicans a handful of times since then, but January 6th 2017 will always be a really special day for me.
In honor of my personal “Pelican Day”, here’s a few fun facts about American White Pelicans:
American White Pelicans usually work together when hunting for food. They gather in large flocks and coordinate their movements to herd fish to shallow areas of the wetland. By cooperating, it makes it easier for them to scoop up large amounts of fish.
Adult American White Pelicans have white bodies with black wingtips. During breeding season adult have a distinct “bump” or plate on their yellow-orange bills. Immature birds are mainly white, but have some dusky patches on their backs, heads, and necks.
American White Pelicans have a 9-foot wingspan.
They usually forage for food at night during breeding season.
American White Pelicans are colonial nesters who are seasonally monogamous.
American White Pelicans are amazing birds to observe. Have you seen an American White Pelican before? Where did you see it? Tell me about it in the comments!
American White Pelican (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Seabirds are some of the most fascinating creatures on Earth. Over millions of years, these birds have mastered life on the open ocean. Seabirds are an elusive group; it’s hard to study them because they only come ashore to breed.
A seabird is any bird that spends the majority or part of its life out on the open ocean. While the term “seabird” can describe a wide variety of birds, this group is most often used to describe the orders of Procellariiformes and Suliformes. Procellariiformes include petrels, albatrosses, shearwater, and storm-petrels, which are more commonly known as “tubenoses”. Suliformes include cormorants, boobies, gannets, and frigatebirds. Gulls, jaegers, skuas, auks, and penguins are also seabirds.
I recently read The Seabird’s Cry: The Lives and Loves of the Planet’s Great Ocean Voyagers by Adam Nicolson. This beautifully-written book explores the lives of 10 species of seabirds. For each species, Nicolson explores not only how these birds live from a scientific standpoint, but how they touch the lives of people in emotional and spiritual ways. I particularly enjoyed reading some of the myths that native cultures tell about these fascinating creatures.
It’s clear that Nicolson loves the subjects he writes about. Adam Nicolson was born in England. During his childhood his father actually bought the Shiant Islands in the Outer Herbrides of Scotland, where Nicolson would watch puffins, fulmars, razorbills, shags, kittiwakes, and other seabirds breed. The Seabird’s Cry offers intimate accounts of the specie’s life, but also reminds us how fragile their lifestyles can be in an ever changing world of climate change.
I learned so many interesting facts in this book, so I wanted to share some of them with you. Below is one fact from each of the 10 species. You’ll just have to find out the rest when you read The Seabird’s Cry. 🙂
Fulmars were known as the “foul gulls” to the Vikings, since they would vomit the oils from their food as a defense mechanism.
An adult puffin raising a chick will dive between 600 and 1,150 times per day to get sandeels, sprats, or capelin.
Kittiwakes are the most populous gull, with approximately 18 million individuals in the Northern Hemisphere.
Some gull species have black heads instead of white heads. Studies found that gulls with black heads/faces actually scare other gulls, most likely to space out the breeding territory. Therefore, when black-headed gulls mate, they face away from each other to show their white bodies and use other senses during courtship such as smell and touch.
A Newfoundland study found that “extramarital affairs” were fairly common among guillemots. However, females who had these affairs would typically end up being less successful breeders than males who had affairs.
Cormorants and shags are most likely the closest in lifestyle and body-type to the first fossilized seabirds from about 100 million years ago.
Shearwaters, like other “tubenoses” have large olfactory bulb and therefore a strong sense of smell. Phytoplankton, which is eaten by the shearwater’s prey krill, emit dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Young shearwaters are exposed to DMS in the burrow, so they are able to locate krill by smell when they go foraging. Unfortunately, plastics also emit DMS, so seabirds are accidentally eating plastic not because it looks like prey, but smells like prey.
Gannets regularly fly over 350 miles or more while fishing.
Razorbills are the living representatives of the largest seabird that ever lived in the Northern Hemisphere, the extinct Great Auk.
Albatross have a lifespan of 60-80 years depending on the species. (Not from this book, but Wisdom, the 68-year-old albatross, laid an egg in December!)
Double-crested Cormorant (Image by BirdNation)
Northern Gannet (Image by BirdNation)
Great Black-backed Gull portrait (Image by BirdNation)
What’s your favorite seabird? Tell me in the comment section! Mine is the Laysan Albatross.
Dave and I spent New Years Day morning at the 8th St. Jetty in Avalon, New Jersey. The 8th St. Jetty is the location of the Avalon Sea Watch, run by New Jersey Audubon.
Avalon Sea Watch is a migratory bird count that occurs from September 22 to December 22 each year. The 8th St. Jetty in Avalon was chosen as the bird count site because it extends a mile farther out into the ocean than the northern coastline. Therefore, many seabirds pass close to the beach. Fall is the best time to visit the Sea Watch, because any seabird that migrates across the Atlantic Coast can be a possibility. Winter brings rafts of seaducks, wintering loons, gulls, alcids, and grebes. New Jersey Audubon’s Sea Watch page states that around 800,000 birds are counted annually at this location.
January 1st was our first time birding at the 8th St. Jetty, but we did have a motivation to check it out: Razorbills. Razorbills are seabirds that are members of the alcid family (the auks). These black-and-white birds are well adapted for ocean life and only come ashore to breed. They are residents of the North Atlantic, and sometimes in the winter can be seen offshore as far south as North Carolina (rarely to Florida).
We’ve been having a record winter this year for Razorbills in New Jersey. Since late December, Razorbills have been spotted at a few Jersey Shore locations in the hundreds to thousands on some days. They mainly fly by in the mornings around sunrise (from 7:00am-10:00 generally). It’s been quite an event, and has been widely discussed in Jersey Birder circles.
Razorbill (Image via bbc.co.uk)
So Dave and I figured that we should check it out. Who knows, maybe we would see some Razorbills? Well, we ended up not seeing any that morning, but did see Long-tailed Ducks, Common Eiders, Black Scoters, Common Loons, a Brant, and some Herring Gulls. It’s definitely a great birding location and I would like to visit the Sea Watch again.
After the Sea Watch site, we went to Stone Harbor Point. At Stone Harbor we saw some more Long-tailed Ducks, Common Loons Herring Gulls, and Brant. We also observed Purple Sandpiper, Sanderlings, and a Northern Gannet.
Our first hike of the year is usually at Palmyra Cove, so it was nice to head out the Jersey Shore for some New Year birding.
By the way, my first bird of 2019 was a Ring-billed Gull at the local Wawa (a good convenience store/food market for those not lucky enough to live near one lol).
What was your first bird of 2019? Tell me in the comments!
Exciting news! Wisdom, a Laysan Albatross who is at least 68-years-old, has laid another egg in December on Midway Atoll. This amazing Albatross is the world’s oldest wild bird.
Wisdom and her mate Akeakamai (Image by Kiah Walker via friendsofmidwayatoll.org)
Wisdom was banded on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins. Wisdom was already around 5 or 6-years-old at the time of banding. 46 years later, in 2002, Robbins was back on Midway Atoll to study albatrosses and re-sighted Wisdom.
Scientists who have track Wisdom believe that she’s laid over 40 eggs in her over 6 decades. She had successfully raised at least 35 chicks.
Laysan Albatrosses are large seabirds with a 6-foot-wingspan and weigh between 5-9 pounds. They lay one egg per breeding season and spend 5 1/2 months raising their chick. Laysans mate with the same partner for life, usually at the same nesting location. These albatrosses typically take a year off after rearing a chick. However, Wisdom and her current mate, Akeakamai (whose name actually means “lover of wisdom” 😊), have raised an egg every year since 2006.
Albatrosses are master ocean travelers. They spend a majority of their lives out at sea. After fledging, young albatrosses will spend about 3-5 years exploring the oceans before returning to land to breed. It’s estimated that over her six decades so far, Wisdom may have flown over 3 million miles.
Seabirds are facing a number of challenges these days, including plastic pollution, warming oceans, and invasive predators at nest sites. To me, Wisdom is a symbol of resilience and hope in an ever-changing world. The fact that she has survived over six decades and is still raising chicks is a testament to how intelligent and adaptable seabirds can be in a world of increasing challenges.
I wish Wisdom and Akeakami the best of luck and safe journeys!
LaysanAlbatrosses are one of my favorite bird species. Check out some of my other posts about how amazing they are and what you can do to help them in the face of plastic pollution.
This is Part 3 of our Cape Cod Vacation. You can check out Part 1 (Race Point Beach) here and Part 2 (Skaket Beach) here.
On August 14th, the second day of our Cape Cod vacation, Dave I and went seal watching with Monomoy Island Excursions. We took the 10 am seal cruise on their boat, The Perseverance from Harwich Port into Nantucket Sound. The cruise includes stops at Wychmere Harbor, Stage Harbor in Chatham, and Monomoy NWR; as well as pass many of the popular beaches along the cape.
The seal cruise was definitely the highlight of my trip. It was a beautiful morning and I enjoyed every moment. Not only did we have an amazing experience seeing Grey Seals, we also saw many birds.
Highlights of our Seal Cruise
The seals, of course! We saw a herd of at least 70 Grey Seals on our trip. Low tide hit its peak 2 hours before our cruise, so many of the seals we saw were relaxing on a sand bar. It was fascinating watching the seals interact with each other, vocalize, and curiously watch us back.
Group of Grey Seals (Image by David Horowitz)
Grey Seals Sunning (Image by David Horowitz)
Seal Head Shot 1 (Image by David Horowitz)
Seal Head Shot 2 (Image by David Horowitz)
Grey Seals (Image by David Horowitz)
Our “Winter Birds” on summer vacation.We saw immature Common Eiders, Black Scoters, and White-winged Scoters, which we usually see in New Jersey during the winter.
Common Eiders (Image by David Horowitz)
Lots of seabirds, including Herring Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Forster’s Terns, Roseate Terns, Least Terns, Common Terns, and a Great Shearwater.
A few hundred Double-crested Cormorants
Many Osprey and a Northern Harrier
Captain Osprey (Image by David Horowitz)
A huge school of fish under the boat (in the thousands)
Stage Harbor Lighthouse
Shorebirds and Wading Birds, including Willets, Snowy Egrets, Short-billed Dowitchers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Spotted Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, and a Great Egret
The Staff. Our Captain and the naturalist on our cruise were really friendly and informative. A few minutes into the trip, noticing our Cape May/NJ Audubon binocular straps, the naturalist (I don’t remember his name) asked if we were birders. It turns out that he’s been birding on Cape Cod for over 30 years. He spent many years leading tours at Monomoy, as well as participating in the local birding community. He is also a bird bander. Throughout the trip he would come over and talk to us about birds. It was really fun to talk to as well as learn from him.
My seal cruise with Monomoy Island Excursions was fantastic and will certainly be an experience that I won’t soon forget.
Hi friends! This past week, Dave and I went on an amazing vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We’ve vacationed at Cape Cod twice in the past with Dave’s family (Dave going many more times throughout his life), but these trips occurred before we were birders. Therefore, we were really excited to go back to see what we may have missed in the previous years.
During our recent visit to The Wetlands Institute, we purchased the Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching: Eastern Waterbirds in Flight by Ken Behrens & Cameron Cox. According to the guide, Cape Cod is considered one of the top seawatching sites in North America. Many locations throughout the Cape are discussed in the seawatching book, including our first vacation spot, Provincetown.
Provincetown is located at the tip of Cape Cod, where Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet. We spent our first morning exploring Race Point Beach, on the Atlantic side. Race Point Beach is part of the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore. (Side note: interestingly, on Thursday there was a shark dangerously close to the shore attacking a seal, causing Race Point Beach to be closed. Other areas along the cape have reported sharks really close to shore over the past day)
Highlights from our trip (26 species):
1000s of terns (including 2 lifers)! Large mixed-species flocks that included Common, Least, Forster’s, Roseate, and Black Terns. The terns were varying ages/plumage and would frequently take flight and land again on the beach.
Least Tern juvenile (Image by BirdNation)
Roseate and Common Tern (Image by BirdNation)
Flock of various Terns (Image by David Horowitz)
Black Tern juvenile (Image by BirdNation)
Common and Red-throated Loons. In New Jersey, we usually don’t see loons until the winter. One cool thing about traveling 7 hours North of where we live was seeing some of our winter visitors in their summer spots. The Red-throated Loons were juveniles, and one of the Common Loons was sitting on the beach for a bit. Loons are designed to be expert divers, so their feet look like little wedges sticking out behind their tail. Therefore, they are pretty awkward moving on land. To get back in the water, this loon would slowly shuffle until the water helped it back in.
Common Loon on land (Image by BirdNation)
Red-throated Loon juvenile (Image by BirdNation)
Our first Great Shearwater.We saw a few throughout our walk.
Hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants (and lots of gulls of course lol)
The Crew (Image by BirdNation)
Small groups of seals close to shore.The first time I’ve ever seen seals in the wild!
Grey Seal (Image by David Horowitz)
Lots of shorebirds/”peeps”.Including Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, Black-bellied Plovers, and Piping Plovers. The Piping Plovers were juveniles. We watched a few Semipalmated Plovers do what looked like some sort of dance or pair bond display.
Black-bellied Plover (Image by David Horowitz)
Greater Yellowlegs (Image by David Horowitz)
Piping Plover juvenile (Image by BirdNation)
Semipalmated Plovers doing…Something. (Image by BirdNation)
Race Point Beach was an amazing birding spot and a great way to start our vacation. Our trip was really action-packed, so instead of telling you about it based on each day, I’m going to split up the posts into specific places we went. There’s just too much for one post :-)! So this post was just about our Monday morning. Stay tuned to hear about our cool evening at Skaket Beach!
Sunday we took a trip down to Stone Harbor, NJ. Stone Harbor Point is considered an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the Audubon Society and the surrounding area has many birding hotspots. We visited 3 areas on our Stone Harbor trip: the SH Bird Sanctuary, SH Point Beach, and The Wetlands Institute.
Our first stop was the 21-acre Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary. The sanctuary consists of maritime forests and meadows. The paths were relatively short and sometimes it was difficult to see what birds were around . We ended up seeing/hearing 15 species of birds in our short visit. There were a few Northern Mockingbirds, Gray Catbirds, some Osprey, and House Finches.
Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary (Image by BirdNation)
Northern Mockingbird immature (Image by BirdNation)
The second destination was Stone Harbor Point. This was actually our second trip to the Point. The last time we were at the Point was after seeing our first Red Knots at Fortescue Beach in May. At that point it was about to thunderstorm, so I was looking forward to seeing the Point in sunny weather. I definitely was not disappointed.
The beach was busy with a variety of shore and seabirds. Three Brown Pelicans and a few Ospreys soared above the waves. As with almost all beaches, there were many gulls, including Laughing, Herring, and Great Black-backed. Black Skimmers floated above a tide pool hunting for fish at a dizzying pace. There were also many terns in different stages of development. Least Terns (mainly adult but a few juvenile) dotted the sand near a tide pool. They looked like little wind-up toys as they shuffled along the beach with their tiny legs. There were a few Forster’s and Common Terns. Two juvenile Common Terns squawked incessantly at a parent who seemed indifferent to their clamor. S/he eventually gave them some fish, but seemed to wonder when their annoying mainly-grown chicks would move out to a different patch of sand and start hunting for their own food 😂. I have to admit, all those terns really tested my identification skills. I’m not the best at terns, so it was challenging but definitely educational.
“FEED US!” (Image by BirdNation)
Black Skimmer (Image by BirdNation)
Least Terns (Image by BirdNation)
Least Term immature (Image by BirdNation)
Common Tern immature (Image by BirdNation)
One of the most exciting parts of this trip was having the opportunity to observe a family of American Oystercatchers. (Last year we were lucky to see T2’s family on LBI, you can read about that here). This family had 5 oystercatchers and 4 out of 5 were banded. The adults were A58 and its unbanded mate; the chicks were A78, A79, and A80. I reported the banded birds to the American Oystercatcher Working Group, so I’m excited to learn their story. I’m assuming the chicks were hatched/tagged at Stone Harbor, but curious about A58.
A78 (Image by BirdNation)
A79 with unbanded parent (Image by BirdNation)
A80 (Image by BirdNation)
A58 (Image by BirdNation)
Throughout our walk we kept seeing small groups of shorebirds zooming over the waves and beach. They all congregated at the end of the beach in a massive flock. It was a mixed flock of Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Red Knots, and Ruddy Turnstones with gulls interspersed. The shorebirds were also in various stages like the terns were, with many birds transitioning between breeding and nonbreeding plumage.
After our awesome walk at the Point, we visited The Wetlands Institute. The Wetlands Institute is an organization aiming to conserve coastal ecosystems as well as educate the public. You can view the beautiful marshland from their lecture hall as well as the observation tower and Salt Marsh trail. We saw at least 10 Ospreys, a Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egrets, and a Great Egret. “Terrapin Station” was all about terrapins and horseshoe crabs. “Secrets of the Salt Marsh” featured a small aquarium with the featured animal being a Common Octopus. Octopuses are fascinating and intelligent creatures. The octopus at the Institute was really cool; I could have watched it all day. The Wetlands Institute was a great way to end our birding excursion to Stone Harbor.
BirdNation 