We had a fine warm day with light clouds and a bit of wind; the showers in the forecast failed to materialize. Spring was in the air and Speedwell was in bloom. Eagles and Sandhill Cranes made appearances, and we were happy.
The ML Birders headed for the shore to look for winter waterfowl. Conditions conspired to offer fantastic concentrations of the beautiful Long-tailed Ducks in Barnegat Inlet, with hundreds of birds splashing, courting and calling.
The Medford Leas Birders scouted a route along the entire Burlington County side of the Delaware River, from Bordentown to Palmyra and a bit beyond. We didn’t have many ducks, but visited some interesting places.
It was a beautiful day to enjoy the last colors of Fall and the first waterfowl of Winter. Even on Nov. 10 we didn’t need heavy coats or gloves. The Bombay Hook refuge on the Delaware side of the bay is always a pleasing birding destination.
The ML Birders gathered on an overcast, calm day for a trip to Brigantine to see what we could see. In between summer and winter, the refuge can seem quiet, but we managed to find a good number of birds.
We welcomed new members as we resumed our field trip schedule after the pandemic pause. The weather was partly cloudy and hazy with an east wind, far from ideal for landbird migration, but you can’t choose the weather when you schedule a field trip.
The Medford Leas Birders hoped for a cloudy day for their August trip to Brigantine; the weather wasn’t cooperative, and the green-headed flies were biting, but the birds did not disappoint.
Several ML Birders from the Lumberton Campus put in a full day of birding, beginning at the Visitor’s Center for Ocean City, NJ. A heron rookery is situated behind the Center and birders have an excellent vantage point for viewing.
Salem County in spring can offer very interesting birding; it has early migrants and arrivals, but also can hold on to winter birds.
Arriving at the hawkwatch about 10:15, we found a moderate flight of accipiters underway, with constant Cooper’s and Sharpshinned Hawks in the air…. On our way home we found and identified a couple of interesting caterpillars.
Two trips in one – a scouting run and a fall field trip, in shorebird season.
A great day of bird photography at the rookery.
The ML Birders headed out to Belleplain State Forest on a gray and blustery day hoping to see some early arriving warblers. The birding gods were conspiring against them!
Mannington Marsh, the tidal estuary of the Salem River, is a beautiful place to look for waterfowl and early spring migrants.
A beautiful day, with thousands of Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warblers and plenty of hawks to watch.
The ML Birders took a second trip out to the Forsythe Refuge to get a better assemblage of migrating ducks and Snow Geese. We did find a nice flock of Snow Geese and a diverse variety of ducks, but unlike past trips we did not see large numbers of ducks.
The outing to Forsythe was blessed by magnificent weather and a nice variety of bird life. Egrets and Herons were particularly abundant with Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets in large numbers.
Brilliant sun and blue skies welcomed the Pathways trip to Palmyra Cove. Lots of birds, especially warblers and Baltimore Orioles, vocalizing and in many cases challenging us to not only identify them by song but to try and find them in the foliage.
The day was gray, a little on the cool side and not very breezy, but the birds seemed to pay the weather no mind.
The weather gods finally relented and gave us a mostly sunny, relatively warm and most importantly windless day to visit the refuge. We were hoping to see the Gyrfalcon which was present a few days before our visit but had not been seen in the prior couple of days.
It was cool and windy with only partial sun. However, we did see some great birds, and it started in the parking lot, where we picked up a Brown Creeper and a Peregrine Falcon that circled over us and landed on the top of the lighthouse.
The Medford Leas Birders traveled up to Princeton to visit the Rogers Refuge, which makes up a small portion of the Institute Woods.
The Pathways boat trip through the inland waters around Cape May started out on an ominous note as we traveled to our destination from Medford Leas. Overcast skies and intermittent rain occurred most of the way.
