Sunday, February 27, 2011

Birding along the New Jersey Coast


Had a business trip down to Philly at the end of last week so I decided to take a trip down to Cape May and Brigantine NWR on Saturday.  Great trip with a few lifers.  Took the trip with my friend Mike of Mandrake Birding.  Long day, but great birding.  Cape May was unusually quiet, but Brigantine was absolutely amazing.  I could spend a week there.  The black-headed gull and the Ross' Goose were lifers.  The Ross' were mixed in with 30+/- Canada Geese on a soccer field.  They were a surprised.  Mike called me on Friday night to report that they were seen real close to where I was staying.  Yahoo!  I was intrigued by the Black headed as I wasn't even familiar with it.  Until this year I hadn't paid much attention to gulls, but now I'm hooked. 

Made a stop on the way home to look for a few white-winged crossbills, but was not successful.  I'm planning a trip up to northern Maine and Canada during the summer so I'm sure I'll see them then.  Hope you enjoy!

Black-headed Gull
Black-headed Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

Northern Pintail

Peregrine Falcon (female)

Ross' Goose

Snow Goose

Short-eared Owl
(not a great shot, but such a neat bird)

4 comments:

Hilke Breder said...

Excellent shots, John, particularly of the gulls and the Ross Goose. I am planning on a trip there this May - hope I'll be as lucky as you.

Dawn Fine said...

Thats a wonderful place to bird! Congrats on your lifers.

Robin Robinson said...

Whaooooo! I'm headed to Brigantine the end of the week and so you post was most timely for me. I went there last year and like you, fell in love with the preserve. A Ross's goose would be an LB for me, too. I'm also going to try to spend at day at Sandy Hook, too. Looking forward to seeing more of your work, too.

Jen Sanford said...

Wow I somehow missed this post... Awesome birds!!