Sanderlings and Cat

Tags

barnegat lighthouse state park, cat, photography, postaday, sanderlings, tabby cat

A few days ago, a flock of Sanderlings appeared to be still sleeping around 9 AM on several boulders near Barnegat Ligthouse.

Sanderlings.

Sanderlings.

Later on I saw a Tabby Cat in a wooded area not too far from where the Sanderlings were. I have seen him several times for the past three years, roaming among the trees and bushes, perhaps stalking for prey. However, the Sanderlings usually kept by the beach, so maybe the Tabby Cat was after smaller birds.

Tabby Cat near Barnegat Lighthouse.

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Crab Cake

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, common loon, crab, photography, postaday

A few days ago, while I was photographing Long-tailed Ducks, there were two or three Common Loons swimming around the same area.

Common Loon swimming near Barnegat Lighthouse.

At one point, I heard a big crunching noise. Turning toward the source of the noise, I saw a Common Loon eating part of a crab that it had caught and broken apart.

Common Loon eating crab.

It practically swallowed that part, then dipped into the water and brought up several more parts to eat.

Common Loon eating crab.

Common Loon eating crab.

Common Loon eating crab.

Common Loon eating crab.

Common Loon eating crab.

After finishing the crab, it took a drink of water and tilted its head up to swallow it and perhaps the mashed up crab also.

Common Loon swallowing.

Female Buffleheads

Tags

bufflehead, photography, postaday

Buffleheads are among the smallest ducks, one with a large head relative to the body. A small group of them was swimming near the Barnegat Lighthouse a few days ago. These ducks live mainly in North America, but may be seen in some Western European countries and Japan, but only rarely.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Suddenly they took off flying toward the open sea.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Then they began landing on the water.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Here are two of them swimming around, watching the humans and the other ducks and loons.

Female Buffleheads near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Long-tailed Ducks

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, barnegat lighthouse state park, long-tailed duck, photography, postaday

Long-tailed Ducks also breed in the Artic Coasts and winter in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic coast, although New Jersey, Delaware, and parts of Maryland are as far South as they will go. There were many of them yesterday near Barnegat Lighthouse. They swam back and forth during the time I spent there, providing many opportunities for photographs.

Male Long-tailed Duck near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female Long-tailed Duck near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female and male Long-tailed Ducks near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Just before I left, a male Long-tailed Duck flew around several times, at least three, calling out constantly, perhaps reminding all the other ducks that migration time was fast approaching. It was quite a show and a photographer’s dream.

Male Long-tailed Duck flying and calling near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Male Long-tailed Duck flying and calling near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Male Long-tailed Duck flying and calling near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Male Long-tailed Duck flying and calling near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Brants

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, barnegat lighthouse state park, photography, postaday

A Brant is a relatively small goose that breeds on the Artic coasts of Western Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. In late fall, they migrate to Western Europe from Siberia. In North America, they fly down from Alaska and the upper reaches of Canada to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, at times making non-stop flights that could be as long as 1,000 miles (1,600 km) or more. While the Pacific and European Brants have black bellies, the Atlantic Brants that I see have white ones.

Atlantic Brant.

Atlantic Brants near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Yesterday, as temperatures climbed to the 50’s (10 °C) I went to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park where the Brants put on quite a show in preparation for their impending flight back to their breeding grounds.

Atlantic Brant near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Atlantic Brants near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Atlantic Brants near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Atlantic Brants landing on water near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Long-tailed Duck

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, long-tailed duck, photography, postaday

Long-tailed Ducks breed in the Arctic parts of Canada and Alaska, and only migrate to the coast of New Jersey in the winter. Thursday of this week, I saw several near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Female Long-tailed Duck. Only the males have a long tail.

I could not photograph a male Long-tailed Duck swimming in the water, so here’s a photo of two males taken in 2016.

Male Long-tailed Ducks, immature in background and mature at center.

This past Thursday, there was a male that took off from the water as shown in the following flight shots.

Male Long-tailed Duck taking off.

Male Long-tailed Duck taking off. Noe the long tail in the back.

Male Long-tailed Duck taking off.

Male Long-tailed Duck flying.

These ducks are about half the size of Common Eiders, and their take off is shorter and quicker. Although there are no estimates of their current population, they are classified as Common Bird in Steep Decline as of 2014.

Common Eider Flight

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, common eider, photography, postaday

Since they are so big, Common Eiders take a long time to get airborne and fly, like Cormorants and Swans. Yesterday, one immature Common Eider put on quite a show.

Immature male Common Eider.

Immature Common Eider trying to take off.

Immature Common Eider trying to take off.

Immature Common Eider becoming airborne.

Immature Common Eider flying.

Common Eider

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, common eider, photography, postaday

In late fall, Common Eiders appear as far South as the coast of New Jersey. Yesterday several dozens of them were swimming along the jetty at Barnegat Lighthouse. They are the largest ducks, weighing from 2.5 to almost 7 lbs (1.1 to 3 kg).

Barnegat Lighthouse as seen from jetty.

It is not breeding season yet, so the males are not showing their distinctive and handsome colors.

Male Common Eider.

Female Common Eider.

Female Common Eider and two males.

There was some kind of hunting going on and I often heard sounds of gunfire coming from the other side of the bay. An immature Common Eider was sitting on a rock right next to the jetty. It would not move even as I came very close to it. A fellow photographer said that it may have been wounded by a shotgun pellet, could not move, and would probably die eventually.

Immature Common Eider, wounded perhaps.

In the 19th century, hunting almost wiped out this species in the Atlantic. However, their population has rebounded and Common Eiders are not on the list of endangered species.

2018 Year of the Bird

Tags

bald eagle, barn swallow, barnegat lighthouse, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great egret, Long-billed Dowitcher, mourning dove, photography, postaday, ring-billed gull, sanderling, year of the bird

2018 is the Year of the Bird, as declared by the National Audubon Society, National Geographic, BirdLife International, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I didn’t know about that until now, but here are seven photos I took recently of birds around New Jersey.

Two Barn Swallows in Newton, NJ.

Mourning Dove on beach at Barnegat Light.

Great Egret at Edwin B Forsythe NWR.

Sanderling at Barnegat Light.

Young Bald Eagle at Edwin B Forsythe NWR.

Long-billed Dowitcher at Edwin B Forsythe NWR.

Juvenile Ring-billed Gull at Barnegat Light.

Silent Sunday: Sanderling

Tags

photography, postaday, sanderling, silent sunday

Sanderling.

Sanderling.

Sanderling.

Sanderling.

Sanderling.

Sanderling.

Green Beach

Tags

beach plants, osprey, photography, postaday

This year rain has been plentiful in our area, and plants everywhere have been responding gleefully. Last week I went to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park and was surprised to find more than half of the beach covered with vegetation. Here’s what it looked like.

Beach at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Various plants were thriving in the sand. In normal years they grew further inland, but this year you had to walk through them to get to the ocean.

Plants at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.

Plants at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.

Plant at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.

While taking these photos, I heard wings flapping up in the sky. It was an Osprey carrying a freshly caught fish back to its nest.

Osprey carrying fish past Barnegat Lighthouse.

Red-breasted Merganser

Tags

barnegat inlet, photography, postaday, red-breasted merganser

Red-breasted Merganser spend their winter on both coasts of North America. There were quite a few of them a week ago swimming and diving in the Barnegat inlet. The male duck can be very striking, and even funny looking with its Mohawk head feathers.

Male Red-breasted Merganser.

Male Red-breasted Merganser.

However, the female ducks are very pretty, with their super model looks and colors.

Female Red-breasted Merganser.

Female Red-breasted Merganser.

Female Red-breasted Merganser.

While they are considered large ducks, they look small when swimming by a seagull.

Female Red-breasted Mergansers and Herring Gull.

All You Can Eat

Tags

photography, postaday, red-breasted merganser, ruddy turnstone

Like many of us, shore birds or ducks like to eat and are often busy fishing or foraging for food. Two days ago, I saw quite a few Red-breasted Merganser swimming and diving along the Barnegat Lighthouse jetty. A female Merganser was particularly energetic in her diving and was eventually rewarded with a good catch.

Red-breasted Merganser caught a fish.

Red-breasted Merganser eating fish.

Meanwhile, on the jetty rocks some Ruddy Turnstones were having an all-you-can-eat buffet. These birds don’t go in the water much and prefer to remain on shore where they sometimes can find actual smorgasbords.

Ruddy Turnstones.

Ruddy Turnstone picking at oysters.

Ruddy Turnstone.

Thaw

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, island beach, photography, postaday

It was foggy at Barnegat Lighthouse yesterday, as you can see from the photo below. However, it was not cold, and the ice that covered most of the bay was starting to break up, helped along by two Coast Guard vessels.

Island Beach as seen from Barnegat Lighthouse.

There was a thaw indeed. In the two hours I was there, snow had retreated quite a bit from the sand, or was melting away even if the sun was hidden by clouds.

Melting snow.

More Monarchs

Tags

monarch butterfly, photography, postaday

Going through the photos I took this past Saturday, the following look more audacious than the ones I posted on that day.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterflies.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch Waystation

Tags

moarch waystation, monarch butterfly, painted lady, photography, postaday

After photographing waves crashing on the beach, I walked back to Barnegat Lighthouse and could not help but notice at least two Monarch butterflies flying around. One of them landed and held still long enough to have its picture taken.

Monarch on the beach.

Later I went to the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences, located in the nearby community with the unusual name of Loveladies, NJ. It is named after Thomas Lovelady who owned an island near the area. Over time the name of the place evolved into its current version, with a very visible sign welcoming visitors to Loveladies community…

As I walked around the grounds of the foundation, I stumbled on its Monarch butterfly waystation where many Monarch butterflies were feeding on milkweed and other kinds of flowers to replenish their energy for their annual migration to as far South as Mexico. This was the most I had seen in over 40 years!

Monarch butterflies.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterfly.

Monarch butterflies.

There were also other butterflies, fellow diners.

Painted Lady butterfly.

Yellow Cabbage Butterfly.

Painted Lady.

I’d Rather Be Sailing

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, photography, postaday, sailboat

I’d rather be sailing, but the following sailboats are not mine. I only saw them last week as they left Barnegat Bay to go toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Sailboat at Barnegat Light. The motor boat came close, but not too close.

Sailboat in Atlantic Ocean near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Sailboat in Atlantic Ocean near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Seagull and Crab

Tags

great black-backed gull, herring gull, photography, postaday

Yesterday at the end of the Barnegat Lighthouse jetty, a Great Black-backed Gull Seagull grabbed a good-sized crab from the ocean.

Great Black-backed Gull catching a crab. It brought the crab to shore and ate most of it within five minutes.

Meanwhile a Herring Gull hovered, looking for a similar lunch.

Herring Gull.

Oystercatcher Couple

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, oystercatcher, photography, postaday

Today is a rainy day, with up to 2 in (5 cm) of rain to fall all day long. It’s time then to show photos taken on a sunny day last week of an Oystercatcher named T2 and his companion, Lady Hamilton, as dubbed by the locals at Barnegat.

T2 standing on one leg.

T2 walking away.

Beautiful Lady Hamilton follows T2.

They went inside the restricted area of the beach, walked up the dunes and maybe toward their nest. Another blogger on WordPress said that this pair, together now for several years, has not yet managed to produce any offspring, but there could be hope for this year.

Oystercatcher are of national conservation concern, with several thousands living on the shore of Mid Atlantic states like New Jersey.

T2 and Lady Hamilton near their nest?

All these coming and goings under the watchful eye of Barnegat Lighthouse.

Barnegat Lighthouse.

Semipalmated Plover

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, photography, postaday, semipalmated plover

Semipalmated Plovers are very close to Piping Plovers in size and cuteness. They look similar but with different feather colors as you can see in the photos below. I found several dozen of them in the roped off area of the beach at Barnegat Lighthouse, with one or two Piping Plovers running through their midst.

Semipalmated Plover.

Semipalmated Plover standing on one leg.

Semipalmated Plover.

A crucial distinction is that the Semipalmated Plover is not considered endangered, with a population estimated to be about 200,000. There are fewer than 10,000 Piping Plovers.

Semipalmated Plovers.

Piping Plovers

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, photography, piping plover, postaday

Piping Plovers are considered an endangered species, or they are at least on the verge of being so. That’s why a section of the beach and dunes at Barnegat Lighthouse is roped off from April to September. Signs placed at regular intervals warn that the area is a nesting site for them, and for two other kinds of shore birds, Black Skimmers and Least Terns.

Of course these cute little birds disregard the signs, and I have seen some running out to search for food on the beach and near the water. They look like cotton balls trotting up and down between the dunes and the waves.

Beach sign.

Piping Plover running down to shoreline.

Piping Plover running back to dunes.

Piping Plover.

The Kiss

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

A male Northern Cardinal will often court a female by offering her food. I have seen that behavior before, but today was the first time I managed to capture it in photos. This took place this morning in a small grove next to Barnegat Lighthouse.

A male Cardinal holding a seed in his beak.

He fed the seed to an appreciative female Cardinal.

A fraction of a second after the “kiss”.

Juxtaposition

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, black cherry, fishing, photography, postaday

I took the following photos near Barnegat Lighthouse within a few minutes of each other. Now seen side by side, there are some similarities between them, even though the subjects could not be more different.

Black Cherry flowers.

Fishing at Barnegat Lighthouse.

How to Eat Mussels

Tags

barnegat ligthouse, oystercatcher, photography, postaday

I saw a couple of Oystercatchers this past Sunday near the end of the jetty at Barnegat Lighthouse. They were walking on the beach, finding shellfish to eat, not minding people approaching to take their pictures. One was banded with “T2” clearly visible.

A pair of Oystercatchers.

Oystercatcher T2 inspecting mussels.

Oystercatcher T2 had pierced through a partially opened mussel and was carrying it around.

Oystercatcher and mussel.

The other Oystercatcher walked right by some mussels without touching them.

Scarlet Tanager

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, photography, postaday, scarlet tanager

Last Sunday I saw a vivid flash of orange fly by as I walked along a trail next to Barnegat Lighthouse. It was a male Scarlet Tanager, the first time I saw one. It kept jumping from branch to branch, even spending some time on the ground. It had to be one of the most handsome birds in the Northeast United States. Because it was so active, I had trouble focusing and only two shots turned out well enough to post here.

Scarlet Tanager.

Scarlet Tanager.

Loon, Long-Tailed Duck, Red-Breasted Mergansers, Mallards

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, common loon, long-tailed duck, mallard, photograpy, postaday, red-breasted merganser

A week ago at the Barnegat Lighthouse, many people came to walk along the beach, as it was sunny and the wind was bearable, especially if one wore a good winter jacket or coat.

Barnegat Lighthouse on January 1st, 2017.

Along the jetty, but away from the swift currents that Harlequin ducks preferred, there were three other kinds of ducks or waterbirds swimming and diving calmly for food.

Common Loon, a large waterbird in its non-breeding colors.

Long-tailed Duck. This kind of duck can deep dive up to 200 ft (60 m). This one was just looking around and enjoying the sun.

Red-breasted Mergansers, a rather large duck compared to the well-coiffed Hooded Mergansers that I photographed last year.

Earlier in the day, I saw a pair of Mallards dabbling for food at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge which has been practically closed due to road repairs for at least half a year now.

A pair of Mallards. They don’t dive and just dabble for food near the surface of the water.