What a Difference a Day Makes

March 20 - first day of Spring 2015.Had the snow blower out clearing heavy snow from the driveway.

Snowy Spring

March 22 - first day that it felt like spring. I finally got down to the shore to do some birding with Harvey. We started the day with a bang. Harvey found these Black-headed Gulls along the beach in Villas. Black-headed Gulls show up in NJ during their northward migration up to New England and Canada. They are one of the first migrants to come through and only spend a day or so along the Delaware Bay before heading north. It is not a sure bet to find one every year - and here we found 2. We chased them down to Townbank where we were able to snap a few photos. By far, the best photos that I have of BHGUs.(shorhand for Black-headed Gull)

The first Black-headed Gull that we found didn't have such a black head. This guy/gal isn't quite in breeding plumage yet.

(almost) Black-headed Gull 

It flew around enough for me to get this shot that shows dark under the wing tips which is a field mark. Bonaparte's gulls look very similar but lack the dark under the wings.

Look under my wings

Here is another BHGU that really looks like its name. This bird is in full breeding plumage.

(really) Black-headed Gull

We were on a roll and headed to the State Park (aka Lighthouse) to see if we could find some other signs of spring. We were met by another bird that is an early migrant - Killdeer. In fact, there were a pair of them in the parking lot. A pair usually nest here every year and these birds looked like they were home rather than just passing through. Here is one of them. You can imagine how stupid I looked sitting "Indian style" in the middle of the parking lot trying to get this shot.

Killdeer

Another resident was out and about - this Muskrat swam across the pond right in front of us. They are funny looking little animals - half rat, half beaver.

Muskrat

The next sign of spring came in the form of this soaring Osprey. Who knows if this bird will nest here or go farther north but he/she was looking for fish in the pond on Sunday.

Osprey

Just as we are happy to see some birds returning from the south, other birds will shortly leave us to head north. Ducks spend their winters only as far south as they have to go to find water that isn't frozen. This Bufflehead (lower left) and Ring-necked Duck (above, right) will disappear shortly as the water warms. Zoom in to see the iridescence on the Bufflehead. It is amazing.

Bufflehead and Ring-necked Duck

More signs of spring will be showing up in the coming days. I have more to tell you about our visit to the State Park so stay tuned.

Gulls and Eagles

This is the time of year when unusual gulls show up and cause the birders to go crazy chasing them. Frankly, these unusual gulls look almost identical to the other "regular" gulls that we see all summer long but for birders, they are a treat. 4 gull species look very similar to most people: 

Laughing Gull is the most common gull at the shore in summer - they have a black head and make that laughing call. Their head turns white in winter except for a little smudge of black here and there. They winter down south in Florida.

Bonaparte's Gull is the most common gull in winter. They also have a black head in summer, but we rarely see that since they spend their summers far north of here. We see them with white heads and a few "dots" of black.

Black-headed Gull as the name suggests has a black head too. We rarely see these gulls except during their northbound migration. They winter far south of us and nest far north. 

Little Gull also has a black head in summer and, as the name suggests, is smaller than the other gulls.  It is even more rare than Black-headed Gull in migration. Birders go nuts over this gull (truth be told, it is cute). 

Black-headed and Little Gull were both seen in Cumberland County earlier this week so I went down after work in an attempt to photograph them. The Black-headed Gulls were reported to actually have the black head which would be good for the photo. In typical fashion, I showed up 5 minutes too late to see the Little Gull. It had already flown away. Sigh.  But I did get a few photos of Black-headed Gull.

Black-headed Gull

The only way to tell this gull apart from Bonaparte's and Laughing is by the dark tips under the wings and the red feet. Are you kidding me? It's not that easy to see those features when you are looking at a hundred gulls but somehow these birders do it. I got pretty good at spotting this guy since he had the black head and black wing tips.  Here is another photo that shows 3 species together. Can you tell which is which? I just gave you the field marks for Black-headed gull so that one should stand out. The other 2 species are Bonaparte's and Laughing. 

Black-headed, Bonaparte's and Laughing Gulls

While I was patiently waiting to see if the Little Gull would return, the resident Bald Eagles got off of their nest to chase a Cormorant that had a big fish. Eagles are notoriously lazy hunters. They would rather grab a free meal from a Cormorant than find a fish on their own.  I snapped a few shots and noticed something odd about one of the eagles. You'll need to zoom in to see it.

Bald Eagle with deformed beak

Check out the top of the bill - it is totally deformed. I sent out a note to the Jersey Birds list and was told that this is probably an injury caused by a fight with another eagle. Wow, don't mess with eagles!

Hanging Out and Seeing Red

It feels pretty good being a casual birder again. After chasing birds all year last year, it was nice to have a day to bird for the sheer sake of watching birds. Lori and I came down to the shore this morning in no big rush to do the kind of birding that we used to do back in the day - you know, just hanging out and seeing whatever there is to see. Well, it paid off big time for Lori. She got 4 life birds and had a nap too!

All of the birds that she got for lifers were colored - 3 red ones and 1 black.  The first lifer came at the marina behind the Lobster House - Red-necked Grebe. These birds have invaded our area this year even more than the Snowy Owls. They are literally everywhere that has fresh water without ice. We have some on the Schuylkill River in Philly, in the back bays of Wildwood, and even on the little ponds in the Villas. In fact, we saw 7 of them today. Here are a few photos. The first is a close encounter that we had at Cox Hall Creek. You can see that this bird is molting into breeding plumage by the red on the neck. 

Red-necked Grebe - Villas NJ

Here are a group of 3 Red-necked Grebes on a little retention pond that the locals call "Lake" Champlain because it is on Champlain Road in the Villas. It is remarkable to have 3 grebes hanging out so close together on a tiny pond.  I caught one of them in the middle of his afternoon bath.

Red-necked Grebes - Lake Champlain

The other "red" bird that we saw today was Redhead. There were 18 of them on the lake at Cox Hall Creek last month but 17 of them have flown the coop. This guy decided to hand out with a Coot.They were acting like best friends in the middle of the lake. Where ever one would go, the other would follow. 

Redhead and Coot

The third "red" bird for Lori was the Eurasian Wigeon which has red on the head. The American Wigeon has green on the head. They were hanging out together in the marsh but too far away for a photo opp. You can see a photo of this bird in a post from last month.  

Lori's 4th lifer of the day was Black-headed Gull. There have been a few hanging around Miami Ave in the Villas this month. This is pretty normal for March since they are starting to migrate north.  This is not as sexy as the others. Kind of boring in fact. It looks alot like a Bonaparte's Gull (and frankly, every other gull if you are not a birder) but a lifer nonetheless. It was hanging out with Forster's Terns on the sandbar. 

Black-headed Gull

Although it wasn't a lifer, the other notable bird for the day was this Horned Grebe. It is still in basic plumage (ie, no horns yet) but still a great find. It was very close to the shore of Sunset Lake. I love the bright red eye!

Horned Grebe - Sunset Lake

We ended the day at dinner with friends. The restaurant was loud, the service was slow and the food was mediocre but it was nice to hang out with friends.  I guess there are 2 themes to this post - Red and Hanging Out! We will take it easy again tomorrow and see whatever shows up.