I took advantage of the milder weather & sunny day & headed out to Forsythe for a few hours on Wednesday. A bit quieter out there with the frozen pools & ponds but the Short-eared owl provided a good 20 minutes of observation/entertainment.

Flash Slide show: http://susan.thespikeranch.com/page33/page47/page47.html

Wed., Jan. 23,2008; Sunny, chilly, light winds, low tide, frozen tidal pools. 2:30pm to 5:30pm at Forsythe NWR.

Wednesday's highlights were an Amr. Bittern along Gull Pond Rd. & a Short-eared Owl flying over the East Pool. I watched the SEO from 4:30pm til ~ 4:50pm. It was quite the treat to see this owl in good daylight.

Other species seen:
Cooper's Hawk
N. Harriers (1 of which was chasing the SEO)
YR Warb's
GC Kinglets
T. Titmice
C. Chickadees
WT Sparrows
Mallards
C. Merg's
Downy Wdpkr
Blk Ducks
Snow Geese
Pintails
Hooded Merg's
Herring Gulls
GBB Gulls
Can. Geese
Dunlin (flying)

Thur. Jan. 10, 2008, from 12:45pm to 4:30pm. 50's, gray/mostly cloudy, no winds. Brig. Ch. Hoffman Thorofare: LT: 3:47pm, HT: 9:43pm.

It never fails, as soon as I left the house to head to Brig's it clouded up. However it was a mild afternoon, no winds & around 50°F. Lots of active passerines along Gull Pond Rd, esp. YR Warb's & GC Kinglets in the cedars. There were quite a few WBNh's & Downys in the same area. I also saw a Song Sparrow, Tree Sparrow & a Fox Sparrow all along the woodsy side of Gull Pond Road. The Snow Geese were in the thousands, always a treat to hear them. With it being low tide while I was out at Brig's, well lots of muddy ducks & Geese!

I took photos of most of what I saw... click the link below for the Flash Slideshow...
http://susan.thespikeranch.com/page33/page46/page46.html

I saw a total of 30 bird species on Thursday. List is below...

Y-R Warb's (all over the wooded areas), Pine Warb., T. Titmouse, Amr. Goldfinches, N. Card., Song Sparr., Car. Chickadees, W-B Nuthatches, Downy Wdpkrs, Fox Sparr., Amr. Tree Sparr., G-C Kinglets, Gr. Blue Heron (8), Tundra Swan (1 flying), Mallards, Hooded Merg's, Pintails (100's), Blk. Ducks, N. Shovelers, R-B Merg's, Gadwalls, Ruddy Ducks (2), Brant, Snow Geese (1000's), Can. Geese, Herr. Gulls, R-B Gulls, GBB Gulls, Peregrine Falcon (1) & N. Harrier (1).

Monday, Jan. 7th, 2008. 12:30pm to 3pm. Mostly sunny, low 60's, 7-9mph SW winds. BI HT: 6:35am, BI LT: 1:17pm.

My friend & I spent a few hours along the inlet jetty of Barnegat Light yesterday. Quite a few people were taking advantage of the nice weather & were out visiting the BL/BI area.

We took photos of most of what we saw, however the RB Merg's were too far out in the inlet for our camera lens.

BL/BI Flash Slideshow:
http://susan.thespikeranch.com/page33/page45/page45.html



For our time frame & just along the jetty & ocean beach area we saw the following:
Harlequin ducks (M's & F's ~ = #'s) (~ 15-20)
Red-breasted Mergansers (6, 3 M, 3 F)
Common Loon (1)
Purple Sandpipers (~ 100)
Ruddy Turnstones (~ 50)
Sanderlings (~ 50)
Dunlin (~ 25)
Brant (10)
Gr. Blk-backed gulls (3 in flight & 1 soaking up some sun on the jetty)
Herring Gull city!
Peregrine Falcon (1)