Loons are large aquatic birds that are seen in high numbers off of the New Jersey coast throughout the winter. These beautiful birds are very showy in their breeding plumage, but could be considered fairly plain in the winter. I was able to get a bunch of decent photo ops with Loons during a recent trip to the Barnegat jetty and Manasquan Inlet.
Common Loon at Manasquan Inlet
In Europe they are known as Divers. The name “diver” makes a lot of sense when you normally see this bird – they swim low on the surface of the water then quickly dive under to catch fish, crabs and other small animals. The name “loon” refers to the bird’s poor ability to walk on land, something that you hopefully will not see!
Common Loon at Barnegat
Two different species can be commonly found along the New Jersey coast, The large Common Loon and the smaller Red-throated Loon.
Common Loon
The more-dainty Red-throated Loon
You can easily see the differences in the photos – the Red-throated Loon has a smaller, up-turned bill and more white around the throat and up the cheeks. Both species come in a variety of plumages themselves. I did not get a good variety of cooperative Red-throated Loons during this trip, but I did photograph many individual Common Loons.
It’s always fun to try to get them as they are diving. Last week, I finally caught one kissing the water. Of course, I am always looking for that better shot…
Kissing the water
About to go for the dive
Mid-dive
When they emerge from the water, they may or may not come up with a lucky catch. I am still trying to capture the perfect moment of a Loon and its meal. For now, I have a few mediocre photos of lunch.
Common Loon with a fairly large crab
Down goes the crab
Red-throated Loon downing a large fish
Common Loon Eating shellfish
A small meal for this Common Loon
In a couple of weeks, the Common Loons will be more in breeding plumage. I was able to photograph this in previous years and hope to see them transitioning again this year.
Common Loon transitioning to breeding plumage in 2014
Unfortunately, Red-throated Loons do not make the same transition while in the area and molt after migration. It’s still great to see them every winter!
I cannot say that I make blog posts about Gulls very often… if at all. They are one bird family that we all seem to take for granted, whether you are a birder or not. They aren’t that shy and often won’t fly away when approached. I may not go out of my way to photograph them, but I will stop and appreciate them from time-to-time.
Herring Gull posing on the jetty
Great black-backed Gull at the edge of the jetty
They are one of the few birds that allow you to get headshots of at 400mm.
Great black-backed Gull up close
Herring Gull portrait
They can be loud and obnoxious, which is not always a bad thing when you capture that behavior.
Herring Gull calling
They are often found eating dead fish on the jetty…
Great black-backed Gull with fish
…or running around with crabs in their beaks.
Herring Gull with crab
Herring Gull with crab
During our last visit to Barnegat, we stumbled upon a Great Black-backed Gull who was eating a very interesting meal.
Great black-backed Gull with Atlantic Stingray
It was eating an Atlantic Stingray!
You never know what you will run into on this jetty, even with the more common birds.
Earlier this month, I took a trip to the coast and visited my favorite jetty at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park. It presented me with some pretty great photo ops of Harlequins up on the rocks.
The birds were very comfortable – even when more and more photographers and admirers approached, they stayed in place.
A hen and a drake share a rock
Two drakes on a rock
Things got pretty crowded once the tide started coming in and the birds were a bit rowdy.
Most of them flew up to higher ground and started to settle down.
It was the perfect opportunity to just keep taking photos! Here are more – it’s hard to pick out my favorites so I will just share a lot of them. Enjoy!
Earlier this month, three of my friends and I took a trip to the New Jersey coast to look for wintering waterfowl and sandpipers. Knowing that the temperatures were going to be well below-freezing, we bundled up and prepared for a windy day. Our first stop was Barnegat Light and the jetty that I have a love/hate relationship with. I hate it because you have to be careful going from rock-to-rock and it can be slippery when wet. But at the same time I love it since it always brings us good birds. The rocks were icy, but the birding turned out to be pretty good!
My friends returning from the tip of the icy jetty
On our way down the jetty, we spotted a single Dunlin on the beach-side. It didn’t seem to want to move, though it didn’t look injured. For a moment, it seemed like it was just frozen in place.
A lone Dunlin
We found one brave songbird on the jetty. It also did not seem like it wanted to move far.
Savannah Sparrow on the rocks
Last winter, we had plenty of waterfowl close in the inlet, but both time I went to Barnegat this season it was different – there were hunters in boats close to the jetty, which kept the waterfowl distant. There was a large grouping of Eiders in the bay, but harsh light and distance made for poor photo ops. They were mostly Common Eiders, but we did spot one King. Many Common Loons and some Red-throated were also present. Scoters were even more distant with a few Black Scoters coming near the jetty. A single pair of Harlequins came in close.
The only pair of Harlequin Ducks who came in close
Harlequin Duck drake flying by
We did run into the usual flock of Dunlin and Ruddy Turnstones on the jetty. They were huddled and did not care to move as we passed by. The Purple Sandpipers were on the very tip and I did not go close enough to photograph them.
The flock of Dunlin stay warm
Ruddy Turnstones with the Dunlin
Dunlin on ice
Ruddy Turnstones using a rock to break the wind
On the way out, we walked on the sand so that we could keep our eyes on the dunes for buntings, larks and longspurs – and also to keep warm since all of us seemed to lose feeling in our fingers. We ended up seeing a ton of Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Yellow-rumped Warbler on the path
Other highlights from Barnegat included a couple of close fly-bys by a juvenile Northern Gannet, a male Northern Harrier hunting the dunes and an unexpected Bonaparte’s Gull. On our way off of the island, we checked out a few marinas for more waterfowl. We got distant looks at Bufflehead, Horned Grebes, Loons, Pintails, Black Ducks, Long-tailed Ducks, Gadwall, Goldeneyes, Red-breasted Mergansers and Ruddy Ducks.
After that, we chased reports of a Cackling and Ross’s Goose on the way to our next destination. The birds were not present, but there were some other friendly waterfowl. Sometimes, you just have to take a photo op, no matter how common the bird is.
The often-ignored Mallard Duck
Mute Swans are a beautiful bird, often overlooked by birders
Oddly enough, this is my first close photo of a Black Duck
Our final stop was Island Beach State Park. We wanted to show one of my friends the foxes and also see if we could get a glimpse of a Snowy Owl. The foxes did not disappoint.
Red Fox off the road at Island Beach
We brought our scopes out onto the beach to scan the water. We estimated around 15,000 Scoters – mostly Blacks with many Surf and White-winged mixed in. As we were leaving, we decided to check out a spot that a few cars were parked at. Sure enough, they were looking at a Snowy Owl. The bird was a bit distant, but she had a nice perch. It was a great way to end the day!
During a visit to the New Jersey coast last month, my friend Jon and I came across two very cooperative Snow Buntings on the beach at Barnegat. Jetty birding was extremely slow – likely due to the waterfowl hunters in the inlet. We walked up the jetty and decided to take the beach back to search for larks, buntings and longspurs. Just as we reached the vegetation on the beach, we located a Snow Bunting. It was foraging around a pile of garbage and debris, which didn’t make for very nice photos.
Snow Bunting in beach debris
Another bunting was foraging a bit further away at the edge of the beach vegetation. We waited as the first bird moved toward the other one.
Both Snow Buntings in a much nicer setting
The photos in this location were much more pleasing!
The birds would jump on the grasses and grab seeds. It was very fun to watch them.
Snow Bunting grabbing grass
Snow Bunting jumping on the grass
Snow Bunting eating grass
We laid down in the sand and stayed with these birds for around twenty minutes.
Eventually, one even made it’s way right toward me, it was so close that my camera did not want to focus.
Snow Bunting up close
I was very pleased with this photo-op – the buntings were very cooperative. These turned out to be my best Snow Bunting photos ever!
Piping Plovers are small shorebirds who are considered endangered or threatened due to destruction of beach habitat as well as interference with humans, pets and vehicles. Beaches along the coast will block off areas where this bird nests – despite the negative feedback from regular beach-goers. I’ve been wanting to photograph this bird for a while and, this past June, my friend Jon took me to go see them. Birding was very slow along the coast since most of the migrating shorebirds moved on to their breeding grounds, but a Piping Plover put on a great show for us, which made the trip completely worth it. The bird preened, searched for a meal and wandered around the tidal pools making for some really nice photos.
Rather than attempt to write about it, I will share the experience in photos.
I think I have an addiction. It is called Barnegat Light. This gem of a place has brought me five excellent trips since my first time going there in November. We had two goals this trip: find Piping Plovers and give my friend, Teri, the Barnegat experience. This trip was suppose to happen last weekend, but the weather did not cooperate and the east coast had heavy rains. This weekend, however, it was warm and the sun was shining.
Barnegat Lighthouse from the jetty
We were greeted by one of the most beautiful waterfowl – the Long-tailed Duck. They were beginning to enter into breeding plumage, something that I have not seen yet.
Female Long-tailed Duck in transitional plumage
Another first for me were Laughing Gulls in breeding plumage. I’ve only ever seen them in the fall. They stayed away from the jetty.
Distant Laughing Gull in breeding plumage
Bird-wise, it started out very quiet. The jetty looked empty and we could not see birds in the water. This could have been due to the very high winds which caused massive waves in the inlet.
High waves across the Barnegat inlet
We left the jetty and went onto the beach to look for Piping Plovers along the fenced off breeding grounds. Still nothing. We finally spotted two birds.
American Oystercatchers near a high tide pool
American Oystercatchers! It seemed like they didn’t want to move, so we made our way closer to them and dropped as low as we could go for some photos. After reviewing the photos on the computer, I noticed something special – the blowing sand was visible in our photos. The three of us had no idea we captured this!
American Oystercatcher surrounded by blowing sand
After this treat, the birds came moving in. A large flock of shorebirds zipped past and landed on the jetty.
Mixed flock of Dunlin, Sanderlings and Purple Sandpipers
We made our way back up on the rocks and snapped away at Dunlin, Purple Sandpipers and Sanderlings. These birds gave us some great photo ops!
Dunlin with a Sanderling in the background
Sanderlings
Purple Sandpiper closeup
That is when we started to see an over-whelming numbers of birds. Adult male Surf Scoters, Loons, Cormorants, Long-tailed Ducks in breeding plumage – it was difficult to concentrate on one bird.
Surf Scoter off the jetty
Long-tailed Ducks, including adult males in both breeding and winter plumage
Great Cormorant after defending a fish from Gulls
Red-throated (non-breeding) and Common (breeding) Loons
And then we spotted Barnegat’s staple wintering bird, the Harlequin Duck.
Harlequin Ducks were still present
The males were getting very feisty now that it is closer to breeding season.
Harlequin Duck chase
They were trying to attract this beautiful girl.
Female Harlequin Duck
We made our way back up the jetty, chasing more Harlequins and looking for new birds. A young Cormorant followed us, but every time we would point our cameras at him, he would dive.
Cormorant making a dive
I did manage to get a nice photo of him though.
Immature Double-crested Cormorant
We ran into our shorebird flock multiple times. They would stay perched until the waves hit the rocks hard.
Shorebird flock getting hit with waves
The waves were just getting worse as we made our way to the end. I stopped a bit early, anticipating wet rocks (and wet camera?) and my friends started their way further up.
High waves along the beach
They changed their minds too and headed back toward me. We could see many birds in the distance – Northern Gannets, many Scoters, tons of Long-tailed Ducks, possible Eiders… too bad we could not get close enough!
A very distant Gannet
We headed back up the jetty, once again, chasing the Harlequins for photos of them on the rocks. I never did get that op this time by, but still got nice photos of them.
Drake Harlequin Duck
We saw other good birds on the way back toward the lighthouse.
Black-bellied Plover in winter plumage
Common Loon in breeding plumage
We then went back onto the beach to look for the Piping Plovers. Unfortunately, it was probably a bit too windy for them and we did not see any. Now that I see the moving sand in some of my photos, I know why a small bird would want to stay away.
Searching for Piping Plovers
On our way back up the beach, we ran into four very cooperative Brant and I got my best photos of them. It was nice getting down at eye level rather than shooting them from above on the jetty!
Some Brant swimming in one of the tidal pools
Even though we dipped on the Plover, it was still a great day of birding. We were able to achieve the most important goal of the trip – introduce a new person to Barnegat and, in the process, get her hooked to it!
Does the Purple Sandpiper really have purple plumage? The answer is no… and yes. In breeding colors, the bird shows no purple at all. In the winter months, however, you can see a slight purple gloss on the feathers… that is, if you look carefully – and if the sun is shining on the feathers in the perfect angle. If there is no sun, you won’t see it.
No sun? No gloss.
Even if there is sun, it has to hit the feathers at the right angle.
The sun is shining on this Sandpiper, but I don’t see the purple.
I finally saw the purple sheen on one of my more recent trips to Barnegat. The light was perfect. It made a believer out of me!
You can see the purple on this one!
The purple is even more apparent here.
And for a photo that is cropped in…
A close up of the purple sheen.
I hope this convinced you. Really though, I just needed an excuse to show some Purple Sandpiper photos, so at the very least, I hope you enjoyed the imagery!
My friend, Jon, and I think a great name for a drink would be “Harley on the Rocks” – especially after seeing multiple Harlequin Ducks posing on the jetty for us during our last couple of trips. Who wouldn’t want to name a drink after this gorgeous bird?
My first Harlequins on the jetty!
I feel like I’ve been working my way up to the perfect Harlequin photo (though, I believe that my friend is the one who got it – see the very last photos in this set). I had great looks at them the first time that they were up on the jetty, but it was a bit overcast and lighting was only decent. Their bills seem to get a bit lost in the dull-water color.
Drake Harlequin on an overcast day
Male and female posing together on an overcast day
This past weekend, however, the sun was out and it made a huge difference in both the colors on the ducks and the blue water behind them.
Drake Harlequin on a sunny day
Male and female posing together on a sunny day
I’d like to get a bit of a lower angle next time, but for now, this will do!
Harlequin trio – one of my favorite photos
It can be difficult trying to get close while the ducks stay in place. We try to move while they are preening and not paying attention, however, sometimes they are spooked by other people who are walking by. This time, I was ready…
A Diving Duck diving into the water
Sometimes, they do stay in place and pose very nicely!
Drake Harlequin posing for me
Next time I go to Barnegat, I’ll be sure to order another Harley on the Rocks.
