There are few things that I would wake up at 2:30AM for. Birding visits to the New Jersey coast is one of them. During the summer, you have to get there early or you will get stuck in beach traffic. It can get packed very quickly. I live over two hours away from most good birding spots, so the drive, plus early arrival, means getting up way too early.
Last weekend my friend, Jon, and I headed to the coast to see a Tern colony. We arrived at the beach at around 6:30 for perfect light and to beat traffic. We were immediately greeted by the sound of Terns and set up or cameras at the colony that was not far from the entrance to the beach. This was my first time actually seeing Least Terns – even though they are pretty easy to get in the summer. I had a questionable tick on my life list from back in 2011, but it seemed too late in the fall for one (the bird was identified by someone else) so I retracted the sighting from my list.
Adult Least Tern
The young were very active, but the smaller ones stayed more in the dunes. I still enjoyed photographing some tweens and teenagers who stayed not far from the tape that closed off their nesting area.
Young Least Tern
Two young Terns
Young Least Tern
Baby Least Terns stayed toward the back
A few adults stayed nearby and preened in front of us.
Adult Least Tern
Least Tern preening
The adults would come in with fish and every younger tern begged as the adult scrambled to find its baby. Some of the teens even stole the fish anyway.
An adult Tern scrambles to find its young
A juvenile begs for the fish
This adult caught the attention of many young
The colony also had Common Terns, Black Skimmers and American Oystercatchers. They all stayed very far back so I did not get many photos.
Common Terns make some noise
Possible nesting Black Skimmers
American Oystercatcher flying in
I was happy enough photographing the Least Terns. They kept me entertained as they curiously explored the world around them.
Young Least Tern inspecting a stick
Young Least Tern inspecting a shell
I’ll certainly visit this beach again in the future. Maybe there will be other young birds later in the season from the different species!
Every North American birder should try to make it to the tropics at least once in their lifetime, if finances allow it. The beautiful array of birds would be worth every penny. I took my first trip in December 2011 and stayed through New Years and the first week of January 2012. I visited four different locations: the Osa Peninsula, Monteverde Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano and San Gerardo de Dota. Even though the trip was not based on birding, I racked up 130 life birds.
The trip was suppose to be during the beginning of the dry season, however, it rained for much of the trip. This led to mostly mediocre photos – many of which I never showed anyone else since they are not up to par with my normal work. Despite this, I wanted to share the beautiful birds that I saw, even with sub-par photos. I will also mix in some of the nicer photos – though, they were few and far between!
I’m not entirely sure where to begin, so I will jump in with some of my target birds. The bird names and locations are under each photo.
Resplendent Quetzal, San Gerardo de Dota
Blue-crowned Motmot, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Keel-billed Toucan, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Scarlet Macaw, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Note that I also wrote a post about the Quetzal early last year where you can see more photos. This was on bird that I had great photo ops with! I plan on doing the same for the Motmot.
As expected in the tropics, I saw many species of Tanagers, most of them were very colorful.
Rufous-winged Tanager, Arenal Observatory Lodge feeders, La Fortuna
Bay-headed Tanager, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Golden-hooded Tanager, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Flame-colored Tanager, San Gerardo de Dota
White-throated Shrike-Tanager, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Cherries Tanager with a Variable Seedeater, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager, Trogon Lodge, San Gerardo de Dota
Blue-gray Tanager, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Palm Tanager, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
These birds are also classified as Tanagers, but do not have it in their name. They are still equally as beautiful!
Green Honeycreeper, Arenal Observatory Lodge feeders, La Fortuna
Bananaquit, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Yellow-faced Grassquits, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Buff-throated Saltator, Arenal Observatory Lodge feeders, La Fortuna
I also saw some species of warblers that I do not get in the northeastern US.
Rufous-capped Warbler, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Buff-rumped Warbler, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Slate-throated Redstart, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Collared Redstart, San Gerardo de Dota
Tropical Parula, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Some of the birds were cool surprises.
I nearly jumped out of the car for the White-throated Magpie-Jays, Arenal Volcano
Common Potoo hiding in the brush, Sierpe River
White-whiskered Puffbird, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Slaty Flowerpiercer, San Gerardo de Dota
Black-throated Trogon, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
One of my favorite birds had a great mating display.
Montezuma Oropendola, Arenal Observatory Lodge feeders, La Fortuna
I saw a nice variety of different Flycatchers throughout my trip.
Great Kiskadee, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Tropical Kingbird in the rain, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Social Flycatcher, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Yellowish Flycatcher, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Black-capped Flycatcher, San Gerardo de Dota
Possible Mountain Elaenia (still being identified), San Gerardo de Dota
Common Tody-Flycatcher, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Black Phoebe, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Some of the finches were pretty unique…
Large-footed Finch, San Gerardo de Dota
Thick-billed Seed Finch, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Especially, the colorful ones in the Euphonia family.
Yellow-throated Euphonia, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Tawny-capped Euphonia, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Elegant Euphonias are hidden in this photo, Monteverde Cloud Forest
I did see some nice woodpeckers, including a couple I did not get to photograph like the Pale-billed and Lineated Woodpeckers.
Acorn Woodpecker, San Gerardo de Dota
Red-crowned Woodpecker, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
I also saw some birds from the Thrush family.
Clay-colored Thrush, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Sooty Robin, San Gerardo de Dota
Black-billed Nightengale-Thrush, San Gerardo de Dota
Black-headed Nightengale-Thrush, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Of course, I did see some parakeets too!
Orange-fronted Parakeets, between San Juan and Monteverde
Orange-chinned Parakeet, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
I did not see many raptors, but I was able to photograph some. Unfortunately, my Owl photos are not even good enough to show on this post and my lifer Crested Caracara is too terrible.
Common Black-Hawk, Cano Island
Yellow-headed Caracara, Sierpe River
Here are a few birds that I found by the water:
Magnificent Frigatebird, off of the Osa Peninsula
Sandwich Tern, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron perched over a waterfall, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Like their North American relatives, some birds were very vocal.
Great-tailed Grackle, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Brown Jay, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Some of the larger birds just chilled and let me get a nice look.
Crested Guan, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Black Guan, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Gray-headed Chachalaque, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
But many of the smaller ones were hard to catch!
Band-backed Wren, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Black-cowled Oriole, Arenal Observatory Lodge property, La Fortuna
Black-hooded Antshrike, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
Ruddy Ground-Dove, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula
As you can see, this post is lacking Hummingbird photos. I will put up a post specifically about them at another time since I saw so many! For now, and to close this post, I will leave you with a photo of my target hummingbird…
One of my most memorable moments from last Fall’s trip to Cape May was a beach full of Black Skimmers that we happened to stumble upon on our last morning after breakfast.
Black Skimmer flock from 2012
I was looking forward to the possibility of seeing them once again this year – and I was not disappointed! We learned that these birds like to gather near the 2nd Avenue jetty during the Fall months before they move on. Once again, after breakfast, we headed to the beach. First, we ran into Royal, Common and Forster’s Terns gathered near the shoreline.
I have been extremely busy lately with buying a new house, getting it ready, packing and moving. In between all of this madness I went to Cape May with my friends for our annual Fall migration trip. I still do not have the time to write about it, so I will leave you with some photos for a preview of what to expect. And I will say this – as far as the ratio of good-to-bad photos, this was my most successful trip yet even though the main point of it was birding rather than photography.
One of a pair of American Oystercatchers
Forster’s Tern flying by
A Sanderling running away from the waves
A beach full of Black Skimmers
Snowy Egrets at Forsythe NWR
Young Herring Gull flying by
Ruddy Turnstone on the rocks
Like what you see? Check back for more later this month!
Who would think that bad weather could equal really great birds? When birds are migrating through and run into poor migrating weather (storm, front), they will drop out of the sky, typically in good numbers, to the most convenient habitat that suits them. This is known as fallout. Serious birders will actually go out in the rain and look for these birds because many times, something rare is sure to show up.
On Wednesday morning it started with an early report of some Long-tailed Ducks and Bonaparte’s Gulls. It was before work, so I went out to find these birds with success. I had 27 Bonaparte’s Gulls and later in the day over 80 were counted in the same location. As the day went on, the reports started coming in quick from birders who were off from work — more Long-tailed Ducks (20+ in one location and 40+ in another), Red-necked Grebes in four different locations, Horned Grebes showing up in high numbers, Four Great Egrets foraging together in a local pond, Caspian Terns in two locations — it was too much to resist not taking a long lunch for these great reports! I went out and quickly found some of the birds with a friend, but did not have time to take photos or get all of the birds.
Four Great Egrets stop to rest for one evening
The next morning, I headed out with another friend to see if we could get the high number of Long-tailed Ducks. They were no longer around, but I did see two Caspian Terns, which I did not get the previous day.
Caspian Terns
We continued to get poor weather so many of the birds stuck around for the weekend. Bufflehead were in high numbers at every location.
Bufflehead Pair at Dorchester Park
Bufflehead at Lisle Park
For the first time, I saw Horned Grebes in every possible plumage — winter, transitional and full on breeding plumage. I was happy to finally get photos of them too!
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebes
Both birds were often together…
Horned Grebe and Bufflehead
The big Grebe news, however, were the Red-necked Grebes. It is rare in our area to see a single one – I had at least NINE in one location with great scope views (not so great camera views…)
Red-necked Grebes with other waterfowl in Whitney Point
Today, we also found a Common Tern actively fishing around a lake. Another great rarity.
Common Tern in Whitney Point
And, of course, our more usual waterfowl were also around.
Pied Billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal
It was not just about waterfowl. I also believe we had a Kinglet fallout. Ruby- and especially Golden-crowned Kinglets were everywhere. At one point I was surrounded by at least 50 birds dripping from the trees. There was a Kinglet on every branch that I looked at. I failed at getting a decent photo of a Golden-crowned since they are so fast but I did manage to get a Ruby-crowned at one point.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
This weekend also brought my first Warblers of the year! I had Pine Warblers, Palm Warblers (in multiple locations) and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Other great highlights included another rarity for our area, a Vesper Sparrow who has been hanging around with some of our more common Sparrows and many first-of-year birds. We also did a Woodcock walk and enjoyed a male in good enough light to follow his aerial display.
Vesper Sparrow (far left) among Savannah Sparrows, a Junco and American Tree Sparrow.
I also had my best looks at singing Rusty Blackbirds – close enough to see how they got their name.
Rusty Blackbird
It was a great birding weekend and I am sad that it is over. I will write about my more local yard and creek birds in another post later in the week. This next week will bring more new migrants… I can’t wait to see who shows up!
