My favorite shorebird here on the Jersey Coast is the Laughing Gull. I'm about 1/2 mile inland from the bay and when we get a big storm off the coast, they'll head this way and I love hearing them "laughing". Huge flocks of them are down in Cape May County and l used to love birding down there when we would go down for the firefighters convention every September. The scene around the Cape May Lighthouse is fantastic. A decent set of binoculars will allow you to see some crazy shit. Three or four years ago we actually peeped a Golden Eagle on migration. That was a sight to see.
Ive got the other end of the NJ coast covered. Me and my family Camp in Sandy Hook every year. Egrets, Comoronts, Heron, all of the big waders. Also, fuck cats.
Crazy place to find all of these things is actually in the Raritan Center Industrial Park off of exit 11 on the NJTPK. Way in the back, closer to the river, there's tons of the big birds.
Excellent. Drive all the way down Raritan Center Parkway to the last left which is Olympic Dr. As soon as you turn there's ponds on both sides of the road, I've seen many Great Egrets hanging out right there. If you continue down the road it turns into Sweetwater Ln and a tributary of the Raritan snakes along the side of the road that is opposite the railroad tracks. Just beware of truckers that may not be expecting birdwatchers, there's a good number of warehouses back there.
My neighbor's cat left a veery and an ovenbird on our back step over the weekend. I really want to put that thing down.
Blackburians got me into birding. They used to nest on my buddy's island in northern Maine. We are spoiled with warblers up here but I still think prothonotary are my favorite- which are extremely rare visitors. Hearing them all over the Great Dismal Swamp was a unique experience.
I used to date a girl whose father was an avid birder. She was pretty horrible, but I really miss going to her family's lake house and sitting on the porch or cruising around on a pontoon with her old man. Highlights were a breeding pair of ospreys and the motherfucking Loons. I legit thought they were coyotes or something howling at dusk, such an awesome, haunting sound. Also interesting, he told me that Loons are incapable of taking of to fly outside of water because their feet are set too far back on their body
For the posters that are more experienced in this hobby, are there any books or literature you guys use when you go out Birding? I think I’m finally ready to start looking for birds instead of just seeing what shows up at my feeders and houses. Really enjoying gaining knowledge on bird songs and being able to know what I’m looking for when I hear something.
The Sibley guide is probably the definitive book on birds and bird behavior IMO. Check to see if you have a local Audubon Society or birding club and tag along with them. Ours typically schedules at least one birding trip per month, and the knowledge you can pick up in terms of discerning calls and whatnot is invaluable.
Eastern kingbirds are just starting to show up in south Georgia and north Florida. Purple martins and barn swallows too. I’m also starting to see more swallow-tailed kites, but have yet to see a Mississippi. It’s tough figuring out migrations these days.
Talked to my Dad and he saw a Scarlet Tanager. Ugh, I knew they were in the area but have never seen one. Supposedly my uncle saw one today, too.
The richness of their color will blow you away. Add the jet black wings and heavy bill, and it’s a breathtaking bird.
I'm up in the mountains above LA this weekend. I've seen an Oregon Junco, and a Mountain Chickadee so far. Also saw either a bunch of swifts or swallows, needed a better look to ID.
Warblers are here. Saw lots of yellow, a few Wilsons, black and white and heard a yellowthroat and another I haven't IDd. Theres a pair of goldeneye breeding on a pond on one of our properties, hopefully it gets chicks.
Just saw a Northern Flicker on the ground outside my office. Beautiful colors, but I could not get a picture because I think he just did a few lines. He's was large as well. Spoiler: NF
Been having a pair of rose breasted grosbeaks show up every evening. The males are such cool looking birds
Had a nice long weekend of passive birding. Highlights included watching a red-shouldered hawk capture a black racer, pileated woodpeckers, blue grossbeaks, indigo buntings, eastern meadowlarks, and a yellow-billed cuckoo actively hunting caterpillars in a large sycamore.
Been doing some brush clearing this week, every time I rake into a new patch of pine needles and dead grass, a swarm of tiny bugs fly out. The Violet-Green Swallows love it, they've been having a feeding frenzy. They are pretty striking when the sun catches them right.
We're lucky enough to have a mating pair of cardinals in our back yard, but the male is the dumbest bird in the world. He's very territorial and flies into our windows constantly because he sees his reflection. What can I do? It's 8-10 windows on both the first and second floors of my house, so using blankets or trash bags to cover them isn't really an option.
Are cardinals normally territorial? We have a couple of pairs that hang around our yard and I dont think I've ever seen the males going at each other
I saw what I believe was a blue heron for the first time at work this past weekend. They are massive and awesome. Not sure if he was injured or what because he was kind of flying around weirdly and then ended up dropping a dead fish in the middle of a field before flying away in the same uneven sort of way.
Looks about right, but I've only seen the one I described. Your guy appears to be somewhat larger than the one I saw and he looks awesome.
I'm usually right on the Columbia River for work, but sometimes I'm out in the city/suburbs in much different habitats/environments/whatever. I don't know anything about birdwatching, so I don't want to invade on your guys's thread, but I would totally snap pictures and post them if people would be interested
We had our first nuthatch of the year this past weekend. I wasn't close enough to see if it was a red or white breasted but their profile and the inventive way they break open shells are unmistakable.
Had a hail storm here yesterday and ended up with a little smaller than golf ball sized pieces for about 15-20 minutes. After it was over saw a Morning Dove just walking around like a soldier who was shell shocked. He had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Got him in a box and he was there until about 9 PM last night, thought for sure he was dead. He gone this morning unless some random nocturnal bird ate him there is no way anything else could have gotten him. I am just going with he flew away.
On top of this there are a couple of golf courses that are less than 5 miles away, so we get quite a few geese just hanging out. They are cool to watch fly around, and I like them because after being so exposed to people and dogs and who knows what else, they just do not give a fuck. I drove within 10-15 yards of a small group the other day in a Gator, just to buzz the tower a little bit and herd them away from a road. One of the males just stared at me while walking away as slow as possible with his ass facing me, and then he took a shit while staring me down. Edit: Just to be clear, I was driving away so it's not like he was frightened. He just showed me his ass, stared me down, and took a shit right there I wish there was some easy way to tell them apart so I would know if I saw him again, but honestly they all look pretty much the same.
Mourning doves are pretty common here but homeboy was just chilling a foot away from me so I figured I’d post his photo.
I love mourning doves because similar to pigeons, they're relatively comfortable around humans compared with other birds. I have a pair here and there's a bachelor that flies around also. He either lost his mate or likes living the single life.