Winter Birding in New Jersey, USA – PART TWO

Following on from the earlier post, which covered the sea duck, this final trip post covers the remaining birds, mainly passerines, but also includes gulls and a few more sea duck just for good measure! During our week in New Jersey and in addition to Barnegat and Avalon, we spent some time visiting various reserves around the Cape May Peninsular. Reserves such as Edwin B Forsythe (Brigantine), Cape May, Stone Harbor, Nummy's Island, Jakes Landing, Heislerville and Cox Hall Creek. These reserves were all huge habitat areas, with a wide variety of species to look for.

In addition to the sea ducks, which were our main target species, there were many passerines on offer and so a variety of habitats were visited. Winter is also a good time for birds of prey. Snowy Owl was on our list, but unfortunately the birds that were around in January, seemed to have dispersed and despite all our efforts, we never managed to re-locate one. However we did manage American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Turkey and Black Vulture, Peregrine, Bald Eagle, Merlin and Rough-legged Buzzard.

Cox Hall Creek provided a variety of woodland birds and a selection of ducks on the freshwater lake that, fortunately, was not frozen out. Black Duck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser and Ruddy Duck were all present.

Visiting the various reserves, we found – Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Bluebird, Blue Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren and Myrtle Warbler. Several species of sparrow, Red Cardinal, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cedar Waxwing and 100's of American Robin, the list goes on.

I had a fantastic time birding in this area of the USA and quite honestly, I can't wait to go back. When, who knows, but it will be equally as stunning, I just know it…

I make no appologies for the list of photographs to follow – it was difficult sorting through some 3000 images, but hopefully I got a few half decent shots. My thanks go to Glyn Sellors, Richard Pitham and Mike Richardson for their company and photographic advice during the week. A superb Trip Report has been produced by Glyn and a copy has been posted on the Surfbirds website – www.surfbirds.com

 

Common Loon (Great Northern Diver) adult winter – Barnegat Jetty, NJ,USA – Tony Davison©

Common Loon (Great Northern Diver) moulting adult  – Barnegat Jetty, NJ,USA – Tony Davison©

Great Blue Heron – Heislerville, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Pair of Black Duck – Cox Hall Creek, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©©

Black Duck – female – Heislerville, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Redhead and American Wigeon – Cox Hall Creek, NJ, USa – Tony Davison©

Above two – Ring-necked Duck – Cox Hall Creek – Tony Davison©

Long-tailed Duck – Adult female winter – note bill colour and white face – Barnegat Jetty, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Black Scoter – drake – Barnegat Jetty, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Turkey Vulture – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Red-tailed Hawk – 1st year, light phase – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Bonaparte's Gull – adult winter – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Bonaparte's Gull – adult winter – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Ring-billed Gull – adult winter – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Ring-billed Gull – adult winter – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Mourning Dove – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Red-bellied Woodpecker – female – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – Cox Hall Creek, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Downy Woodpecker (Eastern) – female – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Downy Woodpecker (Eastern) – male – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Tufted Titmouse (Northern) – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Carolina Chickadee – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Carolina Wren (Northern) – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Ruby-crowned Kinglet – adult –  Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Eastern Bluebird – male – Heislerville, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Eastern Bluebird – possible drab female – Heislerville, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Above three images – American Robin – Barnegat, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

 

Above seven images – Hermit Thrush – Barnegat, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Hermit Thrush – Cox Hall Creek, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Above two images – Northern Mockingbird – Barnegat Jetty, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Northern Mockingbird – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Cedar Waxwing – 1st winter – Barnegat – NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

 

Above four images – Cedar Waxwing – adult – Barnegat, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Above two images – Myrtle Warbler – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Northern Cardinal – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Chipping Sparrow – Cox Hall Creek, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Above three images – White-throated Sparrow – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Fox Sparrow – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Above four images – Song Sparrow – various locations – Tony Davison©

Common Grackle – immature – Barnegat, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

House Finch – male – Cape May, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©

Bald Eagle – adult – Stone Harbor, NJ, USA – Tony Davison©