Dawn

[The distinctive silhouette of a Yellow-crowned Night-heron perched on a dock rail near Avalon at dawn - longer legs than a Black-crowned, with a solid, heavier bill. Saturday July 7, 2012, Stite's Sound, NJ.]

'"You'll hate me at 4:30 and love me at 6:00." These were the words used to convince my companions that the best way to enjoy Saturday outdoors was to be on the water at dawn, and off the water before the crazy heat and crazy boaters took control. And that's what we did, putting our kayaks in by 5:30 a.m and paddling down to Towsend's Inlet, near the site of the Avalon seawatch, and back around through Stite's Sound, getting off the water by noon, when the mercury had already climbed to 99 degrees.

[First summer Black-bellied Plover, Stite's Sound mudlfats at dawn on Saturday.]

 We encountered a few dozen southbound migrant shorebirds, mainly Short-billed Dowitchers but also Least Sandpipers, both Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a few Black-bellied Plovers. All of the latter were in non-breeding plumage and presumed first-summer birds - individuals that likely didn't make it all the way to their Canadian breeding grounds, or if they did, did not actually breed. Southbound post-breeding adults will show much more breeding plumage.

 [Adult breeding Common Tern, leaving its Stite's Sound breeding colony on Saturday to find a mummichog or other fish for its offspring. Common Terns at this season can be told from Forster's "easily" by the gray of their underparts - Forster's are white below in all seasons.]

Yes, there are greenhead flies and mud in the back bays, but the rich life draws naturalists back again and again. Tern colonies, gull colonies, heron colonies, shorebird-riddled mudflats, banks packed with ribbed mussels, Ospreys overhead, fish swirling beneath, grunting sentinel Clapper Rails - the coastal cornucopia.
 

[Gull-billed Tern near Stite's Sound north of the Avalon Causeway on Saturday. Long-winged, short-tailed, very white, and of course the black, heavy bill.]

Near one Forster's Tern colony we saw multiple Gull-billed Terns and heard more "ka-ruck" ing (the call is higher than a Black Skimmer's but similar). Presumably at least a few pairs of Gull-billeds are nesting among the Forster's north of the Avalon Causeway.

 [Forster's Tern perched near a nest, situated typically on"wrack" - piles of debris from dead vegetation thrown up on the high marsh by the highest spring tides.]

[At work we're developing a salt marsh exhibit, and needed to collect dozens of Ribbed Mussel shells to depict the salt marsh bank and the mussel's role in stabilizing it. Inside one dead mussel we found this little female Fiddler Crab.]

Thoughtful Thursday

 [Widow Skimmer, big pond at Cox Hall Creek WMA, NJ.]

“It's hard for the modern generation to understand Thoreau, who lived beside a pond but didn't own water skis or a snorkel.” - Bill Vaughn

Would have loved to read Thoreau's thoughts on jet skis . . . . I must say, it's been gratifying during this very hot week to find kids from the nearby Villas swimming and playing in and out of a rowboat in the big pond at Cox Hall Creek WMA. I supposed such activity is technically not allowed there ("dangerous," no lifeguard, it's a WMA not a swimming beach. . .) - which just proves Richart Louv is right. Happily I haven't seen anyone hassling them.

[Northern Water Snake, big pond at Cox Hall Creek WMA, in which not only kids but I and a certain very warm-blooded Chesapeake Bay Retriever have been spending much time of late.]

Patriotic Pine Siskin

[Pine Siskin, Del Haven, Cape May County, NJ this afternoon, July 4. The buffy wingbars and wash to the body, limited yellow, and the uniform good condition of the flight feathers indicate that this is a hatch year bird - but it could be one that flew here from several hundred miles away.]

Yesterday evening, July 3, we were getting ready to eat dinner before checking out the North Cape May fireworks (see below), and Michael O'Brien looked out at our bird bath and said, "Hey, Don, did you know you have a Pine Siskin in your yard?"

Well, no, I didn't. The excuse is, I feel like I'm never home to see what goes on here, especially in the aftermath of the recent "Direcho" storm, which had me scrambling at work to take care of employees, people, buildings and trails over the weekend.

The bird disappeared before anyone, including Michael, got a really good look, but after dinner it reappeared, this time at the thistle feeder. A siskin it was, and it continues at the house feeders today, July 4. Does this foretell a big siskin year?

[Pine Siskin, July 3, Del Haven NJ. I often describe siskins as "streaked goldfinches."]

Pine Siskins are generally unexpected in summer in NJ, but there are a few breeding records for the state, which have typically followed winters with siskin incursions. Last winter was not one of these. It's open to conjecture as to why this one showed up, and where it is from.

Wordless (4th of July) Wednesday - Part 2

Wordless Wednesday