Stone Harbor, NJ
ctaylor@seamail.nos.noaa.gov
Mon, 29 Jun 98 15:07:25 -0500
Visited Stone Harbor NJ this last week.
Tuesday morning, while my husband's folks and he collected shells, I went a
birding. Too foggy other mornins (only there 3 days).
We went to the infamous "Point" located approximately 120th street, at extreme
low tide.
There was an area roped off for Least terns which I couldn't get close enough to
to count nests, but at least 30 were airborne at once. I assume the nests were
guarded by others since a Peregrin Falcon was sitting atop a large dead tree
just above the colony, while being harrassed by a barn swallow. I saw at least
one crab near the nests from long distance on a grey day.
Besides the usual suspects:
120+ Black Skimmers
1 very tame Brant (ocean side) almost swam up to my husband.
3-4 oyster catchers
A few Osprey flybys
Just across the way, we thought we spotted some Great Egrets in the old Bird
Santuary (abandoned for unknown reasons by the local heron colonies), but they
turned out to be decoys. They aren't working!
Happy Birding,
Chris Taylor