Last call for winter wildlife watching on Jersey coast
2024 Summer Camp Guide
2024 Summer Camp Guidep

Community News

Last call for winter wildlife watching on Jersey coast
2/22/2018 Volume XLVIII, No. 8

Record-breaking warm temperatures may be welcome to humans, but for wildlife it’s still winter.

Late February and early March are great for wildlife watching in New Jersey, especially along the coast. Winter migrants from the north are still here, and longer daylight means more sightings of seals and birds that haven’t yet returned to their spring breeding grounds.

Grab your binoculars and field guide, and get out to watch our winter species!

Seals – Seals are the only mammals to migrate to New Jersey for the winter, coming from New England and points north to follow mackerel, herring and squid. A great place to see harbor, gray, harp and hooded seals is the Sandy Hook section of Gateway National Recreation Area. Take a walk along the bay beach at low tide, and you may see upward of 100 seals “hauling out” to rest on offshore sandbars. Look for seals with a naturalist on Sandy Hook on Sunday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to noon; call the Sandy Hook Visitor Center at 732-872-5970 for details.

Snowy owls – Fans of Harry Potter know that Harry’s trusty bird, Hedwig, is a snowy owl. These gorgeous owls, with their white faces and startling yellow eyes, are native to the arctic but often head south for the winter in search of food. In the past month, snowy owls were sighted at many points along New Jersey’s coast, including Cape May, Stone Harbor, Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, Island Beach State Park, Sandy Hook and Liberty State Park. 

Loons – These large diving birds swim underwater to catch small fish. In the summer, they live in Canada and the northern states, but move south in the fall seeking more plentiful food. On a winter day in New Jersey, you may spot common and red-throated loons in bays, lakes and estuaries - or even in the ocean, just past the breakers. You’ll be amazed at how long they can stay underwater before surfacing for air! Loons rarely set foot on land, and need a long “runway” to get from the water into the air.

Tundra swans – As their name implies, tundra swans nest on the arctic tundra and come south to New Jersey in winter. Find wintering flocks on large bodies of water, especially estuaries and protected coastal waters. You can also spot them on the reservoirs of the Franklin Parker Preserve and Whitesbog in the Pine Barrens. Tundra swans utter plaintive, toot-like whistles, hence their former name: whistling swans.

Northern gannets – With spear-like beaks and pointed tails, Northern gannets plunge spectacularly into the sea from 100 feet in the air. Their summer breeding home is coastal Canada and Maine, but they’re often seen in great numbers off our beaches in the winter. From time to time, lucky birders can glimpse what one videographer described as a “waterfall” of gannets diving into the Atlantic all at once.

Snow geese – Like tundra swans, snow geese breed in the arctic in summer and are found in the Garden State in winter. Spot them in plowed cornfields or wetlands, and also in lakes, ponds and marshes. For years, they’ve descended upon Warren County, especially around the areas of Merrill Creek Reservoir, the Musconetcong River valley, and Lopatcong Creek.

Other winter waterfowl include ducks like buffleheads, redheads, canvasbacks, Northern pintails and long-tailed ducks; red-breasted, hooded and common mersansers; scoters and scaup; and brant geese. You may also see razorbills, a common diving seabird spotted off ocean beaches.

So how do you find winter birds? It helps to know where they’ve been spotted recently, and it’s okay to cheat! The eBird website, where thousands of dedicated birders report their sightings, is a great resource. To see recent New Jersey sightings, go to https://ebird.org/nj/region/US-NJ?yr=all. The New Jersey Audubon Society is a regional partner in this worldwide reporting system.

Not confident in your bird identification skills? Check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website at www.allaboutbirds.org for a comprehensive online guide to birds and bird-watching.  The National Audubon Society also offers a great online guide at www.audubon.org/bird-guide, as well as a free smartphone app.

Don’t miss our winter wildlife while they’re still here! Soon enough, they’ll be replaced by “neo-tropical migrants,” birds that breed in New Jersey summers but spend their winters in Central and South America.

And to learn more about preserving New  Jersey’s land and natural resources, visit the New Jersey Conservation website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org.

POSTS

Still the Garden State!

Protect New Jersey's wildlife homes

Preserved lands protect clean air and water

To tree or not to tree?

Hard cider in the Garden State

Turkey Time

American shad return to New Jersey river after 173 years

Act now to avoid worst climate impacts

NJ Natural Lands Trust celebrates 50 years

Must love bats!

Move and improve your health!

Renewable energy: Save money and our land, water, air and health

Speak up for endangered species!

Save the bugs!

Check out New Jersey's fall bird migration

A little bit of respect...for native plants!

Explore New Jersey's wildflower meadows

All aboard floating classrooms

Catch the Perseids meteor shower!

Check out the 'fun' in fungi

Too hot to think? Studies shows heat affects your brain

Love NJ's outdoors? Take action now!

New Jersey's official reptile, the bog turtle

Sea level rise and New Jersey: Not perfect together

These New Jersey plants have an appetite for insects

Explore the Pine Barrens through paddles, hikes and tours

Like to jog? 'Plog' instead and keep NJ clean

Love Jersey fruit? Thank our native pollinators!

Good news for globally rare swamp pink lilies

Say cheese! Remote cameras aid wildlife research

Begone, single-use plastic bags!

3,000 birds and counting for 'bluebird grandfather'

The Pine Barrens gets some help from its friends

A clean energy future for New Jersey

Cowtown and rare grassland birds, perfect together

Fight light pollution during International Dark Sky Week

New film tells story of how Petty's Island was saved

Ten years of nipping invasive species in the bud

Welcome spring in a county park

Go for a walk and feel better!

Grab a friend and go outside

Recycle your way to zero waste!

Last call for winter wildlife watching on Jersey coast

Without its 'understory' layer, the forest will collapse

From whale songs to poetry, a remarkable journey

A cleaner, greener New Jersey

Let's keep New Jersey the Garden State, not the Pipeline State

New Jersey's winter hikes

'Trees don't vote' but Byrne saved Pine Barrens anyway

Governor-elect Murphy should set new course on the environment

ARCHIVE

December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011

CLICK FOR RECENT POSTS