{"id":1055,"date":"2017-01-22T13:19:45","date_gmt":"2017-01-22T13:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2017-01-22T13:19:45","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T13:19:45","slug":"coastal-discoveries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=1055","title":{"rendered":"Coastal Discoveries"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s January, and it’s 50+ degrees-just doesn’t seem right to me! I overheard someone saying yesterday, “I’ll take this weather for January any day.” Nope, not me. On my seasonal calendar, January\u00a0is winter, and winter should include snow and cold temps. That being said, I also took advantage of this mild weather and\u00a0ran for the NJ coast to do some “winter” birding. I focused on two popular state parks-Barnegat Lighthouse SP and Island Beach SP. Both of these sites are an\u00a0easy destination for\u00a0millions of people from the metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia, but not usually in January! They’re much more popular as summer beach trips than winter visits. However, what they lack in human visitors in January (yea!), they more than make up for in feathered visitors!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Barnegat Lighthouse SP sits at the northern tip of Long Beach Island, an 18-mile strip of land dotted with several small towns.The main attraction at the park is\u00a0the lighthouse, which you can climb\u00a0to the lightkeepers catwalk. Once you reach the top (217 steps-172′), you’re rewarded with wonderful views of Long Beach Island, the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay, Barnegat Inlet and Island Beach State Park.\u00a0 You can also watch commercial and recreational\u00a0fishing boats coming in and out all day long.<\/p>\n

The main reason for my visit was to search for winter birds, including many seabirds, gulls and a few shorebirds we normally don’t see in PA. For the most part, I was not disappointed, although I did not realize that hunting season was still in, and there were several duck boats in the inlet shooting up a storm at the passing sea ducks. But, my waterfowl\u00a0list was still pretty good: Harlequin Ducks, Common Eider, Black Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Long-tailed Ducks, Common and Red-throated Loons, Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of my favorites-Long-tailed Ducks-very cool-looking ducks<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Common Goldeneye and Bufflehead (both males)<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A Common Loon prepares its lunch, a fresh caught crab, and Ruddy Turnstones share their barnacles with a Purple Sandpiper<\/em><\/p>\n

Unless you have a boat, to reach Island Beach SP, you must drive about an hour north, cross the bay, then\u00a0wind your way\u00a0back south again\u00a0through the beach towns of Seaside Heights and Seaside Park. IBSP is a preserved barrier island between Barnegat Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s made up of nearly 10 miles of sandy beach, vast sand dunes, thick coastal (low-growing) forests and tidal marshes. Over 400 species of plants have been recorded here, along with plenty of wildlife, including Osprey and Red Fox. Most visitors come to the park to swim, fish, stroll the beaches and even surf. It’s a very popular summer destination.<\/p>\n

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Thousands of Brant winter in Barnegat Bay at IBSP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A brave surfer tests his skills in the chilly Atlantic Ocean at IBSP<\/em><\/p>\n

Although these islands, their many small towns and the two state parks are quiet\u00a0with human visitors in the winter, they’re a very popular destination for many species of wintering birds. I highly recommend a “cold-weather” trip to\u00a0see some of these\u00a0cool critters, and if you really want an extra challenge, climb to the top of the Barnegat Lighthouse. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s January, and it’s 50+ degrees-just doesn’t seem right to me! I overheard someone saying yesterday, “I’ll take this weather for January any day.” Nope, not me. On my seasonal calendar, January\u00a0is winter, and winter should include snow and cold temps. That being said, I also took advantage of this mild weather and\u00a0ran for the … Continue reading Coastal Discoveries<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1082,"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/1082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}