Whatbird.com

My boyfriend and I have just gotten back from our first official trip to The Great Swamp wildlife refuge. We got some flyers there last night at sunset. While we were there, we took a small walk on one of the nearby trails to check it out. I love nature, but I actually haven’t been out IN nature a whole lot… so as the sunlight left, my fear of the sudden and loud rustling sounds increased. Suddenly I saw movement in the dusky light… there it was, right in front of me!  Thankfully my “bear” turned out to be a squirrel. ^_^ Evening, the next day we left for the refuge.  We were hoping to see some exciting birds listed as “common” in spring at the swamp, like kestrels (nesting), wood ducks (nesting), all sorts of hawks, great horned owls (nesting, I think), and blue birds (neither one of us has ever seen one). 

We got there and saw some vocal red-winged black birds on the board walk trail.  Red-wings are pretty common, but still make me happy – since I only first saw them last year. Then we got to see many turtles, research at home revealed that they were painted turtles.  Most were smallish but not tiny, say about 4 to 5 inches long, swimming around, eating green algae looking stuff (very exciting!), but even more exciting was the massive snapping turtle that some kind people pointed out to us as we walked by. Its tiny nose was poking out of the water, its head was the size of a very large orange, and I would barely be able to put my arms around its shell (not that’d I’d try!!!).  It was awesome!  Nothing too exciting at the first bird blind we came to, beautiful scenery, two Canada Geese and a bumble bee that seemed to like me a lot more than I liked it. We followed another trail towards a second bird blind and got to see a chipmunk (adorable) and hear lots of mysterious bird calls along the way. Soon, we were seeing lots of movement in the trees – tufted titmouses (titmice?), some sort of woodpecker (didn’t visually ID, but heard the calls and wood pecking noises), white breasted nuthatches, and more red-winged blackbirds. This second blind (“Friends”) has a pretty view, but only two Canada geese. On our way back to find a third trail, I photographed a bird I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It might have been a tufted titmouse, but the beak seemed thinner and it seemed smaller overall. I immediately suspected some sort of vireo, but I’ve only seen them in books. (I’ve posted the picture to my gallery) We continued backtracking when my boyfriend spotted something big moving through the water – a beaver? No, a muskrat eating / gathering swamp grasses, as another kind group of refuge visitors let us know. We saw a few more muskrats (fantastic) and went to the final trail for the day – the boardwalk trail. When we had arrived, we saw a photographer with a MASSIVE lens on this trail, and he was pointing straight down. I went over to that spot to see if whatever he was taking pictures of was still there. Sure enough, a long, beautiful brown colored snake lay still in the thick, muddy water. Next to him were brave (or foolish) toads just starting to belt out short, quick groans. At the final bird blind of the day, we saw some song sparrows, a possible blue bird streaking by (doesn’t count), and more red-winged black birds.

Well, we didn’t see the birds we were hoping to see, but we ended up seeing a lot of wildlife we weren’t expecting (even though it is a swamp, snakes in NJ just never occurred to me). It was a very nice day and I’m looking forward to going out there again soon.

I set out to write this blog with excitement, but now I have to write a potentially tragic story.

My boyfriend and I went to Sandy Hook yesterday.  Across the street from the visitor center (on the bayside) we were thrilled to see not one, not two but 4 Ospreys seemingly battling it out over a favored nest box. They dove at each other, landed on the nest, chased each other away, flew directly over head repeatedly (I thought one was going to drop a fish on me), and gave us the thrill of our lives. I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but as I found out, Ospreys are FAST. It was a wonderful day and also included red-winged black birds, a few egrets too far to identify (they were white though), a lone bufflehead, and hundreds of birds in the distance.  There might have been more birds we could have identified, but we were VERY distracted by the Ospreys chasing each other over our heads. We even got to meet several, very kind birders, who told us about seal sightings in the area, a wild great horned owl in Manasquan that’s easy to find, and a nest of bald eagles also in Manasquan (my bf and I gotta go to Manasquan!).  We chatted about the Osprey’s behavior, their fishing ability in our murky waters, their repeated nesting pattern at this site and how they come back on some precise day in March each year.  The day ended with a 2GB SD card filled with photos, a sunset, and a pair of excited yet contented souls.

Then I got home… and looked at the pictures. One of the Ospreys – that was oddly NOT carrying a fish like all the others seemed to be, had its foot tangled up in fishing line!  There’s a fishing hook flying behind it! Horrified, I confirmed with other pictures of the same Osprey that it wasn’t just a trick of the light. I quickly got the number to the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory and the Raptor Trust. I called the SHBO first, and they were very kind and concerned. They gave me the park ranger’s number – as the rangers would be the ones doing the actual rescuing. I called the Park Rangers and told them what I saw. They told me that they can’t do anything unless the Osprey can’t fly or gets stuck to the nest box. They told me that they’ve had to rescue chicks from the nest in previous years because they were tangled up in fishing line. They told me that if the fishing line has wrapped so tightly around the osprey’s foot that it has cut into the tendon – it can develop “bumble foot” and will have to be put down. When I asked if maybe the Raptor Center in Millington could take an Osprey with bumble foot, they told me that the Raptor Trust are the ones who euthanize bumble-footed osprey’s… because they don’t have the ability to care for them. Finally, they told me they’d keep an eye on the Osprey – to see if it gets stuck and can be rescued … and when I asked if there’s anything I can do or if I could be contacted with how this story turns out, they told me that I could keep going out there and monitor it myself, but they’ll look out for signs of trouble too. I realize they’re busy and probably don’t have time to contact me about an Osprey, but I’m also bummed I might not find out what happened to it if it disappears.

I’m pretty miserable. I want to try to get out there again today (instead of adventuring around, looking for Manasquan), but I don’t know if I can – as my cat has become very sick and probably needs to be taken to our vet. I probably don’t need to ask this fine bunch of birders, but just in case – if you see any fishing line, anywhere… would you please pick it up, cut it up and recycle it / throw it away in small pieces. If you know any anglers, please ask them to do so as well. I’ve included a picture of my tangled Osprey in my album. Let’s all hope for the best.

UPDATE: We went back to Sandy Hook the next day. A pair of Osprey had won the disputed nest, and when they took to flight we noticed one had something in it's claws. It was big, we thought it was a stick - but it was a long piece of fishing net. ARGH! They flew out of sight and luckily when they came back, the fishing net was no longer with them. They both seemed OK. The other two Osprey - including the one tangled with fishing line - were nowhere to be seen. We checked the other two nesting sights, and some other favored nesting areas - but no Osprey's. I hope to go check again soon.

My boyfriend and I went birding at Sandy Hook, NJ Monday - hoping to see lots of migrating raptors and sparrows. I saw plenty of raptors on the road TO Sandy Hook, but there weren't even any vultures around this day.  We saw a lot of gulls, some Canada geese, a small flock of brants and some birds far in the distance that looked an awful lot like red-breasted mergansers. The brants and mergansers were particularly exciting, as I've only seen them once before.

 I got a lot of pictures anyway (I'll be posting some in my album, not of the mergansers though as it was too dark), and at around sunset we ran into this charming couple that told us they had been birding for 27 years. They helped us identify the gulls, recommended some field guides that are small enough to carry (I have the Smithsonian which I love but it's very big!), and told us that they were going to stick around in the parking lot till dusk, because apparently it was right time to catch the glimpses and sounds of the American woodcock's mating ritual (March 1 through the 20th). I never even heard of the woodcock before so we waited with them. It was pretty dark already when we heard the bird's raspberry calls turn into the winding chirps which I learned meant that the birds had flown up into the sky and were spiraling down to earth.  Unfortunately, it was so dark that all we actually got to SEE were a few "nerf football" shaped birds flittering overhead.  That of course means no pictures... We were soon shooed away by the Park Rangers though, as the park closes at sunset. Oops!  It was still a very nice experience. I didn't get their names, but I'm grateful to that kind couple for making a semi-uneventful birding trip end on an extra special note. ^_^