Barnegat Lighthouse & beach

Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Good Fences  

Hubby and I enjoyed an ovenighter to the Jersey Shores.. We started out at Barnegat Lighthouse and beach and then worked our way back down to Atlantic City, New Jersey were we spent the night.

Barnegat Lighthouse and the beach are my go to spot to see the winter ducks..I was a little disappointed with the amount of Harlequin Ducks, usually we would see them all along the rock jetty. This visit we saw a few out in the ocean but nothing like the quantity we saw in past years.

When we checked the weather before leaving they were calling for sunny weather, I think someone goofed.. It was mostly cloudy at Barnegat..My sky and fence shots are of the Barnegat Lighthouse..

Another shot looking back at the lighthouse and a few Savannah Sparrows..also known as Ipswich Sparrow.. a lighter colored Savannah which is seen on the coast..The fences along the jetty wall are there to protect peeps from falling on the rocks and into the water..

Another distant shot of the lighthouse, a few male Harlequin Ducks and bottom right are some Common Eider..

Our cloudy sky at Barnegat Beach.. the wind picked up too. I think the weather arrived a day early.  At least it did not rain, I am looking on the positive side.. We missed seeing a lot of the usual ducks like the Long-tailed Duck and the Scoters.. We left Barnegat Beach and started our drive south again, we made a quick stop at Edwin Forsythe NWR which will be another post.. But, I have a sky shot from the wildlife refuge..

I hope you enjoyed the first part of our getaway and photos.. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments..I hope you enjoyed your visit.

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and check for more fence shots at Tex's Good Fences

Thanks to Theresa @ The Run*A*Round Ranch for hosting Good Fences and thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.  I wish everyone a safe happy healthy NEW YEAR and a great weekend.

Birding the Jersey Shore

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

January 19, 2014

On Thursday, hubby and I went on an overnight visit to the Jersey shore. We drove as far as Barnegat Lighthouse Beach, then we headed south to Edwin Forsythe NWR and our somewhat of a free night at Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.

At the Barnegat Lighthouse beach  we saw the Common Loon, Long-tailed Ducks and Harlequin Ducks. Lots of Scoters, Brants and Sanderlings and gulls.

Two Long-tailed Ducks with a Harlequin duck in the middle.. This was one of the only Harlequins I sighted at Barnegat this visit. In past years I have seen higher counts.  I wonder if something is happening to them?

At Barnegat the Mergansers were plentiful..

Snowy Owl on the roof of the Edwin Forsythe NWR visitor center.

This is this third Snowy Owl I have seen since late November. The first sighting was in Delaware, second sighting was in Maryland and this last Snowy Owl was in New Jersey.. They seem to be everywhere  this winter..

 Above is a view of the sunset from our room, a shot of the Trump tower and the almost full moon.

I am sure I will be doing more on our Jersey shore visit..Including some beautiful sunrise shots for Skywatch Friday..

Thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.
Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit  Mosaic Monday and more
 from  Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

Oregon Critters

My post for Camera Critters  and id-rather-b-birdin have some never ending shots from Oregon. I wanted to post the Sea Lions from the Sea Lion caves and I have some more Oregon Birds.

Besides a lot of Surf Scoters  in the Pacific Ocean we saw lots of Harlequin ducks. We found some Harlequins at the Haystack Rock during the low tide. They seemed comfy laying on the rocks or shells.

Female Harlequin Duck at Cannon Beach

SeaStar (starfish)  at Oswald State park beach.

 They blend in so well, how many Harlequin ducks can you find in this photo? I am not sure if these are mussels, what ever they are they do not look comfy to lay on? I guess the ducks do not mind.

For comparison these are two of the Atlantic Coast  Barnagat beach Harlequins from last winter. You can see the pretty male.

I am used to seeing the beautiful Harlequin ducks on the Atlantic Ocean during the winter months on the Jersey Shore.

Sea Lions in the Sea Lion cave near Yachats, Oregon

Sea Lions outside the cave.

One of the many cute baby gulls that we saw on Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach.

A Cute Pigeon Guillemot, they are not related to pigeons. The Guillemot is a seabird.

To see more cute and wonderful critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Also, thanks to Anni I am linked up with I'd-rather-b-birdin  Thanks to Misty and Anni for hosting these fun critters meme. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

Jersey Shore Birding

I am linking up with Mosaic Monday  and  Our World Tuesday

Having off work Friday ( a mental health day) and a forecast of beautiful weather convinced hubby and I to head to the Jersey shores for some birding. Our first stop were the beaches at Avalon-Stone Harbor and then we headed north to Barnegat Lighthouse.

Here are some of the highlights from Friday the first day of our visit to New Jersey.

The first shot is of the sunrise at we headed across the Delaware Memorial bridge, in the second photo are hundreds of Sanderlings on the beach at Avalon, the last shot above.. a few Brants at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Sanderlings and seagulls a plenty on the Jersey beaches.

Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones(orange legs) seen along the jetty.

Brants walking along the beach at Barnegat. Winter time is a great time for viewing the ducks along the coast. I do think this warm weather we have been having lately is having an affect on the numbers of ducks we are use to seeing in the winter. I am loving this warm weather and I hope it continues thru January.

In the mosaic above are shots of the Barnegat Lighthouse, A few Purple Sandpipers at the Stone Harbor jetty, a Common Loon and a group of Long-tailed ducks at Barnegat Lighthouse.

Above, a Harlequin couple seen at Barnegat.

The Long-tailed ducks seen at Barnegat. Barnegat Lighthouse beach is known as a great place for birders to see some great ducks like the Long-Tailed, Brants and the Harlequins. We also saw Common Eider, tons of Common Loons and Surf Scotors.

To see more wonderful mosaics and photos please visit Mary's Mosaic Monday and  Our World Tuesday.  Thanks to Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World: Sylvia, Sandy, Lady Fi, Gattina and Arija.

Thank you for visiting my blog and post and for the lovely comments. I hope everyone has a great week ahead and Happy Birding.

Harlequin ducks

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday and  Nature Notes

The Harlequins are one of my favorite ducks. They are being seen all along the Atlantic coastline from Maryland to the New Jersey shores. This duck has a beautiful pattern of cinnamon and cobalt blue colors. You can also see white stripes on its head and breast and a white spot at its ear. The female has a round white spot behind her ear.

 
They breed in some fast moving river in Canada and the Pacific Northwest and winter along the rocky coastlines.
 

 
 
 
To see more wonderful birds check out World Bird Wednesday and for
more nature photos and post please visit Nature Notes.  Thanks to both Springman and Michelle for hosting these fun memes. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my post.

I hope everyone has a great week and Happy Birding!!!

Just ducky

First, I want to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day!


This weekend hubby and I visited the Barnegat lighthouse and state park to see the ducks. Winter is the time to really see some great ducks like the Harlequin and the Long tailed Ducks.

Long Tailed Ducks...the male has a white head with a brown neck patch and dark wings. They breed in the northernmost Canadaian and Alaskan tundra. It is great that some spend the winters on the Atlantic coast.

Harlequin Ducks....the male has white stripes on head and chest and a white spot at ear. They also breed in northeastern Canada and the Pacific northwest and winter around rocky areas on the coast.

Barneget Lighthouse

I am link up my Just Ducky post with Mosaic Monday   and That's My World  Click on the links to visit these fun memes.

A visit to the Jersey shore

Check out the Friday Ark to see more wonderful birds and other animals.



Hubby and I visited the Jersey shore this past Sunday and an overnight stop in Atlantic City.  I had fun checking out the ducks and shorebirds at Barnaget and hubby had a little fun playing poker in AC. So we both got to do something we like to do although my type of fun is free. I have some photos to show of the ducks I saw and my header shot of of the Barnaget beach. This is a great spot to see ducks up close and different kinds of ducks and shorebirds. I saw the Harlequins, Brants, Common Eider, Surf Scoters, Long Tailed Ducks and some others I am trying to id.

                                 Harlequin Ducks

                                   These are just some of the Brants

A row of ducks...Brant, Common Eider (lifer) and a Harlequin

Surf Scoters

Long Tailed ducks

Purple Sandpiper

Wednesday are wonderful days for memes another great one to visit is Michelle's Nature Notes

To see more wonderful Outdoor Wednesday photos click here Susan's Outdoor Wednesday

Thanks to  Michelle and Susan for hosting these fun memes.

To see more Watery Wednesday entries, please click on my link.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting Water Wednesday