SPRING BIRDS AT BARNEGAT BAY

      Long Beach Island is a long, narrow barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay along the New Jersey seacoast.  That bay, like all backwaters off oceans, has salt water.  And Barnegat Bay stretches 42 miles, north and south,  between some of Jersey's protective, mostly-sandy barrier islands and its mainland.  Barrier islands protect backwaters, salt marshes and the mainland from the wind-driven ravages of the ocean.    

     Harvey Cedars is a town on Long Beach Island.  And that town stretches across the barrier island, from ocean to bay.  

    A small, remnant salt marsh lies between that town and Barnegat Bay.  A freshwater stream flows through the marsh and empties into Barnegat Bay.  That stream attracts several kinds of thirsty, salt marsh and bay birds the year around.  Small fish live in the stream and phragmites and clumps of tall grass grow along the stream and through the marsh.  And there are little patches of sandy beaches and mud flats along the bay shoreline.     

     A live camera is mounted on an osprey nest on a high platform.  Through that live camera and our computer screen, I see much of Barnegat Bay, the salt marsh and some of the critters that live in those habitats.  

     I have spotted several kinds of migrating, fish-eating birds along Barnegat Bay, and in the salt marsh during the spring of 2025.  I saw a few each of great blue herons, great egrets and snowy egrets, and one each of tri-colored heron, little blue heron and black-crowned night heron.  All those herons and egrets stopped at the stream in the marsh to catch and feed on the small fish in that little waterway.  It was interesting to see each long-legged, long-necked bird stalking carefully, step by step, in the stream, then suddenly lunge out its lengthy neck and beak to snare a finny victim, toss it into its throat and gulp it down. 

     Other kinds of fish-eating birds at Barnegat Bay in spring include a nesting pair of ospreys and several common terns.  Both species scan the bay from the sky and dive to the water when they spot potential prey near its surface.  Ospreys plunge their eight talons into the water to grab large fish such as flounder and striped bass, while the terns snare small fish with their beaks.  Both species sometimes miss catching prey, but they keep trying until they are successful.  

     Starlings and house sparrows seemed interested in building cradles among the sticks in the sides of the osprey nursery.  A few each of those alien species were exploring among those sticks every time I was watching the little marsh and its wildlife with the help of the live camera erected there.  

     The ospreys' nesting was unsuccessful.  Because the male left the area for a few days, the setting female had to leave her three eggs unprotected so she could catch fish for herself.  Meanwhile, a herring gull ate her unprotected eggs.  It's not likely those ospreys will try to nest again this year.

     Herring gulls, ring-billed gulls and several black-headed, summering laughing gulls live along Barnegat Bay in spring.  These birds are scavengers, mostly, eating almost anything lying about.  But they also catch small fish near the water's surface.  And the laughing gulls nest on the ground in nearby, larger salt marshes.  The laughing gulls' cries are symbolic of the Atlantic Coast in spring and summer.  

     Its interesting to watch gulls waiting near ospreys as those fish hawks feed on the large fish they caught.  The gulls are watching for scraps that fall away from the fish as the ospreys dine.  

     There are a few Canada goose families of mated pairs and their goslings in this salt marsh.  Canadas are adaptable and use many salt marshes, large and small, to raise their young.       

     A few kinds of sandpipers and plovers, including short-billed dowitchers, least sandpipers, black-bellied plovers and others,  stop to rest and feed on invertebrates on the small beaches and mud flats of Barnegat Bay in spring.   But willets, a large kind of sandpiper, nest on the ground in salt marshes of the Jersey coast, and elsewhere along the Atlantic Shores.  Willets have large, white patches on their wings that are as visible as banners when those birds fly.    

     A few pairs of red-winged blackbirds nest among the phragmites and tall grasses in this marsh along Barnegat Bay.  Male red-wings are black with striking, red shoulder patches.  Females of the species are brown and dark-streaked, like sparrows.  Its always amusing to see one or two male red-wings attacking an osprey or other larger bird that innocently gets too near a red-wing nursery anchored in tall grass.  

     This tiny salt marsh was big in the inspirations I had in watching for wildlife in it this spring.  I will continue to watch it through this summer for more natural dramas.

     

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