Feathers and Scales: A Great Day at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park

On 2/17/14 my mom, my aunt, my brother and I went to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park for the day. As soon as we parked in the park's parking lot, we saw a Hermit Thrush on the fence right in front of our car and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers. As soon as we got on to the jetty, the first bird I saw was an adult female Long-tailed Duck followed by an adult male Red-breasted Merganser.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Adult female Long-tailed Duck

Adult male Red-breasted Merganser

After this, we watched an adult male Surf Scoter fly in and land near us. We also got good looks at a very close adult female Red-breasted Merganser and a very close adult Common Loon that showed us his spectacular red eye in the sun light.

Female Red-breasted Merganser shaking out its feathers

Female Red-breasted Merganser

Adult Common Loon close to the jetty

Adult Common Loon zoomed on red eye

Further down the jetty, I saw my first male Long-tailed Duck of the day, but it was only an immature male, and I also spotted a lifer Red-necked Grebe far out off of the jetty. I soon lost sight of the Red-necked Grebe but kept heading down the jetty. A few minutes later I saw the Red-necked Grebe again, but this time it was very close to the jetty. I crept up on the grebe and got only about five to ten feet away from it.

Immature Male Long-tailed Duck

Red-necked Grebe

We soon then after saw a large group of Harlequin ducks further down the jetty. They put on quite a show being only five feet away in the bright sunlight. They would swim around and splash their wings in the water and hop on and off of the rocks. I also saw one eating muscles from on a rock.

Harlequin Duck Bathing

Harlequin Duck Swimming

Harlequin Duck posing on the rocks

Harlequin Duck eating muscles off of the rocks

Once we got out to the very end of the jetty, I saw only my second and third adult male Long-tailed Duck along with a (new for the day) Horned Grebe and again saw the Red-necked Grebe. I also finally got a picture of Harlequin Ducks in flight.

Red-necked Grebe (left) Horned Grebe (right)

Adult male Long-tailed Duck

Harlequin Ducks Flying

On the way back to the main beach, we saw many Dunlin, a Black-bellied Plover, and a few Brant in shallow pool from the water coming from the ocean seeping through the cracks of the large rocks forming the jetty. We also saw four White-winged Scoters fly by us to give us all three species of scoter for the day. I also got great looks of a Great Cormorant and a large flock of Purple Sandpipers.