Birding Shark River

     On March 7th, 2015, I went to Shark River Inlet to search for all the duck species that were being seen there.  The main goal was a Eurasian Wigeon that had been hanging out in the marina for a while.  When we got down there, we stopped at the first spot along the loop of the marina.  We immediately saw Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Horned Grebes, Brant, Common Loon, Ruddy Ducks, American Black Ducks, and a Lesser Scaup. 

Horned Grebe

Ruddy Duck

Hooded Merganser

Hooded Merganser

 

 

 

     After stopping at a few more spots with no luck, including the spot where the Eurasian Wigeon had been seen, we stopped at a bridge with many ducks around it.  We walked up onto the bridge and looked around for all of the ducks.  There were Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead, and American Black Ducks on one side, and Canvasbacks, Hooded Mergansers, and Red-breasted Mergansers on the other side.

Canvasback

Canvasbacks and Hooded Merganser

Canvasbacks

 

 

 

     After stopping at a few other locations of the marina with the same species, we went out to the inlet jetty to look for ocean ducks.  The inlet was surprisingly empty, just producing a few Common Loons and Red-breasted Mergansers.

     We finished up the day by stopping at one final location along the marina and getting an amazing show of thousands of Brant all lifting off at the same time, and a few American Wigeon that came a bit closer.

American Wigeon