To see a larger image of any of the birds below, please click on the either the thumbnails or the captions...thanks.

Photo Study Of Some Birds At Barnegat Light and E.B. Forsythe NWR (Brig), February 17th, 2012

    I was able to get to Barnegat yesterday and the tide was low, the temperature was in the 50's and there was no wind. Unfortunately, there were
    no Harlequins, Eiders, Scoters or Loons either. Instead, there were hundreds of Gulls...oh well! I then went to Brig for the afternoon. Here are
    some of the photos (captions in red are from Brig and captions in green are from Barnegat.)

Black-bellied Plover At Barnegat Jetty

Black-bellied Plover At Barnegat

And for comparative purposes here are a few Black-bellied Plover photos taken previously:

Black-bellied Plover In Breeding Plumage At Barnegat , 2011

Black-bellied Plover In Breeding Plumage
Reflecting On Its Black Axillaries, Brig, 2009

Black-bellied Plover Enjoying A Delicious Worm At Barnegat, 2011

     The Black-bellied Plover is North America's largest plover. It breeds in arctic regions and is a long-distance
     migrant with nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. The Black-bellied Plover is about
     10.7 - 11.8 inches long with a wingspan of 28–33 inches, and a weight of 0.4–0.6 lbs (up to 0.75 lbs in
     preparation for migration.) Their breeding habitat is Arctic islands and coastal areas across the northern
     coasts of Alaska, Canada and Russia. They nest on the ground in a dry open tundra with good visibility;
     the nest is a shallow gravel scrape. Four eggs (sometimes only three) are laid in early June, with an
     incubation period of 26–27 days; the chicks fledge when they are 35–45 days old. In migration, they will
     winter in the New World from southwest British Columbia and Massachusetts southward to Argentina and
     Chile. In the western Old World they winter from Britain and southwestern Norway southward throughout
     coastal Africa to South Africa. In the eastern Old World they winter, from southern Japan south through
     coastal southern Asia and Australia, with a few even reaching New Zealand. This bird makes regular
     non-stop transcontinental flights all over Asia, Europe, and North America. It is mostly a very rare vagrant
     on the ground in the interior of continents, only landing occasionally if forced down by either severe
     weather, or to feed as a passage migrant on the coast-like shores of very large lakes such as the Great Lakes.
     Young birds do not breed until two years old; they typically remain on the wintering grounds until their
     second summer. They forage for food on beaches and tidal flats, usually by sight. Their food consists
     mainly of small mollusks, polychaete worms, crustaceans as well as insects. It is less gregarious than other
     Plover species, not forming dense feeding flocks, but instead feeding widely dispersed over beaches, with
     birds well spaced apart. They will, however, roost together in flocks at high tide.
                                                                                       (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds)

Juvenile Herring Gull At Barnegat

Adult Herring Gull At Barnegat

Northern Pintail Drake At Brig

Eastern Bluebird At Brig

Ruddy Turnstone At Barnegat

Dunlin At Barnegat

Yellow-rumped Warbler At Brig

Sunset Hues Of A Northern Harrier At Brig

Species Seen Today:

Snow Goose	Great Blue Heron	Herring Gull
Canada Goose	Turkey Vulture	Great Black-backed Gull
Mute Swan	Northern Harrier	Eastern Phoebe
American Black Duck	American Coot	Carolina Chickadee
Mallard	Black-bellied Plover	Eastern Bluebird
Northern Shoveler	Ruddy Turnstone	European Starling
Northern Pintail	Dunlin	Yellow-rumped Warbler
Double-crested Cormorant	Ring-billed Gull	Red-winged Blackbird

To see a larger image of any of the birds below, please click on the either the thumbnails or the captions...thanks. Please note that
the captions in red show birds photographed at Brigantine and the captions in green show birds photographed at Barnegat Light.


MallardDrake	MallardHen	AmericanBlackDuck	AmericanCoot	NorthernPintailDrake

NorthernPintailHen	NorthernShovelerDrake	SnowGoose	Black-belliedPlover1	Black-belliedPlover2

RuddyTurnstone	Dunlin1	Dunlin2	GreatBlueHeron	HerringGull

Ring-billedGull	JuvenileHerringGull	NorthernHarrier	NorthernHarrier	Red-wingedBlackbird

EasternBluebird1	EasternBluebird2	Yellow-rumpedWarbler