AA-Harlequin1stWinterHarlequinDrake1

Photo Study Of Birds At Barnegat Jetty And E.B. Forsythe NWR (Brig), January 10th, 2012

We were able to spend some time at Barnegat yesterday morning and Brig in the afternoon. While we only saw 38 species, both the beautifully
saturated Winter light and the birds were very kind to us. Here are some of the photos:

Juvenile Little Blue Heron At The Leeds Eco-Trail In Brig

This Beautiful Yellow-eyed 1st Year Cooper's Hawk Was Hanging Out Near Gull Tower At Brig

   Most of us have difficulty identifying and/or differentiating accipiters. In any event,
   the bird above appears large and barrel shaped. It has a rounded tail; a large, reddish
   rectangular head; its eye is positioned forward towards the beak and its belly is
   whitish and not at all streaky...all the field marks of a Cooper's Hawk.

Also, Cornell has a very good write-up to help us tell Sharp-shinned Hawks from
Cooper's Hawks at:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

and, as well, some very good comparative photos at:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterphoto.htm

BTW, before I posted this Study, I checked with two very experienced birders and
they both identified this bird as a Cooper's !

Northern Shoveler Drake In Gull Tower Creek At Brig

Harbor Seal Checking Me Out At The Barnegat Jetty

1st Winter Harlequin Drake At Barnegat

Common Loon At Barnegat

2nd Winter Herring Gull At Barnegat

Ring-necked Pheasant Hen Near Forsythe Nature Center

American Coot Near Southbound Dike At Brig

Female Boat-tailed Grackle At Tuckerton Marsh

Species Seen Today (Green At Barnegat) (Red At Brig):

Snow Goose	Pied-billed Grebe	Great Black-backed Gull
Canada Goose	Common Loon	Herring Gull
Brant	Red-throated Loon	Song Sparrow
American Black Duck	Ring-necked Pheasant	Downy Woodpecker
Mallard	Great Blue Heron	Blue Jay
Northern Shoveler	Little Blue Heron	American Robin
Northern Pintail	Turkey Vulture	European Starling
Green-winged Teal	Bald Eagle	Yellow-rumped Warbler
Long-tailed Duck	Northern Harrier	Common Yellowthroat
Bufflehead	Cooper's Hawk	Northern Cardinal
Hooded Merganser	Red-tailed Hawk	Red-winged Blackbird
Harlequin Duck	American Coot	Boat-tailed Grackle
Mute Swan	Killdeer

To see a larger image of any of the photos below, please click on either the thumbnails or the captions... thanks! Also, please note captions in red
indicate the birds seen at Brig and in green, the birds seen at Barnegat.


1stWinter HarlequinDrake1	1stWinter HarlequinDrake2	1stWinter HarlequinDrake3	HarlequinDrake1	HarlequinDrake2

HarlequinDrakes3	HarlequinDrakes4	HarlequinDrake5	HarlequinDrake6	HarlequinHen1

HarlequinHen2	Long-tailedDuck	AmericanBlackDrake	AmericanCoot	AmericanCoot2

BuffleheadHen	CanadaGeese	CommonLoon1	CommonLoon2	CommonLoon3

Green-wingedTeal	Green-wingedTeal2	Green-wingedTeal3	Green-wingedTealHen	Brant

NorthernPintailDrake	NorthernPintailDrake2	NorthernPintailHen	NorthernPintailHen2	NorthernShovelerHen

Pied-billedGrebe	SnowGeese	SnowGeese2	1stWinterHerringGull	2ndWinterHerringGull

HerringGull	HerringGull2	HerringGullFlies	Boat-tailedGrackleFemale	Boat-tailedGrackleFemales

GreatBlueHeron	LittleBlueHeron	LittleBlueHeron2	HarborSeal	HarborSeal2

Killdeer	1stYearCooper'sHawk	1stYearCooper'sHawk2	1stYearCooper'sHawk3	TurkeyVultureSoars

� Howard B. Eskin 2012 Please click here to email your comments to <hbeskin@voicenet.com> Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index