PA Young Birders Trip Report – Barnegat Light, NJ

Once we got everyone a pair of Nikon binoculars around their necks, we had ample opportunity to practice using optics in the parking lot. Cedar Wawings, American Robins and Yellow-rumped Warblers posed obligingly in the Eastern Red Cedars.

Stepping carefully along the boulders we worked our way towards the end of the jetty seeing many Surf Scoters along the way.  Some flew by at top speed while others bobbed in the swells giving us an opportunity to study both sexes.   On the far side of the inlet Great Cormorants perched on the light tower and rafts of Common Eiders and Black Scoters floated in the surf.

With a cold, stiff wind in our faces on our way back it was hard to view much in the inlet. However we did have a very confiding “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrow sheltered amongst the jetty boulders, and looking for seeds on the sand.