Wild New Jersey Exclusive: Sandy Hook Century Run finds 143 species of birds in single day
New Jersey Audubon senior naturalist Scott Barnes, center, leads the tour.
All photos by David Wheeler, Edison Wetlands Association.
The Sandy Hook Bird Observatory and New Jersey Audubon led a public tour on May 9, as part of the 26th annual statewide World Series of Birding. Senior naturalist Scott Barnes led the 16-hour-long count, spanning beach dunes, bayside marshes, wooded North Pond, bayberry thickets, and the locust grove. The highlights included two Mississippi kites, four chuck-wills-widows, pine siskins, and a tricolored heron. Wild New Jersey's David Wheeler accompanied the group for its earliest leg, at 5:30 AM under a dark blue pre-dawn sky.
"Today's Sandy Hook Century Run enjoyed a wide variety of migrants and better than expected weather conditions," said Barnes. "We tallied an excellent total of 134 species for the day. Other birders on the hook that we spoke to found at least 9 additional species that our group didn't see, bringing the hook's cumulative list to 143."
Not counted were the Fowler's toad in the prickly pear clearing, or the Eastern cottontails spotted along the way. No, this wasn't a World Series of Toading.
For more information on the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory, click here.
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 5/13/2009 12:00 PM 
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Birds
Tags: New Jersey Audubon World Series of Birding Sandy Hook Bird Observatory Scott Barnes Sandy Hook Century Run
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Birds
Tags: New Jersey Audubon World Series of Birding Sandy Hook Bird Observatory Scott Barnes Sandy Hook Century Run
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