2022 10 22

Night Heron and Towhee at Sandy Hook¶

2022-10-22

Today we went birding at Sandy Hook for the first time. We decided to try out the location because I saw the NJ Audubon Society was having a birding tour there earlier in the day and figured it must be a good location. The tour started at parking lot B near Plum Island so I assumed that island is where the birding took place.

I've been to this same beach at Sandy Hook so many times as a kid and never thought I would be going there for birding. The location is a mix of sandy shores, marshes, and shrubs/small trees. The sandy shores attract gulls and shore birds while the marshy area attracts herons. The shrubs were covered in song birds including sparrows, mockingbirds, and yellow-rumped warblers. This intersection of many biomes makes a really good birding spot.

I saw/photographed a Black-crowned Night Heron (in-flight) and an Eastern Towhee for the first time. Yellow-rumped Warblers dominated the shrubs during this fall migration. Also met another photographer that helped me identify the Black-crowned Night Heron who we thought was actually an American Bittern. We were disappointed to hear that but excited to add another bird to our compendium. We are very excited to revisit this location and explore the rest of Sandy Hook! Probably going back tomorrow morning haha.

Locations/Sightings¶

-> #location/SandyHook-NJ