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South Jersey thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter dak
- Start date
Oh yes. Barnegat Jetty
Mike, your blog is an excellent recourse! It looks like we are going in the same spots, so it's very helpful for me to have recent illustrated experience of this places! Thank you for doing this!
I'm hoping to get back out to Barnegat on Thursday as the conditions appear to be ideal at present. Apparently there's flock of about 100 Snow Buntings in the dunes that I missed in both directions last week. I'd like to get a shot of those and the multitude of sea duck of course.
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Thursday is currently forecast to be sunny with light SW winds of 5-10 mph. Friday is mostly cloudy with winds from the SSW of 10-20 mph. It’s the higher wind speeds that I avoid due to the splash factor particularly nearer the end of the jetty where the Harlequins usually hang out. I particularly avoid days when it’s cold and windy. Previous visit to Barnegat Jetty.
I was at Barnegat this past weekend. Although I was treated to views of some great stuff including a King Eider I did not see any Snow Buntings - even though I spent some time searching for them. Unfortunately, someone took a heavy tracked vehicle (like a bulldozer or similar) through the entire dune/plain area. It was pretty ripped up and there were tracks almost everywhere (outside of the ponds and the very tops of the dunes). In the past I’ve often found the Snow Buntings on the plain floor feeding in the scrub and grass, but most of that has been destroyed. Don’t know who authorized this as I always assumed that area was part of the State Park.
I was there last Thursday and I saw the same tracks. Warning! Graphic Images - Mike's Photographs
There was a big flock of Snow Buntings there on January 3rd when I was there. Last Thursday the folks I spoke to on the jetty told me there were about 100 on the way out and when I met them in the car park later they told me they had seen them on the way back too.
That may very well have been the case last Thursday, but when I was there on Sunday there was only one person that I spoke with who had seen a Snow Bunting that day, and he only saw one. Generally the dunes have been fairly reliable for that species but that wasn’t the case this past Sunday. There may have been a bird or two in the general area but they certainly weren’t there in any kind of large numbers. Of course it is possible a large flock moved off to a surrounding area that nobody was checking. Hopefully, a good portion are still around or more will come in.
Very different from last Thursday. I’m too wrecked at the moment to do a blog post. I did find out something today that’s interesting. I tried walking out along the sand intending to cross the stream feeding the lake they created a couple of years ago. It was too deep to cross so I had to walk back and walk along the jetty all the way out. A couple of hours later even though it was way past high tide it was still too deep and I still got wet feet as I wasn’t going to go back along the jetty. I went into the park office to ask for a bridge or stepping stones. The lady told me that the park ends at the concrete walkway and the lake and bulldozing is carried out by the township/municipality and nothing to do with the state park. Apparently I’m not the first to complain about it. It’s certainly a pain in the rear trying to reach the beach and end of the jetty due to the creation of this lake.
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Last Saturday they were on Bear Swamp.
Do you drive or get the Cape May to Lewes Ferry?
I like the ferry as you can see some good birds and cetaceans at times. I first went on the ferry in 1975 and had a superb fresh bacon sandwich make in the galley. On my next ferry ride, 2 or 3 years ago I was looking forward to a repeat bacon sarnie. I was gutted to find the galley's are no more and the bacon sarnies come out of a vending machine. Sacrilege!
Good luck with the Sandhills. 👍
I called into Allens Camera in Levittown on my way home from Barnegat yesterday afternoon. Superb, wonderful bricks and mortar camera shop.Thank you, I'll check Bear Swamp. I leave in Levittown, PA, so it's much closer for me to drive. I took a ferry last year, when I has a family trip to Lewes and it was fun. But my experience with the food was same as yours
Yes, they are! I'm using them for the last 15 years and they never disappointed.I called into Allens Camera in Levittown on my way home from Barnegat yesterday afternoon. Superb, wonderful bricks and mortar camera shop.
They’re my local camera shop even though they’re 99 miles away🙄
How did you get on at Bombay Hook?
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