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Bird Species of Barnegat Bay
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Green-winged teal (Anas crecca)
A duck recognized in flight by its small size and tight flocks. Speculum is deep iridescent green. Males are small, compact, and greay with a brown head featuring a distinct green patch from the eye to the back of the head. When swimming, a vertical white mark can be observed between the wing and breast. Females are speckled grey and light brown with a green speculum.
Can be found among marshes, rivers, and bays.
Hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
Mature males have a vertical fan-shaped white crest that may be raised or lowered; breast white with two black bars on each side; wing with a white patch and brown flanks. Immature males have a short, loose, tawny crest on the back of the head and a white stripe between the eye and the back of the head. Females are identical in silhouette to males; chest and wing flanks dusty greyish brown; smae white patch on wings as male; dark head and bill; loose, tawny, brown crest on back of head.
Can be found among wooded lakes, ponds, and rivers
Double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)
Large, blackish water bird. Often stands erect on rocks or posts with neck posed in an āSā shape; may bask with its wings spread. Bill slender and orange from cheek to hooked tip; bill is often blackened on top and near tip. Feeds on fish and crustaceans.
Can be found on coasts, islands, bays, lakes, and rivers.
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Our only raptor that plunges feet first into the water for fish. Primarily eats fish such as white perch, menhaden, and glounder. Head largely white with a broad black cheek patch. Often flies with an angle in the wing, showing a black patch extending beyond the wrist.
Can be found by rivers, lakes, and coasts.
Common tern (Sterna hirundo)
A black-capped gull-like bird with a deeply forked tail. In summer, the adult common tern is white with a pale gray mantle and black cap; bill red-orange with a blackened tip. Immature common terns and winter adults have a more blackish bill, and the black cap is partially receded.
Can be found at lakes, ocean, bays, and beaches. Nests colonially on sandy beaches and small islands.
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
Willets feed on a variety of marine invertebrates as well as on insects found in muddy regions of the marsh. In flight, note the striking black and white wing pattern. At rest, when the banded wings cannot be seen, this large wader is hard to distinguish from sandpiper lookalikes; gray above, somewhat scaled below in the summer, unmarked below in fall and winter. Legs bluish gray. Slightly thicker bill compared to other sandpipers.
Can be found in marshes, wet meadows, mud flats, and beaches.
Photos provided by Roger Thomas.