Hey Sam -
Here's the skinny on the NJ birds - which are STILL there, maybe? You might
be able to figure out whether yours was a NJ or DE bird from these folks!
NJBIRDS,
Shortly after posting today's second frigatebird "update," as I was
running out the door from work, I realized that I had not engaged my
brain; there must be two frigatebirds in Raritan Bay if Tom Boyle's
was a young female and Pete Bacinski's was all dark. Scott Barnes
writes about this:
"Yes, that's right TWO Frigatebirds!! We assumed that the bird we
were viewing at Atlantic Highlands was the same one that Tom saw in
Union Beach. To our amazement when we got back to the office and saw
Tom's photos, his bird has a white breast and head. The bird Pete
B., Linda M., and I saw in Atlantic Highlands had a dark head and
throat. The bird came very close, probably about 75 yards or so from
us and even swooped down a few times below the horizon--we thought
for a minute that he might land on one of the taller pilings. We all
agreed the bird was all dark and although the light was not great the
bird was close enough (viewable through 40x scopes) to say with
certainty that there was no white in this bird's plumage. Also
visible on the Atlantic Highlands bird was a shorter tail streamer,
giving the bird a slightly uneven fork."
The question is whether these birds will leave overnight during the
stormy weather, or whether they'll remain in the area.
Laurie
*** Please report your sightings! ***
<http://www.princeton.edu/~llarson/reportto.html>
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