Birding the Sedge Islands in Island Beach State Park

     With the onset of shorebird arrival in the area, about a month ago I tried something new to get access to shorebird habitat. The idea was to bird the sedge islands of Island Beach State Park, an area that is partially off-limits to motorized craft, but can be easily accessed by kayak or canoe. So I cleaned off my 17 ft standard aluminum Grumman canoe that had been unused for more than 15 years, called up my friend Larry and talked him into joining me. After three attempts I thought I’d share our experiences, each of which has been fantastic. The birds that we have seen include Brown Pelican, Marbled Godwit, American Bittern, Piping Plover, Little Blue Heron, Tri-colored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Red Knot, Whimbrel, Clapper Rail, Royal Tern, Caspian Tern, Least Tern, Black Tern, Black Skimmers, American Oystercatchers, Seaside Sparrows, and Saltmarsh Sparrows, with some of them in significant numbers for our region. (Think 30 Pelicans, 50 Royal Terns, 50 Oystercatchers, 20 Skimmers.) The birding is wonderful, with close access to the birds after beaching the canoe that allows sorting through the mixed species flocks on the sand spits. We’ve been doing much of our birding while wading the shallows or walking the sand spits, not necessarily from the moving canoe. On the other had, while quietly traversing the channels, binocs are always at the ready for birds hiding around the next bend. The bay is warm at this time of year, rarely more than 2-3 feet deep, and has been calm in the sheltered waters, so capsizing is not really a major concern. If you get a chance to bird there I highly recommend visiting this location. Here’s some photos from these trips.