Monday, July 2, 2012

Shore birds star in Ocean County boat tour

Wednesday morning on June 20 started out like any other, ordinary day. My alarm clock buzzed at 5 a.m., and I jumped out of bed chipper as a bird, ready to greet the day.

Well, most of that is true. I did wake up at 5 a.m., though that’s a very rare occurrence for me, and I was giddy about the day’s upcoming events. But I wasn't really feeling as peppy as a fowl. I was, however, gearing up for a two-hour “Early Bird” ornithology boat tour at Cattus Island County Park in Toms River.

After guzzling down some coffee, putting on my best nature touring clothes: shorts and a light-colored T-shirt to deflect the sun’s hot rays (the forecast predicted over 90-degree weather), I drove up the Garden State Parkway to Toms River.

Photo by Kelley Anne
In search of food, an osprey takes flight from 
its south tower nest.
Upon entering the park grounds with time to spare, the worry of missing the 7 o’clock boat melted away. Surrounded by beautiful, lush vegetation and sparkling bay water, I couldn’t think of anything more soul soothing than spending the morning with nature.

Betty “C,” a six-passenger pontoon boat, pulled away from its Silver Bay dock just after 7 a.m. with exactly six passengers on it, including naturalist Pat Korotky, who has been working at the county park for the past 20 years, and Captain Mike Marotta, who’s better known for manning the park department’s Bay Cruiser tour boat.

I used to drive the boat, but that was before the county tightened up the rules. Now we have licensed captains,” said Korotky, motioning to Marotta. “It used to be whoever could drive the boat, drove the boat,” she added with a chuckle.

I’ve been working with the county for about 10 years,” remembered Marotta. “I drove the boat we rented out to the park before the park even bought it... It’s a nice job,” he added placidly.

Binoculars were handed out immediately to those who hadn’t brought their own pair – a necessity for bird watching. After spending the first fifteen minutes trying to adjust the focus of the viewfinder, Korotky kindly informed me that I was wearing the binoculars backwards. (I thought those birds seemed rather far away!)

Slowly motoring past the marsh, where the county park recently received permission from the state to maintain a no-wake zone in the effort to minimize erosion of the bank caused by fast-moving boats, Korotky pointed out a number of birds. Belted kingfishers were spotted zipping about, and swallows were seen nesting on the sides of the eroded cliffs of the marshland. Pat supplemented the tour with her copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds so we could all see pictures of the different species and better understand what we were looking at.

Photo by Kelley Anne
Naturalist Pat Korotky fishes out
trash from the surrounding marsh.

As we rounded a corner of the marsh, making our way into Barnegat Bay, a great egret was seen strutting along the water’s edge, fishing for breakfast. Korotky informed us that the egret’s breeding plumes were picked for lady’s hats in the Victorian era, which started the Audubon Movement, nicknamed after bird artist John James Audubon whose work inspired the campaign for an end to the unhampered slaughter of birds.

A few minutes later, a fellow passenger sighted an osprey perched on one of the park’s manmade nesting platforms, built by park members or local volunteer clubs. It had been dressed up with large sticks, plastic, string and whatever else the birds had found suitable for a home. Both the mother and the father of the species take turns guarding the nest, though the mother is usually there 70 percent of the time.

Ospreys were nearly extinct in the 1960s when New Jersey only had 16 pairs. Pat said the birds had been killed after the use of a DDT insecticide to rid mosquitoes. The insecticide seemed to have created a disturbance in the metabolism of calcium, and many ospreys couldn’t produce eggs. DDT insecticides were banned in 1973, and the increase of ospreys has since then grown to 498 pairs – just a couple pairs short of the 500-pair historical level. An excited Pat even said she was going to learn how to band the birds, a technique used to aid in the study of avian wildlife.

In the distance, a pair of tangled balloons was spotted struggling in the estuary, which everyone was pretty upset to see. After detangling the deflated party balloons from the grass, Korotky explained her dismay for the litter.

Marsh is a good filter, but it also filters out debris into the bay, and birds and fish get tangled in it and can die,” she said.

The tour moved on to happier thoughts, and images of bubbly-sounding wrens, great black-backed gulls (the world’s largest gull species), blue herons and terns. Beautiful swans were also spotted, but Korotky explained that this non-native species takes habitat away from many of the native species that have been here since colonial times. Luckily, the swan population is not out of control. But according to Korotky, population of the Canada geese is out of control. She said they’re a nuisance, which is unfortunate because no one really knew they would reproduce so much.

Another species especially over-populated is the sea nettle jellyfish, which of course isn’t a bird at all. But Pat said it’s an important issue and people are trying to figure out why there are so many of them in Barnegat Bay. Some researchers happen to think they’re showing up due to an increase of nitrogen in Barnegat Bay from people pollution such as pesticides, dog waste and fertilizers. According to Korotky, regulations for slow-release fertilizers are a future possibility.

Although we heard and saw some disheartening news along the trip, all of the passengers were able to put that aside and enjoy the beauty of the tour. Luckily, everyone stayed nice and cool – a perk of being on the water.

Photo by Kelley Anne
A closer look at a bird guide helps 
passenger Ann Bogdon gain a better 
sense of her surroundings. 
I liked it,” said Judith Lichon, a Bergen County resident who enjoyed her first bird watching tour. “I loved seeing all the birds and just looking at the marsh. It’s so peaceful, and the boat ride was so nice. I’m surprised more people didn’t come out today. I’m just glad I did,” she added.

I’ve been going on these tours whenever I can for the past 10 years,” said local resident Ann Bogdon. “My children are in the Junior Naturalists program here, and they get up-close and personal with nature. It’s great.”

Ornithology boat tours at Cattus Island County Park will take place on Wednesday, July 11; Monday, July 23; Thursday, Aug. 9; Wednesday, Aug. 29; Thursday, Sept. 13; and Thursday, Sept. 27. Tours run from 7 to 9 a.m. and 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Registration is $7 in advance. For more information, visit the Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation online, or call 1-877-OC-PARKS.


This article was published in The Beachcomber.

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