Barnegat Bay welcomes old friends, Pelicans make their home in New Jersey's fragile waterway

star ledger ^ | August 16, 2007 | JUDY PEET

[Coleus]

On a small island in Barnegat Bay, hundreds of birds that didn't exist in New Jersey 30 years ago bask in the summer sun. Suddenly, they all take flight, oddly elegant and vaguely prehistoric, with 6-foot wing spans and the most recognizable bills in the animal kingdom. They are brown pelicans, described by naturalist John James Audubon as one of America's "most interesting birds."

They are also one of the Jersey shore's newest residents, joining other top-of -the-food-chain bird predators including the peregrine falcon, the osprey and the royal tern to form a new avian golden age on Barnegat Bay. Their ascendancy, however, is overshadowed by new federal research that names Barnegat Bay as one of the most distressed coastal estuaries in the nation.

"It's ironic that big birds are making a comeback at a time when the bay is edging toward disaster," said Suzanne Bricker, lead scientist for the estuary study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "To save the birds, you have to save the bay." Located just inside the barrier islands on the Central Jersey coast from Mantoloking south to Long Beach Island, Barnegat is one of the most productive ecosystems on earth and one of 28 estuaries deemed of "national significance" by the EPA.

One hundred fifty years ago, the bay was a paradise, biologists say. Shallow, clean, teeming with life, it attracted ducks, geese and wading and diving birds by the millions. But relentless hunting brought many of the birds to the brink of extinction by the beginning of the 20th century and after World War II, the insecticide DDT nearly finished off the apex predators.

By 1970, peregrine falcons and all but one colony of osprey had disappeared from Barnegat Bay. Pelicans, considered annual visitors but not natives, were long gone

[battlegearboat]

Amazing bird is the Pelican

It's beak can hold more than it's belly can

[battlegearboat]

“SAVE THE BAY BABY WHALES!”

[RDTF]

My Eyes Adored You Lyrics
Frankie Valli

My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you:
So close, so close and yet so far away

Carried your books from school,
Playing make-believe you’re married to me:
You were fifth grade, I was sixth
When we came to be
Walking home every day over Barnegat Bridge and Bay,
Till we grew into the me and you
Who went our separate ways

My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you:
So close, so close and yet so far

Headed for city lights,
Climbed the ladder up to fortune and fame,
I worked my fingers to the bone,
Made myself a name.
Funny, I seem to find that, no matter how the years unwind,
Still I reminisce about the girI miss
And the love I left behind...

My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you:
So close, so close and yet so far

All my life I will remember how warm and tender
We were way back then
Though I’m feeling sad regrets I know I won’t ever forget
You, my childhood friend

My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you:
So close, so close and yet so far

[ClearCase_guy]

"It's ironic that big birds are making a comeback at a time when the bay is edging toward disaster,"

Yeah. Incredibly ironic that life is renewed and teeming at a time when the ecosystem is collapsing. Weird.

Oh, and by the way, Ms lead scientist, the whole DDT thing is a myth.

[Cagey]

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.

Another newcomer to the bay is the Sea Nettle Jellyfish. Soon the Barnegat will be like the Chesapeake where it’s virtually impossible to swim without getting stung.

[Daffynition]

[fatima]

I love it.That would be me:)

[Cagey]

LOL! Notice the top of his hat?

I had my son and his buddy out on the boat in the Barnegat about eight years ago when a gull dropped a gift onto my son’s head. He’s still waiting for the good luck that it was supposed to bring.

[bert]

I was amazed earlier this year to see pelicans on the Snake River in Idaho in fairly large numbers. My first glimpse actually occurred in Wyoming but I didn’t believe my eyes.

Apparently, White Pelicans have learned to thrive on the inland western rivers hundreds of miles from the coast.

[VeritatisSplendor]

I don’t think it’s a comeback - I think it’s range expansion and historically the pelicans weren’t this far north. So I’m waiting for the global warming announcements.

Mrs VS

[Daffynition]