Sandy Hook Valentines Day break-up

Valentines Day Break-up

"Spring" appeared around Valentines Day in 2004. The winter ice finally began to break up, diving ducks returned in numbers to the open water, and we had a great flight of robins to glean the last of the holly berries off the trees.
See our first horseshoe crabs this year.

	Sunny days, rain and wind help break up most of the ice on the river and bay in mid-February. Note the size of the swells and ice chunks smashing against the rocks. On calm days, you might catch sight of a seal resting on the ice flows.
Typically, winds, waves and currents push the ice to the bayside of Sandy Hook. Much of it is piled high by the tides.
Looking among the ice patches, birdwatchers have their best chance of seeing an uncommon winter bird, the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
	Diving birds are a clue that there are still many fishes in the bay. Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) also dive to feed on bottom creatures.
Robins (Turdus migratorius) are present at along the coast all winter long, but congregate at Sandy Hook to gulp down all of the fruit from plants like holly and poison ivy. A flock can clear most of the fruit off a tree in a few minutes. We call it a Valentines Day massacre.
	The cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is sometimes one of our most common land birds in the winter. It too relies on berries from trees to sustain it in the cold weather.
In nearby freshwater wetlands, the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is usually considered the first plant to blossom in the spring. Other signs of spring can be found in vernal pools. Click here for more infomation.