Nature Notes: Asbury Gulls
There are many gulls sitting on these rocks at the Asbury Park beach. But you will see at the end of the post, the humans out number the gulls.
One lone gull (is he a gull? See this list of sea birds) flies away from his friends. This one appears brown.
A brown gull flies by the active waves. Crafty Green Poet writes: “the brown bird is probably a young gull, most species of gull have I think three years in brown plumage (slightly different each of the years) before they take on adult plumage” – thank you!
A few brave souls sit on the rocks at the beach. My kids both went dunking into the freezing May waters. I just put in my toe. My husband relaxed on the beach – too cold for him.
This photo should give you an idea of how crowded it was on the beach. And economically, this is good news. Asbury Park was very depressed in the past thirty years. My husband grew up in this area, and he saw the decline. About one hundred years ago, it was quite a fashionable place. People may no longer walk in fancy dresses and suits, but the new restaurants and shops are upscale. I hope the gulls don’t mind.
Pictured in the crowded beach photo are the Asbury Park Theatre (see it in my Asbury post from last year) and the Berkeley Carteret Hotel.
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Eileen says
Wonderful post and great news about the beach making a comeback. I guess in that case it is great to see crowds of people.
magiceye says
humans on the sands
birds on the rocks
beautiful images all!!
Ilana-Davita says
Interesting both from the natural and the economic point of view.
Carver says
I love your shots of the birds. The first shots could be at a place without any people so it's a shocker to see how crowded the beach is.
maryt says
Great shots of Asbury Park, Leora! People are staying around and visiting their local places! :)
Rayna Eliana says
Your photos are beautiful. I am glad to hear that AB Park is seeing an economic turnaround
Laura says
Nice photos!
We tend to go to Ocean Grove, but the beach there is so small that in a short walk you can go from one end (bordering on Bradley Beach) to the end that borders on Asbury Park. We pass through Asbury Park to get to Ocean Grove and the city really does look to be on the upswing.
leoraw says
I should write about Ocean Grove for the blog at some point. It used to be you couldn't even take your car into Ocean Grove on Sundays. My husband worked there as a teen, and he would politely get off his bicycle and walk it to the restaurant.
I got some photos of Bradley Beach - a flea market and some nicely planted flowers. Drive by photos.
I think Bradley has a nature walk. Someday we'll do it...
srp says
I would love to go down to the beach and photograph the sunrise or moonrise again, but the beach is swamped and the season officially started on Memorial Day. Parking is horrendous and this week the heat was more like that of late July and August here in Virginia Beach.
Crafty Green poet says
the brown bird is probably a young gull, most species of gull have I think three years in brown plumage (slightly different each of the years) before they take on adult plumage.
leoraw says
Thank you - I will add that comment to the post.
Michelle says
I wish I lived near an ocean beach and not just the lakes. beautiful. I remember when I first joined a birding list and asked about 'sea gulls' and was corrected that they were called 'gulls'.... We are in an area with many of them, but it is so hard to identify some of them.....Michelle
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