Joe Reynolds' Blog

February 3, 2012
By JESSE GREENSPAN 
The New York Times
City Room  Read more »

The first day of February, and it was 64 degrees! Yesterday, January, 31, the high temperature was in the mid 50s. If this is the prime weather season, then I can't wait to see what spring will be like.   Read more »

After a rainy Friday with high temperatures close to 60 degrees, the skies cleared up beautifully for the last Saturday in January. Air temperatures were in the upper 40s and the ocean was glistening like diamonds in the sunlight. What a spectacular, sunny day!

(A male Black or American Scoter)  Read more »

Despite
the snow and ice last weekend, winter made a quick retreat by Tuesday with high temperatures
in the low 50s with bright sunny skies.  The
warm sun had melted much of the snow by late in the day.

Yet
in a winter that has been full of surprising weather, a typical winter visitor came
calling to enjoy the sun and spring-like temperatures. An adult Atlantic Harbor
Seal was spotted early in the morning at a marina in Port Monmouth located
along Pews Creek, one of the many small waterways that drain into Lower New
York Bay.  Read more »

[So sad to find that perhaps the fin whale sighted near Lower NY Bay last Friday washed up dead on Monday near Atlantic
City from being struck by a large ship. More proof that living near New York
City or any urban area is an extremely stressful environment -  JR, blog author]  Read more »

For me, the new year does not really begin until the start of the Lunar New Year or more commonly known as the Chinese New Year. Until its arrival, I am in a disharmony with nature.

 Read more »

A
bitter cold day before the first snowfall of the season lead to the first whale
sighting of the year. Last Friday, a naturalist friend called to say he
caught sight of a lone fin whale feeding in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast
of Long Branch, NJ.  Read more »

The long lost winter has finally arrived to Lower New York Bay today. The ground was white at dawn and the roads were very slippery. While as much as a half a foot of snow blanketed some parts of the metro region by the afternoon, near to Sandy Hook Bay we received a little over 3 inches of the white stuff.    Read more »

Temperatures were in the 30s around Lower New York Bay. I was on a mid-day chilly walk along the edge of Sandy Hook Bay, overlooking New York City. I spotted what appeared to be a large Hard Clam sitting pretty on the edge of the low tide line. But what would a lone clam being doing out of the water and parking itself on the sandy beach on a cold winter's day?  Read more »

A biting northwest west wind yesterday was accompanied by some unpleasantly cold temperatures: lows in the teens and highs only in the upper 20s, not including wind chill values. By far it was the coldest day of the winter season so far.
This extremely cold air mass had most wildlife scrambling to keep warm. A good number of birds were in flocks foraging for food, but out in the distance, on a far away island in the Shrewsbury River, I saw a lone Great Blue Heron.   Read more »