Brig/Barnegat/Cedar Dock Rd.

Maybe Florida spoiled us, but only being able to find 31 species of birds in well-known hot spots was a little disappointing. There were lots of birds at Brigantine, but not much diversity. And we punted at Barnegat because we didn't walk on the dreaded jetty--if we had we'd probably have seen Common Eiders and Harlequins. I doubt if we'd have seen any Purple Sandpipers, because the tide was high and bashing up against the rocks where they usually scamper around.

We ended the day at dusk at Cedar Dock Road, hoping for Short-eared Owls. The sides of the road were flooded, which, according to another birder, drowns the voles and no voles=no owls. However, seeing the Bald Eagle was an acceptable consolation prize and watching the harrier chase the eagle off its roost was amusing.

Eagles are really wimps. My favorite line in Peterson's guide is:

 Food: Bald Eagle, chiefly dead or dying fish.*

A fearsome raptor; one step up from a vulture. You can see why Ben Franklin strenuously objected to it being named the national bird. He called it

a rank coward of bad moral character.

For the record:

E. B. Forsythe NWR--Wildlife Drive

Number of species:     21

Snow Goose     1000

Brant     200

Canada Goose     50

Tundra Swan     24

American Black Duck     500

Mallard     100

Northern Shoveler     6

Northern Pintail     100

Ring-necked Duck     10

Bufflehead     5

Hooded Merganser     25

Great Blue Heron     1

Northern Harrier     2

Peregrine Falcon     2

Dunlin     300

Ring-billed Gull     50

Herring Gull     50

Great Black-backed Gull     5

American Robin     15

Cedar Waxwing     2

Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)     1

Barnegat Lighthouse State Park
Number of species:     11
Surf Scoter     10
Long-tailed Duck     4
Common Loon     20
Great Cormorant     2
Ruddy Turnstone     1
Dunlin     1

Ring-billed Gull     X

Herring Gull     X

Great Black-backed Gull     2

American Crow     1

House Sparrow     50

E. B. Forsythe NWR--Cedar Run Dock Rd.
Number of species:     8
Mallard     30
Great Blue Heron     1
Bald Eagle     1
Northern Harrier     1
Ring-billed Gull     X

Great Black-backed Gull     1

European Starling     250

Song Sparrow     1

*The line has been edited out of the more recent editions. Now it eats "fish, injured waterfowl, carrion." Doesn't sound much better, but it doesn't trip off the tongue like "dead and dying..."