9/3: Cape May--BROWN BOOBY / Brigantine--White Ibis

Quite a day.  I suggested to Shari yesterday that we drive down to Cape May and take “birding by boat” tour on the Osprey in the hope of seeing the BROWN BOOBY that’s been reported in Jarvis Sound since 8/23.  Shari was surprised, since I normally shun boats, but I figured puttering around the salt marshes of Cape May wouldn’t get me too seasick and besides, this is only the 2^nd time a booby has been seen in NJ.

This is why we moved to Whiting, so we could scoot down to Cape May for its rarities.  We left the house at 8 and by 9:30 were on the boat.  It was a longer tour than I anticipated, and besides killer looks at the booby we saw some birds we hadn’t seen in a while.  

Jarvis Sound

Comments:    Aboard Osprey
25 species (+1 other taxa)
BROWN BOOBY  1    Seen on outgoing and return legs of Osprey tour
Double-crested Cormorant  31
Great Blue Heron  4
Great Egret  22
Snowy Egret  11
Tricolored Heron  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey  16
Peregrine Falcon  1
Black-bellied Plover  3
Semipalmated Plover  2
American Oystercatcher  13
Spotted Sandpiper  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Whimbrel  10
Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  12
Great Black-backed Gull  6
Common Tern  10
Forster's Tern  50
crow sp.  1
Tree Swallow  1500
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  2

We kicked around Cape May a little bit, but, this being Labor Day weekend, the roads were congested and since mid-day is not the best time to bird inland and the beaches were full, we decided to do some shore birding up at Brigantine.

Which turned out to be a good idea.  There was a good variety of shorebirds, lots of egrets, and best of all, a juvenile White Ibis mixed in with a flock of glossies. Caspian Terns were also a good fine, as was a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers in every kind of plumage from winter to juvenile to breeding.  And just to make it a perfect day, a stiff breeze was blowing which kept Brig bugless.  So one lifer (a real rarity) and one year bird (and a new one for the NJ list).  As I say to Shari after almost every outing, “Well, that was productive.”

Brigantine
34 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  7
Mute Swan  3
Mallard  9
Double-crested Cormorant  225
Great Blue Heron  7
Great Egret  50
Snowy Egret  40
White Ibis  1    with flock of GLIB in SW Pool
Glossy Ibis  50
Osprey  6
Northern Harrier  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Black-bellied Plover  110
Semipalmated Plover  100
American Oystercatcher  3
Greater Yellowlegs  10
Lesser Yellowlegs  5
Ruddy Turnstone  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  700
Short-billed Dowitcher  3
Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  300
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Caspian Tern  4
Common Tern  5
Forster's Tern  50
Downy Woodpecker  1
American Crow  1
crow sp.  5
Tree Swallow  15
Carolina Chickadee  1
Gray Catbird  1
Red-winged Blackbird  15    Mostly juveniles
Common Grackle  2
American Goldfinch  2