News of a drake King Eider brought us down to Avalon today. It is a semi-life bird. We had seen a hen King Eider (and I'm so imbued with political correctness that the phrase "hen King Eider" makes me uncomfortable) at Sandy Hook a couple of years ago, but hens aren't nearly as dramatic as the drakes with their gray cowls, yellow shield between the eyes, orange bill and rusty orange breast, so in a way, a hen hardly counts.
We started at the seawatch area behind the sea wall. We could see a mixed raft of Common Eiders & Surf Scoters, but the problem with the sea wall is that it is a wall. Despite the signs that warn against climbing on the rocks of the sea wall, a number of birders were there and since that seemed the only way to see the King Eider, I climbed up there with our scope and walked gingerly down the rocks until I could get a pretty fair look at the bird. Ironically, the scope was no help because there wasn't a rock big enough to spread out the legs of the tripod, so when I went down to help Shari up the wall, I left the scope on the sidewalk. Once Shari got satisfactory views (although a little disappointed that the bird didn't look a lot like the exaggerated portrait in Peterson) we both climbed down and decided to go over to the 8th Street Jetty on the next block.
That jetty, unlike the one at Barnegat, Shari has no problem walking on because it is filled in with concrete around the boulders. And ironically, again, we needn't have broken the law and risked broken bones or worse on the rocks--we had "field guide" views of the eider from the jetty, and with the scope, great close up looks.
Not much else was in the water (list below), so having racked up our target for the day, we decided to make the circuit at Brigantine.
Ducks, ducks, ducks and Snow Geese pretty much sum up what was on view in the impoundments, all of which you'd expect on seasonable, clear winter's day. There were four Tundra Swans near the Gull Pond Tower along with one extremely muddy Mute Swan that was acting like some sort of dredging machine.
At the East Pool there was a birder looking intently into his scope and when I looked out into the pool I saw "naked eye" a Bald Eagle on the ground; looking through my scope I saw it was having lunch. The birder said he and his wife had seen another bird of prey over by the tower, which I told him was probably the Peregrine Falcon, and focusing my scope over there found it and returned the favor for the eagle.
A couple of thousand Snow Geese were in the pools, but generally too far out and in too much sun glare to stop and try to pick out a Ross's. The majority of the ducks today were Northern Pintails and American Black Ducks, but with a good smattering of Hooded Mergansers and Green-winged Teals. Surprisingly, no Ruddy Ducks, and only 3 hen Buffleheads, in the little ponds near the exit.
A winter Killdeer was a nice find and 3 sandpipers, which upon consultation with Sibley's turned out to be Western Sandpipers were a surprise.
We stopped a Jen's Trail and there, among the pines was a goodly sized flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, as well as a lot of robins, a couple of blackbirds, and the first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker I've ever seen at Brig; according to their checklist, sapsuckers are not there in the winter. The checklist is a tad of out date, though; it still lists Long-tailed Duck as "Oldsquaw" (talk about politically incorrect).
In all 36 species for our Christmas Eve birding.
AVALON
9 species
Brant 2
King Eider 1 In with flock of Common Eiders
Common Eider 40
Surf Scoter 50
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 2
Ring-billed Gull 500
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 1
BRIGANTINE
30 species (+1 other taxa)
Snow Goose 2000
Canada Goose 500
Mute Swan 1
Tundra Swan 4
Gadwall 1
American Black Duck 500
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 1
Mallard 25
Northern Shoveler 100
Northern Pintail 500
Green-winged Teal 20
Bufflehead 3
Hooded Merganser 20
Bald Eagle 1
Northern Harrier 4
Peregrine Falcon 1
American Coot 75
Killdeer 1
Western Sandpiper 3
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Blue Jay 3
Carolina Chickadee 1 Jen's Trail
American Robin 50 Jen's Trail
European Starling 10 Jen's Trail
Yellow-rumped Warbler 25 Pines at beginning of Jen's Trail
White-throated Sparrow 1 Jen's Trail
Red-winged Blackbird 2 Dead tree near entrance to Jen's Trail
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