January Summary--5 Cool Birds

Didn't quite make a 100 species for the month and 2/3 of our list was accumulated on New Year's Day in Cape May. No lifers this month either.  However, we did see some cool birds this month, birds not often viewed either in this area or by us.

The first 2 were during the field trip in Cape May: Dickcissel in dense shrubbery with a flock of House Sparrows (it pays to look closely at those common birds), and a western species, Bell's Vireo, seen at the entrance of The Beanery.

A few days later, at The New York Public Library, of all places, I was fortunate enough to see the Yellow-breasted Chat, a bird that has been kicked out of the warbler taxon and is in an ornithological limbo--perhaps related to the tanagers some think. Wherever it belongs in the taxonomic order, it doesn't belong in Manhattan in January.

A trip up to the Manasquan Inlet got us a Razorbill that obligingly flew in from the ocean and swam around very close to the jetty.

Finally, this weekend, we serendipitously stumbled upon 2 Ring-necked Pheasants.

I was in the WMA quite a bit this month and was happy to see bluebirds, creepers, and kinglets among the more common birds. No waterfowl on the lake though--I guess if it hasn't happened by now, it isn't going to happen this winter.

Our feeders attract a goodly number of birds, as well as squirrels, which keeps my cat, Peeve, very interested and out of mischief for whole minutes at a time.

94 species for the month.
Counties birded:
New Jersey: Atlantic, Cape May, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean.
New York: New York

Species                Location

Snow Goose      Brigantine

Brant      Nummy Island

Canada Goose     Cape May Point SP

Mute Swan     Cape May Point SP

Tundra Swan      Brigantine

Gadwall     Cape May Point SP

American Wigeon     Cape May Point SP

American Black Duck      Sandy Hook

Mallard     Cape May Point SP

Northern Shoveler     Cape May Point SP

Northern Pintail     Cape May Point SP

Green-winged Teal     Cape May Point SP

Ring-necked Duck     Cape May Point SP

Greater Scaup      Sandy Hook

Lesser Scaup     Cape May Point SP

Common Eider      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Surf Scoter      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Black Scoter     Cape May Point SP

Long-tailed Duck      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Bufflehead      Nummy Island

Common Goldeneye      Sandy Hook

Hooded Merganser     Cape May Point SP

Common Merganser      Lilly Lake

Red-breasted Merganser      Nummy Island

Ring-necked Pheasant      Lacey Road

Red-throated Loon     Cape May Point SP

Common Loon      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Pied-billed Grebe     Cape May Point SP

Horned Grebe      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Northern Gannet     Cape May Point SP

Double-crested Cormorant      Lilly Lake

Great Cormorant      Nummy Island

Great Blue Heron     Cape May Point SP

Great Egret     Cape May Point SP

Black Vulture     Cape May Point SP

Turkey Vulture     Cape May Point SP

Northern Harrier      Brigantine

Sharp-shinned Hawk     Cape May Point SP

Cooper's Hawk      Whiting WMA

Red-shouldered Hawk     Cape May Point SP

Red-tailed Hawk      Central Park

Merlin      18 Aberdeen Avenue

Peregrine Falcon      Brigantine

American Coot     Cape May Point SP

Black-bellied Plover      Stone Harbor Point

American Oystercatcher      Nummy Island

Marbled Godwit      Nummy Island

Ruddy Turnstone      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Red Knot      Stone Harbor Point

Sanderling      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Purple Sandpiper      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Dunlin      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Bonaparte's Gull     Cape May Point SP

Ring-billed Gull     Cape May Point SP

Herring Gull     Cape May Point SP

Great Black-backed Gull     Cape May Point SP

Forster's Tern     Cape May Point SP

Razorbill      Manasquan Inlet

Rock Pigeon     Cape May Point SP

Mourning Dove      Avalon--8th St. Jetty

Red-bellied Woodpecker      35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker      Crestwood Village

Downy Woodpecker      35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker      35 Sunset Rd

Northern Flicker     Cape May Point SP

Bell's Vireo      The Beanery

Blue Jay      Lilly Lake

American Crow     Cape May Point SP

Carolina Chickadee      35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse      Whiting WMA

White-breasted Nuthatch      Whiting WMA

Brown Creeper      Whiting WMA

Carolina Wren     Cape May Point SP

Golden-crowned Kinglet      Whiting WMA

Eastern Bluebird      The Beanery

American Robin     Cape May Point SP

Northern Mockingbird     Cape May Point SP

European Starling     Cape May Point SP

Cedar Waxwing     Cape May Point SP

Snow Bunting      Sandy Hook

Yellow-rumped Warbler     Cape May Point SP

Yellow-breasted Chat      New York Public Library

Fox Sparrow      35 Sunset Rd

Song Sparrow      Crestwood Village

White-throated Sparrow      Harvard & Whildin

Dark-eyed Junco      Whiting WMA

Northern Cardinal     Cape May Point SP

Dickcissel      Harvard & Whildin

Red-winged Blackbird      Brigantine

Brown-headed Cowbird      Sandy Hook

Baltimore Oriole     Cape May Point SP

House Finch      The Beanery

American Goldfinch      35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow      Harvard & Whildin