February Wrap-up

In this very weird and warm winter it has been hard to find new birds because a lot species just stayed up north instead of drifting down to us. I thought our trip to Delaware would yield a few more species than it did, though I consider the trip a good one with Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet and a few Bald Eagles among others. Wild Turkey on the Parkway was funny.

No life birds so far this year. Unless we go somewhere exotic (i.e. not the East Coast) or something outlandish flies in, it is going to be very hard to up the count since almost all the low-hanging fruit has been plucked.

I've become very interested in my Ocean County numbers. I'm up to 136 lifetime and 74 this year. It will be a while before I surpass my Kings and Queens counts but I figure I've got the rest of my life to build up the list. For those of you keeping score at home (which is, I know, nobody), right now I'm #5 in Ocean County for the year, according to eBird. My goal is to be #3, because I know that without pelagics I have no possibility of the top spot.

88 species for the month; not great, but more interesting birds this month than usual.

Counties birded:
Delaware: Kent, Sussex
New Jersey: Atlantic, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem
New York: Kings

Species                     First Sighting

Snow Goose       Bombay Hook NWR

Brant       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Canada Goose       Horicon Lake

Mute Swan       Shelter Cove Park

Tundra Swan       Bombay Hook NWR

Gadwall       Bombay Hook NWR

American Wigeon       Bombay Hook NWR

American Black Duck       Cattus Island County Park

Mallard       Allaire State Park

Northern Shoveler       Bombay Hook NWR

Northern Pintail       Bombay Hook NWR

Green-winged Teal       Bombay Hook NWR

Canvasback       Riverfront Landing

Ring-necked Duck       Whiting WMA

Greater Scaup       Lake of the Lilies

Lesser Scaup       Lake of the Lilies

Harlequin Duck       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-tailed Duck       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Bufflehead       Horicon Lake

Common Goldeneye       LBI Bayside--24th St

Hooded Merganser       Whiting WMA

Common Merganser       Bombay Hook NWR

Red-breasted Merganser       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Ruddy Duck       Prospect Park

Wild Turkey       GSP MM 95

Red-throated Loon       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Common Loon       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Pied-billed Grebe       Bombay Hook NWR

Horned Grebe       LBI Bayside--24th St

Double-crested Cormorant       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Great Blue Heron       Cattus Island County Park

Black Vulture       Whiting WMA

Turkey Vulture       Crestwood Village

Bald Eagle       Bombay Hook NWR

Northern Harrier       Bombay Hook NWR

Cooper's Hawk       Double Trouble State Park

Red-tailed Hawk       GSP MM 99

Peregrine Falcon       Brigantine

American Coot       Bombay Hook NWR

Killdeer       Shelter Cove Park

Black-necked Stilt       Bombay Hook NWR

American Avocet       Ted Harvey WMA

Greater Yellowlegs       Bombay Hook NWR

Lesser Yellowlegs       Bombay Hook NWR

Ruddy Turnstone       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Dunlin       Little Creek Wildlife Area

Ring-billed Gull       Crestwood Village

Herring Gull       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Great Black-backed Gull       Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Razorbill       Manasquan Inlet

Rock Pigeon       18 Aberdeen Avenue

Mourning Dove       Whiting WMA

Belted Kingfisher       Cattus Island County Park

Red-bellied Woodpecker       Crestwood Village

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker       Whiting WMA

Downy Woodpecker       35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker       Allaire State Park

Northern Flicker       Ted Harvey WMA

Blue Jay       Crestwood Village

American Crow       Whiting WMA

Horned Lark       Fast Landing Rd

Carolina Chickadee       Crestwood Village

Black-capped Chickadee       Allaire State Park

Tufted Titmouse       Crestwood Village

White-breasted Nuthatch       Crestwood Village

Brown Creeper       Whiting WMA

Carolina Wren       Whiting WMA

Golden-crowned Kinglet       Crestwood Village

Ruby-crowned Kinglet       Whiting WMA

Eastern Bluebird       35 Sunset Rd

Hermit Thrush       Cattus Island County Park

American Robin       Allaire State Park

Northern Mockingbird       Allaire State Park

European Starling       Cattus Island County Park

Cedar Waxwing       Allaire State Park

Yellow-rumped Warbler       Allaire State Park

Fox Sparrow       Double Trouble State Park

Song Sparrow       Crestwood Village

Swamp Sparrow       Little Creek Wildlife Area

White-throated Sparrow       Allaire State Park

Dark-eyed Junco       Horicon Lake

Northern Cardinal       Allaire State Park

Red-winged Blackbird       Bombay Hook NWR

Common Grackle       Clara Barton rest stop

Brown-headed Cowbird       35 Sunset Rd

House Finch       Allaire State Park

American Goldfinch       Crestwood Village

House Sparrow       Bombay Hook NWR

Ocean County 2/28

I noticed the last few days that scaup were being reported at Lake of the Lilies (which used to be called "Old Sam's Pond"--sounds like a real estate agent "improved" the name--and there ain't no lilies there that I've seen). I went up there this morning with the notion of testing myself on separating the lesser from the greater. The lake/pond is small enough that you can get fairly close to the ducks and judge their head shape. On a freshwater pond you'd expect to see mostly Lesser Scaup and there were about 200 of there, easily identified at fairly close distance by their peaked heads. Scoping the flock I managed to find at least one Greater Scaup--flatter head, slightly larger, slightly cleaner markings on its back. Possibly 2 but I wouldn't positively call the 2nd one. I didn't ace the test, but I'd give myself a B+.
Lake of the Lilies
19 species
Canada Goose  4
Mute Swan  5
Mallard  25
Greater Scaup  1
Lesser Scaup  200
Hooded Merganser  1
Great Blue Heron  1
American Coot  30
Killdeer  2
Ring-billed Gull  5
Herring Gull  15
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Mourning Dove  1
American Robin  1
European Starling  10
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Common Grackle  15
House Finch  2
On my way up to Manasquan Inlet I stopped for a few minutes at Little Silver Lake--nothing unusual there.
Little Silver Lake
7 species
Mute Swan  1
Mallard  40
Bufflehead  10
Ring-billed Gull  10
Herring Gull  10
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Walking on the beach toward the jetty at the inlet I met a woman coming from it who asked if I'd seen the Razorbill. She hadn't and thought it was much too cold on the jetty to hang around looking for it. After a few minutes scanning the ocean I agreed with her. I didn't feel like freezing my face off in the hope of seeing a bird I'd already seen this year. I'd have liked to see the bird but I didn't feel any urgency about it. 


So immediately the rule that you never see a bird until you have truly given up on seeing it kicked in. I drove over to the parking lot that sits about midway along the inlet and as soon as I got out of the car--there it was!  Naked eye. I wish I had brought my camera because even I--a mediocre photographer with a crummy camera--could have gotten good shots of the alcid. It drifted the length of the parking lot east to west, preening itself, while I walked along seawall at a leisurely pace. It never dove once. 


I also saw a couple of loons and finally, a cormorant. 
Manasquan Inlet
8 species
Brant  25
Common Loon  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Ring-billed Gull  25
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Razorbill  1   
House Sparrow  X
I had an errand in Toms River so my next 2 stops were there. I drove east on Bay Avenue until it ended at Shelter Cove Park. When I was there earlier this month it was a lot more active. Today the bay was very quiet. A few yellow-rumps were jumping around in the low branches of the trees. 
Shelter Cove Park
8 species
Canada Goose  5
Bufflehead  3
Ring-billed Gull  1
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
My last stop, after lunch at my favorite diner, was Cattus Island Park. The predominate duck there was Buffflehead. With passerines, it was robins by far. A flock was constantly moving ahead of me as I walked on the blue trail through the woods. 


But what I found most interesting was seeing from the observation platform one drake Mallard and one hen American Black Duck paired up. Looks like a hybrid in the making. I found the most species at Cattus Island, as I would expect, since I covered the most ground there and surveyed a number of different habitats. 
Cattus Island County Park
21 species
Mute Swan  3
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  1 
Bufflehead  125
Red-breasted Merganser  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Herring Gull  5
Mourning Dove  3
Downy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  1
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
American Robin  60
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Song Sparrow  3
White-throated Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  3    Two seen, one heard calling.
Red-winged Blackbird  10
House Finch  3
American Goldfinch  1

Brigantine 2/26

Yesterday was much too windy to do any serious birding, but the winds almost completely died down today, so we drove the 8 mile circuit around Brig. "Best" bird was just about the first bird we saw--a Horned Lark sitting in a small tree across the water from the Gull Pond Tower. I've seen larks in lots of places, but this is my first Jersey lark.

The non-bird of the day was this Brown Bat (I believe) hanging from the eaves over the men's room outhouse.

All photos: Shari Zirlin

Cute, in a creepy kind of way. 

As expected, most of what we saw were ducks, geese, and swans. 

Here is the proverbial "mixed flock."

As always, it's what we don't see that intrigues me: No cormorants for instance. Didn't see any in Delaware last week either. What gives? No Dunlins, yellowlegs, or turnstones. It was low tide, I'd expect to find them. We did come across one Killdeer just before Jen's Trail, about 2/3 of the way around the drive.

On the Brig checklist, Killdeer is listed as "Rare" in winter. But the list has entries for Oldsquaw, Green-backed Heron, and Northern Oriole, so it may be a wee bit out of date. 

Afterward we had lunch in nearby "Historic Smithville," which is a phony town patched together with old buildings salvaged from all over south Jersey. They have a resident flock of Graylag and barnyard geese, not countable, of course. However, they are amusing, importuning any new arrival to the parking lot for food.

Our list for the day:

30 species
Snow Goose  1500
Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  2
Tundra Swan  10
Gadwall  20
American Wigeon  2
American Black Duck  200
Mallard  50
Northern Shoveler  100
Northern Pintail  200
Green-winged Teal  25
Bufflehead  20
Hooded Merganser  8
Red-breasted Merganser  5
Great Blue Heron  4
Turkey Vulture  7
Northern Harrier  4
Red-tailed Hawk  1    Jen's Trail
Peregrine Falcon  1    On its tower
American Coot  30
Killdeer  1
Ring-billed Gull  15
Herring Gull  5
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Downy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Horned Lark  1    from Gull Pond Tower parking lot
Carolina Chickadee  1    Jen's Trail
Red-winged Blackbird  2

Prospect Park 2/21--Ruddy Ducks

I had to go into New York yesterday to get our taxes done, so I took the opportunity to visit my old stomping ground of Prospect Park. Nothing very special there, though I did finally see my first Ruddy Ducks of the year. Considering all the water I've been birding this year, I find it surprising that it took almost 2 months to find them, but there it is.

Peter's new feeder set up is elaborate, impressive, and effective--I didn't see one squirrel on them, leaving them free for the fair sized flock of House Finches that were there, along with the usual little winter birds. The Mourning Doves scavenged any seeds that fell to the ground.  A drake and hen Hooded Mergansers over by Three Sisters Islands were the most unusual birds of the day.

It was good to walk around the park, but I haven't been away long enough for it to seem really strange and/or nostalgic.
24 species for the day:
Prospect Park
19 species
Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  6
American Black Duck  2
Mallard  100
Northern Shoveler  10
Hooded Merganser  2
Ruddy Duck  27
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Coot  35
Ring-billed Gull  200
Herring Gull  2
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Rock Pigeon  25
Blue Jay  3
Black-capped Chickadee  3
Red-winged Blackbird  1
House Finch  1
House Sparrow  10
Feeders
7 species
Mourning Dove  7
Downy Woodpecker  2
Black-capped Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
White-throated Sparrow  1
House Finch  10

Delaware 2/18-2/20

We spent the weekend in Delaware, 2 days going around Bombay Hook, and 1 day exploring farther south, including finally getting to Prime Hook. Bombay Hook, a little north of Dover, used to be a big trip for us from Brooklyn; now it is really close enough for us to make it a day trip.

All photos: Shari Zirlin

Bombay Hook is like Brigantine writ large--instead of one loop around consolidated impoundments, it is a meandering trail that leads from one huge impoundment to the next. The attraction in the summer is shorebirds, particularly stilts and avocets. This time of year it's ducks. But, happily, one Black-necked Stilt overwintered this year and we picked it out of the Raymond Pool almost immediately upon our arrival on Saturday. Shari was able to get this rather distant shot.

Another attraction at Bombay Hook is the eagles. We saw four the first day: One adult scaring up the ducks and coots in Bear Swamp Pool (the joke is that there is no bear, no swamp, and in the summer, no pool), then 3 immatures hunting making passes at ducks and gulls near Shearness Pool. But the most impressive sight and sound of the 3 day weekend was on Monday when we had returned to the trail to Bear Swamp Pool's observation tower.

At first it sounded like the wind in the blowing gently through the tops of the trees, but it became increasingly louder, taking on the sound and rhythm of an approaching locomotive and then it became very clear right before they appeared, that it was a gigantic flock of Snow Geese flying over head, thousands of them, all yelping their peculiar bark. It seemed like they passed over us for 5 minutes. Later we saw a huge flock across the water--they looked at that distance like a snow bank covering the low lying beach--hence the name.

Silly Goose

Sunday we drove down to Prime Hook, Bombay's somewhat neglected cousin refuge. Prime Hook has a number of access roads, so it isn't as contained as Bombay. But once we got the feel for the place it turned out to be a great spot, with plenty of passerines, including some bluebirds and lots of House Finches. Snow Geese are abundant there also. We found one, wandering in and out of traffic on the road alongside the southernmost impoundment.  Afterward, we drove up Ted Harvey WMA; American Avocets had been reported there and I was able to find 19 of them way back in the North Impoundment. Later, on the road out, we came across the proverbial mixed flock of blackbirds and grackles high in the treetops, making the forest sound like an enormous rattle. I listed a thousand blackbirds on eBirds, but that is a very conservative count. 

We also checked out a place called Little Creek where we came upon some Ring-necked Ducks and a small flock of Cedar Waxwings mixing with a much larger flock of robins, as well our first Swamp Sparrow & Willet of the year. 

Sunday we drove around Bombay Hook again, not finding anything new, though there was one avocet where the stilt had been a couple of days previous. A striking bird, even out of breeding plumage.

We always like to check the fields just outside the refuge for any foraging birds. We didn't come up with anything until we were a few miles away from the refuge on Fast Landing Road. There we got our FOY Horned Larks in one of the fields that has not been turned over to McMansions. A good way to end the trip.

57 species for the weekend. 

Species	Location
Snow Goose	Bombay Hook NWR
Canada Goose	Bombay Hook NWR
Tundra Swan	Bombay Hook NWR
Gadwall	Bombay Hook NWR
American Wigeon	Bombay Hook NWR
American Black Duck	Bombay Hook NWR
Mallard	Bombay Hook NWR
Northern Shoveler	Bombay Hook NWR
Northern Pintail	Bombay Hook NWR
Green-winged Teal	Bombay Hook NWR
Ring-necked Duck	Little Creek Wildlife Area
Bufflehead	Bombay Hook NWR
Hooded Merganser	Ted Harvey WMA
Common Merganser	Bombay Hook NWR
Red-breasted Merganser	Prime Hook NWR
Pied-billed Grebe	Bombay Hook NWR
Great Blue Heron	Bombay Hook NWR
Turkey Vulture	Bombay Hook NWR
Bald Eagle	Bombay Hook NWR
Northern Harrier	Bombay Hook NWR
Red-tailed Hawk	Bombay Hook NWR
American Coot	Bombay Hook NWR
Black-necked Stilt	Bombay Hook NWR
American Avocet	Ted Harvey WMA
Greater Yellowlegs	Bombay Hook NWR
Lesser Yellowlegs	Bombay Hook NWR
Dunlin	Little Creek Wildlife Area
Ring-billed Gull	Bombay Hook NWR
Herring Gull	Bombay Hook NWR
Great Black-backed Gull	Bombay Hook NWR
Mourning Dove	Little Creek Wildlife Area
Belted Kingfisher	Prime Hook NWR
Red-bellied Woodpecker	Bombay Hook NWR
Northern Flicker	Ted Harvey WMA
Blue Jay	Bombay Hook NWR
American Crow	Prime Hook NWR
Horned Lark	Fast Landing Rd
Carolina Chickadee	Prime Hook NWR
Tufted Titmouse	Prime Hook NWR
Carolina Wren	Little Creek Wildlife Area
Eastern Bluebird	Prime Hook NWR
American Robin	Prime Hook NWR
Northern Mockingbird	Bombay Hook NWR
European Starling	Prime Hook NWR
Cedar Waxwing	Little Creek Wildlife Area
Yellow-rumped Warbler	Little Creek Wildlife Area
Song Sparrow	Bombay Hook NWR
Swamp Sparrow	Little Creek Wildlife Area
White-throated Sparrow	Prime Hook NWR
Dark-eyed Junco	Prime Hook NWR
Northern Cardinal	Prime Hook NWR
Red-winged Blackbird	Bombay Hook NWR
Common Grackle	Ted Harvey WMA
House Finch	Prime Hook NWR
American Goldfinch	Bombay Hook NWR
House Sparrow	Bombay Hook NWR