Brigantine 10/13

We took what is turning out to be our monthly group trip around the impoundments with Pete Bacinski today. Nothing new for me. There would have been something new--an American Bittern-- if I had been able to park the car fast enough or close enough to where it was, but a jerk photographer's huge SUV was blocking the road and by the time I pulled around it and parked where others could pass by, the bittern had slipped back into the reeds, never to be found again, even after we went back later in the afternoon. Shari did see it--she jumped out of the car before the traffic jam.    I have to say, I was pa-retty annoyed by that guy and his dumb wife driver and let them know. Birding can get ugly.

Anyway, 64 species on a fine day with good numbers of waterfowl and the first Brants of the season.

Brant  220
Canada Goose  150
Mute Swan  10
Wood Duck  6
American Black Duck  200
Mallard  50
Blue-winged Teal  5
Northern Shoveler  10
Northern Pintail  500
Green-winged Teal  500
Ruddy Duck  110    Ten in Danzenbaker Pool, 100 in large flock in Turtle Cove
Pied-billed Grebe  40    Pete counted around 75. Just huge numbers this  year.
Double-crested Cormorant  200
Great Blue Heron  4
Great Egret  100
Snowy Egret  11
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  3
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  3
American Coot  4
Black-bellied Plover  2    One in alternate plumage, other still mostly in breeding plumage
Semipalmated Plover  2
Greater Yellowlegs  100
Lesser Yellowlegs  10
Marbled Godwit  4
Semipalmated Sandpiper  10
Western Sandpiper  1
Dunlin  20
Long-billed Dowitcher  5
Herring Gull  20
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Forster's Tern  300
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Merlin  1
Peregrine Falcon  3
Blue Jay  10
American Crow  3
Tree Swallow  100
Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard, parking lot
Red-breasted Nuthatch  2
Brown Creeper  2
Carolina Wren  2    Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
Eastern Bluebird  1    Heard, f/o parking lot
Gray Catbird  1    Gull Pond tower
Brown Thrasher  1    Heard, near exit of loop
European Starling  2    f/o parking lot
Palm Warbler  1    Leeds Eco Trail boardwalk
Yellow-rumped Warbler  10
Savannah Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  3
Swamp Sparrow  2    Heard
White-throated Sparrow  2    Picnic tables
Northern Cardinal  1    Gull Pond road
Red-winged Blackbird  250
Boat-tailed Grackle  30
House Finch  1    Picnic tables
American Goldfinch  1    f/o Leeds Eco Trail boardwalk