I had to go to the dump today and as the dump is about a third of the way to Whitesbog, I went there for my walk. Whitesbog is big; I started in Burlington County and walked the road alongside the bogs and reservoirs into Ocean County. And, with all that walking, aside from an impressive number of Tundra Swans, there weren't any exciting or unusual birds to be found.
What pleased me about the outing was my ear birding. I'm getting decent at it. Quite a few times, I heard a bird first, then found it, and since they don't sing this time of year (except for Carolina Wrens and Song Sparrows), I was picking up their little call notes and in one case, the sound of their wings.
Examples: Walking on the road near the headquarters I heard the soft "tss, tss" of a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Looked up, spotted it. Deep in Ocean County, surveying yet another empty bog, I heard behind me the little trills of Eastern Bluebirds. Turned back on the road, saw some shapes in a bare tree, there they were. I heard faintly the sound of large wings flapping, distinctive of swans, and found a lone Tundra Swan heading east. What else? Cardinal: heard it then saw it. As soon as I got there I heard the "doo-doo-doo" of goldfinches and found them in with a huge flock of juncos. And I also picked out the descending "chrrrr" of a Red-tailed Hawk, was able to distinguish it from the imitative sound that Blue Jays like to make to mess with other birds, and then found the bird flying over the tree tops. This is all rudimentary stuff but it pleases me to be able to find the birds after I hear them. Let's keep the "watch" in "bird watching"!
So the third trip to Whitesbog in November ended a rough month for birding; more on that in the monthly wrap up.
23 species for the day.
Tundra Swan 52
American Black Duck 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 3
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 1 Heard
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 40
Northern Cardinal 1
American Goldfinch 4
Friday, November 30, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
100 More Books
It took me 14 months to read (or reread) the next 100 books. I can't pick out one reason that the pace of reading has slowed down. Maybe I'm outside more. Maybe it's because I no longer ride the subway.
Looking over the list I see that I reread a lot of McPhee, De Lillo, and Hammett. This year I may start rereading Philip Roth, now that he's announced his retirement.
I read, or reread a lot of poetry these last months. Even if the books are slim, reading poetry takes a long time if you want to read it properly. First you have to read it for "sense." Then you have to read it for how it's built. Then you have to reread it to see how the sense and structure fit together.
In the guilty pleasures category, I've started reading a series of English murder mysteries by an American mother and son team writing under the name of Charles Todd. I allow myself one a month.
There's a funny little run of books with Wittgenstein's name in the title--one led to another and the original impetus was from the book "Why Does the World Exist?" (By the way, the answer is, "No good reason.")
So, for those of you who love lists as much as I do, here they are, with occasional comments:
Looking over the list I see that I reread a lot of McPhee, De Lillo, and Hammett. This year I may start rereading Philip Roth, now that he's announced his retirement.
I read, or reread a lot of poetry these last months. Even if the books are slim, reading poetry takes a long time if you want to read it properly. First you have to read it for "sense." Then you have to read it for how it's built. Then you have to reread it to see how the sense and structure fit together.
In the guilty pleasures category, I've started reading a series of English murder mysteries by an American mother and son team writing under the name of Charles Todd. I allow myself one a month.
There's a funny little run of books with Wittgenstein's name in the title--one led to another and the original impetus was from the book "Why Does the World Exist?" (By the way, the answer is, "No good reason.")
So, for those of you who love lists as much as I do, here they are, with occasional comments:
1)
9/26: Recovery® --Berryman
2)
9/27: Life Studies & For the Union Dead®--Lowell
3)
10/ 7: The Strangest Man
4)
10/11: The Elements of Style®
5)
10/13: The Anthologist--Baker
6)
10/17: The Thin Man®--Hammett
7)
10/20: Collected Poems, Philip Larkin®
8)
10/26: What a Baseball Manager Does
9)
10/27: The Ballad and the Source--Lehmann
10) 10/29: The World of Marcel Duchamp
11) 10/31: The Sense of an Ending--Barnes
12) 11/1: Point Omega—DeLillo
13) 11/6: Flaubert’s Parrot--Barnes
14) 11/7: The Jersey Devil
15) 11/15: A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters--Barnes
16) 11/17: The Nick Adams Stories—Hemingway
17) 11/22: The Angel Esmeralda—DeLillo
18) 11/28:
U and I® --Baker
19) 12/2:
Self-Consciousness—Updike
20) 12/5: Modernism: A Very Short Introduction
21) 12/10: An Object of Beauty—Martin
22) 12/13: The Survival of the Bark Canoe®--McPhee
23) 12/14: Soap®--Ponge ®Thought
it was boring 35 years ago, still think it’s boring today.
24) 12/15:
Mrs. Dalloway’s Party—Woolf
25) 12/17:
The Glass Key®--Hammett
26) 12/20: The Hours®--Cunningham
27) 12/23: Mrs. Dalloway®--Woolf ®Not
nearly as interesting as I remembered it
28) 12/25: The Greatest Stories Never Told
29) 1/2/12: Virginia Woolf’s Nose
30) 1/10: Keepers of the Flame—Hamilton
31) 1/11: English As She Is Spoke
32) 1/14: The Lüneburg Variation®--Maurensig
33) 1/16: Dada: Art and Anti-art—Richter
34) 1/19: Running in the Family®—Ondaatje
35) 1/22: The Savage God®--Alvarez
36) 1/26:
A Universe From Nothing
37) 1/31: Old New York®--Wharton
38) 2/7: The Custom of the Country—Wharton
39) 2/11: All Art is Propaganda—Orwell
40) 2/14: Selected Poems, Delmore Schwartz
41) 2/23: Vanished Act: The Life and Art of Weldon
Kees
42) 2/23: Collected Poems of Weldon Kees®
43) 2/23:
Threads—Schrader
44) 2/24: Night of Pure Breathing—Fleming
45) 2/25: The Continental Op®--Hammett
46) 3/1: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man®—Joyce
® Some
famous lines.
47) 3/2:
Betrayal—Pinter
48) 3/6: The Art of Bird Finding—Dunne
49) 3/7: In the Money®--WCW
50) 3/12:
Facing Unpleasant Facts—Orwell
51) 3/22:
George Orwell: A Life®
52) 3/22:
Animal Farm®--Orwell
53) 3/23: Beautiful & Pointless—Orr ® No & yes.
54) 3/27:
The Lost Continent—Bryson
55) 3/31:
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union—Chabon
56) 4/1:
Death of a Salesman®--Miller
57) 4/5:
Mother Tongue®--Bryson
58) 4/22:
Ghost Towns and Other Quirky Places in the New Jersey Pine Barrens
59) 4/25: As
They See ‘Em
60) 5/8: A
Pine Barrens Odyssey
61) 5/9: The Curious Builder—Violi
62) 5/10: Making Certain it Goes On—Hugo
63) 5/15: Prague Fatale—Kerr
64) 5/24: What We Talk About When We Talk About
Anne Frank—Englander
65) 6/5: The Great War and Modern Memory®—Fussell
66) 6/15: About Schmidt—Begley
67) 6/16: Train Dreams—Johnson
68) 6/22: Istanbul Passage—Kanon
69) 6/26: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back
70) 7/2: Schmidt Delivered—Begley
71) 7/4: Looking For A Ship®—McPhee
72) 7/5: Spring and All®--WCW
73) 7/6: On Bullshit®--Frankfurt
74) 7/10: Schmidt Steps Back—Begley
75) 7/18: Bird Sense
76) 7/20: A Test of Wills—Todd
77) 7/25: The Theory of the Leisure Class--Veblen®Gave up after reading ¾ of the
book—why say in 10 words what you can say in a 100?
78) 7/30: To
Forgive Design—Petroski
79) 7/30: Outliers—Gladwell
80) 8/3: Priceless®--Poundstone
81) 8/9: The
Meinertzhagen Mystery®Bio of
a fraud.
82) 8/13:
Wings of Fire—Todd
83) 8/15: Trudy Hopedale—Frank
84) 8/28: A Man Called Intrepid
85) 9/6: Why Does The World Exist?
86) 9/12: Wittgenstein’s Poker®
87) 9/18:
The Evolution of Useful Things—Petroski
88) 9/24: Wittgenstein’s Nephew—Bernhard
89) 9/30: Wittgenstein’s Vienna
90) 10/3: The Loser—Bernhard
91) 10/18: The Color Revolution
92) 10/24: Search the Dark—Todd
93) 10/29: Night Games—Schnitzler
94) 10/31: Roy Lichtenstein: Mural with Blue
Brushstroke®
95) 11/2: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf—Albee
96) 11/4: Nabokov’s Butterfly®
97) 11/6: Borders: A Very Short Introduction
98) 11/14: The World of Yesterday—Zweig
99) 11/20: Legacy of the Dead—Todd ® Too
many coincidences.
100) 11/25: The Sealed Train
The little ® indicates a book I reread--which looks to be 25% for this tranche.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Staten Island 11/23--Cave Swallow
We had to be in Brooklyn this evening to celebrate a friend's birthday, so on the way we stopped off on Staten Island to do some quick birding. Our first stop was the Cemetery of the Resurrection across the street from Mount Loretto. I always feel a little creepy when I'm in a cemetery for anything other than a funeral. I feel like I'm trespassing even though I know that cemeteries, like Green-Wood, have set themselves up as tourist attractions. The attraction for us was a rare bird for NYC (or the northeast, for that matter)--Cave Swallows. We got to the area called the Perpendicular Pond and waited for a few minutes. A car pulled up and immediately I thought it might be a cemetery official wanting to shoo us away, but instead it was another birder asking if we had seen any swallows when at that moment one whizzed by our heads. Off it went over Sharrot Avenue. "Damn," I thought, "Is that going to be my look at a Cave Swallow--a half-second blur?"
Fortunately, no. Above us a few more swallows were flying, identifiable by their shape and orange throats. I was pretty happy, because this was a life bird. Or so I thought. When I got home I found that I had seen Cave Swallows twice in Puerto Rico. When you have a life list of well over 500 species, it gets hard, sometimes, to keep track of what you've seen where and when. However, Cave Swallow is a new
Ain't databases grand?
We didn't have enough time to do Mount Loretto justice so we drove up to Great Kills Park which has just recently been partially reopened after sustaining significant Sandy damage. Only the entrance road up to the first parking lot is open. That lot overlooks what's call the mud flats, always a good place to find waterfowl, waders, plovers, sandpipers and in the spring and summer--Bank Swallows.
We were surprised to find that the 10 foot high bluffs that stood over the beach (in which the Bank Swallows would nest) were washed away--instead there was a very gentle slope from the water up to the scrubby field in front of the parking lot. Won't the swallows be surprised when they return in the spring and find no place to nest! Admittedly, this is minor considering the damage the storm wreaked, but it is a good example of just how fragile the habitat for birds can be.
It was hard to tell if the mud flats were now buried beneath the sand or if the tide was just high. It was difficult, in fact, to orient ourselves, since most of the trees that stood along the edge of the bluff were just gone along with the trail that ran behind them. I didn't bring the scope, so a couple of distant rafts of waterfowl had to go unidentified, but we did see 3 Horned Grebes and one Red-throated Loon close in among the breakers. There were too many people on the beach (each one Omigodding the damage) for any winter peeps to be around. We didn't stay long--it was pretty depressing and for some reason the construction vehicles suddenly started blowing sand all around. As we drove up Hyland Blvd toward the bridge, looking down each block to the bay, it was easy to see where the water had come up and destroyed property. We certainly weren't about to be ghouls and actively go looking for damage. That would have been even creepier than being in a cemetery.
14 species for the 2 spots and an excellent meal afterward with dear friends.
Fortunately, no. Above us a few more swallows were flying, identifiable by their shape and orange throats. I was pretty happy, because this was a life bird. Or so I thought. When I got home I found that I had seen Cave Swallows twice in Puerto Rico. When you have a life list of well over 500 species, it gets hard, sometimes, to keep track of what you've seen where and when. However, Cave Swallow is a new
- United States bird (for birding purposes, Puerto Rico is not considered the U.S.)
- New York bird and
- Richmond County bird.
Ain't databases grand?
We didn't have enough time to do Mount Loretto justice so we drove up to Great Kills Park which has just recently been partially reopened after sustaining significant Sandy damage. Only the entrance road up to the first parking lot is open. That lot overlooks what's call the mud flats, always a good place to find waterfowl, waders, plovers, sandpipers and in the spring and summer--Bank Swallows.
We were surprised to find that the 10 foot high bluffs that stood over the beach (in which the Bank Swallows would nest) were washed away--instead there was a very gentle slope from the water up to the scrubby field in front of the parking lot. Won't the swallows be surprised when they return in the spring and find no place to nest! Admittedly, this is minor considering the damage the storm wreaked, but it is a good example of just how fragile the habitat for birds can be.
It was hard to tell if the mud flats were now buried beneath the sand or if the tide was just high. It was difficult, in fact, to orient ourselves, since most of the trees that stood along the edge of the bluff were just gone along with the trail that ran behind them. I didn't bring the scope, so a couple of distant rafts of waterfowl had to go unidentified, but we did see 3 Horned Grebes and one Red-throated Loon close in among the breakers. There were too many people on the beach (each one Omigodding the damage) for any winter peeps to be around. We didn't stay long--it was pretty depressing and for some reason the construction vehicles suddenly started blowing sand all around. As we drove up Hyland Blvd toward the bridge, looking down each block to the bay, it was easy to see where the water had come up and destroyed property. We certainly weren't about to be ghouls and actively go looking for damage. That would have been even creepier than being in a cemetery.
14 species for the 2 spots and an excellent meal afterward with dear friends.
|
Species Count First Sighting
|
|
Gadwall 10 Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
American Black Duck
25 Great Kills Mud Flats
|
|
Mallard 10 Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Bufflehead 1 Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Ruddy Duck 5 Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Red-throated Loon 1
Great Kills Mud Flats
|
|
Horned Grebe 3 Great Kills Mud Flats
|
|
Great Blue Heron 1
Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Ring-billed Gull
5 Great Kills Mud Flats
|
|
Great Black-backed Gull
1 Great Kills Mud Flats
|
|
Rock Pigeon 3 Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Blue Jay 4
Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Cave Swallow 4 Cemetery of the Resurrection
|
|
Black-capped Chickadee
1 Cemetery of the
Resurrection
|
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Brigantine, Thanksgiving Day--Limited Access
The 8 mile loop around the impoundments at Brigantine sustained severe Sandy damage, including a breach of the road so that the bay runs into one of the ponds, but after 3 weeks of clean up, some of the walking trails are open and we went down this morning to see what we could see.
But the most interesting bird we saw today was before we got there, on New York Road, just after we exited the Parkway: a fairly large bird was running across the road, then, to avoid an oncoming car, it flew (really more of a jump) into the woods alongside. In those few seconds we noted both the small head and the pointed, long tail--my first reaction was grouse, but Shari saw immediately that was wrong because the bird was too big. We've seen peafowl (not countable) along that road, but this bird didn't have the prominent little fan at the back of the head that adorns both sexes, nor was it as bulky as that bird. It certainly wasn't a turkey--I see them constantly, up close, on our lawn. It was a hen Ring-Necked Pheasant, which is very surprising since they are listed as rare in that area and "extirpated" on Brigantine's new bird list. Without photos it probably won't be accepted by eBird's reviewer (I expect an email asking for details any moment now), but we saw what we saw.
At the refuge we first walked on the little trail by the parking lot which had a lot of the common birds you'd expect. Then we walked down the road to the Gull Pond Tower, past the blocked entrance to the Wildlife Drive. It was a new experience for us to walk the length of that road--normally, of course, we drive it. We were happy and relieved to see that the boardwalk of Leeds Eco-trail survived undamaged--the plank we donated unharmed. There were finch-like birds flying and calling overhead there--I wanted them to be either of the crossbills that have been reported lately but had to settle for the consolation prize of a Pine Siskin.
Farther along the road we only found Mallards in the pond on the left, but from the Gull Tower we were able to scope out a slew of ducks--many American Black Ducks, dabbling with their butts in the air, but also lots of species too far away for any reliable i.d. There were also Tundra Swans, big enough to identify even from that distance and much farther out a flock of Canada Geese. It seemed like there were thousands of waterfowl out on the water and it was frustrating in the extreme not to be on the road checking through the flocks. It is going to be some time before we're able to do that again. Not only does the road need to be rebuilt and the huge breach filled in with tons of dirt, but I would imagine that the sluices and gates that control the water levels in the ponds all need to be checked and repaired. With the salt water in the ponds, much of the vegetation that the ducks depend on died, as well as the insects they eat which live on the plants. How that is remedied I don't know.
So it was a somewhat melancholy journey today that netted 30 species on the refuge. An acceptable number, given the constraints.
Canada Goose X
Tundra Swan 13
American Black Duck X
Mallard 21
Lesser Scaup 1 entrance pond
Ruddy Duck 5 entrance pond
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 1 Heard on road to Gull Pond
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
Carolina Wren 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 3 On martin house supports
Hermit Thrush 1 Picnic tables
American Robin 15
Northern Mockingbird 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Road to Gull Pond Tower
White-throated Sparrow 7 Picnic tables
Northern Cardinal 1 Picnic tables
Common Grackle 1 Picnic tables
Pine Siskin 1 Tree near Leeds Eco trail
But the most interesting bird we saw today was before we got there, on New York Road, just after we exited the Parkway: a fairly large bird was running across the road, then, to avoid an oncoming car, it flew (really more of a jump) into the woods alongside. In those few seconds we noted both the small head and the pointed, long tail--my first reaction was grouse, but Shari saw immediately that was wrong because the bird was too big. We've seen peafowl (not countable) along that road, but this bird didn't have the prominent little fan at the back of the head that adorns both sexes, nor was it as bulky as that bird. It certainly wasn't a turkey--I see them constantly, up close, on our lawn. It was a hen Ring-Necked Pheasant, which is very surprising since they are listed as rare in that area and "extirpated" on Brigantine's new bird list. Without photos it probably won't be accepted by eBird's reviewer (I expect an email asking for details any moment now), but we saw what we saw.
At the refuge we first walked on the little trail by the parking lot which had a lot of the common birds you'd expect. Then we walked down the road to the Gull Pond Tower, past the blocked entrance to the Wildlife Drive. It was a new experience for us to walk the length of that road--normally, of course, we drive it. We were happy and relieved to see that the boardwalk of Leeds Eco-trail survived undamaged--the plank we donated unharmed. There were finch-like birds flying and calling overhead there--I wanted them to be either of the crossbills that have been reported lately but had to settle for the consolation prize of a Pine Siskin.
Farther along the road we only found Mallards in the pond on the left, but from the Gull Tower we were able to scope out a slew of ducks--many American Black Ducks, dabbling with their butts in the air, but also lots of species too far away for any reliable i.d. There were also Tundra Swans, big enough to identify even from that distance and much farther out a flock of Canada Geese. It seemed like there were thousands of waterfowl out on the water and it was frustrating in the extreme not to be on the road checking through the flocks. It is going to be some time before we're able to do that again. Not only does the road need to be rebuilt and the huge breach filled in with tons of dirt, but I would imagine that the sluices and gates that control the water levels in the ponds all need to be checked and repaired. With the salt water in the ponds, much of the vegetation that the ducks depend on died, as well as the insects they eat which live on the plants. How that is remedied I don't know.
So it was a somewhat melancholy journey today that netted 30 species on the refuge. An acceptable number, given the constraints.
Canada Goose X
Tundra Swan 13
American Black Duck X
Mallard 21
Lesser Scaup 1 entrance pond
Ruddy Duck 5 entrance pond
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 1 Heard on road to Gull Pond
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
Carolina Wren 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 3 On martin house supports
Hermit Thrush 1 Picnic tables
American Robin 15
Northern Mockingbird 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Road to Gull Pond Tower
White-throated Sparrow 7 Picnic tables
Northern Cardinal 1 Picnic tables
Common Grackle 1 Picnic tables
Pine Siskin 1 Tree near Leeds Eco trail
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Whitesbog 11/18--American Tree Sparrow
"Go west," Shari said, since east looks like a giant stomped and kicked everything all to pieces. So we headed first to Whitesbog, then to Rancocas State Park, just outside of "historic" Mt Holly. We were hoping for "winter finches." So was another guy we saw on the road at Whitesbog. What we got (don't know about him) were sparrows: 7 species in all, including our first of the year American Tree Sparrow on the road at Whitesbog. Our first of the season Tundra Swans were in the usual place at Whitesbog, the first impoundment on the left. I don't know what it is about the bogs that attracts those swans but it is an absolutely reliable place to find them all winter.
Rancocas was quiet; almost all the action was at the feeders. The conifer forest had a nary a bird and the creek was quiet except for a Carolina Wren.
Between Whitesbog and Rancocas we stopped for brunch in Mt Holly--above the old town a flock of vultures flew, including 2 Black Vultures. We didn't take it as an ominous sign and brunch at the Robin's Nest (seems appropriate) was quite good.
26 species for the day.
Rancocas was quiet; almost all the action was at the feeders. The conifer forest had a nary a bird and the creek was quiet except for a Carolina Wren.
Between Whitesbog and Rancocas we stopped for brunch in Mt Holly--above the old town a flock of vultures flew, including 2 Black Vultures. We didn't take it as an ominous sign and brunch at the Robin's Nest (seems appropriate) was quite good.
26 species for the day.
|
Species
Count First Sighting
|
|
Canada Goose 25 Rancocas Nature Center
|
|
Tundra Swan 6 White's Bogs
|
|
Pied-billed Grebe
1 White's Bogs
|
|
Black Vulture 2 Mt. Holly
|
|
Turkey Vulture 2 White's Bogs
|
|
Downy Woodpecker
1 White's Bogs
|
|
Northern Flicker
1 White's Bogs
|
|
Blue Jay 1 White's Bogs
|
|
American Crow 2 White's Bogs
|
|
Carolina Chickadee
10 White's Bogs
|
|
Tufted Titmouse 1 White's Bogs
|
|
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Rancocas Nature Center
|
|
White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Rancocas Nature Center
|
|
Carolina Wren 1 White's Bogs
|
|
Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Rancocas Nature Center
|
|
Hermit Thrush 1 White's Bogs
|
|
American Robin 1 White's Bogs
|
|
American Tree Sparrow 1 White's Bogs
|
|
Savannah Sparrow
1 White's Bogs
|
|
Fox Sparrow 2 White's Bogs
|
|
Song Sparrow 4 White's Bogs
|
|
Swamp Sparrow 1 White's Bogs
|
|
White-throated Sparrow
5 White's Bogs
|
|
Dark-eyed Junco
50 White's Bogs
|
|
Northern Cardinal
2 White's Bogs
|
|
American Goldfinch
6 White's Bogs
|
Friday, November 16, 2012
Great Bay Blvd 11/16
The great thing about birding: You never know. Today I drove down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton 2 1/2 weeks after the town was flooded by Sandy. I was curious as to the condition of the road and bridges. The road was in surprisingly good shape, but I was amazed at how high the water still was. The marshes and mudflats along the road are now swamped and the water comes up to edge of the road in a few places over the edges. Most of the turnouts and makeshift landings are under water and the inlet beach at the end of the road is gone, replaced by a thick mats of crushed phragmites.
I thought when I arrived, around 9:05 that it must be high tide, considering how close the water was to the road. I was wrong, the tide was still coming in, because when I left, places that I had parked were under water and in several spots the road was encroached from both sides by the rising tide.
Here's what I mean about "you never know:" For 2 1/2 hours the birding was just all right, nothing spectacular, though the first Common Loons of the season were good to see. Plenty of Brants, lots of American Black Ducks, large mixed flocks of Boat-tailed Grackles and starlings. I searched those for some sort of rare blackbird, but no, just what you'd expect to see mid-November was around. Only a few passerines were to be had.
Then, standing on the boardwalk that leads to the Rutgers Research Facility, making one last scan, out of the corner of my eye I saw something emerge from beneath the boardwalk. And there, standing only a few feet away from me, was an American Bittern. I didn't need binoculars for this bird. Slowly, it walked through the muck, lifting it's thick green legs as if it was feeling its way, making sure not to hit a deep spot. I watched it for a few minutes, it's head lifted high in its typical hiding posture though it was out in the open. It turned toward the reeds and slipped in and like a magic trick, disappeared. Though it was only a few yard from me, it was impossible to find. I go years without seeing bitterns and now I've seen 2 in 2 months. And I've never been this close to one. So, obviously, that made the day and the Belted Kingfishers and Great Egrets I saw on the way back up the road simply added to my count. The bittern was also my 190th Ocean County bird, tying my count for Queens.
20 species
Brant 100
Mute Swan 2
American Black Duck 60
Common Loon 3
Double-crested Cormorant 7
American Bittern 1 Boardwalk to Rutgers Facility
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 2
Northern Harrier 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Ring-billed Gull 25
Herring Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 6
Belted Kingfisher 2
European Starling 150
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 200
House Finch 1
I thought when I arrived, around 9:05 that it must be high tide, considering how close the water was to the road. I was wrong, the tide was still coming in, because when I left, places that I had parked were under water and in several spots the road was encroached from both sides by the rising tide.
Here's what I mean about "you never know:" For 2 1/2 hours the birding was just all right, nothing spectacular, though the first Common Loons of the season were good to see. Plenty of Brants, lots of American Black Ducks, large mixed flocks of Boat-tailed Grackles and starlings. I searched those for some sort of rare blackbird, but no, just what you'd expect to see mid-November was around. Only a few passerines were to be had.
Then, standing on the boardwalk that leads to the Rutgers Research Facility, making one last scan, out of the corner of my eye I saw something emerge from beneath the boardwalk. And there, standing only a few feet away from me, was an American Bittern. I didn't need binoculars for this bird. Slowly, it walked through the muck, lifting it's thick green legs as if it was feeling its way, making sure not to hit a deep spot. I watched it for a few minutes, it's head lifted high in its typical hiding posture though it was out in the open. It turned toward the reeds and slipped in and like a magic trick, disappeared. Though it was only a few yard from me, it was impossible to find. I go years without seeing bitterns and now I've seen 2 in 2 months. And I've never been this close to one. So, obviously, that made the day and the Belted Kingfishers and Great Egrets I saw on the way back up the road simply added to my count. The bittern was also my 190th Ocean County bird, tying my count for Queens.
20 species
Brant 100
Mute Swan 2
American Black Duck 60
Common Loon 3
Double-crested Cormorant 7
American Bittern 1 Boardwalk to Rutgers Facility
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 2
Northern Harrier 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Ring-billed Gull 25
Herring Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 6
Belted Kingfisher 2
European Starling 150
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 200
House Finch 1
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Cape May 11/11-White-winged Dove
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| White-winged Dove |
With almost all the birding spots from Sandy Hook down to Brigantine off limits due to extreme storm damage, it seemed like the closest place we could go birding was to drive 80 miles down to Cape May. Some interesting birds were being reported there, as always, and we were both antsy to go somewhere, having been pretty much confined to our backyard (which Shari defines as the 11,000 acre WMA behind the house) since Sandy hit.
Our first stop was going to be Cape May Point State Park, but no sooner did we pull into the parking lot did I see small contingents of birders hurrying out of the park. Something was obviously up and when I heard a woman on her cell mention White-winged Dove, we trailed behind. A couple of blocks outside the park, near the corner of Lehigh and Lincoln, beneath a feeder, we were able to see, with no difficulty this southern dove. Not a life bird, but we hadn't seen one since our Arizona trip 3 1/2 years ago. There's something about Lincoln Avenue and doves: back in April, on the same block, we saw a Eurasian Collared-Dove, and today, on our 2nd trip back to Lincoln Avenue we saw 2, right across the street from the yard where the White-winged Dove (above) had relocated. Apparently, there were 3 EUCD's yesterday on Lincoln, but a Cooper's Hawk came along and reduced the population.
We had gone back to Lincoln because it was a white-winged kind of day. Having seen a White-winged Scoter from the dune crossings along Harvard Avenue, we were hoping to add White-winged Crossbill to the day list. A number had been reported in that general area but we weren't able to find any today.
It isn't everyday you get to see 4 dove species in New Jersey--we also saw Mourning Doves (one on a wire along Lincoln, naturally) and a couple of Rock Pigeons at the state park. It is a bit of a stretch--Rock Pigeons used to be called Rock Doves until it was decided by some committee that for the sake of consistency, in the Columbidae family, doves were small and pigeons large (I don't know where the cutoff is) so the Rock Dove, which everyone called a pigeon anyway, went back to being one.
Ducks and other waterfowl were the largest contingent of species today, which is not surprising since we spent most of our time looking at water. Aside from the scoter, we had 11 species of ducks, including our FOS Buffleheads, plus there were also Pied-billed Grebes and American Coots.
In the skies it is always a treat to see a Bald Eagle from the Hawkwatch, a Cooper's Hawk was whooshing about the state park, in the meadows we had a couple of Northern Harriers hunting plus a Merlin.
It was another Heinz day: 57 varieties. It is spooky how often that number comes up after a full day of birding.
Species First Sighting
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Canada Goose CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Mute Swan CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Gadwall CM Hawkwatch Platform
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American Wigeon Lily Lake
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American Black
Duck Cape May Meadows
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Mallard CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Northern Shoveler CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Northern Pintail CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Green-winged Teal Cape May Meadows
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Ring-necked Duck Lily Lake
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Lesser Scaup CM Hawkwatch Platform
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White-winged
Scoter Coral Ave dune
crossing
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Bufflehead Cape May Meadows
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Ruddy Duck CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Pied-billed Grebe CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Double-crested
Cormorant Lily Lake
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Great Blue Heron Cape May Meadows
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Great Egret Cape May Meadows
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Turkey Vulture CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Northern Harrier Cape May Meadows
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Cooper's Hawk CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Bald Eagle CM Hawkwatch Platform
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American Coot CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Sanderling Coral Ave dune crossing
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Ring-billed Gull CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Great Black-backed
Gull Cape May Meadows
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Rock Pigeon CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Eurasian
Collared-Dove Lincoln Ave,
Cape May Pt
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White-winged Dove Lincoln Ave,
Cape May Pt
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Mourning Dove Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Downy Woodpecker Lily Lake
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Northern Flicker Cape May Meadows
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Merlin Cape May Meadows
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Blue Jay Coral Ave dune crossing
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American Crow Lily Lake
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Tree Swallow CM Hawkwatch Platform
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Carolina
Chickadee Harvard Ave, Cape
May Pt
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Red-breasted Nuthatch Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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White-breasted
Nuthatch CMBO Northwood
Center
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Carolina Wren Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Golden-crowned
Kinglet Harvard Ave, Cape May
Pt
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American Robin Cape May SP--entrance
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Gray Catbird Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Northern
Mockingbird Cape May SP--entrance
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European Starling Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Yellow-rumped Warbler CM Hawkwatch
Platform
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Chipping Sparrow Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Savannah Sparrow Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Song Sparrow Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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White-throated
Sparrow Cape May SP--entrance
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Dark-eyed Junco Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Northern Cardinal Harvard Ave, Cape May Pt
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Red-winged Blackbird Cape May Meadows
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Purple Finch Lincoln Ave, Cape May Pt
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House Finch Lincoln Ave, Cape May Pt
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American
Goldfinch Lincoln Ave, Cape
May Pt
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House Sparrow Lincoln Ave, Cape May Pt
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