I paid my first post-Sandy visit to Cattus Island County Park today. Only about half the trails are open and the viewing platform from the Nature Center is also closed. But I was most interested in what I could find in the bay and access to that area of the park wasn't blocked.
I scanned Silver Bay from a few different points, finding lots of Ruddy Ducks and a smattering of Buffleheads. The marshes along the main trail held nothing. When I reached the end of the road I saw that the boardwalk trail that leads to a small island was also off limits. Cattus Island is a peninsula and the main trail ends about 7/8 of the way to the tip. I decided to walk the last little bit on the beach so I could scan the bay to the south. Last year, when I was on Long Beach Island about 15 miles south, I saw goldeneyes in the bay. I just had a feeling that out on the point would be a good place to find one (or more). I shouldered the scope and walked east along the water's edge where the sand was compact making for a relatively easy walk. Along the way I spotted more Buffleheads and two pond pigs (swans), but there seemed to be a little activity on the water to my right so I kept on plugging along. No sooner did I plant the scope in the sand at the point than a black and white duck with a very obvious white circle in front of its eye flew overhead. I had my Bird a Day. I watched it fly across the bay and land in the water without the clumsy skittering of a Bufflehead, but once I tried to scope it I couldn't find it and gave up after I got a phone call.
Afterward I tried to got to Shelter Cove but it was closed off due to storm damage. I wanted to go to Marshall Pond (an incongruous body of water in a shopping mall close by Marshall's Department Store, but missed the turn coming and then, after a stop at PetSmart for more bird seed, missed the turn going. I settled for a look at Riverfront Landing. There were more Canvasbacks there than the other day, plus a couple of both scaups. An inadequate photo is below. Clicking it will bring up a larger image in which you may just discern the Canvasbacks and one Lesser Scaup.
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| Canvasbacks and scaup (3rd from right) |
Cattus Island County Park
18 species
Mute Swan 2
American Black Duck 3
Mallard 4
Bufflehead 25
Common Goldeneye 1
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Ruddy Duck 225
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Ring-billed Gull 8
Herring Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
American Robin 1
Northern Cardinal 1 blue trail
Riverfront Landing
8 species
Canada Goose 45
Mallard 70
Canvasback 20
Greater Scaup 1 Round head. clean sides
Lesser Scaup 2 Pointed head
Bufflehead 5
Ruddy Duck 3
Ring-billed Gull 20
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