January Review & List

It was a spectacular way to kick off the new year. I can't think of a better birding month we've had on the East Coast. Three rare geese, the elusive cranes, one life bird finally tracked down, and, of course, what will probably be the highlight of our birding pursuits--finding 3 Northern Lapwings in a muddy cow pasture 15.1 miles from here. The lapwings have attracted wide-spread attention, with birders arriving from all over the country to view them. For a couple of days, when the weather was extremely cold, they disappeared to the disappointment of some long-distance travelers, only to reappear a few days ago. As of yesterday, they were still in the same field where Shari first found them moving around. We were able to see them on 3 different occasions. I went back there this week to look for the Sandhill Cranes again, because I felt like I'd given them short shrift the day they flew in when all the lapwing excitement started. I easily found them in the field east of the cow pasture. That was the day I had the sad duty of telling a couple from Michigan who had driven 10 hours, that the lapwings were gone--temporarily as it turned out.

The first rare goose we found was Cackling Goose, which turned up in Duke Island Park when we were looking for Greater White-front Goose (which is the only goose rarity that's eluded us so far), which was a kind of a rehearsal for finding the lapwings. Look for one bird (cranes), find another.

Pink-footed Goose we chased down on the 2nd day it was in Toms River. It moved around quite a bit while it was here--from a retention pond in a shopping mall, to a golf course, to a soccer field and then back to the pond and golf course. That was a fun one to chase, so close to home.

Seeing 2 Barnacle Geese in Assunpink was almost too easy. It was a case of don't look for bird, look for birders. Barnacle Goose is close to becoming commonplace in New Jersey--there are at least 3 of them, possibly 4 in the state. And they're not being challenged as they once were--a few years ago, reports of Barnacle Goose were met with skepticism as to the origin. Now, it seem pretty well established that these are Wrong-way Corrigans from Greenland and not escapees.  There's also debate as to how many Pink-footed Geese are around--probably more than one is the consensus.

Then there was our first lifer of the year: NORTHERN SHRIKE. It was satisfying to finally find this bird for a couple of reasons. For one thing, we once thought we had Northern Shrike at Jones Beach on Long Island a few years ago, only to have it turn into Loggerhead Shrike after much Internet debate. Secondly, it was our 4th try for the bird and it was starting to get frustrating, but we were determined to find it, so rose early and made our way up to Assunpink just after sunrise and luckily got on the bird for about a minute with the help of some other birders.

Throw in the Tricolored Heron I saw on Long Beach Island, a rarity for this time of year, along with some lovely ducks, and it was a great month to be birding.

The full list: 97 species (wish I could have rounded it out to 100).
Counties Birded:
New Jersey: Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset
New York: Nassau, New York

Species                                Location

Pink-footed Goose         St Joe's Soccer Field

Snow Goose         Jones Beach SP

Brant         Jones Beach SP

Barnacle Goose         Assunpink WMA

Cackling Goose         Duke Island Park

Canada Goose         Jones Beach SP

Mute Swan         Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan         White's Bogs

Wood Duck         Central Park

Gadwall         Manasquan Reservoir IBA

American Wigeon         Shark River

American Black Duck         Assunpink WMA

Mallard         Crestwood Village

Canvasback         Riverfront Landing

Ring-necked Duck         Riverfront Landing

Greater Scaup         Riverfront Landing

Lesser Scaup         Riverfront Landing

Common Eider         Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck         Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Black Scoter         Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-tailed Duck         Jones Beach SP

Bufflehead         Horicon Lake

Common Goldeneye         Cattus Island County Park

Hooded Merganser         Horicon Lake

Common Merganser         Assunpink WMA

Red-breasted Merganser         Jones Beach SP

Ruddy Duck         Assunpink WMA

Wild Turkey         Crestwood Village

Red-throated Loon         Jones Beach SP

Common Loon         Jones Beach SP

Pied-billed Grebe         Riverfront Landing

Horned Grebe         Jones Beach SP

Double-crested Cormorant         Jones Beach SP

Great Blue Heron         Duke Island Park

Tricolored Heron         Bayview Ave Park

Black Vulture         New Egypt--Brynmore / Big Woods Rd.

Turkey Vulture         Crestwood Village

Osprey         Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Northern Harrier         Mercer Sod Farm IBA

Cooper's Hawk         35 Sunset Rd

Bald Eagle         Rt 539 New Egypt

Red-shouldered Hawk         Assunpink WMA

Red-tailed Hawk         Randolph Rd

American Coot         Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Sandhill Crane         New Egypt--Brynmore / Big Woods Rd.

êNorthern Lapwing        New Egypt--Brynmore / Big Woods Rd.

Killdeer         Duke Island Park

American Oystercatcher         Jones Beach SP

Sanderling         Seven Presidents Park

Ring-billed Gull         Jones Beach SP

Herring Gull         Jones Beach SP

Great Black-backed Gull         Jones Beach SP

Razorbill         Shark River Inlet

Rock Pigeon         Jones Beach SP

Mourning Dove         Utterby Rd, Malverne

Belted Kingfisher         Horicon Lake

Red-bellied Woodpecker         Utterby Rd, Malverne

Downy Woodpecker         35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker         Scherman-Hoffman

Northern Flicker         Assunpink WMA

Pileated Woodpecker         Scherman-Hoffman

American Kestrel         New Egypt--Brynmore / Big Woods Rd.

Merlin         Crestwood Village

Eastern Phoebe         Double Trouble State Park

NORTHERN SHRIKE         Assunpink WMA

Blue Jay         Utterby Rd, Malverne

American Crow         Jones Beach SP

Carolina Chickadee         35 Sunset Rd

Black-capped Chickadee         Scherman-Hoffman

Tufted Titmouse         35 Sunset Rd

Red-breasted Nuthatch         Whiting WMA

White-breasted Nuthatch         35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper         Assunpink WMA

Winter Wren         Assunpink WMA

Carolina Wren         Crestwood Village

Golden-crowned Kinglet         Crestwood Village

Ruby-crowned Kinglet         Assunpink WMA

Eastern Bluebird         Crestwood Village

American Robin         Utterby Rd, Malverne

Northern Mockingbird         Jones Beach SP

European Starling         Utterby Rd, Malverne

Palm Warbler         Bayview Ave Park

Yellow-rumped Warbler         Assunpink WMA

American Tree Sparrow         Jones Beach SP

Field Sparrow         Assunpink WMA

Song Sparrow         Jones Beach SP

White-throated Sparrow         Utterby Rd, Malverne

White-crowned Sparrow         Assunpink WMA

Dark-eyed Junco         Jones Beach SP

Northern Cardinal         Utterby Rd, Malverne

Red-winged Blackbird         Jones Beach SP

Common Grackle         Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Boat-tailed Grackle         Bayview Marina

House Finch         Whiting WMA

Pine Siskin         Whiting WMA

American Goldfinch         35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow         Utterby Rd, Malverne