Monmouth County 3/10--Bonaparte's Gull, Long-eared Owl

We started off the day at Seven President's Park in Long Branch. Black-headed Gulls were reported there yesterday. That would have been a good bird to see, though not as good as I thought since I had forgotten that the gull is already on my life list a couple of times. Yesterday the gulls were in with a flock of Bonaparte's Gulls, always fun to see and they were FOY for us. Aside from the four gulls species there was nothing in the ocean or the beach. The day was overcast and chilly instead of the sunny, warm day predicted. I was happy enough with Bonaparte's, so we cut our losses and decided to go inland.

As soon as we left the shore area the sun came out and the temperature warmed considerably. Now I have to become discrete. We were somewhere in Monmouth County, in an area we thought might have a Long-eared Owl or two, but we didn't know exactly where.  There has been much controversy on Jerseybirds aobut the ethics of reporting owl roosts or even letting other birders know where they are since roosting owls are easily disturbed and stressed and some people become, let's say, over enthusiastic when they see owls.

So we were thrashing around when a couple of other birders came along. One of them asked if we'd had any luck and we said no, did he have any idea where the owls were.  "Are you good people?" he asked.

"I'm Shari Zirlin," my wife replied. Magic words. Shari Zirlin: Finder of Lapwings. Hearing that, the birder waved us on into an opening of  a small stand of trees (notice that I'm not saying what kind of trees) and after a moment or two pointed out one Long-eared Owl, standing stock still, staring fiercely, it seemed, down on us.  Awesome orange eyes, a tan/orange facial disk and of course, the feathery tufts that give it its name. We looked at it for only a couple of minutes than got out of there, not wishing to bother it anymore.

It is ironic that during the on-line discussion there was an undercurrent of elitism and clubbiness in the missives of people who were arguing that owl sightings should be hidden--one even referred to the masses. But since we got lucky a couple of months ago, now we were in the club. And a half-hour later, when a young woman with a camera asked us as we were eating lunch at a picnic table if we knew where the owls were, we played dumb. "Oh no, couldn't tell you even if I knew where it was." She wasn't in the club. Do I feel bad about this? No, not really. I know we viewed the bird in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. I don't know if she would and I don't want to take responsibility for her. How about if she had recently found a rare bird? Well, then, that would be a different story. Would it?

In any case, I have hidden the sighting in eBird, even though they discourage that, so a rare bird alert in my name was not sent out. And I haven't told you where the bird is, even though it probably wouldn't take a lot of investigation to figure it out. And we didn't take any pictures--but only because Shari didn't take her camera along and I wasn't about to run back to the car and possibly reveal the location to any birders happening along.

This is only the 2nd time we've seen this species of the owl. The first time was  few years ago in Pelham Bay Park on Super Bowl Sunday. And this was a much better look and very, very cool to see. The month is turning out to be very good for rarities.

34 species for day in Monmouth County.

Species     Count

Brant    300

Canada Goose    55

American Wigeon    4

American Black Duck    5

Mallard    6

Green-winged Teal    1

Ring-necked Duck    5

Lesser Scaup    1

Bufflehead    25

Hooded Merganser    5

Ruddy Duck    100

Great Blue Heron    1

Turkey Vulture    2

Red-tailed Hawk    1

Killdeer    1

Bonaparte's Gull    50

Ring-billed Gull    100

Herring Gull    10

Great Black-backed Gull    2

Mourning Dove    2

Long-eared Owl    1

Blue Jay    5

American Crow    2

Fish Crow    2

Carolina Chickadee    1

Red-breasted Nuthatch    1

Carolina Wren    2

American Robin    3

European Starling    4

Savannah Sparrow    1

Song Sparrow    1

Dark-eyed Junco    2

Red-winged Blackbird    2

House Sparrow    20