Brigantine 4/28--Broad-winged Hawk, Gull-billed Tern, Yellow Warbler

American Oystercatcher on nest.
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Day two of our weekend bird-a-rama with Pete Bacinksi. Today we did 2 loops around the Wildlife Drive at Brig. The first time around was productive. On the 2nd trip we seemed to enter what Pete called a "bird free zone." However, a stop at the Experimental Pool where we hung out for 20 minutes produced some "quality" birds including our FOY Broad-winged Hawks, albeit very distant views of high flying birds. 

For Shari, of course, the highlight of the day was seeing the oystercatchers, particularly the one pictured above, sitting on a nest. This is the first time we've seen a nesting oystercatcher. The nest is just a scraped out area in the gravel. The staff at Forsythe has cordoned off the area with traffic cones  since the birds decided that 5 feet off the road was the perfect place to scratch out their nest. 

It was, as it so often seems to happen, another "Heinz" day for us: 57 varieties of birds. I'm stretching this just a little by counting the pigeon we saw on New York Road on the way to the refuge. Hard to believe, but that was the first pigeon I've seen in Atlantic County.

Day List:

Brant  120
Canada Goose  31
Mute Swan  4
American Black Duck  100
Mallard  6
Blue-winged Teal  5
Green-winged Teal  3
Red-breasted Merganser  1
Ruddy Duck  13
Double-crested Cormorant  50
Great Egret  25
Snowy Egret  20
Glossy Ibis  4    f/o Experimental Pool
Black Vulture  1    f/o Experimental Pool
Turkey Vulture  7
Osprey  8
Broad-winged Hawk  2    High over Experimental Pool
Clapper Rail  1    Heard
Black-bellied Plover  20
American Oystercatcher  6    
Greater Yellowlegs  25
Willet  100
Whimbrel  25
Least Sandpiper  2
Dunlin  200
Short-billed Dowitcher  50
Long-billed Dowitcher  1    
Laughing Gull  5
Ring-billed Gull  2
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  6
Gull-billed Tern  2    North Dike
Forster's Tern  100 

Rock Pigeon 1   New York Road  

Red-bellied Woodpecker   1   Heard Lily Lake

Peregrine Falcon  3    On tower  

White-eyed Vireo 1 Heard Lily Lake
Blue Jay  1    Heard
American Crow  1    Heard
Fish Crow  5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1    Gull Pond
Purple Martin  20
Tree Swallow  10
Barn Swallow  1    Experimental Pool
Carolina Chickadee  3    Heard
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
American Robin  4    Picnic tables and parking lot
Common Yellowthroat  3    Heard
Yellow Warbler  1    Heard upland trail
Eastern Towhee  1    Heard upland trail
Chipping Sparrow  10    Picnic tables and parking lot
Seaside Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  5    Heard
Northern Cardinal  2    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  50
American Goldfinch  1    Heard Experimental Pool