Brigantine 4/7--Caspian Tern, Cedar Waxwing

A work in progress

The big news in Jersey birding this week was the announcement that the 8 mile long Wildlife Drive at Brigantine would be reopening, weekends only, for the first time since the refuge was devastated by Sandy. The dikes around the impoundments were breached and parts of the road washed away. The road has now been repaired, using Federal Highway funds, which must have been the least sophisticated highway project that agency ever funded. Construction equipment is still scattered around the refuge. There is likely much more work to be done on the culverts and sluice gates that control the water levels in the pools, but the road is open. We drove down this morning and despite the blustery conditions, which made breaking out the scope folly, we were not disappointed.

Photos: Shari Zirlin

Shari & I were each able to see our favorite birds. There were a few American Oystercatchers around and after we got past the impoundment and were on the upland portion of the trail, a flock of my favorites (& FOY), Cedar Waxwings, flew into a bare tree and gave us great looks, even if the sun's angle was not conducive to great photos.

After our trip around we were going to eat lunch and then go. I said to Shari that I didn't feel like we'd missed anything. The waterfowl divirsity was not great, mostly American Black Ducks and Green-winged Teals. Since most of the vegetation has either been cut down or destroyed, I felt like we'd given the birds a pretty good look. That was wrong.

Green-winged Teal
Photos: Shari Zirlin

As we pulled into the parking lot we saw Pete Bacinski and Mike Mandracchia peering up at an eagle.
I asked them what they'd seen that was unusual and Pete volunteered Caspian Tern, which is a very early arrival for this area.

So it was around the impoundments again after lunch. On a sandbar on the south dike, right were Mike said they were (and right where I looked previously and obviously missed them) were two beautiful Caspian Terns, the largest terns in the world.

Naturally, I would miss the largest terns in the world.

On our 2nd circuit we also added a Great Blue Heron and in the brush by Jen's Trail (where many trees were taken out, revealing the pond from the road for the first time) we found a Hermit Thrush skulking around.

We made a stop at Lily Lake on our way out and added 4 species there:
Bufflehead, Cooper's Hawk and 2 that we heard, White-breasted Nuthatch and American Goldfinch.

We had 51 species on the day, which is the number Pete & Mike were at before their 2nd go-round. I'm sure they added a few more, but I feel good we made the effort to drive around again.
The list, then a couple of more pix:

Species     Count

Snow Goose     8

Brant     300

Canada Goose     12

Mute Swan     5

American Black Duck     100

Mallard     2

Blue-winged Teal     3

Northern Shoveler     50

Northern Pintail     1

Green-winged Teal     200

Bufflehead     11

Red-breasted Merganser     1

Pied-billed Grebe     1

Double-crested Cormorant     9

Great Blue Heron     1

Great Egret     4

Snowy Egret     2

Turkey Vulture     8

Osprey     5

Cooper's Hawk     1

Bald Eagle     1

American Oystercatcher     3

Greater Yellowlegs     5

Ring-billed Gull     4

Herring Gull     100

Great Black-backed Gull     15

Caspian Tern     2

Red-bellied Woodpecker     1

Peregrine Falcon     1

Blue Jay     2

American Crow     2

Fish Crow     15

Tree Swallow     10

Carolina Chickadee     2

White-breasted Nuthatch     1

Carolina Wren     1

Golden-crowned Kinglet     1

Eastern Bluebird     2

Hermit Thrush     1

American Robin     6

European Starling     1

Cedar Waxwing     12

Pine Warbler     1

Chipping Sparrow     2

Song Sparrow     1

Northern Cardinal     1

Red-winged Blackbird     5

Boat-tailed Grackle     1

House Finch     1

American Goldfinch     1

House Sparrow     1 Bald Eagle, Greater Yellowlegs Photos: Shari Zirlin I never thought I'd be so happy to see a dirt road. To the Dogleg