Adorable Photo of the Month

Photo: Shari Zirlin

American Oystercatchers have been nesting on the side of the Wildlife Drive at Brigatine this year. Today, Shari shot one of the results of that nesting. This is the first juvenile oystercatcher I recall seeing. That's one of the great appeals of birding--every day there's a chance you'll see something new.

Two loops around the drive produced 54 species. There was a good build up of shorebirds starting to make the return trip south--in the next couple of weeks the impoundments should be teeming with peeps. Happily, we're going on a couple of field trips with much better birders than us, so if there are any Western Sandpipers or Long-billed Dowitchers to be found in the flocks, they'll find them. There were a couple of candidates today, but unless I'm right on top of one of those birds I don't have confidence in my i.d.

The rarest bird today, oddly, was a Brant hanging out with a large flock of Canada Geese. If the two I saw last month in Tuckerton were late, then this one is probably not going anywhere for the summer--why bother at this point?

Our day list:
Brant  1   
Canada Goose  300
Mute Swan  6
American Black Duck  5
Mallard  15
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  30
Snowy Egret  35
Black-crowned Night-Heron  4
Glossy Ibis  40
Osprey  10
Clapper Rail  1
Black-bellied Plover  15
American Oystercatcher  5
Greater Yellowlegs  6
Willet  25
Lesser Yellowlegs  8
Whimbrel  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  220
Least Sandpiper  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  100
Laughing Gull  90
Herring Gull  50
Great Black-backed Gull  7
Least Tern  1
Gull-billed Tern  4
Forster's Tern  100
Black Skimmer  17
Belted Kingfisher  1    Gull Pond
Peregrine Falcon  1    Tower
Eastern Kingbird  3    Gull Pond
American Crow  1    Heard
Fish Crow  6
Purple Martin  25
Tree Swallow  100
Barn Swallow  10
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard upland trail
Carolina Wren  2    Heard Parking lot
American Robin  1    Parking lot
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  2
Brown Thrasher  1    Experimental pool
European Starling  25
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Yellow Warbler  1    Exit Ponds
Eastern Towhee  1    Heard upland trail
Chipping Sparrow  2    heard, parking lot
Field Sparrow  1    Heard, Experimental pool
Northern Cardinal  1    Upland trail
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Boat-tailed Grackle  4
American Goldfinch  2