Island Beach SP 10/1--A Long Walk

Barnegat Light from Island Beach SP

I did a hike today I've wanted to do for some time: I walked the southern end of Island Beach State Park from the end of the road to Barnegat Inlet and looked around on the jetty I always see when I'm across the inlet at Barnegat Light. It was a long walk--I'm guessing 2 miles based on the time it took me to get there. Along the way I came across some interesting birds--I thought I'd only find Sanderlings. Surprisingly, there were only 5 of these beach birds. The largest group of shorebirds, by far, was the Semipalmated Plovers. There was a large flock in the surf at the jetty, smaller flocks on the sand, and a number of individuals as I made my way back. The most interesting sighting, to me, was finding a Red Knot associating with a Dunlin, both picking at the edge of the foamy surf.

Red Knot (L), Dunlin

Obviously, the knot is out of breeding plumage, which is why it took me so long to identify it. Some knots stay around all winter, I'm not sure why they don't all make the epic migration to the Tierra del Fuego. Maybe some are smarter.

I made my way down to the end of the island after make 4 other stops along the way. I split up my lists for eBird instead of just listing everything as Island Beach--distance traveled 8 miles. eBird's compilers prefer shorter trips that that. Ideally, they'd like you to stop every 100 yards or so and make a list.

I started out at Reed's Road, just after the entrance, where I found most flickers and yellow-rumps. A stop at the beach by parking lot 1, where I have so many memories of going with my parents, didn't offer up much beyond gulls, and the parking area itself had only common birds.

A little trail across the road that leads to a blind on the bay side had more "yumpers" and one Red-eyed Vireo.

The most interesting area was down near the end, the Spizzle Creek Blind Trail.  Aside from many Great Egrets, I found a Snowy Egret and a Tricolored Heron (getting late for these birds, I think) standing together in the marsh.

The warbler along this trail was Palm Warbler, all I suspect of the drabber western race, though I could only call 3 of them for sure. And the "rare" bird of the day was also along this trail, a first winter White-crowned Sparrow. Apparently eBird's filter has this date as too early for white-crowns, but I've seen them on Island Beach in October previously.
For the day I had 39 species, not a bad start to the month.

Species                     Location

Common Loon     Reed's Road

Double-crested Cormorant     South Beach to Inlet

Brown Pelican     South Beach to Inlet

Great Blue Heron     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Great Egret     Reed's Road

Snowy Egret     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Tricolored Heron     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Osprey     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Semipalmated Plover     South Beach to Inlet

Ruddy Turnstone     South Beach to Inlet

Red Knot     South Beach to Inlet

Sanderling     South Beach to Inlet

Dunlin     South Beach to Inlet

Laughing Gull     Lot 1 Beach

Ring-billed Gull     Lot 1 Beach

Herring Gull     Reed's Road

Great Black-backed Gull     Reed's Road

Caspian Tern     South Beach to Inlet

Belted Kingfisher     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Red-bellied Woodpecker     Reed's Road

Northern Flicker     Reed's Road

Eastern Wood-Pewee     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Eastern Phoebe     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Red-eyed Vireo     Blind Trail

Blue Jay     South Beach to Inlet

Tree Swallow     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Carolina Chickadee     Reed's Road

Carolina Wren     Reed's Road

Ruby-crowned Kinglet     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Gray Catbird     Reed's Road

Northern Mockingbird     Lot 1 Beach

Palm Warbler     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Yellow-rumped Warbler     Reed's Road

Eastern Towhee     Reed's Road

Savannah Sparrow     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Song Sparrow     Lot 1 Beach

White-crowned Sparrow     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

House Finch     Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

House Sparrow     Lot 1 Beach