This Year's 200th Ocean County Bird

A new backyard bird.

Yesterday I took a little stroll back in the WMA to the see how the state fire fighters were doing thinning out the pine trees before the planned prescribed burn this winter. One of the guys told me they'd seen a falcon back there; I figured it was a Merlin, one of which I've seen in the vicinity lately. I wasn't carrying binoculars, of course, when I saw a fairly large bird swoop out of one tree and perch in another. Immediately I knew it wasn't a Merlin--too big. Yet, for a hawk, fairly small. Looking at it naked eye I could see it was striped on the neck and a little on the breast. When it flew it was dark, without much banding on the tail. I was pretty certain it was a Broad-winged Hawk, but because that would be a county life bird, I didn't want to "call it" without seeing it better. It certainly behaved like one in flight through the woods, staying low, agilely flying between the trees.

This afternoon, Shari was on the patio and saw a hawk sitting on a low branch in the little wooded area abutting our backyard. This time I was able to get binoculars on it, and even though it was difficult to see through the branches and pine needles, I got a good enough view to preclude Merlin, Cooper's Hawk, or sharpie. A walker in the woods spooked it and the bird glided away, a dark bird low off the ground.

So now I have 200 species for Ocean County, which is at least an eBird record. I have no idea if anyone else keeps track of how many species have been seen in a year in the county. There are a couple of birders in the county I know of who could certainly have more; but for the nonce, I'm #1.