Whitesbog, Ocean County Portion 11/17--Rusty Blackbirds

Officially, Whitesbog is in Burlington County. That's where the village is located and that's where most of the working bogs seem to be and that's where, if you're looking for Tundra Swans in the winter, you'll find them. However, Whitesbog is huge and actually straddles Burlington & Ocean Counties. Go far enough back there and you've crossed over into Ocean County. There's no sign or line in the sand road; rule of thumb: by the time you've reached the dogleg, you're in Ocean.

None of this matters unless you're obsessively/compulsively keeping county bird lists, as I am. So,on the 15th, when I came across a few Rusty Blackbirds and knew I was in Ocean County, I made a new eBird marker at the exact bog where I saw them so I could count them for my Ocean County list.

When I listed them, they turned up as "rare" in my county. Ironically, had I just listed them in Whitesbog, they would not be considered rare. It is one of the quirks of the eBird filters although I like to imagine sometimes that the birds know where the county lines are.

I had barely mediocre digiscoped photos, but they were good enough to confirm the sighting:

Today, we were having lunch in Allentown (Monmouth County), when Shari saw on Jerseybirds that a Northern Shrike had been reported at Whitesbog. It amused me that the reporting birder was very specific that this shrike was in the Burlington County side of the property--a birder after my own heart! We trucked on down there and after a mild traffic jam on the dikes, pulled over and looked around for the bird, to no avail. But we did meet a couple of birders that we'd only known by name--one of them beat me by one bird in the Bird A Day competition. With her we decided to drive farther along the dike into Ocean County. She and Shari wanted to see the Rusties.

Right before the bog in which I'd seen the RUBLs, there is a flooded bog that is listed on my old Whitesbog water control map as an active blueberry field. We stopped here because the other day I'd seen Green-winged Teal and Wilson's Snipe there and sure enough they were still there, along with some Greater Yellowlegs and 6 Dunlins. Dunlins are not commonly found on bogs. They're more of a saltwater bird. Had I listed these birds as in Whitesbog, they would have been flagged as "rare." But here in Ocean County, the sighting is unremarkable. I could list 6 Dunlin in my backyard and eBird's algorithm wouldn't blink.

In my mind there's a hierarchy of "rare:"
Rare for the date--"Well, that's interesting."
Rare for the locality--"Hmm, don't see that too often."
Rare for the area--"Wow, look at that!"
Rare for the country--"Holy smokes, start sending out texts!"

The blackbirds and the Dunlins both fall into the 2nd category. The Northern Shrike is in the 3rd.

Moving along up the road we came to the spot where I'd seen the rusties on Friday and there they were again, 10 that I was able to count as they took flight from a tree. They were moving between the bare trees and the mud of the bog, turning over leaves, looking for bugs or grubs, I suppose. I was able to shoot yet another lousy photo:

We drove around the circuit after that, back into Burlington County. When we on the southern side of the big bogs, we saw a gray bird with white outer tail feather flashing fly across the road. It dove down into what another birder told me was wool grass. We then saw it fly 3 times, each time showing it's white outer tail feathers. It looked to me like it's legs were down, as if it were pouncing on prey. On the 3rd dive into the grass it stayed down. No way for us to be certain that this was the shrike, but I have a pretty good hunch it was. But even if it was, there was no way I could honestly say it was Northern Shrike as opposed to a Loggerhead.

If this shrike is anything like the one that was in Assunpink this winter, it will stick around and frustrate many birders and make a few happy.
Our list for the Ocean County section of Whitesbog:
16 species
Green-winged Teal  1   
Killdeer  5
Greater Yellowlegs  10
Dunlin  6
Wilson's Snipe  4
Belted Kingfisher  1    Heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1    Heard
Eastern Bluebird  3
American Robin  3
Rusty Blackbird  10   
American Goldfinch