Manasquan Inlet 12/28--ICELAND GULL

We met our friends Joe & Liz for breakfast at the Amish Market in Columbus this morning with plans to go birding "somewhere." With reports of Pacific Loon off the North Shore in Monmouth County, I had the feeling that "somewhere" was going to be across the state from where we were and I was right. A few days earlier, Joe & Liz had had some luck at Wreck Pond with rare gulls, so that's where we started.

Unfortunately, 2 immature Bald Eagles were sitting on the ice floe, thus discouraging all but the most foolhardy of gulls and waterfowl to gather there, so that was pretty much a bust, if you consider only finding eagles a bust. Our next stop was a little farther north at Lake Como, where there was a good gathering of gulls and ducks, but nothing exotic. We decided to look, instead, for the Pacific Loon.

2 Pacific Loons were reported yesterday about 12 miles apart. We drove down to the north side of the Manasquan Inlet where the first one was listed. As soon as we got out of the cars Liz called out, "White-winged gull," (the common gulls all have black tipped wings) and looking up we saw a small to medium sized gull, almost pure white circling above. Its size ruled out Glaucous Gull. It was an ICELAND GULL, the first I've ever seen. Sea-going Shari saw one on a pelagic outing years ago. So, no matter what else we saw or didn't see, the day was a success.

We spent a long time scanning the ocean swells, looking at loons trying to find one that was intermediate between a Common Loon and a Red-throated Loon. We had a couple of candidates but distance, diving, and ocean waves made it really difficult to pick out a loon that is slightly darker than a Common, with a white throat and dark neck, whose most distinguishing feature is a thin black chin-strap that not all of them have. None of the birds jumped out of the water and said, "It's me, I'm your bird."

We tried the next location, back up north in Deal, at the end of Roosevelt Avenue, and while we found some beautiful Red-breasted Merganser, and a couple of species of Scoters, the loons again seemed to be Common or Red-throated. I wished we'd had a real loon expert along with us.

But, as I said, I did get a life bird, late in the year, so when we concluded the day, I was happy.

23 species:

Species Name     Location

Canada Goose     Wreck Pond

Mute Swan     Lake Como

Mallard     Lake Como

Surf Scoter     Deal--Roosevelt Ave

Black Scoter     Deal--Roosevelt Ave

Long-tailed Duck     Manasquan Inlet

Hooded Merganser     Lake Como

Red-breasted Merganser     Lake Como

Ruddy Duck     Lake Como

Red-throated Loon     Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon     Manasquan Inlet

Northern Gannet     Deal--Roosevelt Ave

Double-crested Cormorant     Lake Como

Great Blue Heron     Lake Como

Bald Eagle     Wreck Pond

American Coot     Lake Como

Sanderling     Deal--Roosevelt Ave

Bonaparte's Gull     Manasquan Inlet

Ring-billed Gull     Wreck Pond

Herring Gull     Wreck Pond

ICELAND GULL     Manasquan Inlet

Great Black-backed Gull     Lake Como