Great Bay Blvd WMA 3/22--Eastern Phoebe

Photos: Shari Zirlin

Here's something I never did before--birded slightly inebriated. Before we drove down Great Bay Blvd, we stopped off at the Pinelands Brewing Company in Little Egg Harbor, just off Route 539. It is a nano-brewery--they brew about 15 or 16 kegs a week, open on Saturday, and when the beer is gone, they're done. Since Shari isn't much of a beer drinker she only used 2/3 of her allotment (and 1/2 of that was root beer), so I drank 1 1/3 pints of beer, which for me, before lunch, is a lot of beer (nowadays). I liked their IPA brew. Unfortunately, they only sell their beer in growlers (about a gallon) and I don't need a half gallon of beer in the fridge.

Thus, when we left, I wasn't exactly drunk, but I was glad Shari was driving.

Again, at Great Bay, I was hoping for Great Egrets & Osprey. None were about. The inlet was almost devoid of birds (save for a hen Black Scoter & a Common Loon), but I did find, for Shari, an American Oystercatcher, so for her, the day was complete.

As we were walking back from the inlet, through the little grove of scrubby trees, Shari spotted a gray and white bird flitting from branch to branch. Flicking its tail. Our first Eastern Phoebe of the year.

Add the phoebe to this morning's Tundra Swans and Redhead and it was a pretty good day.
Our list for Great Bay Blvd:
19 species
Brant  60
Mute Swan  1
Black Scoter  1    Inlet
Bufflehead  15
Red-breasted Merganser  10
Common Loon  1
Horned Grebe  6
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  2
Northern Harrier  1
American Oystercatcher  1
Herring Gull  5
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
European Starling  1
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1    End of road
Boat-tailed Grackle  25