November Summary

As the year progresses it obviously gets harder to add "year birds," so I'm pleased with this month's results--quality over quantity, with only 8 new birds but what birds they were! Three of the eight count as rarities: yesterday's Eared Grebe, the elusive Northern Shrike of Whitesbog, and the Black-headed Gull at the waste treatment plant in Delaware. Add in the rare (but previously encountered) Ross's Goose at Brig and the Western Kingbird in Virginia, along with some favorite birds like American White Pelican, Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur and I'll count the month as a success.

We roved around a lot this month--many spots in NJ as well as the long weekend on the Delmarva Peninsula which really helped the bird count. Winter is not my favorite time of the year, so I don't expect spectacular results this next month. I keep buying warmer shoes, warmer gloves, adding layers, but I would still rather be inside.

Some miscellaneous birds seen this month:

Ross's Goose at Brig. I broke the speed limits to make sure I got this bird before the field trip started so I wouldn't get antsy until the group got to the spot, well along on the drive.

Purple Finch at our feeder. Finally!

Immature Bald Eagle, digiscoped 11/30 at Brig.

Boat-tailed Grackles take over the bridge at Great Bay Blvd.

Ring-necked Pheasant at Assunpink. He showed no fear of me. Which is why they're easy to kill. 

For the month I listed 149 species.
Counties birded:
Delaware: Kent, Sussex
Maryland: Worcester
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean
Virginia: Accomack, Northampton

Species              Location

Snow Goose     Bombay Hook

Ross's Goose     Brig

Brant     Great Sedge Island

Canada Goose     Assunpink WMA

Mute Swan     Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan     Bombay Hook

Wood Duck     Magothy Bay Preserve

Gadwall     Mercer Corporate Park

American Wigeon     Chincoteague NWR

American Black Duck     Bombay Hook

Mallard    Corines Millpond

Blue-winged Teal     Brig

Northern Shoveler     Bombay Hook

Northern Pintail     Bombay Hook

Green-winged Teal     Bombay Hook

Ring-necked Duck     Assunpink WMA

Lesser Scaup     Brig

Common Eider     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter     DuPont Nature Center

White-winged Scoter     Island Beach SP

Black Scoter     Chincoteague NWR

Long-tailed Duck     Island Beach SP

Bufflehead     Assunpink WMA

Common Goldeneye     LBI Bayside--24th St

Hooded Merganser     Magothy Bay Preserve

Red-breasted Merganser     Avalon Seawatch

Ruddy Duck     Assunpink WMA

Northern Bobwhite     Townsend

Ring-necked Pheasant     Assunpink WMA

Wild Turkey     35 Sunset Rd

Red-throated Loon     Chincoteague NWR

Common Loon     Island Beach SP

Pied-billed Grebe     Assunpink WMA

Horned Grebe     Island Beach SP

Red-necked Grebe     Sandy Hook

Eared Grebe     Sandy Hook

Northern Gannet     Island Beach SP

Double-crested Cormorant     Assunpink WMA

Great Cormorant     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American White Pelican     Prime Hook NWR

Brown Pelican     Kiptopeke SP

American Bittern     Brig

Great Blue Heron     Assunpink WMA

Great Egret     Assunpink WMA

Snowy Egret     Chincoteague NWR

Little Blue Heron     Chincoteague NWR

Tricolored Heron     Chincoteague NWR

Black-crowned Night-Heron     Chincoteague NWR

White Ibis     Chincoteague NWR

Black Vulture     Rt 539 New Egypt

Turkey Vulture     Assunpink WMA

Golden Eagle     Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR

Northern Harrier     Great Sedge Island

Sharp-shinned Hawk     Island Beach SP

Cooper's Hawk     Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR

Bald Eagle     Assunpink WMA

Red-shouldered Hawk     Magothy Bay Preserve

Red-tailed Hawk     Assunpink WMA

Virginia Rail     Saxis WMA

American Coot     Assunpink WMA

American Avocet     Bombay Hook

American Oystercatcher     Chincoteague NWR

Black-bellied Plover     Great Sedge Island

Semipalmated Plover     Great Sedge Island

Killdeer     Saxis

Greater Yellowlegs     Bombay Hook

Willet     Queen Sound Flats

Lesser Yellowlegs     Prime Hook NWR

Marbled Godwit     Bombay Hook

Ruddy Turnstone     Prime Hook NWR

Sanderling     Great Sedge Island

Dunlin     Great Sedge Island

Purple Sandpiper     Avalon Seawatch

Western Sandpiper     Chincoteague NWR

Long-billed Dowitcher     Chincoteague NWR

Bonaparte's Gull     Great Sedge Island

Black-headed Gull     Wolfe Neck WTP

Laughing Gull     Island Beach SP

Ring-billed Gull     Double Trouble State Park

Herring Gull     Great Sedge Island

Great Black-backed Gull     Great Sedge Island

Forster's Tern     Great Sedge Island

Royal Tern     Great Sedge Island

Rock Pigeon     Maddox Blvd

Eurasian Collared-Dove     Magotha Road

Mourning Dove     35 Sunset Rd

Belted Kingfisher    Corines Millpond

Red-bellied Woodpecker     Double Trouble State Park

Downy Woodpecker     35 Sunset Rd

Northern Flicker     Chincoteague NWR

American Kestrel     Seaside Rd

Merlin     Sandy Hook

Peregrine Falcon     Great Sedge Island

Eastern Phoebe     Island Beach SP

Western Kingbird     Seaside Rd

Northern Shrike     Whitesbog (Ocean Co.)

Blue Jay     35 Sunset Rd

American Crow     Double Trouble State Park

Fish Crow    Corines Millpond

Horned Lark     Cartanza Road

Tree Swallow     Chincoteague NWR

Carolina Chickadee     35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse     35 Sunset Rd

White-breasted Nuthatch     35 Sunset Rd

Brown-headed Nuthatch     Chincoteague NWR

Brown Creeper     Stone Harbor Point

Winter Wren     Double Trouble State Park

Marsh Wren     DuPont Nature Center

Carolina Wren     Double Trouble State Park

Golden-crowned Kinglet     Double Trouble State Park

Ruby-crowned Kinglet     Bombay Hook

Eastern Bluebird     Chincoteague NWR

Hermit Thrush     Chincoteague NWR

American Robin     Double Trouble State Park

Gray Catbird     Assunpink WMA

Brown Thrasher     Prime Hook NWR

Northern Mockingbird     Assunpink WMA

European Starling     Assunpink WMA

Cedar Waxwing     Assunpink WMA

Lapland Longspur     Island Beach SP

Snow Bunting     Avalon Seawatch

Common Yellowthroat     Chincoteague NWR

Palm Warbler     Brig

Pine Warbler     35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-rumped Warbler     Double Trouble State Park

Eastern Towhee     Double Trouble State Park

American Tree Sparrow     Sandy Hook

Chipping Sparrow     35 Sunset Rd

Field Sparrow     Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR

Savannah Sparrow     Double Trouble State Park

Nelson's Sparrow     DuPont Nature Center

Fox Sparrow     35 Sunset Rd

Song Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Swamp Sparrow     Double Trouble State Park

White-throated Sparrow     Double Trouble State Park

White-crowned Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Dark-eyed Junco     35 Sunset Rd

Northern Cardinal     Assunpink WMA

Red-winged Blackbird     Assunpink WMA

Eastern Meadowlark     Bombay Hook

Common Grackle     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Boat-tailed Grackle     Chincoteague NWR

Brown-headed Cowbird     Cartanza Road

House Finch     35 Sunset Rd

Purple Finch     Chincoteague NWR

Pine Siskin     Assunpink WMA

American Goldfinch     35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow     Avalon Seawatch

Sandy Hook 11/29--Eared Grebe

Scott Barnes sent out an email yesterday about a "flash" field trip for today at Sandy Hook; the main attraction (aside from the good company these trips always provide) was the continuing Eared Grebe, a rarity 'round these parts that Scott found last week. I was eager for the EAGR since I hadn't seen one in 5 years and that was off Staten Island. I'm counting it as a state bird; Shari says we saw one years ago in the Shark River, but I'm dubious about our sightings from so long ago, before we had decent optics.

For an impromptu field trip attendance was pretty good--13 birders with nothing better to do showed up at Lot B. Scott & Linda led us up to Lot L across from Horseshoe Cove. Some birders were already scanning the extremely calm waters (miraculously, no wind today) and after a short time Scott (of course) located our target bird about 1/2 way out in the cove.  It took just a little doing to get everyone on the bird--grebes dive and dive a lot. I got good looks at the bird--it's pointy head, it's dusky neck and was able to compare it to the numerous Horned Grebes in the cove. The bonus birds were a Red-necked Grebe also present in the cove and a few Common Goldeneyes, providing very good looks.  (I'd seen a few yesterday in Barnegat Bay but under less than ideal conditions--gale force wind in my face so I looked at them just long enough to verify they were goldeneyes.)

While looking around the other side of the cove I spotted an immature male Common Eider. Unfortunately, I couldn't get Linda on the bird (there were no good landmarks) and it drifted out of sight before most of the group caught up to us. I didn't think it was any big deal (it was a Common Eider, after all) but everyone seemed inordinately disappointed that it had disappeared.

While we were standing around bemoaning our now lost eider a small flock of Horned Larks flew overhead, cheeping away, and that raised everyone's spirits.

Other notable sighting were a large flock of Snow Buntings on Gunnison Beach, a Merlin in the same location, and American Tree Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows in the dunes around the hawk watch. We also had the largest flock of House Finches I've ever seen--at least a 100 flying around and landing on the telephone wires.

We ended the day sea watching at Lot C where we had our goofiest sighting of the day. A lone Snow Goose flew past us and, seeing other black & white birds landed in with a flock of gulls to the south. I guess that's why decoys work!

Our original plan for the day was to go to the Parker Preserve and search for a Sedge Wren reported there. I met some Burlington County birders today at the Hook who'd searched unsuccessfully for the bird recently, so I was happy that we called an audible and got the grebe.

My list for the day. I missed a few passerines, but nothing I really needed to see.
40 species (+1 other taxa)
Snow Goose  1
Brant  50
Canada Goose  25
Common Eider  1     
White-winged Scoter  3
scoter sp.  10
Bufflehead  20
Common Goldeneye  4
Red-breasted Merganser  25
Red-throated Loon  5
Common Loon  4
Horned Grebe  10
Red-necked Grebe  1
Eared Grebe  1     
Northern Gannet  2
Double-crested Cormorant  12
Black Vulture  3
Northern Harrier  2     Lot C
Bald Eagle  1     Lot C
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Coot  2
Black-bellied Plover  2
Sanderling  5
Ring-billed Gull  10
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  1
Merlin  1
American Crow  1
Horned Lark  8
Northern Mockingbird  2
Snow Bunting  50
Yellow-rumped Warbler  6
American Tree Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  20
White-crowned Sparrow  3
Dark-eyed Junco  20
House Finch  100

Meta-typo

I love to collect to typos and other printing errors--they make up most of the "words" entries in this blog--so I was delighted to find an essay about mislabeled pictures of birds in Pete Dunne's entertaining Small-headed Flycatcher. Seen Yesterday. He Didn't Leave His Name.

I was even more delighted when I read this sentence:

At one pregnant moment, a point-blank house finch was shown that, to everyone's astonishment, threw back its head and belted out a beautiful morning warbler song.

Perfect. A typo in an article poking fun at copy-editing errors. A meta-typo. For you non-birders, t'aint no such thing as a morning warbler. Try Mourning Warbler with the easy-to-read initial caps.

Whitesbog (Ocean County) 11/11--Northern Shrike

I hadn't really checked email while we were doing the Delmarva tour so I was surprised to find an message from Mike Mandracchia asking me if I wanted to try to find the shrike that had been spotted at Whitesbog on Monday. What shrike?

Doing a little research on Jerseybirds and eBirds I quickly found that Greg had discovered what seemed to be a Northern Shrike in the bogs and then refound it a few hours later. I remembered a couple of years ago chasing a shrike at Whitesbog that was a one-day wonder and that frustrating memory, coupled with my dead tiredness from the long weekend and the drive back dampened my enthusiasm for the hunt. But the idea that it was in Ocean County overwhelmed my disinclination and besides, I hadn't seen Mike in a while.

Greg emailed me the couple of places he'd seen the bird and Mike & I set out this morning to look. We did about 2/3 of the circuit around the main bogs with very little bird activity. But at the dogleg there was a pocket of sparrows jumping around and when we got out of the car to investigate a really interesting one we'd seen well but couldn't identify (and still can't) Mike looked up in a bare tree not fifty feet from us and found the shrike. We got pretty good looks at it with our binoculars and then it flew into a small tree in the bog. By the time we set up our scopes, Mike had a brief look, enough to convince him that it was Northern Shrike and not a Loggerhead (they are notoriously difficult to tell apart and since NJ is the southernmost range of the Northern and northernmost range of the Loggerhead we can get either one), but then it flew again. Actually, we never saw it fly. It disappeared, Only to turn up about an 1/8 of a mile to the west atop another tree. Unfortunately, we had committed the cardinal sin of wandering away from our scopes, so by the time I had run down the road to retrieve one, it flew. Again. Disappeared. Again.

We'd seen it and Mike had seen it better than I had but it was still a BVD bird. Greg, by this time, was on the dikes and after comparing sightings from yesterday and today we split up to look for the bird. Mike and I circled the bogs a couple of times with no results and then decided to plant ourselves in good habitat and hope the bird would show up. That didn't work either.

Around noon we decided our looks were decent enough that we could leave and feel successful. I was driving out Whitesbog Road when my cell phone rang. I stopped the car and answered, only because I thought it was Shari. It was Greg; he'd found the bird.

My Saturn Ion really isn't built for Whitesbogs' roads, but I went bumping along to where Greg was, even though I was sure that the 5 minutes it took to get there would be 1 minute too long and it was. The bird disappeared. Again.

It is at these points that I start to hate birding. Why? Why am I doing this?

Greg got into my car and we drove around, meeting other birders along the road, none of whom had been successful until one of them got a text that the bird was all the way down by the double-laned road. We drove down there and found birders intent on their scopes. By the time we set up our scopes, the bird disappeared. Again.

We shouldered our scopes and started walking back to where we'd met. Greg was saying that when he had the bird about an hour before it was actually vocalizing. Then we heard something. Now, it might have been the shrike, or it might have been the flicker we saw flying across the bog that made the sound. But the flicker flew to a tree and in that tree I saw the shrike. The shrike and flicker fought a bit for possession of the limb the shrike occupied with the shrike winning the skirmish. And finally, we were both able to get the bird in our scopes and finally I was able to convince myself that it was a Northern Shrike, based on color, mask, bill, and the negative factor that it didn't look like a mockingbird as Loggerheads will.

After more than 6 hours (and not much bird life other than the shrike) I was content to leave.

12 species
Turkey Vulture  3
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  2
Northern Shrike  1    
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
Song Sparrow  10
Swamp Sparrow  5
Dark-eyed Junco  5
Red-winged Blackbird  1
American Goldfinch  1     Heard, Dogleg

Delmarva 11/7-11/10--List & Index

Saxis Marsh
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Shari & I went on a van trip, led by Scott Barnes & Linda Mack of NJ Audubon down to the Delmarva Peninsula. Our major stops were Bombay Hook, Chincoteague NWR, Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR, Kiptopeke State Park, Magothy Nature Preserve, and Prime Hook. While only a few of these spots were new to us, it always a pleasure to go to familiar areas with experts who have the patience and knowledge that allow you to "get on" birds you would probably overlook.

Wolfe Neck Waste Treatment Plant 11/7--Black-headed Gull
Chincoteague NWR 11/8--White Ibis, Brown-headed Nuthatch
Saxis WMA 11/8--Virginia Rail
Seaside Road 11/9--Western Kingbird
Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR 11/9--Golden Eagle
Prime Hook 11/10--American White Pelican




For the 4 days I listed 114 species. The cumulative number for the group is always more. I would guess there were probably 5 or 6 species I missed. I'm very happy with what I got, including 6 years birds.

Snow Goose

Canada Goose

Tundra Swan

Wood Duck

Gadwall

American Wigeon

American Black Duck

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Ring-necked Duck

Surf Scoter

Black Scoter

Bufflehead

Hooded Merganser

Ruddy Duck

Northern Bobwhite

Red-throated Loon

Common Loon

Pied-billed Grebe

Horned Grebe

Northern Gannet

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Tricolored Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

White Ibis

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Golden Eagle

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Bald Eagle

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Virginia Rail

American Coot

American Avocet

American Oystercatcher

Black-bellied Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet

Lesser Yellowlegs

Marbled Godwit

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Dunlin

Western Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Bonaparte's Gull

Black-headed Gull

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Forster's Tern

Royal Tern

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Mourning Dove

Belted Kingfisher

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

American Kestrel

Peregrine Falcon

Western Kingbird

Blue Jay

American Crow

Horned Lark

Tree Swallow

Carolina Chickadee

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Winter Wren

Marsh Wren

Carolina Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Eastern Bluebird

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling

Cedar Waxwing

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Northern Cardinal

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Boat-tailed Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

Purple Finch

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch