March Birds

By far the most exciting bird of the month was the one day wonder Common Redpoll that visited our feeder on the 2nd. Even though we saw literally hundreds of them in Minnesota, it is something else to have one of them pose for you right outside your window.

I tacked on 18 birds to my year list, my favorite coming just this last weekend with the addition of American Avocet while we were in Delaware.

It was a very good month in terms of species seen--128--the most for a month so far this year. It's early. Migration starts soon (or perhaps has already started and I've just been missing it.)

I haven't been doing that well in-county, but the good thing about winter birds is that you get two shots at seeing them, so a few that I missed I can try for come November/December. But I don't want to even think about cold months right now.

Counties birded:
Delaware: Kent, Sussex
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem

Species               First Sighting

Snow Goose     Assunpink WMA

Brant     Sands Point Preserve

Canada Goose     Sands Point Preserve

Mute Swan     Sands Point Preserve

Trumpeter Swan     Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan     Whitesbog

Wood Duck     Whitesbog--Ocean Co.

Gadwall     Poplar St Boat Launch

Eurasian Wigeon     Sylvan Lake

American Wigeon     Sands Point Preserve

American Black Duck     Poplar St Boat Launch

Mallard     Sands Point--Dock Ave

Blue-winged Teal     Brig

Northern Shoveler     Mannington Marsh

Northern Pintail     Poplar St Boat Launch

Green-winged Teal     Assunpink WMA

Canvasback     West Creek Dock Rd.

Redhead     Bayview Marina

Ring-necked Duck     West Creek Dock Rd.

Greater Scaup     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Lesser Scaup     Sands Point--Dock Ave

Common Eider     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

White-winged Scoter     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Black Scoter     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-tailed Duck     Sands Point Preserve

Bufflehead     Sands Point Preserve

Common Goldeneye     Bayview Marina

Hooded Merganser     Eno’s Pond

Common Merganser     Eno’s Pond

Red-breasted Merganser     Sands Point Preserve

Ruddy Duck     Sands Point--Dock Ave

Wild Turkey     Assunpink WMA

Red-throated Loon     Brig

Common Loon     Sands Point Preserve

Pied-billed Grebe     Lake Como

Horned Grebe     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Red-necked Grebe     Bayview Marina

Double-crested Cormorant     Eno’s Pond

Great Cormorant     Sands Point Preserve

Great Blue Heron     Sands Point Preserve

Great Egret     West Creek Dock Rd.

Snowy Egret     Forsythe--Barnegat

Black Vulture     Waretown

Turkey Vulture     Forked River

Osprey     Seaside Heights

Golden Eagle     Brig

Northern Harrier     Sands Point Preserve

Sharp-shinned Hawk     35 Sunset Rd

Cooper's Hawk     Poplar St Boat Launch

Bald Eagle     Poplar St Boat Launch

Red-shouldered Hawk     Pedricktown Marsh

Red-tailed Hawk     Eno’s Pond

Rough-legged Hawk     Eno’s Pond

American Coot     Assunpink WMA

American Avocet     Bombay Hook NWR

American Oystercatcher     Gull Island Park

Black-bellied Plover     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Killdeer     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Greater Yellowlegs     Eno’s Pond

Lesser Yellowlegs   Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Ruddy Turnstone     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Sanderling     Fowler Beach Rd.

Dunlin     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American Woodcock     Crestwood Community Gardens

Bonaparte's Gull     Seven Presidents Park

Laughing Gull     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Ring-billed Gull     Vessel Dr.

Herring Gull     Sands Point Preserve

Lesser Black-backed Gull     Assunpink WMA

Great Black-backed Gull     Sands Point Preserve

Forster's Tern     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Rock Pigeon     Bayview Marina

Mourning Dove     35 Sunset Rd

Short-eared Owl     Mercer Sod Farm IBA

Belted Kingfisher     Eno’s Pond

Red-bellied Woodpecker     Poplar St Boat Launch

Downy Woodpecker     35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker     Whitesbog

Northern Flicker     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American Kestrel     Mercer Sod Farm IBA

Merlin     Lake Takanassee

Peregrine Falcon     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Eastern Phoebe     Whiting WMA

Blue Jay     Poplar St Boat Launch

American Crow     Sands Point Preserve

Fish Crow     Schoolhouse Rd.

Horned Lark     Sandy Hook

Tree Swallow     Whitesbog

Barn Swallow     Colliers Mills WMA

Carolina Chickadee     35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse     35 Sunset Rd

Red-breasted Nuthatch     35 Sunset Rd

White-breasted Nuthatch     35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper     35 Sunset Rd

Carolina Wren     Bridge to Nowhere

Golden-crowned Kinglet     Whiting WMA

Eastern Bluebird     Colliers Mills WMA

Hermit Thrush     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American Robin     Sands Point Preserve

Northern Mockingbird     River Walk

European Starling     35 Sunset Rd

Snow Bunting     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Pine Warbler     35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-rumped Warbler     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American Tree Sparrow     Brig

Chipping Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Field Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Savannah Sparrow     West Creek Dock Rd.

Fox Sparrow     Double Trouble State Park

Song Sparrow     Bridge to Nowhere

Swamp Sparrow     Forsythe--Barnegat

White-throated Sparrow     Sands Point--Dock Ave

White-crowned Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Dark-eyed Junco     35 Sunset Rd

Northern Cardinal     Bridge to Nowhere

Red-winged Blackbird     Sands Point Preserve

Eastern Meadowlark     Bridge to Nowhere

Rusty Blackbird     Prime Hook NWR

Common Grackle     River Walk

Boat-tailed Grackle     Bridge to Nowhere

Brown-headed Cowbird     Horicon Lake

House Finch     River Walk

Common Redpoll     35 Sunset Rd

Pine Siskin     35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch     35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Colliers Mills 3/31--Barn Swallow

Burned field at Colliers Mills

Last day of March and I'm still wearing my winter coat and knitted cap. At least I didn't need gloves today as I walked my long 4 mile plus circuit of Colliers Mills. Now that hunting season is over, I'll try to hit this area about once a week.

The fields were burned about a week and a half ago. It  won't take long for them to grow back--already there are tiny green sprouts coming up through the blackened grass.

I found my first Barn Swallow of the year flying around with a small flock of Tree Swallows at the northern end of Turnmill Pond. I wasn't thinking about this species today, so when I saw the orange belly among the white bellies of the Tree Swallows I was so surprised that I blurted out "Barn Swallow!" as if someone was with me.

But the real surprise today was also on Turnmill Pond. (Aside: why is Turnmill, which is much bigger than Colliers Mills Lake, called a "pond?") I saw a couple of birds on the water and my first reaction was Pied-billed Grebe, one of which I'd already seen on the "lake." But they didn't look right, especially one that was darker. I wasn't carrying the scope and they were just far enough away so that in my binoculars they might or might not be grebes. But I did have my camera and with its zoom maxed out I was able to figure out that I had two Horned Grebes, once of which had almost finished molting into breeding plumage.

Horned Grebes, breeding plumage on right

Horned Grebes are pretty unusual on fresh water in this part of the state so when I came across three more as I rounded the lake and started to walk north, I was flummoxed. Especially since I very rarely see this species in breeding plumage. Usually they're just drab black & white birds bobbing along in the bay.

I'm still missing a lot of birds that I thought I'd have by now, but spring has been late in coming and the winter birds are hanging on. As an example of that, I drove up to Prospertown Lake after I ate lunch. Mike Mandracchia had seen a Tundra Swan there on Saturday and it was still on the lake today.

Tundra Swan, Prospertown Lake

My last stop was Assunpink, where I surveyed the lake and found the continuing Trumpeter Swans. They pretty easy to pick out now from the Mute Swans because their necks are rusty from dipping into the water so much. For an unknown reason, this doesn't happen as drastically to Mute Swans.

Rusty-necked Trumpeter Swans

I walked the road that runs around the model airplane field. The sky had turned gray and threatening, the wind kicked up, and it felt like fall, especially since I was seeing lots of sparrows--Song, Field, Chipping and especially White-throated Sparrows. I haven't seen the latter much this month and I assumed they'd left but they're abundant once again as if it were mid-winter.

I had 53 species for the 3 stops today, pretty good for another cold day in spring.
Colliers Mills WMA
38 species
Canada Goose  18
Wood Duck  4     Pond north of power cut.
American Black Duck  5
Mallard  7
Ring-necked Duck  47
Bufflehead  7
Hooded Merganser  2     Turnmill Pond
Red-breasted Merganser  3     Turnmill Pond, flew off
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Horned Grebe  5     
Great Blue Heron  2
Black Vulture  1
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  1
Killdeer  8
Mourning Dove  3
Belted Kingfisher  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2     Heard
Downy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  1     Heard
Fish Crow  2
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  1
Carolina Chickadee  9
Tufted Titmouse  2     Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch  6
American Robin  40
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  20
Pine Warbler  2     Heard
Savannah Sparrow  1     
Fox Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  3
White-throated Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  2     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Brown-headed Cowbird  14
Prospertown Lake
8 species
Canada Goose  9
Tundra Swan  1    
Mallard  2
Ring-necked Duck  9
Hooded Merganser  6
Common Merganser  21
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Tree Swallow  55

Assunpink WMA
31 species
Canada Goose  110
Mute Swan  8
Trumpeter Swan  3     

Wood Duck  2     Marsh on Imlaystown Rd
American Wigeon  2     Marsh on Imlaystown Rd
Mallard  5
Northern Pintail  2     Marsh on Imlaystown Rd
Green-winged Teal  15
Ring-necked Duck  75
Bufflehead  5
Hooded Merganser  2     Hen on Marsh on Imlaystown Rd, Drake on eastern side of the lake
Common Merganser  125
Ruddy Duck  12
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  1
American Coot  10
Ring-billed Gull  6
Mourning Dove  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1     Heard
Fish Crow  1     Heard
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  1     heard
American Robin  30
Chipping Sparrow  2
Field Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  20
White-throated Sparrow  35
Northern Cardinal  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Common Grackle  100
Brown-headed Cowbird  1     Dirt road around model airplane field

Forsythe-Barnegat 3/30--Snowy Egret

Great & Snowy Egrets

After our Delaware interregnum, it was time to get back to wandering around the home county. It is still cold and damp. Migration seems far off, though it has already started. I'm just not participating in it.

I went to Wells Mills Park this morning to get in my vigorous walk. The trails there are more rugged than in most places in the county. You really have a sense of remoteness you don't get in the relatively flat WMA's like Whiting or Collier's Mills, where you can hear traffic no matter how deep in the woods you think you are.

I was hoping to get some "easy" birds that have been scarce so far this year, like catbird, thrasher, or Palm Warbler. None of them were about, but I did see a large flock of Pine Warblers in brilliant yellow, feeding on the ground and low in the trees. I had six naked eye at one time. Those were the only birds that held my attention for than a moment, but I did enjoy walking the hilly trail and was happy I could remember where I was after not being there for many months.

I decided to drive over to the Barnegat impoundments. I've been going over there about once a week, always hoping for a "good" bird that's been reported and never finding said bird. Today I broke that streak when I found three Snowy Egrets, my first of the year.  They were in a section of the impoundments that until recently I didn't know you could view--someone has knocked down the phragmites at where Bayshore Drive bends. It looks like someone just decided to plow a truck into the reeds.

After first checking the usual cut I walked down to that section and had both Great Egret and the snowies immediately.  The ducks seem to be thinning out in both number of species and number of ducks in total. If the water would recede, there might be a chance for shorebirds, but there appears to be a blocked outlet keeping the impoundments from the tidal influence.

The only other notable bird today I saw while talking to my friend Karmela who lives nearby--a bird swooped by us. My first instinct was "heh, pigeon." A second look told me it was Merlin instead.
19 species
Canada Goose  5
Mute Swan  4
Gadwall  15
American Black Duck  10
Mallard  50
Northern Shoveler  20
Northern Pintail  2
Green-winged Teal  10
Long-tailed Duck  2     Bay
Red-breasted Merganser  1     Bay
Horned Grebe  5     Bay
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  3   
Herring Gull  5
Great Black-backed Gull  3     Bay
Merlin  1
American Crow  1     Heard
Fish Crow  15

Delaware 3/28-29--American Avocet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Laughing Gull, Forster's Tern, Rusty Blackbird

DuPont Nature Center, Mispillion, DE
Photo: Shari Zirlin

For my birthday, Shari took me on an all-expenses-paid trip to Delaware for birding and Indian food. The weather forecasts were not propitious but the best birding is done in the worst weather, right?

We arrived at Bombay Hook just in time for a snow shower. After checking out the headquarters area and finding a Chipping Sparrow in among the other sparrows, we headed for the dikes. There is only one bird in Delaware this time of year that I can't get in NJ and I got it right away in the Raymond Pool--American Avocet. There were a number of these beautiful shorebirds, scattered in the deep water. They are starting to come into breeding plumage, so their heads are taking on a soft brownish-red hue. I actually prefer them in their basic plumage when they are stark black and white, but they are great birds in whatever molt they're in.

Unfortunately, our trip was cut a bit short by car trouble. I had just had the Subaru serviced so I wouldn't have to worry about mechanical problems but a seemingly freak incident occurred. While I was driving on the dirt road, going slowly mind you, we heard a loud twang come from the back of the car. I stopped, got out, looked under the car, saw nothing. Then when we started driving a screeching sound was coming from somewhere below. When Shari drove the car, it sounded to me like it was coming from the front driver's side wheel. We limped slowly out of the refuge (ever birding, I managed to glimpse two Blue-winged Teal on the way out) and parked just outside the refuge boundary. Shari called Subaru road-side assistance and they said they'd have a truck out there within an hour. The problem was, where do you bring the car. The local Subaru dealership in Dover was going to close by 4 and we'd never get there in time and only the service dept could give us a loaner. We thought we'd be stuck there until Monday. Shari called our friends to take care of the cat and called the dealership again. They agreed to stay "a little late."

The tow truck got there a half-hour before ETA and after a loud, bumpy, ride into Dover, during which the tow truck driver vented his spleen regarding foreigners, we arrived at Winner Subaru. As the head of service backed the truck off the flatbed trailer, the screeching was loud. The chief mechanic said, "It's the backing plate, this should take five minutes."

He was wrong. It took three minutes. It took him longer to explain to me what happened than it did to fix it. The car had apparently managed to run over a stick or stone in just the right way to send it banging up again the backing plate of the wheel, bending it into the wheel. The twanging sound in the back was the object being hurled to the rear. All he had to do was adjust the plate and we were done. No charge. It wasn't even worth writing up a job ticket.

Which is great, except it leaves me wondering about those commercials where you see the car plunging into ravines and climbing mountainsides. If the car be disabled by a random stone on a well-tended, relatively smooth dirt road, how likely am I to drive it down a stream bed?

We were only 5 minutes from our hotel, so we drove over there and rested for a while before going out for the real treat of Dover, DE--Flavors of India, a restaurant in an inauspicious location. I have eaten Indian food in most of the famous NYC restaurants. I've eaten Indian food in the South Asian enclave of Woodbridge/Edison NJ. I've eaten Indian food in London. The very best Indian food I have ever eaten is in this restaurant in Dover, DE, built into the side of a Motel 8. There is a liquor store now where the lobby of the motel used to be (it has since been moved to the side of the building). When we first started to go to this restaurant, to use the rest rooms you had to leave the store and go into the motel lobby. They are now part of the restaurant.

We had a wonderful meal, as always. And by the way, it is cheap.

On Sunday we drove south to the Prime Hook NWR. I had seen interesting sightings from the area and we started finding a lot of birds in the fields and marshes along Prime Hook Beach Road. We spotted a flock of Snow Geese in a field, then a Peregrine Falcon flying overhead. A requisite Bald Eagle sitting in a dead tree. The ducks were closer in than they were at Bombay Hook and then the real treat--hundreds of avocets, some of them only a few feet away, giving glorious looks.

And then the first-of-year birds started to appear. A Forster's Tern over the marsh; Lesser Yellowlegs, easy to pick out in direct comparison with the Greater version; a couple of Laughing Gulls loafing on a sandbar.

We drove over to Prime Hook HQ area and walked around there--it was still pretty windy and cold for March 29. On the other hand, last year on my birthday we couldn't bird at all because of drenching rains. We bought the Subaru instead.

We walked around an area we hadn't explored much before and didn't find much aside from a couple of Pine Warblers and our first Rusty Blackbird of the year. Rusty Blackbirds at this time of year are misnomers. They're totally black and look pretty much like grackles without tails.

We explored a few more roads, picking up Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plovers, a Horned Lark in a farm field just off the coastal highway and at the DuPont Nature Center, Shari's favorite, American Oystercatchers. Having checked those big birds off the list, we drove up to Bombay Hook for one more spin around the impoundments, where we didn't find anything new for the trip, and drove back home from there, with 68 species and lots of tandoori to show for the effort.

Species             First Sighting

Snow Goose     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Canada Goose     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Mute Swan     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Tundra Swan     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Gadwall     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Wigeon     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Black Duck     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Mallard     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Blue-winged Teal     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Northern Shoveler     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Northern Pintail     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Green-winged Teal     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Ring-necked Duck     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Surf Scoter     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Bufflehead     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Common Merganser     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Red-breasted Merganser     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Ruddy Duck     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Double-crested Cormorant     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Great Blue Heron     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Great Egret     Prime Hook NWR

Black Vulture     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Turkey Vulture     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Osprey     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Northern Harrier     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Bald Eagle     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Red-tailed Hawk     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Coot     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Avocet     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Oystercatcher     DuPont Nature Center

Black-bellied Plover     Fowler Beach Rd.

Greater Yellowlegs     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Lesser Yellowlegs     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Sanderling     Fowler Beach Rd.

Dunlin     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Laughing Gull     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Ring-billed Gull     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Herring Gull     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Great Black-backed Gull     DuPont Nature Center

Forster's Tern     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Mourning Dove     Prime Hook NWR

Belted Kingfisher     Prime Hook NWR

Red-bellied Woodpecker     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Kestrel     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Peregrine Falcon     Prime Hook Beach Rd.

Eastern Phoebe     Prime Hook NWR

Blue Jay     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

American Crow     Prime Hook NWR

Fish Crow     Prime Hook NWR

Horned Lark     Bakersfield Rd & Rt. 1

Carolina Chickadee     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Tufted Titmouse     Prime Hook NWR

Eastern Bluebird     Prime Hook NWR

American Robin     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Northern Mockingbird     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

European Starling     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Pine Warbler     Prime Hook NWR

Chipping Sparrow     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Fox Sparrow     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Song Sparrow     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

White-throated Sparrow     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Dark-eyed Junco     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Northern Cardinal     Prime Hook NWR

Red-winged Blackbird     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Rusty Blackbird     Prime Hook NWR

Boat-tailed Grackle     DuPont Nature Center

American Goldfinch     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

House Sparrow     Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge