Brig 5/24--Wilson's Phalarope, Saltmarsh Sparrow

Shari, who leads a more well-rounded life than I do, had other things she wanted to do today, so I drove down to Brig by myself. I was hoping for shorebirds and I got them in droves. I was also hoping to find one of the Wilson's Phalaropes that had been reported there the last couple of days. I was expecting to do a lot of scanning of distant shorebird flocks in order to find the bird, but instead, right after marker 4, on a mudflat close to the road, I saw one Willet, and standing a couple of feet away a phalarope.

This is a male, which, unlike most species, is less colorful than the female. Still, I was proud that I found it on my own. I then stood around for 20 minutes, watching it, and hoping to hand it off to another birder to appreciate. But no one stopped. No one was curious. Pete has a theory that when people crap out early at Atlantic City, they take a spin around Brig just to do something to delay having to go back home. I think there were a lot of losers circling the dikes today. Finally, the bird, along with a few Semipalmated Sandpipers and the Willet, flew off.

I was hearing a lot of Seaside Sparrows today and saw a couple distant birds fly down into the reeds. The one serious birder I ran into today pointed out a Saltmarsh Sparrow to me. It too made a nose dive into the phragmites, but it's on the list. Not a bird I was particularly worried about. Besides, Tuckerton or Cattus Island is where I want one.

55 species (+2 other taxa)
Canada Goose  50
Mute Swan  1
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  15
Double-crested Cormorant  7
American White Pelican  1     Continuing bird. Large white bird with huge yellow bill. Unmistakable.
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  45
Snowy Egret  25
Glossy Ibis  50
Black Vulture  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  3
Clapper Rail  2
American Oystercatcher  3
Black-bellied Plover  13
Semipalmated Plover  2
Greater Yellowlegs  3
Willet  15
Ruddy Turnstone  20
Dunlin  1000
Least Sandpiper  200
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1000
Short-billed Dowitcher  3
Wilson's Phalarope  1     S
Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  50
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Caspian Tern  1
Forster's Tern  20
Black Skimmer  57
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  2     Heard
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  1     Heard
Fish Crow  5
Purple Martin  15
Tree Swallow  20
Barn Swallow  10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  5
Common Yellowthroat  10
Yellow Warbler  3
warbler sp.  1
Eastern Towhee  2     Heard
Chipping Sparrow  4
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  10
Song Sparrow  2
sparrow sp.  1     Anyone want to help me out with this?

Northern Cardinal  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Common Grackle  3
House Finch  1     Heard, parking lot
American Goldfinch  1     Feeders