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| Egrets at the Barnegat impoundment
The month began with our last day in Nevada & Utah and at the end of it we were in Delaware. In between, the big story was fall migration and grasspipers. All of my year birds this month were shorebirds. Of course, the excitement of the month took place at Whitesbog when two species of phalaropes showed up in the draining bogs, though that had its downside in attracting hordes of birders who don't normally go there. Whitesbog's roads are not designed for crowds.
My last stop of the month today was Bunker Hill Bogs. I was thinking that perhaps there might be some evidence of fall migration for warblers and I was right. I found a Northern Waterthrush and a couple of American Redstarts along with my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season. Those 3 species brought my month's total up to 165.
Northern Waterthrush>
Counties birded
Delaware: Kent, Sussex
Nevada: Elko
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean
Utah: Salt Lake
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Monday, August 31, 2015
August Wrap-up
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Bombay Hook 8/29-8/30--American Golden Plover
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| A small sampling of the Avocets, etc at Bombay Hook
Shari & I spent the weekend in Delaware, mostly at Bombay Hook with a foray this morning to Sussex County in the southern part of the state. Aside from the attraction of the best Indian food in the U.S. (Flavors of India in a Motel 8 on DuPont Highway in Dover), American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts are what usually draw us there. However, having seen plenty of both recently in Utah and Nevada, it didn't seem as urgent this trip. But, coming around the corner of the road facing Raymond Pool and finding a more than a hundred avocets, seemingly marching along in unison, swishing their upturned bills in the water, is a spectacular sight and one I just don't get tired of. Plus, this late in the season, most of the birds are molting into alternate plumage. I prefer the stark black and white they wear in winter to the more colorful cinnamon colored plumage that adorns their heads and neck in summer.
At Bombay Hook you usually see a hundred avocets for every Black-necked Stilt you find and that was the case this weekend too. It wasn't until the 2nd day, at the Shearness Pool, that I found one mixed in with a group of white egrets. A 2nd one soon appeared when the flock shifted around.
The only year bird for the trip was a goodie--American Golden-Plover which Shari found in among a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers. This is a highly sought-after bird in NJ, but in Delaware it isn't even listed as rare. So while I still need one in my home state, it is good to have it on the year list.
There were literally thousand of Semipalmated Plovers and Semipalmated Sandpipers there and, if I was the type with more patience I would have burnt out my eyes scoping the sandpiper flocks more carefully for Western or White-rumped but I'm not so I didn't. I'd rather find one weird bird in a field and try to figure out what it is than sort through an ever-shifting flock of peeps looking for the one that is sorta kinda different only to have it scamper away before I can show Shari.
On Sunday we made stops at Prime Hook, Broadkill Marsh and the DuPont Nature Center. At the latter we found Shari's requisite American Oystercatchers on the jetty, a few Ruddy Turnstones, my favorite tern (Royal) and a couple of sad-looking molting Boat-tailed Grackles without their boat-tails.
Royal Terns
Molting Boat-tailed Grackle
We found 75 species for the weekend, which is okay for late summer and no early morning birding. Our list for Bombay Hook, over the 2 days, was a respectable 62. And we had fun.
The Bombay Hook list:
Canada Goose 100
Tundra Swan 1
American Black Duck
5
Mallard 100
Blue-winged Teal 2
Double-crested Cormorant
2
Great Blue Heron 7
Great Egret 150
Snowy Egret 75
Little Blue Heron 2
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron
6
Yellow-crowned
Night-Heron 2
Glossy Ibis 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 6
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Black-necked Stilt
2
American Avocet 125
Black-bellied Plover
100
American Golden-Plover
1
Semipalmated Plover
1000
Killdeer 2
Greater
Yellowlegs 50
Lesser
Yellowlegs 25
Marbled Godwit 1
Least Sandpiper 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper
1000
Short-billed Dowitcher
30
Long-billed Dowitcher
1
Laughing Gull 50
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 5
Great Black-backed Gull
5
Caspian Tern 2
Forster's Tern 3
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 1
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch
1
House Wren 1
Gray Catbird 5
Northern Mockingbird
2
Common
Yellowthroat 3
Field Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
American Goldfinch
4
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Friday, August 21, 2015
Gordon Rd Sod Farm 8/21--Baird's Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Middle of August and a birder's interests shift to the sod farms of Mercer & Monmouth Counties. In the four years we've living here the "hot" farm shifts around. This year, so far, it appears to be the one on Gordon Road off Route 539, putting just over the border into Mercer County. Lots of reports were coming in yesterday and with last night's rain I was hoping that rarities would still be attracted to the muddy fields.
After my morning walk in Colliers Mills (where I found only the expected birds), I drove up to Gordon Road. There were 4 or 5 birders there already scoping and scanning the gullies of the field. I pulled over and joined in but found nothing rare or exciting in the least. David pulled up with his son A.J. and asked about the Ruddy Turnstone, which would really be unusual so far inland. "Haven't heard about that one." It was on an eBird alert, but I haven't caught up with the 21st century with my communications devices. In any case, it wasn't there. While David & I caught up, the other birders drifted off to check the field from Rt 539, something I wasn't anxious to do, it being a busy road with trucks blowing by you at speed. I asked David about the sod farm up the road, the first one Shari & I ever visited, but he said it was pretty much dead there. So, I figured I'd pack it in and try another day when, like a messenger at the end of a play, a birder returned to announce that at least one of the rarities had been found from the county road.
We zipped over there to where the field was mostly a dirt lot with farm equipment. Many peeps and plovers were running around picking at the ground, undisturbed, mostly, by the coming and going pickup trucks. Kirsten announced that she thought she had a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, which would be a lifer for her. I looked, David looked, it looked like a buffie, though pretty distant.Then I found the turnstone, standing next to a huge tractor tire. I can safely say I never saw that juxtaposition before. The bird I was really interested in seeing, because it is a much more difficult bird for me to confidently i.d., was soon found fairly close in on the dirt. When I looked in David's scope, though, I only saw a Pectoral Sandpiper...not a bad bird, a rarity for those parts, but not the bird I wanted. The bird I wanted, the Baird's Sandpiper, was in front of the Pec. I found it in David's scope and in mine. This might be the 2nd time I've seen both Buff-breasted and Baird's in the same field and what I've noticed is that Buff-breasted Sandpiper stands erect, while Baird's has a horizontal profile. It's a good, quick filter when sorting through many little birds running around hither and yon.
So, 4 rarities in a morning is not a bad day of birding. I'll have to keep checking the fields--American Golden Plover is due in.
Here's what you can find in a field in central Jersey after a storm:
14 species
Great Blue Heron 1 f/o
Semipalmated Plover 2
Killdeer 25
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 10
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 5
Rock Pigeon 1
Fish Crow 1 Heard
American Robin 2
All the rarities were too far away to get a decent photo.
After my morning walk in Colliers Mills (where I found only the expected birds), I drove up to Gordon Road. There were 4 or 5 birders there already scoping and scanning the gullies of the field. I pulled over and joined in but found nothing rare or exciting in the least. David pulled up with his son A.J. and asked about the Ruddy Turnstone, which would really be unusual so far inland. "Haven't heard about that one." It was on an eBird alert, but I haven't caught up with the 21st century with my communications devices. In any case, it wasn't there. While David & I caught up, the other birders drifted off to check the field from Rt 539, something I wasn't anxious to do, it being a busy road with trucks blowing by you at speed. I asked David about the sod farm up the road, the first one Shari & I ever visited, but he said it was pretty much dead there. So, I figured I'd pack it in and try another day when, like a messenger at the end of a play, a birder returned to announce that at least one of the rarities had been found from the county road.
We zipped over there to where the field was mostly a dirt lot with farm equipment. Many peeps and plovers were running around picking at the ground, undisturbed, mostly, by the coming and going pickup trucks. Kirsten announced that she thought she had a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, which would be a lifer for her. I looked, David looked, it looked like a buffie, though pretty distant.Then I found the turnstone, standing next to a huge tractor tire. I can safely say I never saw that juxtaposition before. The bird I was really interested in seeing, because it is a much more difficult bird for me to confidently i.d., was soon found fairly close in on the dirt. When I looked in David's scope, though, I only saw a Pectoral Sandpiper...not a bad bird, a rarity for those parts, but not the bird I wanted. The bird I wanted, the Baird's Sandpiper, was in front of the Pec. I found it in David's scope and in mine. This might be the 2nd time I've seen both Buff-breasted and Baird's in the same field and what I've noticed is that Buff-breasted Sandpiper stands erect, while Baird's has a horizontal profile. It's a good, quick filter when sorting through many little birds running around hither and yon.
So, 4 rarities in a morning is not a bad day of birding. I'll have to keep checking the fields--American Golden Plover is due in.
Here's what you can find in a field in central Jersey after a storm:
14 species
Great Blue Heron 1 f/o
Semipalmated Plover 2
Killdeer 25
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 10
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 5
Rock Pigeon 1
Fish Crow 1 Heard
American Robin 2
All the rarities were too far away to get a decent photo.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Brig 8/15--Stilt Sandpiper
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| Panoramic shot from the north dike |
Anyway, we had lots of peeps on the mud flats and Clapper Rails were easy to find scampering in and out of the reeds. We had most of the expected shorebirds, though not in great numbers. And I finally saw a Stilt Sandpiper this year, feeding like an oil derrick (as opposed to a sewing machine for dowitchers) pretty far out in the water off the east dike. Mike picked it out and I could tell by size, shape and feeding habit that it was a stilt. But it was definitely a BetterViewDesired bird. Despite diligently looking, we found no truly rare species today.
I had 75 species for the very long day there (we left around a quarter to 5) and then Mike and I did a loop around Whitesbog which, with the new species for the day we found there, rounded me up to 80. A fine way to spend the day.
Brig's list:
Canada Goose 50
Mute Swan 5
Wood Duck 10
American Black Duck 15
Mallard 1
Blue-winged Teal 4
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 50
Snowy Egret 25
Little Blue Heron 1 gull pond
Black-crowned Night-Heron 10
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3
Glossy Ibis 50
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 10
Bald Eagle 1
Clapper Rail 5
Clapper Rail 5
American Oystercatcher 1
Black-bellied Plover 10
Semipalmated Plover 100
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 25
Willet 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 10
Whimbrel 1
Ruddy Turnstone 3
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 10
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1000
Western Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 50
Laughing Gull 300
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 4
Least Tern 1
Gull-billed Tern 2 gull island
Caspian Tern 10
Common Tern 1
Forster's Tern 50
Black Skimmer 20
Chimney Swift 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 1
Peregrine Falcon 3
Eastern Phoebe 2
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 1 Heard, near Leed Eco-trail
Blue Jay 1 Heard
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 1
Purple Martin 1
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 10
Carolina Chickadee 2 Heard
Tufted Titmouse 2 Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
House Wren 1 Gull Pond
Carolina Wren 1 Heard, entrance
American Robin 3
Gray Catbird 3
European Starling 100
Cedar Waxwing 1 Parking lot
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow Warbler 3
Seaside Sparrow 1
Chipping Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 2
Blue Grosbeak 1 Upland portion, near pond on Jen's Trail
Red-winged Blackbird 75
Boat-tailed Grackle 2 Turn onto north dike
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
American Goldfinch 4
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| Blue Grosbeak |
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