IBSP 9/15--Dickcissel

Dumb luck. That's all it was.

Dickcissel

I went to Island Beach SP this morning, hoping for a warbler fall out along Reed's Road. There was some decent activity, but nothing like I was hoping for. Of course, I got there late--7:30. A couple of of more determined Ocean County birders were there at dawn and they had a Connecticut Warbler and a Cape May Warbler, both of which would be great county birds for me. 

So after finding my few warbler species and a couple of other goodies in the maritime forest, I headed south, intending to walk the Spizzle Creek trail. When I pulled into nearby lot A20 a bird flew in front of the car and landed in a tree to the left. My snap reaction was mockingbird, because I see mockingbirds in that lot frequently, but when it landed it obviously wasn't that. I didn't know what it was and since it was cooperatively posing, I took some photographs. It then flew off and I couldn't find it again. I pondered. It looked like a Dickcissel to me in shape, size, and bill, but the coloring wasn't right. Of course, I don't know Dickcissels' various plumages well enough to say it wasn't a Dickcissel either. I thought maybe Vesper Sparrow because of the eye ring, but I knew that was all wrong. Weird Field Sparrow? I pondered all along Spizzle Creek and at the Winter Anchorage (where I saw 3 Marbled Godwits, still hanging out on the sand bar), and all along the 1 1/2 mile walk to the jetty along the beach (where I saw a couple of hundred Sanderlings with a few turnstones and plovers mixed in.) 

By the time I got back to the car, I'd pretty much landed on Dickcissel as the only possible bird--eye ring, tinge of yellow, brownish face, big finch-like bill. When I got home, I sent out the photos to a few friends and they confirmed my i.d. So: Year bird PCounty bird lifer P.

Dickcissel profile

Other interesting birds along the way:

Scarlet Tanager (non-breeding plumage) grove north of Reed's Road

Great Crested Flycatcher, Spizzle Creek

Ruddy Turnstone on the jetty while I was eating lunch

Osprey leftovers, Spizzle Creek

I think I had 56 species for my four stops: Reed's Road, Spizzle Creek, the Winter Anchorage, and the long walk south to the jetty.

Double-crested Cormorant    38

Brown Pelican    14

Great Blue Heron    3

Great Egret    27

Snowy Egret    2

Little Blue Heron    2

Osprey    19

American Oystercatcher    2

Black-bellied Plover    50

Semipalmated Plover    6

Willet    3

Marbled Godwit    3

Ruddy Turnstone    4

Sanderling    225

Laughing Gull    75

Ring-billed Gull    2

Herring Gull    115

Great Black-backed Gull    50

Caspian Tern    14

Forster's Tern    102

Royal Tern    19

Mourning Dove    2

Belted Kingfisher    2

Red-bellied Woodpecker    1

Downy Woodpecker    2

Northern Flicker    4

Peregrine Falcon    1

Great Crested Flycatcher    1

White-eyed Vireo    4

Red-eyed Vireo    1

Blue Jay    5

American Crow    2

Tree Swallow    28

Barn Swallow    1

Carolina Chickadee    12

Tufted Titmouse    1

House Wren    1

American Robin    1

Gray Catbird    15

Brown Thrasher    3

Cedar Waxwing    1

Ovenbird    1

Northern Waterthrush    1

Black-and-white Warbler    1

Common Yellowthroat    6

American Redstart    5

Yellow Warbler    1

Palm Warbler    1

Black-throated Green Warbler    1

Song Sparrow    1

Eastern Towhee    1

Scarlet Tanager    1

Dickcissel    1

Common Grackle    1

House Finch    5

American Goldfinch    1