January: 10 Rarities

Ross's Goose, Deerhead Lake

I birded almost every day this month. The weather, aside from a brief cold snap, was kind. I probably picked up close to 40% of the birds I'll see in New Jersey this year in the first month. That's not an accomplishment. I did, however, see 10 rarities, for New Jersey, this month, and 40% of those rarities were white: American White Pelican on the first day of the year, the Ross's Goose I found at Deerhead Lake, a Trumpeter Swan at Assunpink (a pretty dingy white, but nonetheless white) and the Snowy Owl on Holgate. I'm not even counting the Pine Warblers at the Trenton Sewer Utility (the "poo ponds" as I have heard them called) as rarities because those birds are more prevalent than eBird allows.

I started the month at Tip Seaman Park in Tuckerton where the pelican carried over from the last day of December and ended the month there, sorting through the Canada Goose flock hoping for a rare goose that has made a couple of brief appearances in the county--Pink-footed Goose. There's a very easy PFGO in Cape May, but local birds are so much more satisfying. While looking through the flock I found one goose that was banded. I noticed that the flock, like many of the goose flocks in winter, had two distinct types of Canada Geese--the ones like the banded goose are very big with thick necks, while the other geese, which I presume are local and don't migrate, are probably a little smaller overall, but their necks are distinctly thinner. I reported the goose to the USGS and mentioned that they might want to find a way to differentiate between the characters "zero" and "O" in their typography. I'm ever the printer.

The year is off to an excellent start. I was a little concerned in December when I felt my birding spirits flagging, but the prospect of finding new birds for the year seems to have revived them. I've been thinking that the listing part of birding, at least, is similar to collecting baseball cards--every pack (read day) had the potential for a great card (bird). The Pink-footed Goose would be a Mickey Mantle in my day. The European Starling is Choo-choo Coleman.

I ended the month with 122 species (96 in Ocean County). They were:

Species             First Sighting

Snow Goose   Colliers Mills WMA

Ross's Goose   Deer Head Lake

Brant   Cape May Harbor

Barnacle Goose   Etra Lake

Canada Goose   35 Sunset Rd

Mute Swan   Tip Seaman CP

Trumpeter Swan   Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan   Cape May Meadows

Wood Duck   Cranberry Bogs--Dover Rd

Gadwall   Cape May Point SP

Eurasian Wigeon   Shark River

American Wigeon   Cape May Point SP

American Black Duck   Cape May Point SP

Mallard   Cape May Point SP

Northern Shoveler   Cape May Point SP

Northern Pintail   Cape May Point SP

Green-winged Teal   Lily Lake

Canvasback   Riverfront Landing

Redhead   Silver Lake

Ring-necked Duck   Lily Lake

Greater Scaup   CMBO Northwood Center

King Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter   Two Mile Beach

Black Scoter   Cape May Meadows

Long-tailed Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Bufflehead   Lily Lake

Common Goldeneye   Harvey Cedars

Hooded Merganser   Cape May Point SP

Common Merganser   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Red-breasted Merganser   Cape May Harbor

Ruddy Duck   Cattus Island County Park

Wild Turkey   Assunpink WMA

Red-throated Loon   Coral Ave. dune crossing

Common Loon   Cape May Harbor

Pied-billed Grebe   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Horned Grebe   Sunset Lake

Red-necked Grebe   Sunset Lake

Northern Gannet   Coral Ave. dune crossing

Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Double-crested Cormorant   Cape May Point SP

American White Pelican   Tip Seaman CP

Great Blue Heron   Cape May Point SP

Great Egret   Cape May Point SP

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Lake Como

Black Vulture   Lake Barnegat

Turkey Vulture   Tip Seaman CP

Northern Harrier   Assunpink WMA

Sharp-shinned Hawk   Assunpink WMA

Cooper's Hawk   Lily Lake

Bald Eagle   GSP MM 48

Red-shouldered Hawk   Cape May Point SP

Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA

American Coot   Cape May Point SP

Black-bellied Plover   Holgate

Killdeer   White's Bogs

Ruddy Turnstone   Coral Ave. dune crossing

Sanderling   Coral Ave. dune crossing

Dunlin   Two Mile Beach

Purple Sandpiper   Sunset Beach/Concrete Ship

Bonaparte's Gull   Sunset Beach/Concrete Ship

Ring-billed Gull   Cape May Point SP

Herring Gull   Tip Seaman CP

Lesser Black-backed Gull   Manasquan Inlet

Great Black-backed Gull   Cape May Meadows

Rock Pigeon   Cape May Point SP

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

Great Horned Owl   35 Sunset Rd

Snowy Owl   Holgate

Belted Kingfisher   Eno’s Pond

Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   CMBO Northwood Center

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Assunpink WMA

Downy Woodpecker   CMBO Northwood Center

Hairy Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Northern Flicker   Cape May Point SP

American Kestrel   Bridge to Nowhere

Merlin   Tuckerton--Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Peregrine Falcon   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Blue Jay   Cape May Point SP

American Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Fish Crow   Colliers Mills WMA

Tree Swallow   Cape May Meadows

Carolina Chickadee   Cape May Point SP

Tufted Titmouse   CMBO Northwood Center

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Harvard Ave

White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper   Assunpink WMA

Carolina Wren   Cape May Point SP

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whiting WMA

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Assunpink WMA

Eastern Bluebird   Cattus Island County Park

Hermit Thrush   Crestwood Village

American Robin   Coral Ave. dune crossing

Gray Catbird   Cape May Point SP

Northern Mockingbird   Cape May Pt SP

European Starling   Cape May Point SP

Cedar Waxwing   Cape May Hawkwatch Platform

Orange-crowned Warbler   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Palm Warbler   Cattus Island County Park

Pine Warbler   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Cape May Point SP

Yellow-breasted Chat   Cape May Point SP

American Tree Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

Field Sparrow   Marshall's Pond

Fox Sparrow   CMBO Northwood Center

Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd

White-crowned Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

White-throated Sparrow   Cape May Point SP

Savannah Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park

Song Sparrow   Cape May Point SP

Swamp Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park

Northern Cardinal   Cape May Point SP

Dickcissel   Assunpink WMA

Red-winged Blackbird   Cape May Point SP

Common Grackle   Coral Ave. dune crossing

Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird   Coral Ave. dune crossing

House Finch   35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow   Lehigh Ave

Some birds in flight:

Snow Geese over Colliers Mills

Tundra Swans over the cranberry bogs in South Toms River