February: Rare Geese

Raptors in high places: Bald Eagle, Double Trouble 

The highlights of February were a series of literal wild goose (and  one swan) chases. Mike and I, early in the month, got the Trumpeter Swan at Assunpink (my second look of the year, his first) then managed to pick out a Cackling Goose from well over a thousand Canada Geese at Corine's Millpond in Allentown.

Merlin, Cranberry Bogs

Cooper's Hawk, Cranberry Bogs

Later in the month we made an unfruitful foray down to Cape May, stopping twice at the Cape May Zoo. A couple of weeks later we tried again and on my fourth visit and his fifth (or possibly sixth) we finally found the Pink-footed Goose that had been wandering about that section of the county, sometimes at the zoo, sometimes on soccer fields, sometimes in a veteran's cemetery. I also went to the Mercer Corporate Park in Robbinsville this month when a Greater White-fronted Goose was reported and found it pretty easily. A few days later, I returned with Mike and again, it was right there, a drive up bird. So for the year I have all 11 geese and swans you might expect to find (and count) in New Jersey.

Immature Bald Eagle, Double Trouble 

I was also happy to get Northern Bobwhite onto the list for the year (and to have it "accepted" by the eBird reviewer). That's a bird I missed last year. I think I also missed Short-eared Owl last year and was glad to see that they have made their return to Cedar Run Dock Road, an historical location for them but one, that after Superstorm Sandy, they had disappeared from, presumably because all their little mammal food had been drowned. The biggest disappointment of the month was missing the Red Crossbills that spent a couple of days at nearby Double Trouble Park (practically my backyard). A flock has since been reported in Burlington County, answering the question of "where the heck did they all disappear to?"

For the month I had 121 species (one less than last month) and again, I did not venture outside of the state.

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                         First Sighting

Pink-footed Goose   Cape May Co. Zoo

Greater White-fronted Goose   Mercer Corporate Park

Snow Goose   Brig

Brant   Manasquan Inlet

Cackling Goose   Corines Millpond

Canada Goose   Wells Mills Park

Mute Swan   Forsythe--Barnegat

Trumpeter Swan   Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan   Double Trouble State Park

Wood Duck   Jumping Brook Preserve

Gadwall   Forsythe--Barnegat

Eurasian Wigeon   Sylvan Lake

American Wigeon   Forsythe--Barnegat

American Black Duck   Wells Mills Park

Mallard   Wells Mills Park

Northern Shoveler   Sylvan Lake

Northern Pintail   Forsythe--Barnegat

Green-winged Teal   Deer Head Lake

Canvasback   Assunpink WMA

Redhead   Brick

Ring-necked Duck   Wells Mills Park

Greater Scaup   Brig

Lesser Scaup   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Black Scoter   Cape May - Lewes Ferry Terminal

Long-tailed Duck   Manasquan Inlet

Bufflehead   Wells Mills Park

Common Goldeneye   Colliers Mills WMA

Hooded Merganser   Deer Head Lake

Common Merganser   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Red-breasted Merganser   Manasquan Inlet

Ruddy Duck   Deer Head Lake

Northern Bobwhite   Colliers Mills WMA

Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd

Red-throated Loon   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Common Loon   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Pied-billed Grebe   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Horned Grebe   Nummy Island

Northern Gannet   Manasquan Inlet

Double-crested Cormorant   Riverfront Landing

American Bittern   Brig

Great Blue Heron   Forsythe--Barnegat

Great Egret   Absecon

Black Vulture   Colliers Mills WMA

Turkey Vulture   Waretown

Northern Harrier   Assunpink WMA

Sharp-shinned Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA

Cooper's Hawk   Assunpink WMA

Bald Eagle   Wells Mills Park

Red-shouldered Hawk   Assunpink WMA

Red-tailed Hawk   Assunpink WMA

Rough-legged Hawk   Brig

American Coot   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

American Oystercatcher   Brigantine Island

Black-bellied Plover   Villas

Killdeer   Colliers Mills WMA

Sanderling   Villas

Dunlin   Villas

Purple Sandpiper   Manasquan Inlet

Wilson's Snipe   Brig

American Woodcock   Crestwood Village

Willet   Brigantine Island

Razorbill   Manasquan Inlet

Bonaparte's Gull   Villas

Ring-billed Gull   Lake Barnegat

Herring Gull   Deer Head Lake

Great Black-backed Gull   Cattus Island County Park

Forster's Tern   Villas

Rock Pigeon   New Egypt

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

Short-eared Owl   Motts Creek

Belted Kingfisher   Corines Millpond

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Colliers Mills WMA

Downy Woodpecker   Deer Head Lake

Hairy Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Northern Flicker   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

American Kestrel   E. Colliers Mills Rd

Merlin   Mercer Corporate Park

Peregrine Falcon   Brig

Blue Jay   Deer Head Lake

American Crow   Deer Head Lake

Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Common Raven   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Horned Lark   Stafford

Carolina Chickadee   Wells Mills Park

Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Wells Mills Park

White-breasted Nuthatch   Wells Mills Park

Brown Creeper   Colliers Mills WMA

Carolina Wren   Wells Mills Park

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Deer Head Lake

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Eastern Bluebird   Assunpink WMA

Hermit Thrush   Cattus Island County Park

American Robin   Cattus Island County Park

Gray Catbird   Higbee Beach WMA

Brown Thrasher   Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Mockingbird   New Egypt

European Starling   35 Sunset Rd

Cedar Waxwing   Brig

Orange-crowned Warbler   Brig

Palm Warbler   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Pine Warbler   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Trenton Sewage Ponds

American Tree Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

Field Sparrow   Mercer Corporate Park

Fox Sparrow   New England Rd

Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd

White-crowned Sparrow   New Egypt

White-throated Sparrow   Wells Mills Park

Savannah Sparrow   New Egypt

Song Sparrow   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Eastern Towhee   Brig

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Red-winged Blackbird   Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Common Grackle   Assunpink WMA

Boat-tailed Grackle   Motts Creek

Brown-headed Cowbird   New Egypt

House Finch   Double Trouble State Park

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow   Asbury Park

Bald Eagle, Wells Mills Park

Immature Bald Eagle, Cranberry Bogs

Crestwood Village 2/28--American Woodcock

It seemed a little early to me for woodcocks, but with the May-like weather we've been having this month they have apparently been making themselves known, so tonight I drove over to what I have to keep as an unspecified spot since last year I got into a little trouble for revealing where I'd seen them since it is technically "restricted," but it is only 2 miles and 6 minutes away from the house. I didn't have to wait very long past sunset at 5:48 before I heard the familiar "peenting" call. Then one flew over my head and I was able to track it down and make a recording of it calling, which you can hear here. I heard another one behind me and was surprised my camera was able to take any pictures in the gloaming.

A great bird with which to end the month's birding.

Colliers Mills 2/27--Northern Bobwhite, Brown Thrasher

Nicely camouflaged Northern Bobwhite in undergrowth. 

I've been going to Colliers Mills frequently this month. Hunting season is over, it's fairly close, and it is a good long walk through varying, interesting habitat. I mix up the route a little each time, sometimes exploring one area a little more than usual, which was what I was doing this morning, walking along the west side of Colliers Mills Lake (a misnomer, since it is smaller than Turnmill Pond to which it feeds through a little a stream) where I found the brush very active with sparrows and my first year bird of the day, a Brown Thrasher, a virtual giant among the sparrows. I also added in that section Eastern Towhee as county bird and as a sighted bird for the year, since first one this year was listed based on a couple of loud 'chwinks' coming from the woods at Brig.

My second year bird of the day is a little more controversial. According to the received wisdom, Northern Bobwhite has been extirpated from New Jersey, and aside from a small population from Georgia that has been introduced onto a farm in Burlington County, the birds you see have been released (for hunting) and are not really wild. However, here is my rationale for counting the bird I stumbled across on a path off Success Road:

1) Bobwhites have not been permitted to be released at Colliers Mills for a few years now. There are only two places in New Jersey where you can still hunt released birds and those two places are a distance from Colliers. Since they have restricted hunting of the bird in most places, doesn't that imply that there are still wild birds afoot? Besides, if this bird has survived the hunting (for pheasants and Chukar--which by the way, I don't count when I see them there) and dog training, then it is wild enough for me.

2) In the past I have seen a hen followed by half-grown chicks at Colliers Mills, which indicates breeding (one of the requirements for countability). For all I know, this bird was born at Colliers Mills from birds that survived their release.

3) Hey, it's my list.

Besides the west side of the lake, I walked up Success Road to the path where I found the Bobwhite, strolled by the back of the shooting range where I encountered 3 Killdeer, but not interesting woodpeckers, walked along the berm behind Turnmill Pond then over to Hawkin Road with a couple of hard to explain if you haven't been there detours, then north on Hawkin Road back to the car.

With all that I came up with 27 species, not counting the two domestic ducks that have made themselves at home near the parking lot, where I've seen at least one guy leave them food. He likes to pet the white duck.

Canada Goose 20
American Black Duck 4 Turnmill Pond
Mallard 2 one on lake, one on Turnmill Pond
Mallard (Domestic type) 2
Ring-necked Duck 18
Lesser Scaup 1 Lake. Wasn't associating with RNDU
Northern Bobwhite 1
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 4
Bald Eagle 1 Came out of trees by lake, flew toward power line cut
Killdeer 3 Behind shooting range
Mourning Dove 3
Belted Kingfisher 1 Lake
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Blue Jay 14
Fish Crow 40
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
Eastern Bluebird 6 Scattered around.
Brown Thrasher 1
Dark-eyed Junco 12
White-throated Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Red-winged Blackbird 8
American Goldfinch 1

Behind the Costco in Stafford 2/22--Horned Lark

There's is section of Stafford Township off Route 72 that has interested me for a while, if no other reason than the turn-off from the highway is named Recovery Road which sounds like the way to a sanitarium. On Google Maps it is just a big blank spot behind the Costco in Stafford Mall. A lot of eBird lists have it named Stafford Preserve, but the only thing I could see preserved there is sand and clay, weeds and scrub. I turned off Recovery onto Cook and instead of a sanitarium, I found various Ocean County facilities like maintenance garages, dumpsters, and a recycling transfer station. I did notice that a condo development there is named Stafford Preserve. Maybe they have plans.

I saw a dirt road that looked like it went to an empty area so I drove up and saw that it lead into the condo development, where the road became paved again. I parked where the sidewalk ended in the sand and headed into the field pictured at left.

Believe it or not, the habitat looked good for the bird I was hoping to find. And soon I found one--a Horned Lark perched on the top of a huge sand pile. A few were peeping and flying overhead and eventually, once I was close enough to the sandy hill, I got an excellent look at one.  Horned Larks gravitate to the most degraded, barren areas they can find and this spot certainly qualified. I don't know what the zoning for this blank area on the map is--it looks like the development might expand, or yet another shopping center could be put there, hard by the parkway as it is, but right now it is an excellent spot to find these birds, which are difficult to come by in the county. I suppose birds that associate with larks, like Snow Buntings or Lapland Longspurs could also turn up there, but I'll let others investigate the area for them. I like out of the way places, but this place was just ugly.

Cape May Zoo 2/20--Pink-footed Goose

Pink-footed Goose

However, before we could start lunch, another text alert came in: the Pink-footed Goose had reappeared at the Cape May Zoo. We'd just been there 45 minutes ago. Back north we drove. This would be my 4th attempt and Mike's 5th, or maybe 6th. The first time we'd gone to the zoo we couldn't find parking because it was so crowded due, I assume, to the school holiday, so this time we parked in a lot across the street and walked over to the entrance. While we were waiting for a red light to change, a guy rolled down his car window and told us that the goose was moving toward the back of the pond. That saved us, because otherwise, we would have scanned the wrong part of the lake and perhaps missed the bird. We walked toward a wooden walkway that went to a gazebo in the middle of the pond, scanned for a few moments before Mike found the bird, right up front. Very obvious against the larger Canada Geese.

Those who know more about migration than me believe that rare geese like Pink-footed or Barnacle follow migrating Canada Geese to North America. I've been wondering about the cohesiveness of geese flocks. Does the flock that flies from Greenland to New Jersey all stay together, or does it have a shifting population? Does the Pink-footed Goose stay with its original flock, or does it attach itself to any large flock of geese? Whatever the answer, it seems like this goose goes back and forth between the zoo, a sports complex nearby (where, once the soccer games begin the geese flee) and surrounding, nearby fields, including a cemetery. This makes the bird somewhat elusive since it doesn't keep a reliable schedule.

Now, with the Pink-footed Goose on my 2017 year list, I have all 11 large waterfowl to be found in New Jersey:

• Pink-footed Goose
• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Snow Goose
• Ross's Goose
• Brant
• Barnacle Goose
• Cackling Goose
• Canada Goose
• Mute Swan
• Trumpeter Swan
• Tundra Swan

All 11 birds were first sighted in 11 different locations around the state. All this really means is that at the end of the year, when these birds start to show up again, I don't have to chase...unless the rarer ones turn up in Ocean County.

So, while we were striking out in the early part of the game today, we came up big in the bottom of the ninth.

Villas 2/20--Forster's Tern

Forster's Terns on sand bar with Herring Gulls and Black-bellied Plovers

Mike and I started the day with a number of birds in mind. We started in Point Pleasant Beach, hoping that the Iceland Gull,  reported on & off there, was still on. Many gulls, none of them "white-winged." On to the jetty at Manasquan, where perhaps there would be an Iceland Gull on the beach. There wasn't. Nor was there a Razorbill for Mike's year list. Back to the first spot in PPB and still no Iceland Gull.

Then we drove down the parkway to Double Trouble Park, hoping that the flock of Red Crossbills, very rare in NJ and certainly rare in this county, would still be in the pine on the trail to the reservoir. Our hopes were dashed when we met a couple of birders we knew who had been searching for a few hours hadn't found them. Still, we had to look and had no more success than our friends. There weren't even a lot of birds in the woods to substitute quantity for quality.

We'd heard that the Pink-footed Goose at the Cape May Zoo, which we missed on Friday, had been seen again yesterday and then today was seen nearby & was said to heading back toward the zoo, so we did too. An hour later, at the zoo, no PFGO.

The exercise in frustration continued as down to Villas we headed,  seeking the reported Black-headed Gull.  We found a small group of birders intently studying the large flock of gulls on the sand bars. Nice to see Bonaparte's Gull, which look a lot like Black-headed Gull but there was no BHGU in the flock, though some time was spent debating a bird that was perhaps a half mile distant. This was becoming ridiculous.

At that same distance, though, we were able to see, with enough clarity through the scope if not in the photo through the scope, a small group of Forster's Terns. At last, a year bird for the day. Not one we were looking for or particularly expected, but we were happy to take it and then went to the car, planning to eat our lunches. However...(see post above)

Brig 2/18--American Bittern, Eastern Towhee

American Bittern

Bob, Me, Pete, Lauren, Mike, & Hank
Official meeting of the Orange Hat Society at the Gull Pond
Photo: Marylou Norman

I drove down to Brig with Mike & Pete for their delayed tour of the newly reopened dikes. There we met 3 other members of the Orange Hat Society. Because getting shot tends to cut down on the number of birds you can see, prudent birders own an orange hat to wear in winter when birding anywhere hunting might also be taking place (though I sometimes think it just makes you a better target for a frustrated hunter) and often as not, that becomes your default winter hat. Mike & Pete and I all had on our orange hats, Hank showed up with his, turned to Bob, who changed his black baseball cap for the hat in his trunk. All eyes turned to Lauren, who turned her camo hat inside out and voila! 6 orange hats.

The highlight of the trip came early--before the actual start of the trip, when we drove down to the Gull Pond. Pete spotted an American Bittern close to the road, standing in a little patch of reeds, pretending that we couldn't see it. Bitterns are not considered rare--they're just hard to see. Hank pulled up behind us after we'd moved past the bittern. He'd driven right by it. I walked over with him, looking through the reeds, not seeing the bird until there it was. A year bird for all four of us. Unfortunately, by the time the other two members of the OHS showed up the bittern had wandered off. It's frustrating, because you know it's there; it's probably standing a foot behind the reeds and you can't see it, but you know it's there.

A great many Snow Geese and Brants populated the waters of Turtle Cove. My counts are lower than the actual numbers since estimating how many specks in the water off toward Atlantic City are Brants is just not worth the guessing; I don't, generally, count specks.

I also don't, generally, count chip notes, (as opposed to songs) unless it is a very distinctive chip note--like say the "chwink" of an Eastern Towhee, which we heard in the upland section of the Wildlife Drive.

Diversity wasn't great today; the passerine numbers were low, the waders were at two (bittern and Great Blue Heron) and the shorebirds numbered one (Dunlin). Still, two year birds, 44 species altogether at the refuge (a couple more, Boat-tailed Grackle and Common Loon, were seen at nearby Motts Creek) found with good friends in weather that warmed to the point where we were all shedding layers (and hats) is a non-complaints day.

Snow Goose 750
Brant 370
Canada Goose 150
Mute Swan 6
Tundra Swan 18
Gadwall 2
American Wigeon 30
American Black Duck 230
Mallard 40
Northern Shoveler 5
Northern Pintail 40
Green-winged Teal 5
Canvasback 75 There has been a big flock here off and on all winter.
Ring-necked Duck 7 Exit Pond
Bufflehead 8
Hooded Merganser 10
Common Merganser 3 Lily Lake
American Bittern 1 Gull Pond
Great Blue Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 13
Northern Harrier 2
Bald Eagle 3
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Coot 1 Gull Pond
Dunlin 1
Herring Gull 155
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Peregrine Falcon 2
Blue Jay 3 Heard
American Crow 5
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 1 Heard
Carolina Wren 2 Heard
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Refuge Overlook
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin 1
White-throated Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1 Heard
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard
Northern Cardinal 1 Heard, parking lot
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Common Grackle 1 Gull Pond
House Finch 1 Heard, parking lot
American Goldfinch 1 Heard

Brig 2/17--Wilson's Snipe

Wilson's Snipe with amused American Black Duck

Mike & I did a road trip down to Cape May today. The hope was to find the Pink-footed Goose that has been visiting the grounds of the Cape May Zoo and surrounding fields and ponds. No luck there. We looked around the zoo's pond a couple of times plus checked a nearby athletic field and the veteran's cemetery on the other side of the parkway finding only boring old Canada Geese. We met a fellow with Arkansas license plates, on our second trip to the zoo grounds in the afternoon, who said he'd been looking all around the area for over 5 hours. That actually made us feel good in two ways:

• A) We're not that nuts
• B) We didn't miss the bird; it wasn't there. 

We found about 60 species wandering around the county, nothing spectacular, the highlights being a Gray Catbird at Higbee Beach (hard to find in winter); Killdeer at the state park (year bird for Mike); and a drake Common Goldeneye in a channel of the wetlands along the Stone Harbor causeway.

Having made a big loop of the county we headed up the parkway to Brig and, even though we're going to be there tomorrow for Mike's delayed trip, we still went around the Wildlife Drive--"scouting" we called it.

There were a goodly number of birds, but aside from a large flock of close-by Canvasbacks, nothing out of the ordinary until we got almost to the end of the north dike. Mike stopped the car and looked left and I looked to my right at the outside channel. "I have an eagle," he said. "I have a shorebird," said I. It was the first shorebird we'd seen at the refuge. "That can't be a Dunlin," I said. "No, look at the bill," Mike replied. And the bill was very long. The head was striped. And the shorebird was a Wilson's Snipe and we were both very happy to get a year bird.

The last bird of note there was Palm Warbler we found bobbing its tail in the scrub above what used to be called the Experimental Pool and is now signed as the "Refuge Overlook" or some such. Funny, Palm Warbler is not unusual in winter in some counties, but is in Atlantic County. There was no doubt about the identification, though.

For our one and half hours traveling the 8 mile loop (plus a quick look at the Gull Pond) we garnered 33 species.
Snow Goose 50
Brant 600
Canada Goose 150
Mute Swan 3
Tundra Swan 6
Gadwall 2
American Wigeon 2
American Black Duck 350
Mallard 30
Northern Shoveler 35
Northern Pintail 35
Green-winged Teal 12
Canvasback 50 Careful estimate
Ring-necked Duck 6
Greater Scaup 10
Bufflehead 35
Hooded Merganser 4
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 2
Bald Eagle 1
Wilson's Snipe 1 North dike
Herring Gull 155
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Mourning Dove 1
Northern Flicker 1
American Crow 5
Carolina Chickadee 1 Heard
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 1
Palm Warbler 1
Red-winged Blackbird 12