Mathis Park 1/7--3 More Ducks

Canvasbacks, Toms River

Zero degrees upon awakening this morning; I wasn't about to make the same mistake as yesterday and go off looking for birds. I was tempted--there were some interesting sightings from yesterday up in Point Pleasant Beach by more intrepid souls than me. But then I thought about the 45 minute drive only to arrive at snow drifts blocking parking and access, not to mention standing in the cold and took a nap instead.

By early afternoon it had "warmed up" to 18 degrees, 50% warmer than it ever got yesterday, and there was a report from Mathis Veteran's Park in South Toms River of Common Mergansers. Not a rarity, but a difficult bird for the county--the other places I had considered going for them were sure to be iced over. This stretch of the Toms River is not a place you usually think of finding Common Mergansers, so, it only being 10 miles away, I got in the car and drove over. In the back of my mind I was also hoping for Redheads among the Canvasbacks. Canvasbacks there are reliable; Redheads less so.

This is only the 2nd time I've visited this park--it is across the water from Riverfront Landing where I usually stop to look for winter ducks. It is actually a better vantage point of the water; it is just a little out of my way. When I arrived, half the water was frozen with lots of gulls standing & sitting on the ice floes.

Greater Black-backed and Ring-billed Gulls

Just as I was getting out of the car I got an alert that there were indeed Redheads in the water. The alert came from the car parked in front of me, a birder I know and she quickly got me on both the Redheads and the Common Mergansers. The Redheads were drakes. The mergansers were hens and at first I took them for Red-breasted, but they had all the right field marks for the bigger ducks. A little later we spotted a drake Common Merganser; always nice to get the non-confusing drake.

There were the usual other ducks there, but I wasn't inclined to stand in the cold too much longer--it was comparatively warm, but it wasn't warm. My friend got back in her car (she, more rugged than me, had other birding stops planned), and just as I was about to pack up the scope I saw a hen Hooded Merganser. I got her out of the car, showed her the bird, and then put away the optics, got in my car, and turned the setting of the heater to "blasting." Good: with the hoodie ticked, I didn't have to make a stop on the way home at Wranglebrook where you can sometimes find those ducks; it looked mostly frozen anyway when I passed by.

My year count is up to 53. Today's list is 13. So far the year has been quality over quantity.
13 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose 25
Mallard 5
American Black Duck 1
Mallard x American Black Duck (hybrid) 1
Canvasback 20 Around the marina across the water
Redhead 6 two "flocks" of 3
Ring-necked Duck 5
Bufflehead 10
Hooded Merganser 1
Common Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 100
Ring-billed Gull 50
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 15