Warinanco Park 2/17--Pink-footed Goose

Pink-footed Goose (the one with the pink feet) with Canada Geese, Warinanco Park

Even though I have only birded Warinanco Park in Linden twice, I have a great fondness for it. Firstly, because Linden is my father's hometown; secondly, because when I was a child, he used to take me for rowboat rides in the lake. So I am told. Like most memories, I only remember remembering this. Finally, because 9 years ago, Shari & I got our our life Cackling Geese in this park, an extraordinary flock of 6. It was then that I remarked to her that it was the first time I had been in that park in 50 years.

Mike's friend Paul from Illinois is spending the long weekend in Jersey birding, and today the three of us started at Warinanco Park to get one of the rare geese that have been in the state. A good opportunity for me because I haven't felt like chasing them on my own. We arrived at the park around 8 o'clock and even though I was the only one who had been there, I had no memory of the park's layout from 9 years ago. I did know that it wasn't very big, so we just started out looking for water. We found the lake (which, I remember remembering was much larger when I was a little boy) and though there was a large flock of geese on it, all of them were standard issue. We knew reports had it also on a baseball field, so we drove around until we found another flock of geese grazing on the grass. Another birder, whom we'd met first at the lake was there with his scope set up and he signaled to us that he had the bird we had come for, a Pink-footed Goose. Always good to have it pointed out, as it saves time and frustration, but we'd have found this one on our own as it wasn't tucked in with the other geese, as so often happens, but was right out in the middle, pink feet obvious. Year bird for Mike and me, life bird for Paul!

Today was dedicated to getting Paul lifers, so our next stop was down in Wall to look for the Barnacle Goose that hadn't been reported in a while (one was reported, late in the day, about 18 miles from where we were looking) and then down to Wreck Pond to look for the Tufted Duck that also seems to have disappeared. We then drove up to Sandy Hook to get easier birds that Paul needed, like 5 Great Cormorants hanging roosting on a tower in the shipping channel. We didn't spend a lot of time at the Hook; instead we made a tour of the north shore ponds. Paul thought he had Lesser Black-backed Gull on his life list, but upon examination, couldn't find it listed. We found one on the shore of Sylvan Lake, where they are often easy to find. Good pictures for Paul too.

Purple Sandpiper, Manasquan Inlet

Stubbornness brought us back to Wreck Pond. Stubbornness still didn't get us a Tufted Duck. We had plans to go to Barnegat Light tomorrow where we would pick up a couple of lifers for Paul, but just in case, we stopped at Manasquan Inlet. This year there are more Purple Sandpipers there than at Barnegat. I found a couple flying in the inlet and one landed across the way on the north jetty. Paul was focusing on that one when a flock of 50 appeared, winging back and forth between the jetties. Fortunately, quite a few landed close to us on our side and Paul had good shots of this lifer too. I took one "for-the-hell-of-it" shot because I like the facial expression these sandpipers have--somewhere between quizzical and Weltschmerz. Do I anthropomorphize? Very well then, I anthropomorphize.

So, 4 lifers for Paul, one year bird for Mike & me, made for a very good day. Not a huge number of species (39 that I listed) but pretty good for hit-and-run birding.

Locations birded:
Garden State Parkway,  Lake Takanassee; Lake of the Lilies; Manasquan Inlet; Mathis Veteran's Memorial Park; Marshall's Pond, Sandy Hook; Shark River; Silver Lake; Sylvan Lake; Warinanco Park; Wreck Pond

Snow Goose   3

Pink-footed Goose   1

Brant   580

Canada Goose   613

Mute Swan   101

Northern Shoveler   2

Gadwall   13

American Wigeon   8

Mallard   27

American Black Duck   9

Canvasback   20

Redhead   40

Ring-necked Duck  5

Greater Scaup   75

Lesser Scaup   13

Long-tailed Duck   1

Bufflehead   67

Hooded Merganser   12

Red-breasted Merganser   3

Ruddy Duck   9

Common Loon   1

Horned Grebe   1

Great Cormorant   5

Great Blue Heron   2

Turkey Vulture   1

Bald Eagle   1

American Coot   27

Purple Sandpiper   50

Ring-billed Gull   118

Herring Gull   31

Lesser Black-backed Gull   1

Great Black-backed Gull   21

Rock Pigeon   1

Blue Jay   1

American Robin   200

Northern Mockingbird   1

European Starling   100

Cedar Waxwing   2

Song Sparrow   3