WSB @ Brig 5/12--White-faced Ibis, White-rumped Sandpiper, Gull-billed Tern, Black Skimmer, Willow Flycatcher, Blackpoll Warbler

Yay! The Black Skimmers are back!

If there is anything that can dampen my enthusiasm for birding, it is the 13th or 14th hour of birding for the World Series of Birding at Brig which I did with Pete & Mike yesterday, going around the dikes for the 3rd time, hoping for one more bird to add to our list. It is at that point that all the little doubts about one's sanity bloom into full-fledged certainties--I am crazy to be doing this. What difference does it make if we find a Peregrine Falcon or not? (We did.)

If anything proves the adage, "The competition is so fierce because the rewards are so small," it is the World Series of Birding. Hundreds of people running around the state ticking off birds, trying to win in a myriad of categories. If no one remembers who wins, I guess that's all right--it's really about raising money for NJ Audubon.

Unlike Christmas counts, which you can persuade yourself have some scientific value, the WSB is birding at its most basic and boring: See bird--or more likely hear bird--tick bird. That's it. In a place like Brig you don't even have to scout. If you're doing the whole state or even a county, then planning the route is probably the most skillful aspect of the day, but at Brig, it's just loop after loop after loopy loop. By lunch we had well over 80 species. After that it seems like diminishing returns.

Not that there weren't positives in the day--I added six year birds including one common rarity (White-faced Ibis) and one family fave (Black Skimmer). However, a typical good day this time of the year would yield the same results.

Probably the highlight of the day for me was not just seeing the Blackpoll Warbler that Mike found along the Gull Pond road, but hearing the Blackpoll Warbler sing. That's how close we were to it--my ears could bring in the thin buzz of a Blackpoll.

Another happy sound was the "fitz-bew" of a Willow Flycatcher. I was even happier when we saw one. And if was good to get White-rumped Sandpiper on the list. This is a bird I'd be reluctant to even look for in the thousands of peeps on the mudflats, but Pete and Mike are better at picking out the slightly larger birds with the longer wings than I am, so, if there was any bird that was my reward for over 16 hours of intensive birding, it is the Whie-rumped. As I said, the rewards are so small.

Our team, in various configurations, racked up 112 species for the day, not bad for a "Century Run." Out of all the birds listed, the only one I regret not getting is Saltmarsh Sparrow, but that will eventually be added.

We started the day at Leed's Point and Mott's Creek getting Whip-poor-will and Chuck and ended the day with nice looks at the Peregrine Falcon. Here's everything I'm willing to list:

Brant

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

Wood Duck

American Black Duck

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Green-winged Teal

Ruddy Duck

Wild Turkey

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

White- faced Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Red-tailed Hawk

Clapper Rail

American Oystercatcher

Black-bellied Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Spotted Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet

Whimbrel

Ruddy Turnstone

Dunlin

Least Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Bonaparte's Gull

Laughing Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Forster's Tern

Black Skimmer

Mourning Dove

Chuck-will's-widow

Eastern Whip-poor-will

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Peregrine Falcon

Willow Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

Great Crested Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

White-eyed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Fish Crow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Carolina Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

White-breasted Nuthatch

House Wren

Marsh Wren

Carolina Wren

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Eastern Bluebird

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher

European Starling

Cedar Waxwing

Ovenbird

Black-and-white Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Magnolia Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Pine Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Seaside Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Eastern Towhee

Scarlet Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Blue Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle

Boat-tailed Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

Orchard Oriole

House Finch