January: 136 Species

Long-Tailed Duck (hen) Barnegat Light SP

Common Eider (hen), Barnegat Light SP

Cackling Goose with Canada Goose, Conine's Millpond
Photo: Mike Mandracchia

Red-tailed Hawk, Whitesbog

The edge of the dreaded Polar Vortex has kept me pretty much confined to quarters the last couple of days of this month, though I did get out yesterday for a walk along the Union Transportation Trail in Upper Freehold where I added my 136 species for the year, a hard one for me to get too, a Winter Wren moving rapidly through the undergrowth, but clearly seen--and heard.
I'm way ahead of my pace from last year and that's because I deliberately went after the "hard " birds like owls and rare geese, not to mention the Townsend's Warbler at the Trenton Sewage Ponds.

However, I didn't chase a Black Phoebe that was way up in Northern New Jersey, nor a Northern Shrike in the same vicinity. Or a hen Barrow's Goldeneye in the Delaware. I wasn't even tempted. Some birds are just too far.

I really concentrate on Ocean County and the surrounding counties with Mercer an honorable mention. I don't have a big Mercer list, but with the Townsend's Warbler this month, it has some really interesting birds on it, like last year's Ash-throated Flycatcher, and previous year's crossbills, Barnacle Geese, Virginia Rail, Least Bittern...even a Crested Caracara a few years ago. But generally I feel, the closer the rarity, the more valuable the rarity.

Birds I want for Ocean County, soon: American Woodcock, the aforementioned Winter Wren, a Purple Finch, and an American Bittern. That's quite a shopping list but not out of the question.

As to geese: We're still waiting for Pink-footed Goose and Ross's Goose to show up somewhere in the state.

Tomorrow is a new month. February tends to be really dead, so unless some new rarities show up I don't think I'm going to hit as high a number as I did this month. I'm not a "month" birder (yet) so I'm not going to go out of my way to get a Trumpeter Swan, for example, just to get a Trumpeter Swan for the month. However, if I happen to be in the vicinity....

Birds in bold italics are rarities for the month--either really rare, or just rare for the time of the year. All were exciting to see.

Species               First Sighting

Snow Goose   Brig

Brant   Sandy Hook

Barnacle Goose   Conine’s Millpond

Cackling Goose   Lake Takanassee

Canada Goose   Seven Presidents Park

Mute Swan   Lake Takanassee

Trumpeter Swan   Stone Tavern Lake

Tundra Swan   Whitesbog

Wood Duck   Little Silver Lake

Northern Shoveler   Monmouth Beach

Gadwall   Lake Takanassee

Eurasian Wigeon   Shark River

American Wigeon   Lake Takanassee

Mallard   Lake Takanassee

American Black Duck   Lake of the Lilies

Northern Pintail   Brig

Green-winged Teal   Allenhurst

Canvasback   Mathis Veteran's Memorial Park

Redhead   Lake of the Lilies

Ring-necked Duck   Mathis Veteran's Memorial Park

Greater Scaup   Bayview Ave Park

Lesser Scaup   Assunpink WMA

Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter   Sandy Hook

White-winged Scoter   Sandy Hook

Black Scoter   Sandy Hook

Long-tailed Duck   Sandy Hook

Bufflehead   Sandy Hook

Common Goldeneye   LBI Bayside

Hooded Merganser   Lake Takanassee

Common Merganser   Conine’s Millpond

Red-breasted Merganser   Sandy Hook

Ruddy Duck   Lake Takanassee

Ring-necked Pheasant   New Egypt

Wild Turkey   New Egypt

Pied-billed Grebe   Lake Takanassee

Horned Grebe   Sandy Hook

Red-necked Grebe   Sandy Hook

Rock Pigeon   Little Silver Lake

Mourning Dove   Seven Presidents Park

American Coot   Lake Takanassee

Sandhill Crane   Pemberton Twp MUA Fields

Killdeer   Lakewood Wawa

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Sanderling   Manasquan Inlet

Dunlin   Manasquan Inlet

Purple Sandpiper   Manasquan Inlet

Spotted Sandpiper   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Greater Yellowlegs   Poplar St Boat Launch

Razorbill   Sandy Hook

Ring-billed Gull   Lake Takanassee

Herring Gull   Sandy Hook

Lesser Black-backed Gull   Lake Takanassee

Glaucous Gull   Manasquan Inlet

Great Black-backed Gull   Sandy Hook

Red-throated Loon   Monmouth Beach

Pacific Loon   Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon   Sandy Hook

Northern Gannet   Sandy Hook

Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Double-crested Cormorant   Point Pleasant Beach

Great Blue Heron   Lake Takanassee

Great Egret   Great Bay Bvld.

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

Black Vulture   Fischer Blvd-Toms River

Turkey Vulture   35 Sunset Rd

Northern Harrier   BC Fairgrounds

Sharp-shinned Hawk   18 Aberdeen Avenue

Cooper's Hawk   Lake Takanassee

Bald Eagle   Sandy Hook

Red-shouldered Hawk   Brig

Red-tailed Hawk   Point Pleasant Beach

Rough-legged Hawk   Stafford Township

Eastern Screech-Owl   Beach Ave

Great Horned Owl   Beach Ave

Snowy Owl   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-eared Owl   Assunpink WMA

Northern Saw-whet Owl   Pole Farm

Belted Kingfisher   Bayview Ave Park

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Cattus Island County Park

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Marshall's Pond

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Pileated Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Northern Flicker   Cedar Bonnet Island

American Kestrel   Pemberton Twp MUA Fields

Merlin   Toms River

Peregrine Falcon   Sandy Hook

Eastern Phoebe   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Blue Jay   Lake of the Lilies

American Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Fish Crow   New Egypt

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Tree Swallow   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse   Cattus Island County Park

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Cattus Island County Park

White-breasted Nuthatch   Cattus Island County Park

Brown Creeper   Colliers Mills WMA

Winter Wren   Union Transportation Trail

Carolina Wren   Sandy Hook

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Cattus Island County Park

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Assunpink WMA

Eastern Bluebird   Cloverdale Farm

Hermit Thrush   Taylor Ln

American Robin   Marshall's Pond

Gray Catbird   Assunpink WMA

Brown Thrasher   Manahawkin WMA

Northern Mockingbird   Lake of the Lilies

European Starling   South Toms River

Cedar Waxwing   Taylor Ln

House Finch   Cattus Island County Park

Pine Siskin   Cloverdale Farm

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

Snow Bunting   Sandy Hook

American Tree Sparrow   Shelter Cove Park

Fox Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Dark-eyed Junco   Whitesbog

White-crowned Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

White-throated Sparrow   59 White Rd, Jackson

Savannah Sparrow   Cedar Bonnet Island

Song Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park

Swamp Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA

Eastern Meadowlark   Pole Farm

Red-winged Blackbird   Cattus Island County Park

Brown-headed Cowbird   New Egypt

Common Grackle   New Egypt

Boat-tailed Grackle   Lake of the Lilies

Orange-crowned Warbler   Great Bay Bvld.

Palm Warbler   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Pine Warbler   Cloverdale Farm

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Cedar Bonnet Island

Townsend's Warbler   Trenton Sewage Ponds

Northern Cardinal   Assunpink WMA

House Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Redheads, Lake of the Lilies

Crazy Day 1/28--Barnacle Goose, Pacific Loon, Townsend's Warbler + 3 Other Year Birds

Pacific Loon, Manasquan Inlet

Double-edged sword those rare bird alert apps. As Zirlin's Third Law of Birding so succinctly states: Wherever you are, you should be someplace else, so while I was doing the Pinelands Winter Survey yesterday at Whitesbog, turning up very little of interest, a Pacific Loon turned up in the Manasquan Inlet. Not a lifer or even a state bird, but a great rarity and and really great one for my county list and there was no way I could get to it, especially since one of my oldest (as opposed to eldest) friends, Suze, who I hadn't seen in a very long time and since she's moving to France for a year, will not see for a long time again was spending the weekend with us. I was hoping the bird would stick around and not drift south, as I am assuming this is the same bird reported last week about 15 miles north just off the coast.

About 8 this morning my phone started to buzz. The bird was still there. So was Suze. Friends are texting me, "Have you got the loon?" and I'm trying to explain about having my priorities in order. I helped Suze pack her car (never, of course, saying anything to her about the bird so she wouldn't feel rushed) and 15 minutes after she left I was warming up my car. The problem was that an alert had just come saying the bird was drifting out to sea. It sounded like I was going to miss my chance and I had already decided on Plan B. Just before I got to Rt 70 where I had to make a decision to go left or right, another alert pinged. Loon was back. I made a right.

Not unexpectedly, traffic at that time of the morning is maddeningly slow, especially once you get up around Lakewood and Brick. I pulled off at a Wawa to text a couple of friends already there whether the view was better from the parking lot or jetty. Parking lot seemed to be the answer. Down Rt 88 the phone kept pinging, but I didn't read anything until I was stuck at a railroad crossing in Point Pleasant, waiting for the North Jersey Coast Line train to creak north, and read that the bird was very close to the lot, just in front of one the storefronts.

I finally arrived, grabbed bins and camera, and as I got out of the car, said to no one in particular, "Show me the bird!" Two people pointed. It was right in front of me.

Note the prominent chinstrap

It was the best look I've ever had at a Pacific Loon. Usually, when I've seen them, they're debatable birds, in gray light, in swells, with the field marks obscured or hard to make out in a scope shaking from a winter wind. This loon was parading down the inlet like a fashion model, giving you all the poses. The Razorbill that was also diving in the inlet was "like so two weeks ago" that I didn't even bother to try for a photo.

Instead I drove 30 something miles to Allentown in the middle of the state, which had been Plan B. In Conine's Millpond a Barnacle Goose had been reported yesterday. Naturally. Indications were that it was still there. When I arrived I drove down Lakeview to view the water from the shore instead of where I usually park, up in the parking lot off Rt 539. There were, by my count, a gazillion Canada Geese to look through. In some areas of the flock it was just a carpet of geese.

Barnacle Goose (digiscope), Conine's Millpond

I did a quick sweep with my binoculars to no avail. I looked through the section of the flock closest to me through the scope. A Cackling Goose drifted through my view, but my theory is that in any large flock of Canada Geese there is at least one Cackler (and someone else there counted 2), so that didn't seem like a big deal. Since that technique didn't work either, I resolved to start on the left and work my way all around the lake with the scope. The first thousand or so geese were standard issue (with a few Mallards just to throw you off), but then a little goose with black stripes against a silvery back, a white face frame by black, swam into view, and I yelled, "There it is." Fortunately, no one was near me. Unfortunately, my camera battery had died in the cold at Point Pleasant Beach, so I had to try for some digiscope photos. The best I could do is above.

I drove around to the parking lot to make sure the birders up there were seeing the goose and all 3 turned out to be birders I knew. They did have the bird in their scopes, so we chatted a bit, but I was also thinking about trying to find an obscure pond in Mercer County where Greater White-fronted Goose has been reported sporadically all winter. That plan changed when one of my friends there received a text that a Townsend's Warbler was at the Trenton Sewage Facility. I said, "I'll meet you there," jumped in my car, didn't even say goodbye to anyone, and was off, taking I-195 west into a traffic jam. But the history with warblers at the sewage ponds is that they tend to stick around, so I didn't think a 20 minute delay was crucial.

I arrived at the facility and saw no one there. I walked the street toward where the warblers used to be until some entity cut down all the habitat. I didn't see any activity until an Eastern Phoebe (year bird) flew in front of me, perched on the fence, flicked its tail and was gone. I walked back to the parking and met the guy who'd reported the warbler along with my Allentown informant. He walked us back to where the bird was, a stand of pine trees screening the sewage ponds. His young ears could hear the bird chipping; we couldn't, but eventually the very active bird made popped out. Spectacular find. A Jersey lifer for me. Even if my camera was working, though, I'd never get a photo of bird like that.

The warblers still seem to be attracted to that spot, despite the habitat destruction. Must be enough midges and warm water to keep them there. Yellow-rumped Warblers were all over the place, as well as Pine and my first Palm Warbler of the year. Over the ponds we found five Northern Rough-winged Swallows feasting on what was drifting up from the ponds.

You don't always know where the alerts will take you. I didn't expect to drive from the ocean to the river today and I certainly didn't expect to add 6 year birds with such a late start. Pretty crazy.

All Around Ocean County 1/25--Spotted Sandpiper, Merlin, Fish Crow, Common Grackle

Hen & Drake Redheads, Lake of the Lilies

What I thought would be a half-day of birding a couple of spots in Jackson with Mike turned into a marathon tour of the county as one desirable bird led to another.

We started off at FREC pre-dawn, where we were hoping for owls and especially woodcocks but the only birds we heard were a couple of early singing Carolina Wrens. Woodcocks, I fear, are going to be as big a pain this year as they were in 2018. We thought the fields of New Egypt might offer some interesting birds, so we headed west. At a 4 way stop on Hawkin Road we saw a huge flocks of big birds in flight and these turned out to be around 500 Snow Geese, county birds for both of us and one of the species we might expect to find a few miles away by New Egypt. Since we were passing Colliers Mills, we figured we may as well take a peek at the lake, which had a couple of Wood Ducks on the north end. In the power line stand sat an immature Bald Eagle. What we intended as a quick stop turned out to be almost an hour as we walked along Success Road and came up with a list of 24 species, nothing special, although Savannah Sparrows are always good to see.

Fortunately the fields at New Egypt were still in a frozen state, so the stench of manure and rotting vegetables wasn't overwhelming. Starlings are the predominant bird there, the species not known for its pickiness, but we did have a good sampling of cowbirds and for me a flock of Common Grackles overhead notched my first year bird. Crows were about. One, on Inman Road, seemed slightly smaller but was't vocal, so we let it go. After we drove past we heard it call. This is why our wives think we're nuts. A crow goes "caw-caw" and we don't care, it's an American Crow. A crow goes "eh-eh" and we high five: FOY Fish Crow. And the next time we hear "eh-eh?" We won't care.

Hen Common Goldeneye with Canada Geese, Bamber Lake

Mike needed Greater Yellowlegs for the year and I knew where to find them, so what if it was 30 miles away? We headed south down to Forked River, first making a stop at Bamber Lake where the enormous Tundra Swan flock was only slightly smaller than my last visit on Wednesday and the Ring-necked Duck flock was even larger. But the highlight there was a hen we saw diving among the geese. Goldeneye is a good duck anywhere and I'd never seen one at Bamber Lake before.

On to Eno's Pond where we picked up 9 yellowlegs for Mike's list, then south on 9 to Barnegat where the impoundments were not very productive save for Gadwalls and wigeons (but no Eurasian Wigeon). The most interesting bird of the day was found at the Barnegat Municipal Dock. We were scanning the bay in search of grebes and only finding the usual ducks--scaup, Buffleheads, Long-tail Ducks, etc, when I saw a shorebird fly in from the bay and land underneath the walkway on the supporting pier. I discarded my first impression immediately because the time of the year was all wrong. Our best guess was turnstone, but we couldn't see the bird from the angle we were at, so we walked down the walkway about 500 feet. Mike spotted the bird by leaning over the railing. I leaned over too but the bird was walking away. It had yellow legs, not orange-red like a turnstone, so we knew it wasn't that bird, but what was it? We walked toward it; it walked away. But the walking was the clue: it was BOBBING its tail. It was brown, had a long bill, and when it finally flew off toward the condos, it had a shallow wing beat, never raising its wings above its body. My first impression, based on that flight, had been right. It was a Spotted Sandpiper. No doubt about it, we've seen plenty of them both in and out of breeding plumage; just not in January. Too bad we couldn't get a picture but to lean much farther over the rail would have been risking a dunking. It is only a bird, after all.

We took a quick look at Manahawkin Lake and then, what else--we drove north. On Route 37 in Toms River we saw a flock of pigeons swirling around and right behind them, trying to cut one from the heard, a Merlin chasing. We crossed the bridge, first stopping in Mantoloking to look for the Snow Buntings I saw on Wednesday (a no show) and then on to the Lake of the Lilies in Point Pleasant Beach, hoping for the Black-headed Gull. All we found were the expected waterfowl, but seeing Redheads is always a good thing, especially toward the end of the day when your enthusiasm may be flagging.

Our last stop was Baltimore Avenue where for perhaps the 5th time this year the Black-headed Gull was not. A Glaucous Gull yes. But the Black-headed Gull shares its favors only with others, not us.

For the day we had 65 species. The last two year birds were the best. The sandpiper because it was rare, the Merlin because it was a bonus while stopped at traffic light.

(This, by the way, is entry #1500 in this blog.)

Cattus Island CP 1/23--Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Cattus Island CP (Trust me, it's there)

Because I had an appointment this afternoon on the Brick/Toms River border, I decided to bird my way north to it, starting at Shelter Cove Park and ending at the Ocean County Parks Offices grounds. In the middle was Cattus Island CP which proved to be the only productive site, there being no snipes at Shelter Cove, nor Winter Wren at OCPO.

Even that didn't look promising at first. The marsh along the boardwalk in was quiet and all the birds were being marked absent at the feeders. I soon figured out why the feeders weren't popular when I spotted a Cooper's Hawk lurking above them. With the marshes and the bay solid there was very little activity all the way out to and around Scout Island. A Downy Woodpecker there, a few Red-bellied Woodpeckers calling, but when I'm taking pictures of Mute Swans, you know it's slow.

Just to prove I can take a decent picture here's one of a
Carolina Wren

                                                            Once I got back into the woods on the main land it got a little more interesting--at least there were tweety birds to track down. As I emerged from the woods into the field where the family house once stood, I ran into Steve and Al. Most of the birds I was seeing were titmice, but it didn't take long for Steve to point out a year bird for me--a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in a big dead tree. As Zirlin's Fifth Law of Birding states: If you want to see good birds, hang out with good birders.

Overcast, branches, and hyperactivity made getting any photograph a challenge. At the head of this entry is the best I could do.

After my appointment, I checked the rare bird alerts and saw that, yet again, the Black-headed Gull had been spotted in Point Pleasant Beach, this time at the Lake of the Lilies. As I was only about twenty minutes away I had to give it a shot. Of course, by the time I got there the only gulls on the ice were the expected, standard issue birds. I have been chasing this bird since day one of the year. Everybody else in the county seems to have seen it except me. I also tried the sand bar at Baltimore Avenue, so just I could say I left not gull unseen--nothing. Zirlin's Second Law of Birding is You won't find the bird until you have sincerely given up on seeing it, so I guess my problem is that I haven't conceded defeat yet.

I also had seen Snow Buntings reported a few miles south in Mantoloking and as they are a difficult bird for the county, I figured I had to go south to get home anyway, let's try for them. I plugged the address into my phone. It looked simple enough, straight down 35 until you got to the street. The only problem was when the phone's voice directed me to make a left, there was no left to make. I went down a street, made a left I could make and headed north. In a thousand feet I was supposed to turn right. There was no right to make. I went around in a circle, passed the phantom left and when I heard that my destination was a mere thousand feet away, I parked the car on a real street and walked up 35 to a big, sandy lot full of beach grass, perfect for buntings. I stood in the lot and created a personal hot spot for myself on eBird. I was apparently at 19 Elder Street. I suspect what happened is that pre-Sandy there were streets here. Now there is sand. A look at Google Maps confirms that. If they were just "paper" streets, they wouldn't have been plugged into the app.

Ghost streets in Mantoloking. The red marker is where I was standing.

The good news is that I did see a flock of about 20 Snow Buntings doing touch and goes in the sand. The bad news is that they wouldn't sit still long enough for even an attempt at a photograph.

That was enough for one day so I headed south again. My Cattus Island list below:

20 species

Mute Swan  8    6 flyovers on bay, two on ice

American Black Duck  6

Bufflehead  2    bay off Scout Island

Mourning Dove  1

Herring Gull  20

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Cooper's Hawk  1    

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1   

Red-bellied Woodpecker  4

Downy Woodpecker  1

Blue Jay  2

American Crow  1    Heard upon exiting

Carolina Chickadee  6

Tufted Titmouse  5

White-breasted Nuthatch  3

Carolina Wren  6    All were very vocal

Golden-crowned Kinglet  1

Song Sparrow  1

Red-winged Blackbird  25

Here & There in Ocean County 1/22--Ring-necked Pheasant, Greater Yellowlegs, Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird, New Egypt

I got a late start today as I waited for the wind chill temperature to at least rise to double digits. Yesterday was just too cold for me--fortunately, I had things to do so in a way I was happy that birding was untenable since I couldn't bird anyway.  Finally, around 10:30 it was around 20 degrees air temperature and with the wind finally ceasing, I drove up to New Egypt to test the weather. Amazingly comfortable, wearing 4 layers of shirts plus my coat. At the "feed lot" on Inman Road (those who have been there see the joke within the scare quotes--those who haven't are lucky) I was greeted by easily 1500 starlings, but within that ever-moving flock I was able to pick out, at last, a few Brown-headed Cowbirds who were gleaning seeds off the frozen mud. I'd heard about Rusty Blackbirds out there, but I hear about Rusty Blackbirds out there every winter and never see them and today was no exception.

Ring-necked Pheasant, New Egypt

On Brynmore, beneath the tangles which are always a good sparrow spot, I saw a much larger bird which I at first took for a raptor resting on the ground but instead turned out to be a Ring-necked Pheasant. As I've said before, I won't count a pheasant in a WMA, but if one has survived the hunting season and made it all the way over to New Egypt, it's free-roaming and wild enough for me. Besides, Ma, everyone else counts them!

The farmer was busy dumping vegetables for the cattle to eat with a front-loader so I didn't want to be too much in the way. As I was driving back on Inman, I looked up in the dead tree there, where often an eagle is found and saw much smaller raptor. I was looking directly into the sun through the windshield. I got out and found an angle where I could get a look at the bird without destroying my retinas and decided that it was not a Merlin but rather a Sharp-shinned Hawk. When I walked back to my car I saw that a white Helmeted Guineafowl was inspecting my door handle. I didn't count it.

I then decided to to head down toward the bay, thinking I might put together enough short walks to equal one of my regular ones. At Bamber Lake I was surprised to see find some open water and even more surprised to find around 80 Tundra Swans on the ice in the water, swimming with a big flock of geese. There was also a separate draw of water that had a big group of Ring-necked Ducks with some Hooded Mergansers mixed in. Unfortunately, no Merlins or sapsuckers there, the birds I was kinda sorta looking for.

42 Tundra Swans by my count on the ice of Bamber Lake

I scanned the bay from Bay Parkway in Sands Point and was surprised to find a two Black Scoters and a Surf Scoter, birds I usually expect to find in the ocean. The end of Bay Parkway is one of those spots where guys go to read the paper in their car to get away from their wives, guys in trucks park there and do their paperwork or just goof off, and some people just like to drive down to the end of the road to assure themselves that it actually ends, look at the water and turn around. I ignore all these people, usually not looking up at the sounds of their vehicles approaching. Today a woman got out of a big Denali, looked at the water and asked if I'd seen any eagles. I wanted to say, "Sure, I always see eagles swimming in the bay," or "Shouldn't you be driving a pick-up truck?" but a curt no was sufficient to make her go away.

Greater Yellowlegs, Poplar Street Boat Launch

I drove over to the Poplar Street boat launch not expecting much beyond common ducks, so I was very happy to find my FOY Greater Yellowlegs calling and running around on the far shore. I had planned to go over to Eno's Pond to look for them, though with so much water frozen I didn't think my chances were good.

It turns out I was wrong, because the pond and creek were mostly open and in that little spot I had two more yellowlegs, more Mallards, black ducks, hoodies, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes as well as a Belted Kingfisher.

Greater Yellowlegs, Enos Pond

Pied-billed Grebe, Enos Pond

It took a couple of loops around the trails at Enos but I was able to get my four miles of walking in, something I didn't expect when I woke up to minus 3 wind chill. I also managed 42 species for the day, including the backyard list I did while waiting for more temperate conditions.