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.)