Brig 1/17--Snow Goose, Northern Pintail, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Red-shouldered Hawk

Black-crowned Night-Heron, imm

I hadn't been to Brig in almost two months. I went down this morning, even though I knew most of the water would be frozen because suddenly I was in the mood for the refuge. The government shut down hasn't affected the refuge much yet, although it is going to take a while for them to get the road back in shape if it does ever end. There were no employees to be seen, but I noticed the flag was flying. I wonder who's in charge of that?

I knew, if nothing else I would get Snow Geese for the year. They have been scarce in the areas I've been birding so far, but at Brig there was a flock of 5000 according to my estimate. They were all in the impoundment at first, a distant white mass, then abruptly they all took flight and came right toward me. It was an awesome sound combining their 10,000 wings beating with their high-pitched honking as they flew above me over the drive and then semi-circling into the bay. I was relieved that none felt the need to jettison excess baggage.

Snow Geese with Atlantic City in the background

One of the reasons I like to do Brig on my own is that it gives me a chance to get my steps in instead of being confined to a car for an 8 mile drive. Today I parked the car at the head of the road to the Gull Pond and walked along the ditch that parallels it, hoping for the bittern that is seen there off and on. No luck there, but along with the Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets, I found 2 immature Black-crowned Night-Herons, a good winter bird and especially odd to see young birds. I don't know a lot about the aging of Night-Herons, but I'd speculate they were late hatches to still have their immature plumage this late in the winter.

Northern Pintail

I'd seen all the ducks you can expect in winter in New Jersey (you can't expect King Eider or Barrow's Goldeneye) except Northern Pintail until I found a hen with a mixed flock, then a group of ten and finally the bird on the right, a nice looking drake.

Because the water from frozen, almost all the ducks I saw were on the outside of the drive where the tides move the water around. Continuing a theme, there were no grebes to be found. The only shorebirds were Dunlins, first a couple of flybys, then a small flock off the west dike.

At the Gull Pond there seemed to be much excitement among the photographers about a pair of Bald Eagles and I have to say I got a little testy when one of them told me, as I was searching for the bittern, that I was "missing it" down by the tower. As she went on about their activities I felt compelled to cut her short, telling her I wasn't that interested in eagles--she seemed surprised, as if to say "What kind of birder is this guy?" but the raptor I really wanted was one that I don't see every other day--Red-shouldered Hawk. In the past, there was a tree at the end of the Gull Pond road where one used to perch but not lately. However, speaking to another photographer after I'd made my trip around and was on the Gull Pond road again, I found out that a hawk with a red breast (she didn't know what it was) was at the exit ponds (where I'd already been). "That's the bird I'm looking for," I told her. She showed me a picture on her camera and indeed it looked good for Red-shouldered. On my way out, I stopped on the road and looked into the ponds again. I heard a hawk screeching, but I couldn't find it. So I parked the car and walked back to the ponds and found a Red-shoulder up in a tree, obscured by branches. I was still hearing the calls, but they didn't seem to be coming from that bird. Then I looked up and saw the source, flying above the pond. It was the one year bird I wasn't able to photograph today.

I walked the upland portion a fair distance, but not much was going on--the best spot was at the exit ponds where there were robins, bluebirds, and a kingfisher that I pointed out to another photographer who had asked me if those two distant birds he couldn't get a picture of were eagles. They were.

For my first Brig trip of the year I had 33 species.
Snow Goose 5000
Brant 30
Canada Goose 370
Northern Shoveler 22
Gadwall 6
Mallard 60
American Black Duck 145
Northern Pintail 12
Ring-necked Duck 5
Bufflehead 85
Hooded Merganser 18
Ruddy Duck 11
Dunlin 21
Herring Gull 35
Great Blue Heron 7
Great Egret 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 4
Bald Eagle 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
American Crow 5
Carolina Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 2 Heard
Eastern Bluebird 10
American Robin 15
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 15
Red-winged Blackbird 16