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.