Shelter Cove 1/12--American Tree Sparrow

I started this very cold day off at Island Beach State Park, taking a brisk 3 mile round trip walk from the A23 lot down to the inlet. I was hoping for some new birds--gulls perhaps or even Snow Buntings. Nope. Not much, aside from ticking my county White-winged Scoter, which was good since I can remember a year when I couldn't find one until almost the very end of December and then only because Steve took pity on me and drove me to the spot on the beach where a small flock was hanging out.

Just before I was crossing over the dune I met a photographer coming off the beach who knew me though I couldn't place him at first. Turns out we'd met a couple of years ago at the Trenton Sewer Facility. He was there looking for Snowy Owls, of course. I was relieved when he told me he hadn't seen any because I'd be able to concentrate on other, more interesting birds. I hadn't walked more than a half mile, though, when I came upon a gaggle of photographers and saw the white lump high up on a dune. How that guy missed not one, but two owls, I don't know. The dunes are stringed off and I could tell the photographers were doing all they could to restrain themselves from ducking under so that they could give a proctological exam to the owls with their long lenses. Later, on my way back, I was talking to a fisherman who told me that when he'd arrived on the beach much earlier one of the owls was much closer but some photographers had spooked it back to where it was now. By that time the 2nd, closer, owl I'd seen on my way south was gone. Good, let them take lousy pictures of a owl sitting behind dune grass.

I'd planned to take a run over to Shelter Cove after I was done a IBSP. It is a good place for American Tree Sparrows and Wilson's Snipes, though I thought it a little too early for snipes since the marshy area would be frozen. I was wrong since a report came in of both birds when I was halfway to the inlet. I like the description the observer used for the location of both species: tree island, which is apt since off the side of the soggy soccer fields, surrounded by marsh grass, there is a little grove of trees where the birds concentrate themselves, especially in the cold weather.

When I got there I could see that dog walkers had chased off any geese or gulls that might be worth looking through, so I immediately headed to the tree island. I pished and almost instantly a Tree Sparrow made an appearance. However, despite circling the island three times and walking through the frozen marsh (something I'd never do in warmer, tick-potential weather), I found no snipes. On my 3rd circuit of the the island a Tree Sparrow teed up nicely and I took a number of photos before it flew off. I was just about to turn around and go when I noticed that another Tree Sparrow had replaced it, on almost the same twig, so I took photos of that bird too. Then I left, having scored my one cool bird for the day.