Manahawkin WMA 3/29--Blue-winged Teal, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron

Tricolored Heron

Today is my birthday, so naturally I awoke to thoughts of death and mortality. Then I saw a message on my phone from Bob D who wanted to meet me down at Manahawkin to chase the Townsend's Solitaire that was there yesterday. It was from 5:30 AM, so I figured he was already there. He was close by; I gave him directions to the parking lot on Hilliard got dressed and ran out of the house, telling Shari I'd open her presents at dinner. Bob, who is my senior by quite a few years, was the perfect anecdote for the birthday mopes. When I grow up, I want to be like Bob and still have that enthusiasm for finding birds.

Breakfast was an energy bar and I skipped coffee altogether and got down there about 7:45. There was no real need to rush because, as I suspected yesterday, that bird was gone, despite the efforts of about a dozen people looking for it in all the appropriate habitat. One birder said he heard it call. Hearing a western rarity call doesn't do it for me and no one else was as lucky as he.

Snowy Egrets

But the day was not a waste at all. Bob & I walked out to the impoundments had got our FOY Snowy Egrets. There were plenty of ducks to look through and a few yellowlegs. We walked back to the area of where the bird was seen yesterday, met the man who heard it and proceeded to search, again with no luck. By then, more people were showing up, most of whom I knew, so I kept toggling between the impoundments and the fields with various combinations of birders.

An alert came through that a Tricolored Heron was in the back impoundment so I hustled out there. A rarity at this time of year. In a week, it'll be listed as common, but get 'em while you can, I say, especially when you start the day thinking the thoughts I had. When the Tricolored Herons return to Ocean County (this is about as far north in NJ as they regularly get) I send out an email to a friend who lives up north so that he and his son can make the excursion down here to put them on the list. In case he's reading...this is his semi-official notification.

Blue-winged Teal hen & drake

Even though I never expected to get the solitaire, I was hoping to add a somewhat difficult county bird to the list which I had seen listed and with the help of another birder's scope I finally was able to add Blue-winged Teal to the year & county list. Not a rarity by any means, but also not a duck you're going to find on every pond and puddle like Mallards.

So despite this being the 3rd time I've missed Townsend's Solitaire in the last two years (twice in the county), I had an excellent bird day with 3 year birds and 31 species for the 5 hours and 1 minute I spent there. It's only about a mile from the parking lot on Hilliard to Stafford Avenue, but if you walk it back and forth 3 or 4 times the hours add up.

31 species

Mute Swan  4

Blue-winged Teal  4    Back impoundment

Mallard  5

American Black Duck  50

Green-winged Teal  30

Hooded Merganser  1    Impoundment between Stafford Av and back impoundment.

Mourning Dove  1

Dunlin  2

Wilson's Snipe  1

Greater Yellowlegs  10

Herring Gull  10

Great Egret  2    Flyovers

Snowy Egret  2    Back Impoundment

Tricolored Heron  1    

Turkey Vulture  2

Osprey  1    On nest across Stafford Avenue

Belted Kingfisher  2

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Northern Flicker  1

Eastern Phoebe  1

Tree Swallow  10

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

American Robin  10

Fox Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  3

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Brown-headed Cowbird  2    "Drip drip" call

Pine Warbler  3    Singing. Two chasing each other

Yellow-rumped Warbler  1    Trail off Stafford Avenue

Snowy Egret and Tricolored Heron in the back impoundment