Wesley Lake 5/30--Cliff Swallow

I hadn't added a new bird to the list for over a week; a combination of birds moving on, bad luck, bad moods, and other things to do. So this morning I decided to drive up to Wesley Lake between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove because Cliff Swallows have returned to the bridge that crosses the lake. It was yet another cold, dreary morning in this seemingly endless series of them, and I thought perhaps the swallows wouldn't be out since the insects might not be flying.

From the car it didn't look promising, but as soon as I got on the bridge I saw swallows and while it took a little while to make the i.d. (especially since there was a Barn Swallow mixed in to the group), I finally saw the "headlight" on the forehead of the birds and checked it off the list. No real skill involved, no hunting around a big area, just go, look, tick.

It is interesting how site loyal birds can be. Not only do they return to the same area, but of the two bridges there they are at the same one as previous and, if memory serves, they're using the same arch as last year to build their nests. And because there are so many possible sites for them to use, I always wonder what makes this site the one or is there nothing particularly special about it and the choice is just random. As Myron Cohen use to say: Everybody's gotta be someplace.

I drove down to the Shark River Inlet to look at the Least Tern colony. Amazing how quickly it builds up. Last week, Shari & I stopped by and there were maybe 20 terns and none of them looked like they were nesting. Today there were at least 100 terns in the stringed off area, half of them on nests and the other half bringing food to the mate, while on the beach itself there was a long line of terns roosting. I also saw about 30 Black Skimmers, though only two looked like they had made a nest, along with one American Oystercatcher sitting on its nest. A Piping Plover rounded out the list of fun birds you'd expect to see there.

Black Skimmers, Shark River Inlet

Afterward, I drove inland to Assunpink, where I took my second unsuccessful walk in 3 days in the aviation beacon field looking for chats. I know they're there. But it always takes me multiple trips to find them.