Whitesbog 5/6--Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper (far left) with Least Sandpiper and female Red-winged Blackbird

Yesterday's washout (1 1/4" rain) was actually a blessing, giving me some time to revive. I was out early this morning, back at Cedar Bonnet Island, where, apparently, all the warblers but yellowthroats had left and nothing new had come in. However, I did find, to my delight, a single White-crowned Sparrow there, in the restoration area. So I finally have that on the county list. I thought I was going to have to scrounge for it late in the year. 

I then went over to Manahawkin WMA. I was hoping the impoundments would have shorebirds, but that was a foolish notion-- 1 1/4" of rain remember? There were a good number of warblers there and other land birds but nothing was new. I went up to Barnegat, intending only to look at the impoundment on Bayshore, but when I saw a huge flock of ibises in Meadowedge Park, I turned in there. Had to scan for the rarity.

The other day at Cedar Bonnet I'd been talking to another birder who said he was looking through a big flock of ibises at Meadowedge without finding the White-faced Ibis, and was just about to go when more flew in. He looked through the flock again, was ready to go, and more flew in. I had the same experience today, with at 3 landings after the initial flock of 54 had been scanned. All told I had 116 Glossy Ibises and no White-faced Ibis. This is one of the few times I've had a big flock of ibises close and in good light, so I'm fairly confident I didn't miss the oddball. 

I don't know why I thought the impoundment on Bayshore would be any different from Manahawkin--wishful thinking, because it was flooded and there were no shorebirds to be found. I then saw a nice report from Double Trouble, the only trouble being that the report was from early in the morning and it was midday already. Still, it was on my way to my last planned stop, so I detoured into there and again, found only birds I'd expect to find. I may give it a more thorough look tomorrow morning. 

Finally, I made my way over to Whitesbog. The bogs on the Burlco side had been drawn down for quite a while as the farmer was in the midst of a demonstration to the DEP and I'd been told that shorebirds had already found their way into them. Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpiper, both yellowlegs, plus a bird I still need for the year, Semipalmated Plover, were all in the bogs as of Saturday. Of course, Sunday's rain started to fill up the bogs so there wasn't as much mud as I'd been hoping for and only 1 Killdeer and 2 Greater Yellowlegs were in the middle one. 

I had one more idea. I hoisted the scope on my shoulder and walked over to the Ocean County side. Last year, when the bogs on the Burlco side were not drawn down, due to the breach at the Upper Reservoir, there was one bog at the dogleg that had been sporadically productive and I walked about a half mile up to it. At first I was only finding blackbirds grazing on the mud but at last I found my target bird--a Solitary Sandpiper picking at the mud at the back of the bog. I was very proud of myself--local knowledge had led me to the one bird I was looking for. Then 3 Least Sandpipers came out of the grass and started to feed too. It is very out of the way, but this is a good spot to keep an eye on. 

Yesterday, during the downpour, I glanced out the window and saw a bird with a very black back and white spots on the sunflower chip feeder and knew it wasn't a towhee--it was, finally, our yard's first Rose-breasted Grosbeak of the year. Today, after I got home, I looked at the thistle feeder and saw a bird that was not a goldfinch. Two actually. Pine Siskins are still hanging around and are officially rare according to eBird. They also seem to like the chipped sunflowers. Sure, why not? Go for the expensive stuff!

Pine Siskins going for the good stuff