August Recap--4 Year Birds

American Golden-Plover--BC Fairgrounds
(digiscope)

I spent the majority of my birding time at Whitesbog this month, doing my figure 8 loop around the lower and middle bogs looking at the shorebirds and looking for birds that are rare, either in the county (like Little Blue Heron), or just plain rare (like American Avocet). Those 2, plus Black Tern and White-rumped Sandpiper were the sum of the rarities that showed up in the bogs that I saw. I missed Willet (Western) and I'm kicking myself for it because I was there the day it was in the middle bog. On my way back from Delaware I made a quick side trip to Whitesbog and of the 8 corners of the two bogs, I went to 7 of them. Naturally, the Willet was in a little pool in the one corner I didn't look at. But Whitesbog did produce some very interesting birds for me. A couple of mornings I got there before dawn, hoping for owls. The first morning was a bust, but the 2nd time I went pre-dawn (very pre-dawn) I heard a chilling alarm call of a Great Horned Owl as well as a couple of whip-poor-wills calling. I had never heard whip-poor-will in Burlington County. It was my 199th bird in that county.

Dawn at Whitesbog, Upper Bog

My 200th Burlco bird was a real oddity. The Burlington County Fairgrounds parking lot is the vantage point to look out over the fields of the old Mercer Sod Farm. This year a vast swath has been mowed and some say herbicided, making ideal condition (sans the alleged herbicide) for grasspipers.  This is where my year American Golden-Plover has been hanging out for the last couple of weeks, including today when Shari was able to see it with me. Other birds of note there have been Upland Sandpipers (long-staying, though now long gone), Black-bellied Plovers (which I missed, "only" the Golden-Plover was there when I searched last Sunday), and the real oddity--Sanderling. What a shorebird that you rarely see more than 50 feet from the wrack line along the ocean was doing in the brown grass and dirt of Burlington County, 36 miles from the nearest sandy beach is an utter mystery. And why it stayed it for more than 10 minutes is an even bigger mystery. I also missed that bird last Sunday, but returning on Thursday I was able to locate it foraging in the stubble along with about 150 Killdeers. The very whiteness of the bird stood out against the drab background.

Down in Delaware I got one year bird, the flock of 10 Hudsonian Godwits, which I was pleased and proud to find on my own. The 4th year bird of the month was the least pleasing of all because it was only retrospect that I (along with Mike) realized what we'd seen. At Sandy Hook, on the boardwalk of Spermaceti Cove, Mike and I saw a rather unprepossessing sparrow, with no stripes and not much color. I thought maybe Chipping Sparrow, he thought maybe Field. It was hard to get a view of the whole bird down in the reeds and even harder when it flew into a tree and then impossible when it got chased by a yellowthroat. We just let it go. A few hours later we found that we were right as to genus (Spizella) but wrong in our guesses, because, looking at the rare bird reports we found that one of the regular birders of the Hook had seen a Clay-colored Sparrow in the same spot as our mystery bird. So, with a mutual slap of the foreheads, we listed the bird, but it sure didn't make me feel great about my i.d. skills.

All 4 of the birds added to the year list were rarities this month, which isn't uncommon in a slow summer month when rarities add just about all the spice to the menu. Migration has started and already I'm hearing how disappointing it is--just not as many birds flying through as the good old days. This yearly kvetch both amuses and amazes me since I assume that those making the complaints read the same articles about the population crashes of so many species (this species down 50%, this species down 80% [really]) due to habitat loss, climate change, not to mention the billions (!) of birds supposedly killed by feral cats, yet they never seem to make the connection as to why there aren't as many birds in the trees or in the fields at their favorite hot spot as there use to be. Here's my advice to new birders: See 'em while you can.

For the month I garned 147 species.
Counties Birded
Delaware: Kent
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                First Sighting

Snow Goose   Brig

Canada Goose   Whitesbog

Mute Swan   Brig

Wood Duck   Whitesbog

Blue-winged Teal   Brig

Northern Shoveler   Brig

Mallard   Whitesbog

American Black Duck   Brig

Green-winged Teal   Brig

Black Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Ruddy Duck   Brig

Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd

Pied-billed Grebe   Whitesbog

Rock Pigeon   BC Fairgrounds

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog

Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Whip-poor-will   Whitesbog

Chimney Swift   Whitesbog

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd

Clapper Rail   Brig

American Avocet   Whitesbog

American Oystercatcher   Brig

Black-bellied Plover   Brig

American Golden-Plover   BC Fairgrounds

Semipalmated Plover   Whitesbog

Killdeer   Whitesbog

Upland Sandpiper   BC Fairgrounds

Whimbrel   Brig

Hudsonian Godwit   Bombay Hook

Marbled Godwit   Brig

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Stilt Sandpiper   Bombay Hook

Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Dunlin   Brig

Least Sandpiper   Whitesbog

White-rumped Sandpiper   Brig

Pectoral Sandpiper   Brig

Semipalmated Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Western Sandpiper   Brig

Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig

Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig

Wilson's Snipe   Whitesbog

Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Solitary Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Greater Yellowlegs   Whitesbog

Willet   Brig

Lesser Yellowlegs   Whitesbog

Laughing Gull   Brig

Ring-billed Gull   Brig

Herring Gull   Brig

Great Black-backed Gull   Brig

Least Tern   Brig

Gull-billed Tern   Brig

Caspian Tern   Brig

Black Tern   Whitesbog

Common Tern   Brig

Forster's Tern   Brig

Royal Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Black Skimmer   Brig

Double-crested Cormorant   Brig

Brown Pelican   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Great Blue Heron   Whitesbog

Great Egret   Whitesbog

Snowy Egret   Brig

Little Blue Heron   Brig

Tricolored Heron   Great Bay Blvd

Green Heron   Whitesbog

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

White Ibis   Brig

Glossy Ibis   Brig

Black Vulture   Brig

Turkey Vulture   Crestwood Village

Osprey   Brig

Northern Harrier   Bombay Hook

Cooper's Hawk   Brig

Bald Eagle   GSP MM 52

Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA

Great Horned Owl   Whitesbog

Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog

Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Northern Flicker   Whitesbog

American Kestrel   Whitesbog

Peregrine Falcon   Brig

Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog

Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog

Great Crested Flycatcher   Whitesbog

Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog

White-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog

Red-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog

Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd

American Crow   Whitesbog

Fish Crow   Crestwood Village

Common Raven   Colliers Mills WMA

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd

Horned Lark   Reed Sod Farm 526 Spur

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Brig

Purple Martin   Whitesbog

Tree Swallow   Whitesbog

Bank Swallow   Whitesbog

Barn Swallow   Whitesbog

White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog

House Wren   35 Sunset Rd

Marsh Wren   Brig

Carolina Wren   Whitesbog

European Starling   Brig

Gray Catbird   Whitesbog

Brown Thrasher   Whitesbog

Northern Mockingbird   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530

Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog

American Robin   Whitesbog

Cedar Waxwing   Great Bay Blvd

House Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

House Finch   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

Chipping Sparrow   Whitesbog

Clay-colored Sparrow   Sandy Hook

Field Sparrow   Bombay Hook

Seaside Sparrow   Brig

Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd

Savannah Sparrow   Reed Sod Farm 526 Spur

Song Sparrow   Whitesbog

Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog

Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog

Bobolink   BC Fairgrounds

Eastern Meadowlark   BC Fairgrounds

Orchard Oriole   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog

Brown-headed Cowbird   Brig

Common Grackle   35 Sunset Rd

Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd

Ovenbird   Bunker Hill Bogs

Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog

Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog

American Redstart   Bunker Hill Bogs

Yellow Warbler   Brig

Pine Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA

Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Blue Grosbeak   Brig Indigo Bunting   Union Transportation Trail

Great Egrets in Cranberry Run, Whitesbog