Sandy Hook 11/3--Bell's Vireo

Bell's Vireo

As Shari pointed out as we were leaving Sandy Hook this afternoon, it felt like today was the start of winter birding. It was cold and breezy this morning at B lot at the start of Scott's & Linda's NJA field trip and the first bird I saw was a flyover White-winged Scoter, a winter duck if there ever was one. Brant & Buffleheads were the next waterfowl we saw. Yup, winter.

The group hit a lot of spots, working the edges of parking lots, looking for sparrows and such and not finding very many. Yellow-rumped Warblers, which are honorary sparrows, however, were abundant. The raptor flight was more accommodating with Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Bald Eagle, Osprey (still), Peregrine Falcon and Merlin all making appearances.

But the bird of the day, most likely the month, and according to Bob Auster, probably the year, was a plain little Bell's Vireo that was found near the lighthouse by another birder who put out the alert. Fortunately, the group was within a few minutes walk of the location when Scott got the message. We all walked over to the Coal Road (a path I didn't even know had a name) and with the help of another birder the whole group got on the bird as it foraged in a cedar tree. I might have been the last one to find it and only because Auster helped by grabbing my skull and manipulating my head like he was positioning a dummy (he was) in a storefront window so I would stop looking too high for the bird. Even better, I somehow managed to get my camera to take a couple of decent shots of the bird, which, as you can see, is not much to look at--a little more interesting than a Warbling Vireo, but not by much. Lucky that we with good birders. Had I, by myself, by chance, come upon this bird, I wouldn't have had a clue as to what it was. It has been seven years since I saw my last Bell's, in Cape May on New Year's Day, and even longer since Shari and I saw a few of them in Arizona. A good look at the beak would have at least told me vireo. After that, I'd be looking up vireos in the field guide and saying "Nah, can't be that."

So despite the relatively slow birding (it was work to get to 50 species), one great bird made the day.

Brant  125

Canada Goose  10    Spermaceti Cove

Wood Duck  8    Flyover

American Black Duck  6    Spermaceti Cove

Surf Scoter  5

White-winged Scoter  1    Flyover B lot

Bufflehead  2    Plum Island

Red-breasted Merganser  5    Spermaceti Cove

Black-bellied Plover  20    Spermaceti Cove

Sanderling  1    Flyby off C  lot

Herring Gull  125

Lesser Black-backed Gull  1    Beach of C lot

Great Black-backed Gull  10

Royal Tern  1    Spermaceti Cove

Red-throated Loon  1    Off C lot

Northern Gannet  8

Double-crested Cormorant  10

Great Blue Heron  1    Spermaceti Cove

Black Vulture  2

Turkey Vulture  20

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  2

Sharp-shinned Hawk  3

Cooper's Hawk  3

Bald Eagle  1

Red-shouldered Hawk  1    J lot

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard

Northern Flicker  2

Merlin  1

Peregrine Falcon  1

Eastern Phoebe  3

Bell's Vireo  1    Very plain vireo, yellow underparts, one strong wing bar. M.obs. 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1

Brown Creeper  1

Carolina Wren  3    Heard

Northern Mockingbird  6

Hermit Thrush  1

American Robin  2

House Finch  4

American Goldfinch  2

Dark-eyed Junco  2

White-crowned Sparrow  1    Plum Island

White-throated Sparrow  5

Savannah Sparrow  1    Proving Grounds

Song Sparrow  2

Palm Warbler  1    Gunnison Lot

Yellow-rumped Warbler  20

Northern Cardinal  1