March Summary--110 Species

Birds around the house:
  American Goldfinch, molting.

It wasn't a very good month. Obviously. It has taken a while for the enormity (and I'm using that word correctly, which it rarely is) of the situation to sink in. I should have known when Shari's trip to Louisiana was cancelled (and how glad we are that it was) that things weren't going back to normal in a week or two. Now, the words of an old James Taylor song, "It looks like it goes on like this forever."

Female Northern Cardinal

But, you can't sit in the house and read lies all your waking hours. I try to go out every day, look for a place where I won't run into anyone, get my 4 miles in so that I can maintain some semblance of health and sanity, and while I'm at it, to make the exercise interesting, I look for birds.

Migration will be starting soon, but a lot of the places I would normally go, say Reed's Road on Island Beach SP, or Double Trouble, I'm afraid to visit because other birders will have the same idea. So, I'll be playing a game of "What does not belong," hoping that my travels in the more obscure parts of Whitesbog, Reeves Bogs and Colliers Mills, along with a few Pine Barrens roads I know about will yield species that I wouldn't just find in my backyard. And that means warblers and vireos. Shorebirds are going to be almost impossible to find with the beaches, appropriately, closed.

This month, 6 of the 8 new species were found in Ocean County, 3 in the Manahawkin WMA, 2 at surprisingly birdy Shelter Cove, and one, controversial one, on Island Beach. Shari and I made a trip to Brig before all hell broke loose and added Osprey there. Yesterday, at Reeves Bogs (which I do not recommend if you aren't familiar with the place already), I heard a Virginia Rail which made me smile with accomplishment, since I knew exactly where to listen.

There is a very old George Booth cartoon that was published in The New Yorker probably 40 years ago. A man is sitting in the bathtub in the middle of the kitchen, wearing a derby and smoking a cigar. Around him are a dozen yowling cats and dogs scratching themselves. His wife is ironing next to the bathtub, the iron is plugged into the light fixture. The walls are cracked and the lath behind the plaster is showing. It is a scene of utter disorder. The caption is:

Things around here are going to get a lot worse before they get any better.

For the record, here's what I saw in March

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean

Species             First Sighting

Snow Goose   Marshall's Pond

Brant   Island Beach SP

Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA

Mute Swan   Island Beach SP

Tundra Swan   Whitesbog

Wood Duck   Colliers Mills WMA

Blue-winged Teal   Manahawkin WMA

Northern Shoveler   Brig

Gadwall   Forsythe-Barnegat

American Wigeon   Forsythe-Barnegat

Mallard   Colliers Mills WMA

American Black Duck   Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Pintail   Manahawkin WMA

Green-winged Teal   Forsythe-Barnegat

Canvasback   Brig

Ring-necked Duck   Colliers Mills WMA

Greater Scaup   Lake of the Lilies

Lesser Scaup   Lake of the Lilies

Common Eider   Island Beach SP

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Black Scoter   Island Beach SP

Long-tailed Duck   Manasquan Inlet

Bufflehead   Colliers Mills WMA

Hooded Merganser   Colliers Mills WMA

Common Merganser   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-breasted Merganser   Ocean Gate

Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies

Wild Turkey   New Egypt

Pied-billed Grebe   Little Silver Lake

Horned Grebe   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Rock Pigeon   New Egypt

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

Virginia Rail   Reeves Bogs

American Coot   Lake of the Lilies

American Oystercatcher   Point Pleasant Beach

Killdeer   Seaside Marina

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Purple Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Wilson's Snipe   Shelter Cove Park

Greater Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd

Thick-billed Murre   Island Beach SP

Laughing Gull   Manasquan Inlet

Ring-billed Gull   Shelter Cove Park

Herring Gull   Ocean Gate

Great Black-backed Gull   Ocean Gate

Red-throated Loon   Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon   Island Beach SP

Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP

Great Cormorant   Island Beach SP

Double-crested Cormorant   Lake of the Lilies

Great Blue Heron   Island Beach SP

Great Egret   Great Bay Blvd

Snowy Egret   Manahawkin WMA

Little Blue Heron   Manahawkin WMA

Glossy Ibis   Shelter Cove Park

Black Vulture   New Egypt

Turkey Vulture   Colliers Mills WMA

Osprey   Brig

Northern Harrier   Manahawkin WMA

Cooper's Hawk   Meadow View Ln

Bald Eagle   Island Beach SP

Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog

Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA

Belted Kingfisher   Collinstown Road

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Metedeconk Preserve

Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve

Northern Flicker   Whitesbog

American Kestrel   New Egypt

Peregrine Falcon   Island Beach SP

Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog

Blue Jay   Colliers Mills WMA

American Crow   Island Beach SP

Fish Crow   New Egypt

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse   Colliers Mills WMA

Tree Swallow   Manahawkin WMA

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog

White-breasted Nuthatch   Colliers Mills WMA

Brown Creeper   Colliers Mills WMA

Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd

European Starling   Colliers Mills WMA

Gray Catbird   Island Beach SP

Northern Mockingbird   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve

Eastern Bluebird   Colliers Mills WMA

Hermit Thrush   Metedeconk Preserve

American Robin   Colliers Mills WMA

House Sparrow   Ocean Gate

House Finch   New Egypt

American Goldfinch   Colliers Mills WMA

Chipping Sparrow   Whiting WMA

Field Sparrow   Manasquan River WMA

Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd

White-crowned Sparrow   New Egypt

White-throated Sparrow   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve

Savannah Sparrow   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve

Song Sparrow   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve

Swamp Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park

Eastern Towhee   Collinstown Road

Eastern Meadowlark   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve

Red-winged Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird   Colliers Mills WMA

Common Grackle   Island Beach SP

Boat-tailed Grackle   Manasquan Inlet

Pine Warbler   Whitesbog

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Island Beach SP

Northern Cardinal   Colliers Mills WMA

Eye of Mourning Dove