Brig 5/26--Common Tern, Black Skimmer, Acadian Flycatcher

Black Skimmer

Shari & I went to Brig today. It had been a month since our last visit which was on a sunny, Saturday. Today it was foggy, a weekday, and much less crowded. Two of the advantages of a light fog: no glare--the gray light was perfect for viewing species--and no wind.

I had one bird in mind, one of our favorites in the big-nosed bird category and that of course is the Black Skimmer. A dozen were right where they usually roost, a small sand spit off the south dike, but they were all facing away, so my pictures were unsatisfactory. At the dog leg there was a large group, but too far away for photography. At around the last culvert on the north dike we saw two skimmers skimming and they cooperatively landed just off the road and posed. If you click the photo above to enlarge, you can really see the undershot mandible with which the skimmer skims.

Traill's Flycatcher

Also in its reliable spot today, at the northeast corner, was a Common Tern. If I go to Brig to many times in a month it gets tedious because you know, almost yard by yard, what birds are going to be where, but when you want a year bird, this knowledge comes in handy.

At the dogleg there was what I had to list as a Traill's Flycatcher, the name that use to encompass both the Willow Flycatcher and the Alder Flycatcher. "Best told apart by voice" as Sibley says and this bird was silent. I didn't fret too much over its identity since yesterday I managed an Alder Flycatcher at Manahawkin and last week we actually had a Willow Flycatcher in our backyard for the first time.

I did get a new flycatcher today at the Overlook (formerly known as the Experimental Pool). I saw one flying low in the brush but wouldn't venture a guess until a little later I heard an explosive "Pizza!" a couple of times and that's the tell-tale "song" of the Acadian Flycatcher.

Finally, probably the most unusual bird we saw today was a hen Bufflehead floating in the channel off the north dike. "Infrequent" according to eBird, but not rare--yet.

60 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  100

Mute Swan  6

Wood Duck  1

Mallard  3

Bufflehead  1

Clapper Rail  2    Heard

Black-bellied Plover  2

Semipalmated Plover  15

Ruddy Turnstone  20

Dunlin  500

Least Sandpiper  3

White-rumped Sandpiper  4

Semipalmated Sandpiper  1000

Short-billed Dowitcher  15

Greater Yellowlegs  1

Willet  50

Laughing Gull  40

Herring Gull  25

Great Black-backed Gull  8

Gull-billed Tern  25

Caspian Tern  2    At dogleg

Common Tern  1    at NE corner, historical spot

Forster's Tern  20

Black Skimmer  50

Double-crested Cormorant  25

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  15

Snowy Egret  2

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1    Gull Pond

Glossy Ibis  40

Turkey Vulture  2

Osprey  15

Bald Eagle  1

Acadian Flycatcher  1    Pizza at overlook

Willow Flycatcher  1

Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher)  1    At dogleg. Bird didn't sing.

Eastern Kingbird  1    At entrance to Jen's Trail

White-eyed Vireo  2    Heard

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  5

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1

Purple Martin  40

Tree Swallow  5

Barn Swallow  1

Marsh Wren  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

European Starling  3

Gray Catbird  8

American Robin  1    entrance

House Finch  2

American Goldfinch  1    Heard

Field Sparrow  2    Heard

Seaside Sparrow  15

Song Sparrow  3

Eastern Towhee  2    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  100

Common Yellowthroat  20

Pine Warbler  1    Heard

Northern Cardinal  1    Heard, exit of Jen's Trail

Gull-billed Tern with Semipalmated Sandpipers