Great Bay Blvd 5/18--Semipalmated Plover, Least Tern

Semipalmated Plover

Another unpleasant day weather-wise for birding as Tropical Something Arthur pushed clouds and winds up our way. Had I been at Barnegat Light, I would have had the opportunity to miss seeing a Sooty Shearwater that was blown close to shore by the storm. As it was, I was down at Tuckerton scoping shorebirds in a stiff breeze.

There were two I was interested in seeing and I found them both. Semipalmated Plover had gone too far into the year without being listed. They weren't hard to find today as they seemed to be part of every shorebird flock I saw.

While Shari & I had seen Red Knot last month at Brig, it was single bird, at distance.

I think the best place to see Red Knots, north of Cape May county, is the inlet at Tuckerton. But I knew it was getting late in the season and I'd already missed them once earlier this month. Today they were there in numbers. As soon as I walked out onto the beach I saw what I thought was about 15 birds. Getting a little closer, and eliminating the Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers, and Semipalmated Sandpipers feeding with them, there were a good 50 birds feeding on the mud flat.

Red Knots

With that, I could have turned around and gone someplace less windy--like home, but instead, I was greedy and moved east where there were even more shorebirds and most of them were Red Knots. They seemed very fat to me, as they should since they are only about halfway through their journey to their breeding grounds in the Arctic from their wintering grounds in Argentina.

Plump

My theme this year has become to find what does not belong, so I was happiest when I got back in the car to drive north and found a late White-crowned Sparrow. Its beak is very dark; it should be orange or pink, but I don't know what they're supposed to look like outside of winter, when we see them in NJ.

White-crowned Sparrow

The other year bird, which I more or less expected to see, was a Least Tern, flying too fast for any shot at a shot. I did take an unusual amount of photographs for me. The birds were surprisingly cooperative today.

Black-bellied Plover

Dunlin

Ruddy Turnstone

Snowy Egret (at Holly Lake)

Because of the wind, I didn't take my usual walk from the inlet to the first wooden bridge and back. So warblers and other land birds probably got overlooked, although they likely were hunkered down in the reeds.

42 species

Canada Goose  1    Bulwark

Mute Swan  2

Mourning Dove  1

Clapper Rail  5    Heard

American Oystercatcher  1

Black-bellied Plover  20

Semipalmated Plover  25

Ruddy Turnstone  20

Red Knot  100

Dunlin  75

Least Sandpiper  4

Semipalmated Sandpiper  40

Short-billed Dowitcher  5

Willet  3

Laughing Gull  4

Herring Gull  30

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Least Tern  1

Gull-billed Tern  1

Forster's Tern  2

Double-crested Cormorant  3

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  50

Snowy Egret  20

Black-crowned Night-Heron  2    North of 2nd wooden bridge in roost

Osprey  2

Bald Eagle  1

Fish Crow  3

Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  15

European Starling  2

Gray Catbird  9

Northern Mockingbird  2

American Robin  1

White-crowned Sparrow  1    End of the road. 

Seaside Sparrow  5

Saltmarsh Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  8

Red-winged Blackbird  25

Boat-tailed Grackle  30

Yellow Warbler  1

Northern Cardinal  2