Great Bay Blvd 5/7--Clapper Rail, Least Sandpiper, Tricolored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Saltmarsh Sparrow

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

I'm not going to find any shorebirds or herons walking around in the woods and since I felt the need to see some, I drove down early this morning to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton. Since I'm way behind this year, it was easy to add both year and county birds and I saw quite a number of favorites, which is what is really important.

Tricolored Heron

Gull-billed Terns at the bulwark, where they're supposed to be. A Tricolored Heron in the marsh; usually my first Tricolor is a Cattus Island but this year everything is different. At the the wind monitoring station before the 2nd wooden bridge, another birder asked me if I needed Yellow-crowned Night-heron, always a good bird to find. Indeed I did and a walk down a narrow path and a peek through the reeds brought me to the bird. The last couple of years Shari & I have made the trip to the Ocean City Visitor's Center rookery to find the yellow-crowns on their nest, but not this year.

I heard a few Clapper Rails and I heard a lot of Seaside Sparrows, but it wasn't until I got to the inlet that I actually saw one of the Seasides. I was looking for Red Knots and didn't come up with any--the tide was very high, leaving little shore for them to pick at--but I made a second attempt about an hour later after walking the road and I was glad I did because I found, among the other sparrows, my first Saltmarsh Sparrow of the year. There was also a beautiful, breeding plumage Common Loon.

Common Loon

But my favorite bird today was my favorite bird, the first Cedar Waxwing I've seen since January. It was pointed out to me by a friend I had been talking to. She was in her car and I was walking back to mine. She drove off, stopped, pointed out her window, and there above her was the waxwing.

Cedar Waxwing

There was a big mixed flock of Black-bellied Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Dunlins and in among them, a solitary Ruddy Turnstone. And both birders that I spoke to today mentioned the turnstone. It stood out so prominently in the distant flock that we each braked the moment we saw it. 

I suppose if I had more patience I might have picked something else out of those big flocks but I was satisfied with what I had. I left when the road started getting too busy. 

I had 46 species driving up and down the boulevard, 48 if you count the swans and Common Grackle that I listed separately at Holly Lake. 

Brant  110

Canada Goose  4    two pairs

Mourning Dove  1

Clapper Rail  5    Heard

American Oystercatcher  1    Inlet

Black-bellied Plover  300

Ruddy Turnstone  1    

Dunlin  200

Least Sandpiper  4

Short-billed Dowitcher  25

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  5

Willet  10

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Laughing Gull  2

Herring Gull  100

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Gull-billed Tern  4

Forster's Tern  20

Common Loon  1

Double-crested Cormorant  33

Great Egret  25

Snowy Egret  5

Tricolored Heron  1

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1

Turkey Vulture  2

Osprey  3

Bald Eagle  2    Nest looks like it is falling apart due to recent heavy weather

Belted Kingfisher  2

Fish Crow  2

Tree Swallow  5

Barn Swallow  50

Gray Catbird  5

Northern Mockingbird  1

American Robin  1

Cedar Waxwing  1

Seaside Sparrow  10

Saltmarsh Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  10

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Boat-tailed Grackle  40

Common Yellowthroat  10

Yellow Warbler  5

Yellow-rumped Warbler  1

Prairie Warbler  1    South of second wooden bridge

Northern Cardinal  2