October Review--Winter Finch Edition

Pine Siskin, Assunpink

The month started in Cape May and ended in Assunpink. So I ranged farther afield this month than any since the pandemic began. And it showed in my results, 11 year birds and 170 species for the month. 

The big bird news was the incredible irruption of winter finches in New Jersey. Their heralds, the Red-breasted Nuthatches, were everywhere in September. They're still pretty easy to find, but their numbers are nothing like the Pine Siskins that have swarmed feeders all over New Jersey. And while Purple Finches have had a happy scattering, including a couple of females at our feeders, the really big surprise was the return in fairly impressive numbers of Evening Grosbeaks. While we still haven't had any at our feeders, they are popping up everywhere and not just only as flyovers. On Tuesday, I returned to Wells Mills Park with Shari so she could see the Evening Grosbeak that spent a few days at their feeder and we weren't disappointed. At least not in the bird. But by the third day, I guess all the hard core Ocean County birders had made the trip to see the bird and most of the viewers there were on Tuesday were photographers with their long lenses and obsession with the light. And by the way, I got some great shots while I was there.

Evening Grosbeak, Wells Mills Park

Most of the other interesting birds I saw this month have already been documented below. I wound up at Assunpink today because my original destination, Colliers Mills, was jam-packed with hunters. There must have been 100 at the little parking area by the lake. I expect hunters this time of year, but not an army. I found out later, from a hunter at Assunpink, that today started youth hunting for pheasants. While it also applied to Assunpink, and there were supposedly almost as many hunters there as at Colliers Mills, I find that at Assunpink, I can co-exist nicely with the hunters, who don't seem to hunt where I bird, while at Colliers Mills, I feel like my blaze orange is just another target. 

At Assunpink today, waterfowl was back on the lake: Geese, swans, Mallards, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads, and wigeons, along with coots and Pied-billed Grebes. It was also cold, below freezing when I started; the first time I've worn gloves this season. Winter birding already here. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Monmouth, Ocean

Species   First Sighting
Brant   Holgate
Cackling Goose   Shelter Cove Park
Canada Goose   South Cape May Meadows
Mute Swan   Cape May Hawkwatch
Wood Duck   Island Beach SP
Blue-winged Teal   South Cape May Meadows
Northern Shoveler   South Cape May Meadows
American Wigeon   Assunpink WMA
Mallard   Cape May Hawkwatch
American Black Duck   Island Beach SP
Northern Pintail   Brig
Green-winged Teal   Whitesbog
Ring-necked Duck   Assunpink WMA
White-winged Scoter   Island Beach SP
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Bufflehead   Whitesbog
Hooded Merganser   Whitesbog
Ruddy Duck   Assunpink WMA
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe   South Cape May Meadows
Rock Pigeon   Sandpiper Inn
Mourning Dove   CMBO Northwood Center
Chimney Swift   Whitesbog
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Common Gallinule   Cape May Hawkwatch
American Coot   Assunpink WMA
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Island Beach SP
American Golden-Plover   Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Plover   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Killdeer   BC Fairgrounds
Hudsonian Godwit   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Ruddy Turnstone   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Dunlin   Brig
Least Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Pectoral Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Short-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Long-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Greater Yellowlegs   The Wetlands Institute
Lesser Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Laughing Gull   Higbee Beach WMA
Ring-billed Gull   Holgate
Herring Gull   Higbee Beach WMA
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull   Higbee Beach WMA
Caspian Tern   Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern   Brig
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer   Sandpiper Inn
Red-throated Loon   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Higbee Beach WMA
Brown Pelican   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Great Blue Heron   Cape May Hawkwatch
Great Egret   Garden State Parkway N,
Snowy Egret   Island Beach SP
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Black-crowned Night-Heron   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Black Vulture   Cape May Hawkwatch
Turkey Vulture   Higbee Beach WMA
Osprey   Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Harrier   Cape May Hawkwatch
Sharp-shinned Hawk   South Cape May Meadows
Cooper's Hawk   Cape May Hawkwatch
Bald Eagle   Higbee Beach WMA
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Broad-winged Hawk   Cape May Hawkwatch
Red-tailed Hawk   BC Fairgrounds
Great Horned Owl   BC Fairgrounds
Belted Kingfisher   Island Beach SP
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Island Beach SP
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Higbee Beach WMA
Downy Woodpecker   Island Beach SP
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Northern Flicker   Beach Plum Farm
American Kestrel   BC Fairgrounds
Merlin   South Cape May Meadows
Peregrine Falcon   Cape May Hawkwatch
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Island Beach SP
Least Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Higbee Beach WMA
Blue-headed Vireo   Island Beach SP
Red-eyed Vireo   Higbee Beach WMA
Blue Jay   Higbee Beach WMA
American Crow   Sandpiper Inn
Fish Crow   Higbee Beach WMA
Common Raven   Island Beach SP
Carolina Chickadee   Higbee Beach WMA
Tufted Titmouse   Higbee Beach WMA
Tree Swallow   Sandpiper Inn
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Island Beach SP
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Island Beach SP
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Higbee Beach WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   Beach Plum Farm
Brown Creeper   Beach Plum Farm
House Wren   Higbee Beach WMA
Winter Wren   Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren   Higbee Beach WMA
European Starling   Higbee Beach WMA
Gray Catbird   Higbee Beach WMA
Brown Thrasher   Island Beach SP
Northern Mockingbird   Cape May Point SP
Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog
Veery   Island Beach SP
Hermit Thrush   Island Beach SP
Wood Thrush   Beach Plum Farm
American Robin   Island Beach SP
Cedar Waxwing   Higbee Beach WMA
House Sparrow   Beach Plum Farm
American Pipit   BC Fairgrounds
Evening Grosbeak   Wells Mills Park
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
Purple Finch   BC Fairgrounds
Pine Siskin   Island Beach SP
American Goldfinch   Beach Plum Farm
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Clay-colored Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Field Sparrow   Reeves Bogs
Lark Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Dark-eyed Junco   Island Beach SP
White-crowned Sparrow   Island Beach SP
White-throated Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Vesper Sparrow   Brig
Seaside Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Nelson's Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd WMA
Savannah Sparrow   Cedar Bonnet Island
Song Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Lincoln's Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Swamp Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Eastern Towhee   Island Beach SP
Bobolink   Cedar Bonnet Island
Eastern Meadowlark   Island Beach SP
Baltimore Oriole   Whitesbog
Red-winged Blackbird   Island Beach SP
Brown-headed Cowbird   BC Fairgrounds
Rusty Blackbird   Reeves Bogs
Common Grackle   Higbee Beach WMA
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Island Beach SP
Northern Waterthrush   Beach Plum Farm
Golden-winged Warbler   Beach Plum Farm
Black-and-white Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Tennessee Warbler   Whitesbog
Orange-crowned Warbler   Beach Plum Farm
Nashville Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Common Yellowthroat   Higbee Beach WMA
American Redstart   Higbee Beach WMA
Cape May Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Parula   Higbee Beach WMA
Magnolia Warbler   Beach Plum Farm
Yellow Warbler   Island Beach SP
Chestnut-sided Warbler   Island Beach SP
Blackpoll Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Black-throated Blue Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Palm Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Pine Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Beach Plum Farm
Prairie Warbler   Island Beach SP
Black-throated Green Warbler   Higbee Beach WMA
Scarlet Tanager   Higbee Beach WMA
Northern Cardinal   Higbee Beach WMA
Painted Bunting   Island Beach SP
Dickcissel   Island Beach SP

Random Notes on a Rainy Day

On Union Pond

When I'm wandering around some place and a non-birder asks me what I'm looking for, I often reply, "Whatever's not supposed to be here." So, the other day just after dawn (I can't say "sunrise" because it's all murk and gloom), as I was driving to "my" parking spot at Whitesbog, I was surprised to see a big white bird in Union Pond. It is at least a month too early for the Tundra Swans to come back and take up residence for the winter. Getting a little closer I saw it was a Mute Swan. "Big deal," you say. Well, it is. 

Mute Swans are uncommon in Burlco. I have never, until this week, seen one at Whitesbog. A few years ago I made a special trip to Reeves Bogs because a pair were in the front bogs and I wanted to get them onto my Burlington County life list. I was of two minds about this sighting. I was glad to add it to my Whitesbog life list (175 on the Burlington side). I was depressed at the thought of Mute Swans colonizing the bogs to the detriment of all the other winter water fowl. Of which there were two others on the pond--a Bufflehead and a Hooded Merganser, both hens, both FOS. 

There's a positive outcome to the story. Later, on the Ocean County side, I ran into my friend and told him about my sighting. He'd seen the bird too and he'd also seen it fly out of the pond, over Ditch Meadow, and disappear. I was there yesterday and there was no sign of a swan. 

🐦🐦🐦

The irruption of winter finches from the boreal forests of Canada this year has been spectacular, but the downside of having 30 to 40 Pine Siskins at your feeders is that they go through seed so fast you start wonder at the expense. Plus, they are bullies and tend to keep the other birds away. A swarm of Pine Siskins is interesting for the first few minutes, but then you'd like to see some other birds. We have 7 feeders and the siskins still can't fit on them all, so they gather on the ground and feed off the seeds knocked down by the frenzied birds above. All the while it has been pathetic to see a cardinal off to the side waiting its turn, or to see a Red-breasted Nuthatch chased away by the sharp beak of a siskin. 

A small sample of siskins

I don't want to anthropomorphize (I just like to use the word) but it was a great sight this morning when a male cardinal finally said to itself, "Okay, I've had enough of these guys," and plopped down in the middle of ten ground feeding siskins. An explosion of birds in every direction while the cardinal, joined by a female, calmly started to feed on the easy pickings. 

Wells Mills Park 10/26--Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak, finally. This is the bird I've most wanted to see in New Jersey and to get one in my home county is a bonus. With the irruption of birds normally found in the boreal forests of Canada, it is not surprising that Evening Grosbeaks, those big yellow and black finches with the enormous beaks, are also making their way down to New Jersey. Many reports I've seen of them flying over various hawk watches. Great if you're there and you know their call and are satisfied with a glimpse. I've been stocking and restocking our feeders in the hopes that one would alight in our yard. The reason I have to keep restocking is that the Pine Siskins, part of the irruption, have been voraciously eating the sunflower chips, 2 or 3 pounds in a couple of days. Yesterday and today there were over 30 at once on all our feeder stations. They are aggressive and keep away the other birds like the 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches, another irruption migrant, their cousin goldfinches, and even a couple of Purple Finches (females) that have taken up residence in the woods behind the house.  But we haven't had a chance to see if they could bully away an Evening Grosbeak. 

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I saw that one had showed up at Wells Mills Park on the feeders. I didn't burst out the door as I should have because I'd just spent the day birding in wet and windy conditions and didn't feel like more of the same. But I decided that the county park in Waretown would be my destination in the morning. I was set to go first thing in the morning, opened the garage door and found a light but persistent rain. Now, standing around a feeder, waiting for a bird to show up is my fourth least favorite birding "activity" (No. 1 least favorite: Pelagics. No. 2 least favorite: Sea watches. No. 3 least favorite: Hawk watches), so standing around in the rain didn't add any appeal to the prospect. I looked at the radar and decided to wait out the rain, but a message from Mike that the bird had reappeared, sent me out the door despite the lingering drizzle. 

By the time I got to Wells Mills the rain had mostly stopped. I found Steve leaning against a tree, shaking his head. He'd been there 15 minutes and the bird hadn't shown. A few birders were on the porch out of the rain watching the feeders from there while Steve & I theorized that they were keeping the bird away though it didn't seem to bother any of the other finches, chickadees, nuthatches and so on that that were perching on the feeders. Steve said he'd allocated an hour for the bird and that seemed about right to me. Waiting for a bird to show up is like holding a stock that is going against you--when do you cut your losses? An hour seemed like a good stop-loss to set.

I didn't have to use it, of course, because about 10 minutes later the bird showed up, a big yellow, white and black male with a beak that proves the germanic meaning of "Gros." (The "Evening" in the common name and in both parts of the Latin name Hesperiphona vespertina derives from an old belief that the bird sang in the evening. You'd think a little observation would disprove that notion, but maybe the folks who first discovered the bird had more important things to attend to like food and shelter.)

The bird would sit for a while on the platform feeder then fly off. We knew it was close by and after awhile J., the park worker who'd found the bird yesterday, wandered the area and found the bird sitting up in little stand of cedars and ailanthus. The bird continued to go to the feeder and fly away as more and more birders showed up. I left after about an hour happy to have one on my list. Some birds are just check marks, but this is a great bird, one you can enjoy viewing. I still want one at our feeders. It might cost me 50 pounds of seeds, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. 

Great Bay Blvd WMA 10/21--Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit

I was determined to go down to Great Bay Blvd this morning and little issue of fog thick as a steel wall wasn't going to stop me, though I did take the Parkway most of the way instead of braving Rt 539, one of the most dangerous roads in southern NJ. My first stop was Holly Lake, just north of where the WMA begins and there was a brief moment of despair when all I saw was murk, but then I made out of the forms of ducks and could see that anything in the middle distance or closer would be identifiable. Including the Pied-billed Grebe that drifted into view. 

Boat-tailed Grackles

Starting at the mitigation bulwark right after the first bridge I could see it was going to be a good day for Boat-tailed Grackles. The tide was low and they were substituting for the shorebirds you'd expect to find feeding in the mud. I started driving down the road, stopping and walking along the cedars that line parts of the road, scoping out the marshes for anything unusual. Just before the new fenced-in terrapin nesting habitat, I spent some time scoping hoping for the bird Mike told me he'd seen there yesterday but there were no shorebirds to be found there. 

In fact, aside from a couple of Greater Yellowlegs, I didn't see any shorebirds until I got down to the inlet, where in the marsh behind the beach, I found Dunlins, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, a Least Sandpiper, and best of all, a Long-billed Dowitcher. A little of everything, but not a lot of anything. 

Dunlin

Long-billed Dowitcher

Greater Yellowlegs

Nelson's Sparrow

At the inlet the much sought after Nelson's Sparrow was easy to find and for once were posing in the beach grass. Saltmarsh Sparrow and one Seaside Sparrow were in the mix too. I took my walk from the inlet to the south end of the first wooden bridge, a round trip of about 3 miles. Plenty of egrets and herons, and there past the waders, were about 150 Black-bellied Plovers. I scanned them carefully for the Golden-Plover Mike had yesterday but none were good candidates and when they up and flew, all had the diagnostic black "armpit" of the Black-bellied variety. 

Hudwit

When I was driving north I stopped again at the spot north of the terrapin pen. There were more BB Plovers and as I was counting them I stumbled upon the bird of the day, just where Mike said he'd had it yesterday and just about the same time of day, allowing for the hour difference in tides: a Hudsonian Godwit. Frankly, I was surprised there weren't more birders down there looking for it. Hudwits are not common in Ocean County. Last year, when there was one at the Barnegat Impoundments, there was a frenzy to see it. I guess we're getting jaded. Still, I was happy to find it. As cars passed me, I wanted to stop and show them the rarity, though those guys wouldn't have cared in the least. A shame, sometimes, to have a nice bird and not be able to share it. 

My travels up and down the boulevard of phragmites yielded 43 species for the day

Mallard  1

American Black Duck  4

Clapper Rail  1    Heard

Black-bellied Plover  197

Semipalmated Plover  4

Hudsonian Godwit  1    

Ruddy Turnstone  2

Dunlin  4

Least Sandpiper  1

Short-billed Dowitcher  1

Long-billed Dowitcher  1

Greater Yellowlegs  15

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Herring Gull  25

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Double-crested Cormorant  17

Great Blue Heron  10

Great Egret  32

Snowy Egret  3

Little Blue Heron  1

Tricolored Heron  1

Black-crowned Night-Heron  5

Black-crowned Night-Heron (imm)

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (imm)

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1

Bald Eagle  1

Belted Kingfisher  3

Blue Jay  1

Tufted Titmouse  2    Cedar at inlet and utility pole on road

Golden-crowned Kinglet  1

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1

White-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard

European Starling  200

Northern Mockingbird  1

House Finch  4

Pine Siskin  2

American Goldfinch  1

Seaside Sparrow  1    Gray as opposed to the salt marsh and Nelson’s

Nelson's Sparrow  2

Saltmarsh Sparrow  4

Savannah Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  11

Red-winged Blackbird  3

Boat-tailed Grackle  275

Yellow-rumped Warbler  12

Island Beach SP 10/17--Dickcissel

Here's my problem with photographing birds: When I see a cool bird I want a picture of the bird to prove I saw the bird but while trying to photograph the bird I don't really see the bird I'm trying to prove I saw. Thus, no picture of the Dickcissel we saw early this morning just outside the entrance to Island Beach State Park. While standing around waiting for the group to assemble, Scott heard the unfortunately flatulent call of a Dickcissel and I did too once he called our attention to it. It didn't sound like it had zipped overhead, as they so often do,  but rather was in the field that is used for a farmer's market in season. We found the bird in a large bush with a number of other birds--Chipping, Lincoln's, and later a Clay-colored Sparrow. I saw the bird decently in the first bush, but when it flew to a nearby tree, after I had retrieved my camera, I lost it, so intent was I to get a picture of it that I couldn't see it in my camera lens and every time I put up my binoculars, it moved and I lost it. But I did get the bird. Trust me. 

Little Blue Heron with unknown egret/heron

The rest of the 9 hours and 26 minutes I spent in the park were taken up by some interesting birds, but nothing new. We didn't even try Reed's Road, so flooded was it from yesterday's rains, but some of the other bayside paths were surprisingly dry. Spizzle Creek was where we had some interesting birds though they made us work to get good lines of sight on them. A late Yellow Warbler came up rare and a Little Blue Heron, piebald as it molted into adult plumage, was difficult to see from one angle while a few feet down the path it was easy and obvious. 

Warblers are still to be found mid-month, though the transition to winter warblers, i.e. Yellow-rumped Warblers, seem almost complete. They were everywhere you looked today and the count of 40 is more a product of counting fatigue than accuracy.

Eastern  Meadowlark

The other interesting and somewhat out-of-place bird today was an Eastern Meadowlark in the far reaches of the Swimming Lot 1. Perched up in a tree, far from any meadow, though I do recall a trip from last year when one was found in the dunes, another place you wouldn't expect to find one. I mention this only because I always remember a line from Peterson's field guide where he said that a "Meadowlark needs a meadow." Apparently not. 

63 species

Canada Goose  7

Mute Swan  4

Mallard  8

American Black Duck  12

White-winged Scoter  1    Flying north

Black Scoter  100    100+

Mourning Dove  5

Black-bellied Plover  25

Dunlin  5

Laughing Gull  5

Herring Gull  40

Great Black-backed Gull  10

Caspian Tern  1    Winter Anchorage

Forster's Tern  8    A20

Royal Tern  4

Red-throated Loon  2    Flying north

Northern Gannet  1

Double-crested Cormorant  310

Brown Pelican  8

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  14

Snowy Egret  1    Spizzle Creek

Little Blue Heron  2    Spizzle Creek

Osprey  2

Northern Harrier  2

Cooper's Hawk  2

Bald Eagle  3    Adults

Belted Kingfisher  3

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  2

Merlin  1

Red-eyed Vireo  1    Johnny Allen trail

Carolina Chickadee  2

Golden-crowned Kinglet  3

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3

Brown Creeper  3

Carolina Wren  3    Heard

Gray Catbird  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

Hermit Thrush  1

American Robin  4

House Finch  2

Pine Siskin  35    Large numbers this year

Chipping Sparrow  2

Clay-colored Sparrow  1    Farmers market field

White-throated Sparrow  5

Song Sparrow  6

Lincoln's Sparrow  1    Farmers Market field

Swamp Sparrow  2

Eastern Towhee  1

Eastern Meadowlark  1    Swimming lot 1

Red-winged Blackbird  7

Common Grackle  1

Orange-crowned Warbler  1    A21

Cape May Warbler  1

Magnolia Warbler  1

Yellow Warbler  1    All yellow warbler  w eye ring Spizzle Creeks. Late

Blackpoll Warbler  4

Black-throated Blue Warbler  1    Female

Yellow-rumped Warbler  40

Black-throated Green Warbler  1

Northern Cardinal  1

Dickcissel  1    Some yellow on breast. Gave “ flatulent zit” call

Great Bay Blvd 10/14--Nelson's Sparrow

Annoying little birdies those Nelson's Sparrows are. It's whack-a-mole birding when you go looking for them. One pops up briefly, dives down. While you're looking for that one, out of the corner of your eye you see another, which disappears when you turn. Meanwhile another one, or the first one, jumps up, perches for a moment, then it's gone. You know they're running around like mice in beach grass but there's no possibility of spotting one unless it happens to run around the muddy path you're on. 

This was what it was like this morning on the beach at Great Bay Inlet where a friend I'd met up the road and I spent around 45 minutes traipsing around the mud, grass and puddles coming up with anywhere from 3 to 6 sparrows for a possible combined viewing time of 20 seconds. But, the good news, is that we both went to Great Bay Blvd to find them and we did even if they didn't give the field guide looks for more than an eye blink. 

As I've said before, I think late September/early October is the best time to bird Great Bay Blvd because you never know what's going to fall out of the sky into the cedars and reeds that line the 4 or so miles from the from the first bridge to the end of the road. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Some of the surprises today were a Brown Creeper on a dead cedar, Red-breasted Nuthatches feeding in the road, and a Clay-colored Sparrow in the grove to the inlet. Pine Siskins were abundant but this Pine Siskins are abundant everywhere. The tide was going out, which may have kept the shorebird numbers down, though there were plenty of Black-bellied Plovers to look through unsuccessfully for an American Golden. As usual, the wader were well-represented, with the cedars at both wooden bridges full of Black-crowned Night-Herons along with one Yellow-crowned (immature). I didn't feel too much like playing Where's Waldo with them, otherwise I'm certain I'd have found more if I'd just stared long and deeply enough into the branches. An impressive number of Double-crested Cormorants, in sinuous flocks, were flying overhead throughout the morning. 

If you include the Mallards, Caspian Tern, and Northern Cardinal I had at Holly Lake, just up the road before the WMA begins, the day's list totals 51. 

American Black Duck  3

Mourning Dove  1

Clapper Rail  2    Heard

Black-bellied Plover  45

Semipalmated Plover  2

Dunlin  27

Least Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  7

Laughing Gull  3

Herring Gull  55

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Double-crested Cormorant  500

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  47

Snowy Egret  6

Tricolored Heron  2

Black-crowned Night-Heron  9

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1

Turkey Vulture  1

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  1

Bald Eagle  2

Belted Kingfisher  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  2

Merlin  1

Eastern Phoebe  1

Golden-crowned Kinglet  1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2

Red-breasted Nuthatch  4

Brown Creeper  1

European Starling  30

Northern Mockingbird  1

House Finch  4

Pine Siskin  20    Irruption

American Goldfinch  2

Chipping Sparrow  2

Clay-colored Sparrow  1   
Much lighter than chipping no line through eye

Dark-eyed Junco  3

White-crowned Sparrow  2

White-throated Sparrow  2

Nelson's Sparrow  3

Song Sparrow  25

Swamp Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  2

Red-winged Blackbird  40

Boat-tailed Grackle  120

Yellow-rumped Warbler  40

Brig 10/10--Vesper Sparrow + a Major Blunder

When I played Scrabble with my father and one of us put down a challengeable word or "opened up" the board, the other would laugh and shout "MAYjor Blunder!" Yesterday, with a chance at a life bird, I didn't go to Brig. I had my reasons. I can hear my father crowing, "MAYjor Blunder!" and pounding the table. 

I was on Great Bay Boulevard at Tuckerton yesterday, just after noon, about a mile and half away from my car, when I saw on JerseyBirds that a Northern Wheatear was being seen at Brig along the south dike, just past the tower, on the rocks. Tuckerton is only about a half hour from Brig, maybe less if you make the lights, but I was also about a half hour away from my car. I had timed my trip to Tuckerton for low tide, and after more than 5 hours there, I was watching the tide come in, filling up the marshes and disappearing the sand bars. My reasoning was that if the wheatear (a notoriously flighty bird) was feeding on the rocks, the incoming tide would soon cover those rocks and the bird would take off long and I'd hear, "Ew, you just missed it," by the time I got down to Goose Marker 7. 

I couldn't have been more wrong. The bird stayed there all day, running up and down the rocks and beach, giving something like 75 birders great looks. I should have gone. I was pretty angry with myself all day (and still am) but I'd be angrier if I hadn't learned in college psychology that we don't, in actuality, do what think, but think what we do. Since I didn't go, all those tide calculations were just a rationalization for not wanting to go to Brig yesterday. Maybe I was tired, maybe I was afraid of a wasted effort, maybe I was put off by the prospect of a bird mob, maybe it was a combination of all that & more. But I missed the bird.

Today, knowing that the chances of the wheatear still being there were slim, I went anyway. Aggravation as penance to my life list. I was hoping that at least I would see the Lapland Longspur that has been hanging around for at least a week. As expected, the wheatear was probably a third of the way to Africa while a dozen forlorn souls stood on the south dike waiting for Godot. 

And the longspur? Oh, that was seen a number of times, but not by me. I hung out in the area where it has been seen, up along the south dike around the 15 MPH sign, but it never came out on the road while I waited. Too much traffic on a Saturday morning. I stood there for 15 minutes, maybe more, until I could stand the "birds I have seen" stories no longer. When some guy started talking about a caracara that was in Middlesex county in the 70's, it was too much for me and reminded me why I hate waiting for a bird to appear. Finding rare birds is a thrill; chasing rare birds is a drudge. 

Vesper Sparrow

So I was in one foul mood as I drove around the dikes. Where it was cold and windy. This definitely wasn't passing the fun test. Along the upland section, I turned into the overlook area, where a birder I know held up his hand to stop my car from parking in the usual spot. There had just been a Vesper Sparrow in the path and he was trying to relocate it 

He couldn't and had to get home, leaving me there with my hand over my eyes, thinking that maybe birding was starting to pall--a hobby isn't supposed to make you want to scream. When I took my hand from my face, I saw a bird in the path. Binoculars showed me the big, white wall tire eye ring. I at least had a year bird. Not a rarity. An infrequently sighted species was the best I could do, but I go long spans between sightings. 

For all my kvetching, I did manage 53 species, driving and walking various parts of the refuge. But I let a really rare bird slip away out of sheer fecklessness. 

Canada Goose  40

Mute Swan  7

Wood Duck  5

Blue-winged Teal  20

Northern Shoveler  40

Mallard  20

American Black Duck  1000

Northern Pintail  8

Green-winged Teal  2

Clapper Rail  1

American Avocet  8    Continuing large flock

Dunlin  22

Semipalmated Sandpiper  2

Greater Yellowlegs  3

Laughing Gull  300

Herring Gull  500

Great Black-backed Gull  20

Caspian Tern  3

Forster's Tern  1

Double-crested Cormorant  1000

Great Blue Heron  15

Great Egret  125

Snowy Egret  5

Black-crowned Night-Heron  4

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2

Black Vulture  3

Turkey Vulture  3

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  2

Cooper's Hawk  1

Belted Kingfisher  2

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Northern Flicker  2

Eastern Phoebe  1

Blue Jay  11

American Crow  3

Fish Crow  2

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  2

Tree Swallow  8

Golden-crowned Kinglet  1

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

European Starling  100

Gray Catbird  2

Brown Thrasher  1    Heard Leeds

House Sparrow  1

Vesper Sparrow  1    

Savannah Sparrow  15

Song Sparrow  10

Red-winged Blackbird  125

Boat-tailed Grackle  40

Yellow-rumped Warbler  8

Fish Crow

Island Beach SP 10/6--Painted Bunting

I went to Island Beach SP today with low expectations. I don't know much about the winds, but I do know that SW winds are exactly the opposite of what's needed to produce a migration fallout. I thought maybe though that the winds would discourage whatever birds were already there from leaving. So I wasn't surprised when every trail I walked produced only a handful of species. Of course, I did skip, perversely, Reed's Road. The parking lot had a lot of cars in it and I didn't feel like wearing a mask. 

However. Walking back out on the Spizzle Creek trail, where I'd had the most birds of any spot I'd been to, I saw, in the thickets on the side of the trail, a bird with an intensely red breast. My first thought was that it was one of the House Finches I'd seen coming in and that the light was playing tricks on its coloration. Then I thought Purple Finch, but knew that was wrong, then I thought Vermillion Flycatcher and considered that and then the bird up and flew south and I thought that there was an interesting bird I'd just have to let go. By the time I stepped onto the roadway, the bird was out of my mind. 

I drove down to the Winter Anchorage, hoping for an exposed sand bar and some shorebirds on it. Coming out the other way were Mike and few other birders I know. One of them shouted out the car window, "Painted Bunting at A20!" Greg had put it on the local alert. Which I don't get because I have socially distanced myself from almost all the alerts but that's another story. 

Wait a minute. I was just at A20. That's the parking lot for Spizzle Creek. I raced back up there to find that Greg had seen the bird just minutes after I had left. He started to describe his sighting...he'd first seen a bird a with an intensely red breast in the the thicket across the street, which is just south of the trail head and then it flew into the parking lot where he saw it was a Painted Bunting. It then flew back into the thickets and he couldn't relocate. But in the middle of his story I blurted out, "I saw that F**#ing bird." Painted Bunting never occurred to me when I was running down the list of possibilities because I only saw its breast--the head was just dark in the shadows. 

Interestingly, his first reaction was Vermillion Flycatcher too. Somehow our mutual misimpressions confirmed the sighting to me. 

7 or 8 of us searched around the area for about an hour. At one point I was standing with another birder peering into the dune when she heard a bird singing and, like a refrigerator turning off, I realized I was also hearing the song. After determining that no one was using playback to attract the bird, we went over to the hedge row where the sound seemed to be coming from. But no Painted Bunting showed up. 

So, not the ideal way to get a county and year bird but I've counted lousier looks in my time. 

For the record, my Spizzle Creek list:

19 species

Mallard  1

American Black Duck  2

Herring Gull  15

Double-crested Cormorant  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  15

Snowy Egret  14

Little Blue Heron  5

Peregrine Falcon  1

Carolina Chickadee  5

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1

Carolina Wren  1

Gray Catbird  2

Brown Thrasher  1

House Finch  9

Eastern Towhee  1    Heard

Common Yellowthroat  1

Palm Warbler  1    Hawking gnats

Painted Bunting  1