Cedar Bonnet Island 11/11--Common Ground Dove

After a lackluster few hours on Great Bay Boulevard (although I did re-find, on Holly Lake, the Common Gallinule that had been at nearby Tip Seaman Park last month), I was on my way down to Brig to look for the American White Pelican that has been there since the weekend. Always a nice bird to have on the year list. I had already stopped at Wawa to get my coffee and lunch and was within sight of the stop light at Great Creek Road when a text came in from Steve: Common Ground Dove at Cedar Bonnet Island. (For the safety conscious among you, the text was voiced through my car radio.)

Screeeech! I pulled a u-turn on Route 9 and headed back north. I've seen plenty of white pelicans in NJ, but a Common Ground Dove would check the boxes on a lot of lists. When I got there, the parking lot off Route 72 was just about filled. I hustled to catch up with Steve and a couple of other birders and we walked to the last known sighting area. This a restoration site, so the area was dense in grass, reeds, and saplings, all painstakingly replanted in the last few years. Before we could spend much time looking for the bird, we saw a few other birders up the path from us. They had the bird. Had.

It had been on the gravel path, but as soon as we got there, this very shy bird retreated into the grass. We could still make it out, moving around, but I only got a very brief full body look when it emerged into a bare spot in the vegetation. Pinkish face, gray/tan body, spotted. Small. Very, very small. It quickly moved into the grass again. I blindly shot a few picture. And damn, if a couple didn't actually capture an image of the bird. They're not going to win any awards, but they're proof I saw my first Common Ground Dove for 

The Year

The State

The County.

I waited around an hour for it to show itself again, but except for a brief flight which happened while my back was turned, it didn't reappear as the bird mob grew larger and a rain storm moved in across the bay.  Neither condition I enjoy so I left as the crowd continue to grow and the first rain drop hit as I was about 100 yards from the parking lot.