Kicking Off the New Year at Sandy Hook--King Eider, Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler,
Photo © Ellen Hartley

As is our tradition, Shari & I joined a group of stalwart birders at Sandy Hook for a Kick Off the New Year trip led by Scott and Linda. Compared to some past New Year's Days, the weather was manageable especially when we went over to the bay side where the wind wasn't blowing in our faces. Sometimes we start at Sandy Hook and work our way down the coast, stopping at selected spot along the ocean and some of the "lakes" that are a couple of blocks off the shore, but today we worked our way up north, starting at Lot B, then C, then the Fisherman's Beach, over to the bay side, up to North Beach, then a long walk to the top of the peninsula via the North Pond and Salt Pond. I figured out of the 6 + miles we walked, about 5 of them were on sand. 

Since every bird is a new bird, in January I only note the rarities and the "cool" birds: 

Rarities:2

Cool birds: 3

The first rarity we encountered was on the bay side where we'd gone to get out of the wind. A lot of Horned Grebes were around, along with a couple of goldeneyes, and some Buffleheads. One of our party spotted an eider and once everyone focused their scopes upon this brown-head, orange-beaked immature male, Scott confirmed that it was a King Eider. There have been a lot of King Eider sightings this winter, especially of hens, so to get a drake, even if it isn't a spectacular full plumaged male, first thing in the year puts a bang on the list. 

Snow Buntings,
Photo © Ellen Hartley

Over on the North Beach, an endless stretch of sand, we came upon two species of birds I really like--big flocks of both Snow Buntings and Horned Larks, with the lark flock incorporating some buntings. Bunting do not stay still, so that Ellen Hartley (who was kind of enough to supply photos for this entry) was able to get this nice pic of the flock on the ground is a real accomplishment. There were a couple of photographers with big lenses there, crouched down in the sand, waiting for their opportunity to get the buntings to land and I doubt they got anything much better considering how skittish these birds are. And what are they eating? What tiny seeds are they picking out of the sand? 

Horned Lark
Photo © Ellen Hartley

Scott, knowing what plants attract what birds, took us up to the Salt Pond near the tip of the Hook where there is a stand of groundsel which Orange-crowned Warblers love. I don't know if they switch to seeds in the winter or if there is some bug life surviving on the plant, but the two species go together. Sure enough, in the middle branches of the groundsel Scott found the warbler. It jumped around quite a bit, as warblers to, but everyone got a good look at it. 

Bonaparte's Gull
Photo © Ellen Hartley

Out at the tip there were loons, all 3 scoters, and gulls, including two Bonaparte's Gulls, a bird that isn't rare but seems increasingly hard to come up with. I know it took me until November last year to find one and it was a pre-pandemic winter birding in which I failed to come up with. So good--first day Bonaparte's Gull, that bird is dead to me unless it's in Ocean County. 

For the day I had 40 species at the Hook. I started the morning off with a few species around the house (first bird: Carolina Chickadee; best bird: Brown Creeper) for a total of 46 for the day. 

Brant  100

Canada Goose  25

American Black Duck  3

King Eider  1    

Common Eider  1    False Hook

Surf Scoter  20

White-winged Scoter  15

Black Scoter  25

Long-tailed Duck  20

Bufflehead  10

Common Goldeneye  2    Horseshoe Cove

Red-breasted Merganser  35

Horned Grebe  12

Sanderling  10

Bonaparte's Gull  2    False Hook

Ring-billed Gull  5

Herring Gull  200

Great Black-backed Gull  25

Red-throated Loon  4

Common Loon  1

Turkey Vulture  1

Northern Harrier  2    Grey Ghosts

Cooper's Hawk  1

Red-shouldered Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Battery Potter

Downy Woodpecker  1

Common Raven  1

Horned Lark  45

Carolina Wren  2

Gray Catbird  1

Northern Mockingbird  3

American Robin  10

Snow Bunting  50

Field Sparrow  15

American Tree Sparrow  3

White-throated Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  3

Orange-crowned Warbler  1    

Yellow-rumped Warbler  2

Northern Cardinal  2