Eno's Pond 3/13--Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

I did a big loop today starting at Cloverdale, running south to Manhawkin, then up Route 9 to Eno's Pond. Eno's Pond was an afterthought since I still hadn't found anything new either for the year or the county, almost everything I found was of the "usual suspects" variety. I'm not complaining about bluebirds or Pine Warblers or the various waterfowl I encountered, but places that I thought should have new inventory didn't until I remembered Eno's Pond. The reason I decided to go there was because I'd noticed how low the tide was at Bay Parkway in Waretown (swans, Brant, 3 kinds of ducks...) and thought that boded well for the "pond" in back which I hoped would be mud flats. It was and it had a small flock of Greater Yellowlegs feeding on it, nothing spectacular but the first shorebirds I'd had all day. I walked into the woods and got a different angle on the pond and noticed that at least a couple of the yellowlegs appeared "daintier" as I once heard Greg describe them and they were feeding on the mud flats, not up to their bellies in water like the Greater Yellowlegs tend to do and so I decided, after looking at the bill length, that I had a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs mixed in. I never could get them to stand next to each other--when they do the difference is so obvious that, as Greg and I were discussing yesterday, you wonder how ever confuse them, but today I only had a moment's comparison before the two birds parted. Not the most spectacular sighting of the year, but a good way to end the day.

Greater Yellowlegs

I made a stop on Collinstown Road as part of the loop. I thought at first there was nothing there of note, but soon birds started popping up and I walked the road which is about a half mile. A portion of Collinstown Road borders Forsythe-Barnegat property, but most of it is private land and while I have exchanged pleasantries with the owner of the big house on the road and petted his dog, I still feel uncomfortable glassing his fields. While I was doing that and older woman in a white sedan pulled up, rolled down her window and said, "I live here." I say an "older woman" but at this point in my life I have to admit she isn't a whole lot older than me--it's just style I suppose that makes me think of her as someone's grandma and me as an old kid. I said she had a  

Pine Warbler, Collinstown Rd

wonderful backyard, full of birds, and she told me she'd been born there, that her mother left the "farm" (there is a chrysanthemum nursery in back) to her daughter and how you had to protect the land and what a shame it was how much development was going on--perfectly sweet and mellow. Then, she shot her arm out the car window and pointed diagonally across her property toward the back and scowled, "But THAT Motherf88cker over there is cutting down trees and filling in the stream, he doesn't give a damn about nature!" Whoa Grandma! I told her that filling in a stream was probably illegal and she could report him to the DEP but that made little impression. She wants him caught but I think she'd prefer rougher justice. Then she told me to enjoy my day and not to get shot and drove into their driveway. I've been reading a book about how your brain automatically make assessments based on little information and how most of the time it is correct. Most of the time. The sweet little old lady assessment was obviously out of kilter. 

Counting the Brown Creeper that Shari noticed climbing the pitch pine out back, I tallied 48 species in Barnegat, Manahawkin, Waretown, and Forked River, and Whiting. 

Species    First Sighting

Brant   Bay Pkwy

Canada Goose   Cloverdale Farm

Mute Swan   Manahawkin WMA

Mallard   Cloverdale Farm

American Black Duck   Manahawkin WMA

Northern Pintail   Manahawkin WMA

Green-winged Teal   Manahawkin WMA

Ring-necked Duck   Eno’s Pond

Greater Scaup   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Long-tailed Duck   Bay Pkwy

Bufflehead   Cloverdale Farm

Hooded Merganser   Manahawkin WMA

Red-breasted Merganser   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Horned Grebe   Bay Pkwy

Mourning Dove   Cloverdale Farm

Greater Yellowlegs   Eno’s Pond

Lesser Yellowlegs   Eno’s Pond

Ring-billed Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Herring Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Great Black-backed Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Common Loon   Bay Pkwy

Double-crested Cormorant   Bay Pkwy

Great Blue Heron   Cloverdale Farm

Turkey Vulture   Cloverdale Farm

Belted Kingfisher   Cloverdale Farm

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Cloverdale Farm

Downy Woodpecker   Cloverdale Farm

Blue Jay   Cloverdale Farm

American Crow   Bay Pkwy

Fish Crow   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Carolina Chickadee   Manahawkin WMA

Tufted Titmouse   Cloverdale Farm

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Cloverdale Farm

White-breasted Nuthatch   Cloverdale Farm

Brown Creeper   35 Sunset Rd

Carolina Wren   Manahawkin WMA

Eastern Bluebird   Cloverdale Farm

American Robin   Cloverdale Farm

House Finch   Cloverdale Farm

American Goldfinch   Cloverdale Farm

Dark-eyed Junco   Cloverdale Farm

White-throated Sparrow   Collinstown Road

Song Sparrow   Cloverdale Farm

Red-winged Blackbird   Cloverdale Farm

Boat-tailed Grackle   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Pine Warbler   Cloverdale Farm

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Cloverdale Farm

Northern Cardinal   Cloverdale Farm

Northern Cardinal, Cloverdale Farm