Great Bay Blvd 3/4--American Oystercatcher

Here's another bird I usually get a lot earlier in the year, albeit not in this county. Early every year I'd make a trip down to Brigantine Island with Mike to look for the winter shorebirds that congregate there--godwits, Willets, and oystercatchers. This year I didn't feel like driving all the way down there so it wasn't until yesterday, when I was pretty certain I'd find them, that I put American Oystercatcher on the year list. 

They were down on the beach, off to the north where I thought they might be, hunkered down with a flock of Brant. I'd seen reports of them from a couple of other spots, but one was a flyby at Manasquan Inlet and the other was on LBI where I did not feel like braving the winds just to see a bird I knew I'd eventually get. But there is a sense of accomplishment when you go looking for a specific bird in a specific spot and actually find. It gives you the illusion that you know what you're doing. 

I was thinking yesterday, at Manahawkin, then Holly Lake and Great Bay Blvd, while I was looking at all the ducks, that these are the waning days for building a big list with waterfowl. Soon the scaup, Buffleheads, mergansers, Ring-neck Ducks, Snow Geese will have flown north. The Brant tend to stick farther into the spring because their breeding grounds are so much farther north, but soon it will be Canada Geese, Mallards, black ducks, and Wood Ducks if you know where to look. Nice weather ahead, but a lot harder birding picking out the warblers from the budding trees and separating the sandpipers when the sun glare always seems to be in your eyes