Last year around this time I remember a spectacular gannet show was on display at both Barnegat Light and Island Beach--thousands of birds migrating north, swirling high and diving into the ocean in uncountable numbers. 5000? 10,000? Who could tell?
Today, hoping for a repeat, I went to Island Beach. I saw exactly two Northern Gannets, one flying low going north, one flying low going south. How I managed to avoid seeing gannets until the middle of March I don't know, but at least I got a look at a couple. Time's running out on the winter birds--no complaints, just a statement of fact. There's always a second chance at the end of the year but by then, I find, I'm often running out of steam and don't want to spend time looking for this or that species.
I ran into Greg on Reed's Road and we birded a few spots in the park. On Spizzle Creek he spotted a female Purple Finch perched in a tree which gave me a county year bird; lots of loons on the ocean, lots of Buffleheads on the bay. Probably the most interesting species I found today was later on when we'd parted. I took a walk on the Tidal Pond trail and in the blind, on the pond, where there is almost always nothing, I found, besides two Mallards, a beautiful pair of Wood Ducks. Wood Ducks are scarce on the barrier island--not much habitat for them. My only other records of Wood Ducks there have been migrating ducks mixed in with other ducks that those with sharper eyes than mine have pointed out. I was happy that these ducks posed for a few minutes because they didn't hang around very long and flew north.
38 species for the day. Meh.
Brant |
Canada Goose |
Mute Swan |
Wood Duck |
Mallard |
American Black Duck |
Long-tailed Duck |
Bufflehead |
Red-breasted Merganser |
Horned Grebe |
Mourning Dove |
American Oystercatcher |
Herring Gull |
Great Black-backed Gull |
Red-throated Loon |
Common Loon |
Northern Gannet |
Great Blue Heron |
Northern Harrier |
Belted Kingfisher |
Downy Woodpecker |
Northern Flicker |
Carolina Chickadee |
Carolina Wren |
American Robin |
House Sparrow |
Purple Finch |
American Tree Sparrow |
Fox Sparrow |
White-throated Sparrow |
Song Sparrow |
Swamp Sparrow |
Red-winged Blackbird
|
Brown-headed Cowbird |
Common Grackle |
Boat-tailed Grackle |
Yellow-rumped Warbler |
Northern Cardinal |
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