August Recap--Whitesbog Edition

Short-billed Dowitcher, Middle Bog

Even though I was at Whitesbog 30 out of 31 days, I did do some birding outside those friendly confines. Not much though. I successfully chased the Roseate Spoonbill down at Manahawkin early in the month. It subsequently relocated to Brig. We know this because of a tell-tale chip in its bill. Every day I get eBird rare bird alerts telling me the spoonbill continues at the dogleg but that bird is dead to me. I also made a couple of trips to the BC Fairgrounds, one of which was another successful chase for my year Upland Sandpiper. The other two year birds for the month were found at Whitesbog.

I made one trip to Tuckerton where the highlight for me was finding a Brown Pelican perched upon a piling where Tree Swallows nest earlier in the season. Nice to see a multi use facility down there.

I also added a Wawa bird this month. Yes, I keep a list of all the birds I've seen at Wawas. This month, across the street from the BC Fairgrounds a Cattle Egret was spending time in a farm field. Unfortunately, there was no place to pull over as it was on the corner of Rt 206 and Jobstown Road, a very busy intersection. But there is a Wawa across the highway, so I pulled in there, walked toward the front of the parking lot and was able to see the Cattle Egret in flight as it came over the road. 

Today I started out at Reeves Bogs, mostly because I wanted to see how bad the latest blowout is there. It's big, but because the two thirds of that trail is overgrown and leads to a yet another blow out (this one quite old), it doesn't really change my normal route. I found 13 Great Egrets feeding in the inadvertently drawn down bog there, so now I know where all the egrets we use to see at Whitesbog are. 

I made two trips around the Middle Bog after my stint at Reeves and surprised myself by adding species #104--a Peregrine Falcon which was stirring up the peeps. I expected to see the Merlin which has been dining well on shorebirds this month but this bird was huge in comparison and once it landed at the edge of the bog the facial markings were obvious. 

Because I can, I added up the hours spent and miles covered at Whitesbog this month: 160 hours, 145 miles. I could have walked to Northern NJ and back. Almost an entire week out of the month was spent there. I guess this is called doing what you love. 

For the month, birding only BuCoOcCo, I had 123 species:

Species                 Location
Canada Goose  Whitesbog
Wood Duck  Whitesbog
Mallard  Whitesbog
American Black Duck  Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal  Whitesbog
Bufflehead  Whitesbog
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon  Whitesbog
Mourning Dove  Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk  Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will  35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift  Whitesbog
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail  Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Plover  Whitesbog
Killdeer  Whitesbog
Upland Sandpiper  BC Fairgrounds
Stilt Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Sanderling  Whitesbog
Baird's Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Least Sandpiper  Whitesbog
White-rumped Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Short-billed Dowitcher  Whitesbog
Wilson's Snipe  Whitesbog
Wilson's Phalarope  Whitesbog
Spotted Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Lesser Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Laughing Gull  Whitesbog
Herring Gull  Whitesbog
Great Black-backed Gull  Great Bay Blvd
Gull-billed Tern  Whitesbog
Caspian Tern  Whitesbog
Forster's Tern  Great Bay Blvd
Double-crested Cormorant  Whitesbog
Brown Pelican  Great Bay Blvd
Great Blue Heron  Whitesbog
Great Egret  Whitesbog
Snowy Egret  Manahawkin WMA
Little Blue Heron  Whitesbog
Tricolored Heron  Great Bay Blvd
Cattle Egret  Columbus Wawa
Green Heron  Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Whitesbog
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd
Glossy Ibis  Manahawkin WMA
Roseate Spoonbill  Manahawkin WMA
Black Vulture  Whitesbog
Turkey Vulture  Whitesbog
Osprey  Whitesbog
Northern Harrier  Whitesbog
Cooper's Hawk  Whitesbog
Bald Eagle  Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk  Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk  BC Fairgrounds
Eastern Screech-Owl  Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher  Whitesbog
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Northern Flicker  Whitesbog
American Kestrel  BC Fairgrounds
Merlin  Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon  Whitesbog
Eastern Wood-Pewee  35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Phoebe  Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher  Whitesbog
Eastern Kingbird  Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo  Whitesbog
Red-eyed Vireo  Whitesbog
Blue Jay  35 Sunset Rd
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  Whitesbog
Common Raven  Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee  Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse  Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Whitesbog
Purple Martin  Whitesbog
Tree Swallow  Whitesbog
Bank Swallow  Whitesbog
Barn Swallow  Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch  35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Whitesbog
House Wren  Whitesbog
Carolina Wren  35 Sunset Rd
European Starling  Whitesbog
Gray Catbird  Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher  Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird  BC Fairgrounds
Eastern Bluebird  35 Sunset Rd
American Robin  Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing  Whitesbog
House Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
House Finch  Whitesbog
American Goldfinch  Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow  Whitesbog
Field Sparrow  Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee  Whitesbog
Bobolink  Whitesbog
Orchard Oriole  Whitesbog
Baltimore Oriole  Whitesbog
Red-winged Blackbird  Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird  Whitesbog
Common Grackle  Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle  Great Bay Blvd
Ovenbird  Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler  Whitesbog
Prothonotary Warbler  Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat  Whitesbog
Hooded Warbler  Great Bay Blvd
Yellow Warbler  Whitesbog
Pine Warbler  35 Sunset Rd
Prairie Warbler  Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal  Whitesbog
Blue Grosbeak  Whitesbog

Green Heron, Whitesbog