2021--4 Life Birds in New Jersey

Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Glossy Ibis, Brig

I suppose, at least birding-wise, it was a good year. Four life birds in New Jersey is remarkable for me; and since it doesn't look like I'm traveling anytime soon (the Steller's Eagle in Maine, 11 hours away, is not tempting), I'll have to resign myself to only incremental additions to the life list, while adding state and county birds will continue to be an ambivalent obsession if such a thing is possible. 

The first life bird of the year, DOVEKIE, was by far the highlight of the year. Never did I think I'd see a Dovekie from land and, as anyone who even cursorily read this blog know, Larry don't do no pelagics. So when Steve texted me in February and told me that the ongoing Dovekie incursion was ongoing right off the shore at Island Beach, I raced over there. It didn't take long to get a couple in the scope. It has been a long time since I jumped up and down in excitement over a life bird (or anything else for that matter) but I did that day. 

The second lifer was not nearly as exciting, though it was another species that is rare from shore. In May, another seabird irruption occurred, this time of SOOTY SHEARWATERS, and a walk along the extreme southern end of Island Beach yielded distant looks at 3 of them. Not exactly something to jump up and down about.

HEERMAN'S GULL, Cape May

Finally, two life birds in one day down at Cape May. Shari had to persuade me to make the trip to see the first recorded HEERMAN'S GULL in New Jersey. I thought it was a low probability chase and chase we did, as we kept missing the birds as it traveled northward along the bayshore. We finally tracked it down, again thanks to texts from Steve, way up in North Cape May. 

The other lifer that day I thought was going to be the consolation prize. For the past few years a SWAINSON'S WARBLER has been singing, and very rarely seen, from the same spot at Higbee Beach. Each year I haven't bothered to chase but since we were in the neighborhood and striking out on the rare gull, we gave it a shot and immediately heard the bird and of course, did not see it. 

Curlew Sandpiper, Brig

There were some cool rarities in the spring especially the ones in Ocean County like the Ruff, down at Barnegat, and the amazing Pacific Golden-Plover that hung around Tuckerton for about a week. Then there was the Curlew Sandpiper at Brig that I missed the day it was found, having joked to Bob Auster that among all those Dunlin there could be a rarity and I'd never find it, and of course, I have only  recently recovered from travails with the Western Kingbird(s) at Tip Seaman and Tuckerton. 

Which leads to the distinction I have come to make in the two types of birding I seem to do. All of the above falls into the category of "Pressure Birding" while meandering around a spot like Whitesbog, Reeve's Bogs, Colliers Mills, or any of my regular spots going under the rubric of "Pleasure Birding." Obviously, pleasure is better than pressure, so why do I put myself under pressure to get a new bird or add one to the county list, the state list? I dunno. If I take a step back from it, it seems like a silly thing to do, but I've found if I take a step back from almost anything, it seems like a silly thing to do...why does walking around a bog looking at whatever birds are there give me pleasure? I dunno. It seems like a silly thing to do but I gotta do something. 

I spent the morning of the last day of year on foggy Long Beach Island. I'd considered going to Island Beach, but the thought of all those photographers chasing after Snowy Owls made me queasy. As it happened, looking across the inlet from Barnegat Light I could see a mass of them all pointing cameras in one direction and even though I had only binoculars (figuring what good would a scope do with the fog, which had by then cleared up) I could see one of the owls atop atop a snow fence. Not great looks, but I knew it was there and I, at least, got a guilt free look, though, any species that can spend a winter on an ice floe in the arctic subsisting on eiders probably isn't as fragile as some would make out. 

For the year I had 289 species, ahead of last year.s pandemic constrained birding, but nowhere near where I have been in years that we traveled. Perhaps next year I'll make a concerted effort to list 300 species. It seems like a silly thing to do, but I gotta do something.

Species                        First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  Brig
Snow Goose  Brig
Brant  Sandy Hook
Cackling Goose  Meadowedge Park
Canada Goose  Sandy Hook
Mute Swan  Riverfront Landing
Trumpeter Swan  Assunpink WMA
Tundra Swan  Bamber Lake
Wood Duck  Brig
Blue-winged Teal  Bombay Hook
Northern Shoveler  Brig
Gadwall  Mud City
Eurasian Wigeon  Silver Lake
American Wigeon  Brig
Mallard  Pond on Schoolhouse Rd
American Black Duck  Sandy Hook
Northern Pintail  Brig
Green-winged Teal  Brig
Canvasback  Brig
Redhead  Knoll Crest Av
Ring-necked Duck  Pond on Schoolhouse Rd
Greater Scaup  East Bay Av
Lesser Scaup  Riverfront Landing
King Eider  Sandy Hook
Common Eider  Sandy Hook
Harlequin Duck  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter  Sandy Hook
White-winged Scoter  Sandy Hook
Black Scoter  Sandy Hook
Long-tailed Duck  Sandy Hook
Bufflehead  Sandy Hook
Common Goldeneye  Sandy Hook
Hooded Merganser  Crestwood Village
Common Merganser  East Bay Av
Red-breasted Merganser  Sandy Hook
Ruddy Duck  Riverfront Landing
 
Northern Bobwhite  Bombay Hook
Wild Turkey   Pinewald Keswick Rd
Ring-necked Pheasant  Manahawkin WMA
 
Pied-billed Grebe  Lake Como
Horned Grebe  Sandy Hook
 
Rock Pigeon  Wawa South Toms River
Mourning Dove  Island Beach SP
 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  Whitesbog
Black-billed Cuckoo  Whitesbog
 
Common Nighthawk  35 Sunset Rd
Chuck-will's-widow  Collinstown Road
Eastern Whip-poor-will  35 Sunset Rd
 
Chimney Swift  Brig
 
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  Wells Mills Park
 
King Rail  Brig
Clapper Rail  Prime Hook NWR
Virginia Rail  Cattus Island County Park
Sora  Bombay Hook
Common Gallinule  Bombay Hook
American Coot  Lake Como
 
Sandhill Crane  Pedricktown Marsh
 
Black-necked Stilt  Bombay Hook
American Avocet  Bombay Hook
American Oystercatcher  Great Bay Blvd
Black-bellied Plover  Bombay Hook
American Golden-Plover  Whitesbog
Pacific Golden-Plover  Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Plover  Brig
Piping Plover  Island Beach SP
Killdeer  Shelter Cove Park
Upland Sandpiper  BC Fairgrounds
Whimbrel  Brig
Hudsonian Godwit  Bombay Hook
Marbled Godwit  Bombay Hook
Ruddy Turnstone  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red Knot  Brig
Ruff  Forsythe-Barnegat
Stilt Sandpiper  Forsythe-Barnegat
Curlew Sandpiper  Brig
Sanderling  Sandy Hook
Dunlin  Brig
Purple Sandpiper  Shark River Inlet
Baird's Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Least Sandpiper  Whitesbog
White-rumped Sandpiper  Brig
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper  Mannington Marsh
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Brig
Western Sandpiper  Forsythe-Barnegat
Short-billed Dowitcher  Brig
Long-billed Dowitcher  Brig
American Woodcock  Crestwood Community Gardens
Wilson's Snipe  Cloverdale Farm
Wilson's Phalarope  Brig
Red-necked Phalarope  Brig
Spotted Sandpiper  Cedar Bonnet Island
Solitary Sandpiper  Cloverdale Farm
Greater Yellowlegs  Brig
Willet  Brig
Lesser Yellowlegs  Eno’s Pond
 
DOVEKIE  Island Beach SP
Razorbill  Island Beach SP
 
Bonaparte's Gull  Sandy Hook
Black-headed Gull  Manasquan Inlet
Laughing Gull  Raritan Bay Waterfront Park
HEERMANN'S GULL  North Cape May
Ring-billed Gull  Sandy Hook
Herring Gull  Sandy Hook
Iceland Gull  Raritan Bay Waterfront Park
Lesser Black-backed Gull  Shark River Inlet
Great Black-backed Gull  Sandy Hook
Least Tern  Brig
Gull-billed Tern  Brig
Caspian Tern  Brig
Common Tern  Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern  Bombay Hook
Royal Tern  Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer  Brig
 
Red-throated Loon  Sandy Hook
Common Loon  Sandy Hook
 
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  Manasquan Inlet
SOOTY SHEARWATER  Island Beach SP
 
Wood Stork  Sandy Hook
 
Brown Booby  Surf City
Northern Gannet  Island Beach SP
Great Cormorant  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant  Manahawkin WMA
American White Pelican  Brig
Brown Pelican  Island Beach SP
 
American Bittern  Island Beach SP
Least Bittern  Brig
Great Blue Heron  Crestwood Village
Great Egret  Brig
Snowy Egret  Bombay Hook
Little Blue Heron  Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron  Bayview Ave Marina
Cattle Egret  Meadowedge Park
Green Heron  The Wetlands Institute
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Bayview Ave Park
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd
White Ibis  Ocean City Welcome Center
Glossy Ibis  Island Beach SP
Roseate Spoonbill  Manahawkin WMA
 
Black Vulture  New Egypt
Turkey Vulture  Sandy Hook
Osprey  Pedricktown Marsh
Northern Harrier  Sandy Hook
Sharp-shinned Hawk  Bayview Ave Park
Cooper's Hawk  Sandy Hook
Bald Eagle  35 Sunset Rd
Red-shouldered Hawk  Sandy Hook
Broad-winged Hawk  Manasquan River WMA
Red-tailed Hawk  Holly Lake
Rough-legged Hawk  BC Fairgrounds
 
Eastern Screech-Owl  Whitesbog
Great Horned Owl  35 Sunset Rd
Snowy Owl  Holgate
Short-eared Owl  BC Fairgrounds
 
Belted Kingfisher  Crestwood Village
 
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  35 Sunset Rd
Red-headed Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Sandy Hook
Downy Woodpecker  Sandy Hook
Hairy Woodpecker  Etra Lake Park
Pileated Woodpecker  Etra Lake Park
Northern Flicker  Etra Lake Park
 
American Kestrel  BC Fairgrounds
Merlin  Tip Seaman CP
Peregrine Falcon  Great Bay Blvd
 
Olive-sided Flycatcher  Double Trouble State Park
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  Whitesbog
Acadian Flycatcher  Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Willow Flycatcher  Manahawkin WMA
Least Flycatcher  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Eastern Phoebe  Colliers Mills WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher  Whitesbog
Western Kingbird  Great Bay Blvd
Eastern Kingbird  Whitesbog
 
White-eyed Vireo  Brig
Yellow-throated Vireo  35 Sunset Rd
Blue-headed Vireo  Manasquan River WMA
Warbling Vireo  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo  Manasquan River WMA
Northern Shrike  Franklin Parker Preserve
 
Blue Jay  35 Sunset Rd
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  Etra Lake Park
Common Raven  Sandy Hook
 
Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd
Black-capped Chickadee  Malverne
Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd
 
Horned Lark  Sandy Hook
 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Salem River WMA
Purple Martin  Bombay Hook
Tree Swallow  Reeves Bogs
Bank Swallow  Stafford Preserve
Barn Swallow  Great Bay Blvd
Cliff Swallow  Wesley Lake
 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  Assunpink WMA
Golden-crowned Kinglet  Stafford
 
Red-breasted Nuthatch  Ocean Acres Park
White-breasted Nuthatch  Pond on Schoolhouse Rd
Brown-headed Nuthatch  Cape Henlopen State Park
 
Brown Creeper  35 Sunset Rd
 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Forest Resource Education Center
 
House Wren  35 Sunset Rd
Winter Wren  Brig
Marsh Wren  Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren  Sandy Hook
 
European Starling  35 Sunset Rd
 
Gray Catbird  Sandy Hook
Brown Thrasher  Manahawkin WMA
Northern Mockingbird  Sandy Hook
 
Eastern Bluebird  Stafford
Veery  Double Trouble State Park
Gray-cheeked Thrush  Reeves Bogs
Swainson's Thrush  Bombay Hook
Hermit Thrush  Whitesbog
Wood Thrush  Manahawkin WMA
American Robin  Sandy Hook
 
Cedar Waxwing  Brig
 
House Sparrow  Riverfront Landing
 
American Pipit  Tip Seaman CP
 
House Finch  Shelter Cove Park
Purple Finch  Brig
Common Redpoll  Island Beach SP
Red Crossbill  Tip Seaman CP
Pine Siskin  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  Assunpink WMA
 
Snow Bunting  Sandy Hook
 
Grasshopper Sparrow  Bombay Hook
Chipping Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Clay-colored Sparrow  Island Beach SP
Field Sparrow  Sandy Hook
American Tree Sparrow  Sandy Hook
Fox Sparrow  Manahawkin WMA
Dark-eyed Junco  35 Sunset Rd
White-crowned Sparrow  Cedar Bonnet Island
White-throated Sparrow  Sandy Hook
Seaside Sparrow  Brig
Nelson's Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Saltmarsh Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Savannah Sparrow  Bridge to Nowhere
Song Sparrow  Sandy Hook
Swamp Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Towhee  Colliers Mills WMA
 
Yellow-breasted Chat  Brig
Bobolink  Whitesbog
Eastern Meadowlark  BC Fairgrounds
Orchard Oriole  Manasquan River WMA
Baltimore Oriole  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird  Mud City
Brown-headed Cowbird  New Egypt
Rusty Blackbird  New Egypt
Common Grackle  Stafford
Boat-tailed Grackle  Great Bay Blvd
 
Ovenbird  Whitesbog
Northern Waterthrush  Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue-winged Warbler  Manasquan River WMA
Black-and-white Warbler  Whitesbog
Prothonotary Warbler  Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
SWAINSON'S WARBLER  Higbee Beach WMA
Tennessee Warbler  Cedar Bonnet Island
Orange-crowned Warbler  Sandy Hook
Connecticut Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Common Yellowthroat  Whitesbog
Hooded Warbler  Whitesbog
American Redstart  Manasquan River WMA
Cape May Warbler  Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Parula  Colliers Mills WMA
Magnolia Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
Bay-breasted Warbler  Island Beach SP
Blackburnian Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Yellow Warbler  Brig
Chestnut-sided Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Blackpoll Warbler  Whitesbog
Black-throated Blue Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
Palm Warbler  Whitesbog
Pine Warbler  Franklin Parker Preserve
Yellow-throated Warbler  Prime Hook NWR
Prairie Warbler  Whitesbog
Black-throated Green Warbler  Manasquan River WMA
Canada Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Wilson's Warbler  Island Beach SP
 
Summer Tanager  Colliers Mills WMA
Scarlet Tanager  Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Cardinal  35 Sunset Rd
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  Double Trouble State Park
Blue Grosbeak  Manasquan River WMA
Indigo Bunting  Ephraim P. Emson Preserve
Dickcissel  Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters

Dickcissel, Pineland Preservation Alliance 

Sandy Hook 12/28--Wood Stork

A couple of weeks ago, on the Sandy Hook CBC, a pair of Wood Storks were discovered at Spermaceti Cove. What a fantastic record for that Christmas Count. While Wood Storks are not unprecedented in NJ (or Sandy Hook for that matter) a pair of them in winter is astounding. 

Determined not to dither about these birds as I did the Western Kingbird, I was at Sandy Hook the next morning. And didn't see the birds because the rising tide had flushed them to a stand of trees deep in the marsh. I wasn't too upset, except for the long ride to the Hook, where there is nothing I can't see at Island Beach or Barnegat Light except the garbage on the beach. 

I didn't expect the storks would hang around very long, a cold marsh not being their ideal habitat. But, so long as birds have food, it takes truly extreme weather to really bother them. Great Blue Herons are here all winter, why shouldn't a big bird like a stork continue on so long as it doesn't have to break through ice to find nourishment? Which is what has happened and after seeing, for the last two weeks, dozens of reports of the storks, I just got sick of not having them on my year list, and, seeing that low tide was in the morning, I drove up there again today. I found one bird pretty quickly, but it was far out in the marsh, on the water's edge, behind high reeds, in sun glare. Hardly ideal viewing conditions, but then a few minutes later the other stork appeared closer in, still in a vicious glare, but close enough to get good looks with the scope and close enough to document in photos. 

Having ticked that species for the year, I visited various spots on the Hook, walking as much as possible and staying out of the wind too, so no extended sea watches, and no sorting through huge flocks of gulls. I leave that for the fanatics. I did walk North Beach for a bit, hoping for Snow Buntings. I found one. It is actually harder to find one bunting than a flock of them, but I managed it. A small flock of Horned Larks were also on the beach, eating god knows what, but unfortunately, no longspurs were mixed in. 

Horned Larks

I suspect that concludes my list for the year. There's a Northern Lapwing in Cumberland County but Cumberland County, as far as I'm concerned is Delaware with sales tax. It would have to be something pretty special to get me to chase again this year. But next week, if those storks continue, you can bet I'll be up on the Spermaceti boardwalk, getting a full head of steam up for the 2022 list. 

Great Bay Blvd 12/11--Western Kingbird

Finally.

After 5 fruitless trips to Tip Seaman Park since one, then two Western Kingbirds were discovered there on 11/21, the reports stopped coming and I thought the whole nightmarish episode was behind me. Then yesterday, after about a week-long lull, one was discovered on Great Bay Blvd 3 or 4 miles south of Tip Seaman, hanging around the Rutgers Wind Monitoring Station (the one that incessantly beeps). I, of course, was in Pemberton at the time; too far to go there and get back to do the afternoon chores on my schedule. 

Today, while I was wandering around Whitesbog, Steve texted me that the bird had been refound. I was pretty far from my car and Whitesbog is a good hour away from Tuckerton. I replied that if I went, and didn't find the bird for the sixth time, I would be so pissed that it was better just not to go. He & I were conceivably the only two birders in the county who hadn't eyeballed the bird.  Until about 1 o'clock that is, which is when, as I was sitting down to lunch, Steve texted me:

I got it!

And then there was one. Me. 

Birding is supposed to be fun. Birding is not a job. Birding is not an obligation. But birding is also an obsession and when you are idiotically obsessed with the number of birds you have encountered in a specific county then not having a bird on your list overrides the "fun" aspect of birding. I got in the car and drove the 30 miles to Tuckerton, with, helpfully, Steve giving me updates of the bird's whereabouts via text. Just as I was getting on Great Bay off of Rt 9, he texted met that was leaving and that the bird was out of sight at the moment but was last seen across the road from the Rutgers site. 

As I was barreling down GBB the road was getting murkier with bay fog (warm today) but I didn't see Steve's car coming from the opposite direction. When I, literally, screeched to a halt at the fence of the station, Steve was still there. The bird had just been up and then had flown to the back of the cedar grove. 

We kind of dithered around for a few minutes, trying to get an angle on where we might see the bird from the back. I walked toward the road while Steve stayed near the water where he could keep an eye on the fence too. In a minute he called out that the bird was up. Brief moment of panic for me. Up where? Something flew by my head. Then, perched on a cedar, there was the *&^% bird. 

9 minutes. That's what my eBird "list" of one bird records as my time. But I have never worked so hard for one stinking bird in the all years I've been a birder. It is embarrassing to me how the failure to find it all those previous trips was coloring my mood; if I had had a dog, I would have kicked it. 

And now that it is on the list, that bird is dead to me. I don't care if I see it again. Unless, of course, it hangs around until January. Good year bird for the county. 

A Couple of New Patch Birds At Whitesbog

Snow Goose, Union Pond

Possibly  it's laziness or sour grapes, but lately, rather than scurrying around NJ chasing after this or that rarity, I get more of a boot out of finding something unusual in my usual spots.  On the first of the month I was at Whitesbog looking at the Tundra Swans on Union Pond when I saw a much smaller bird with them. As I hauled out the scope and was setting it up on the dike, my local informant pulled up behind me and before I could point out the bird he told me it was an immature Snow Goose and had been there a day or two. I have never seen a Snow Goose at Whitesbog, not even a flyover flock. If you drive the roads around the farms and fields in Burlco, you'll have no trouble finding huge numbers of them, but there isn't much suitable habitat for them around Whitesbog. So I was excited to see one and add it to my patch list. I have a larger list at Whitesbog than I do for most of the counties in New Jersey which just shows how little I'm willing to travel outside my comfort zone. 

A minute or two later my friend pointed out a bird floating on the Middle Bog behind us. He thought it might be the Ruddy Duck he'd seen there the day before, but I could immediately see that it was a gull. Gulls aren't that common at Whitesbog either, except as flyovers. Because it was relatively small, naked eye I thought it was a Laughing Gull, but scoping it I was amazed to see that it was a Bonaparte's Gull. A Bonnie in the middle of the Pine Barrens (sorry real estate developers, the "Pinelands") is a rarity. It was the first record for Whitesbog though probably not the first sighting; my friend doesn't list and in his 50 years of going to Whitesbog, has seen a lot of rarities. If we could only do a direct mind dump of his head into eBird! So that was a second patch bird for me, not to mention a county lifer. 

Snow Goose with adult and immature Tundra Swans

I went back a couple of days later and the BOGU was gone, but the Snow Goose was still there, following around 4 swans on the Middle Bog. When they flew over to Union Pond it chased after them like a kid brother running after the big boys. 

Later that day all the swans disappeared from Union Pond; my local informant told me that they were on the Upper Reservoir in the Ocean County portion of the bogs. Driving over there I found the flock and with them was the Snow Goose. 

Early this morning I was there again; the same flock of 24 birds plus the Snow Goose. This got me to speculating. Why is this Snow Goose hanging around these swans? Did it somehow up in the arctic, imprint on a passing Tundra Swan when it hatched and now thinks it's a swan? Snow Geese eat grass and corn stubble, they don't float around a bog pulling up plants like swans do, yet this goose is always in the bogs with the swans, never feeding at the sides where grass and brush grow. Is this sort of a reverse ugly duckling scenario?  And, just as an aside, what is The Ugly Duckling other than a case study in imprinting long before Loren Eisely came up with the concept? 

Finally, one more question: For the second year in a row, the Tundra Swans that winter in our area seem to have had poor breeding success. There have been few immature swans with the adults. The maximum I have seen is 3 in flock of 30+. Is the Snow Goose a surrogate cygnet for a pair of Tundra Swans? 

So many questions generated by the appearance of one odd goose.

Bonaparte's Gull, Middle Bog