Deer Head Lake 1/10--Long-billed Dowitcher

The pleasures and frustrations of chasing all in one moment. This morning I finally got around to going to Deer Head Lake in Lacey, where since late December a quartet of Long-billed Dowitchers have been feeding on the mud flats (the lake is drawn down in winter).  LB Dowitchers are always a good bird in NJ and especially in Ocean County. And winter dowitchers eliminates the angst over whether they're the Short-billed on Long-billed species. Short-bills just aren't around after summer. 

Usually, I bird from the west side of the lake where there's a big culvert platform to stand on, but today, driving there I noticed an opening on the east side of the lake and saw a big flock of geese there, so I parked, found a path, and set up the scope on the edge of the mud. Immediately I found a couple of Killdeer (new for the year) and then was slightly surprised to see a Greater Yellowlegs fly by. Promising. I scanned the flats near me, then started on the flats across the lake. More Killdeer, and lots of Green-winged Teal and Hooded Mergansers mixed in with the geese, but no target species. From my angle I was blocked from the northwest part of the lake, so I packed up the scope and drove the 3/4 of a mile to the other side. There I set up again and scanned. More yellowlegs flew in from who knows where and the flock was up to 8. I shifted my perspective and looked more northerly, but still no dowitchers. After another look through the exposed stumps and shallow puddles I was ready to give up. It was cold. I had the scope on my shoulder when I saw some movement on a little island. I said to myself, "One more look," and I was trying to remember if "One more look" ever worked when I saw three shorebirds fly to my right with big white streaks up their backs. So apparently "One more look" does work. (If you find what you're looking for it will be in the last place you looked.) 

The birds landed right on the edge of the shore moving in and out between the much larger geese. And where were they? Right where I had been, on the east side of the lake. So, no possibility of getting photos. I thought about driving back to the east side, but I could already see the dowitchers getting up and flying off as I approached so I didn't let a win turn into a loss. Looking through the subsequent eBird reports for the day, only the trio has been reported. Where did #4 go? 

Deer Head Lake is one of those spots that is under-birded. A few years ago, I went there for the first time only because a birder I know who works nearby would find good birds on her lunch hour. Almost the first bird I saw that day was a Ross's Goose! Cackling Goose has been there a few times if one is inclined to sort through the hundreds of geese that frequent the lake. And now the dowitchers. Fortunately, a few good birders live nearby and give it regular coverage. 

Eastern Bluebird, Dark-eyed Junco, Meadowedge Park

I'd started the day at Bamber Lake (another under-birded spot) and came away with my first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the year. After Deer Head, I drove over to Bay Parkway in Waretown then down to Barnegat. Meadowedge Park didn't have anything unusual, but it did have some pretty bluebirds. I made my last stop Cloverdale Farm; again, nothing exciting. All that wandering around produced 38 species for the day, with the dowitchers and nuthatch being the highlights.

Northern Mockingbird, Cloverdale Park