Island Beach SP 2/28--King Eider Wraps Up the Month

Shorter month, shorter list. Today, to wrap up the month, and against my better judgment, I walked the southern end of Island Beach SP down to the inlet in the wind, hoping that I could track down the ever-present King Eider hen that I'd missed a couple of times on the other side at Barnegat Light. It has been my experience that I usually have better luck find the smiling hen at Island Beach than I do from the jetty--probably because I hate standing on the jetty--and today was again a success when, at the back of the inlet I found a small flock of Common Eiders, mostly drakes, but there were two hens, and when comparing them, I could see the tell-tale grin of the King Eider (oh how I hate these gendered appellations) next to the more dour hen Common Eider.  It took me a long time with my hand freezing on the focus wheel of the scope despite my heated glove before the bird would turn just so in order for the sun to illuminate her face but finally, she did. She was bird #114 for the month, #140 for the year. 

Rusty Blackbirds, Whitesbog

While I was happy to find the eider, the most satisfying sightings/hearings this month were the unexpected birds, e.g., the American Woodcock in the basin next door, the Wild Turkeys on Pasadena Road, a flock of Rusty Blackbirds at Whitesbog, and, most surprising of all, the Eared Grebe at Manasquan Inlet. It's a contingent universe. That's why I always laugh when someone congratulates me a on "a great find." I just happened to be there at the same time as the bird, that's all. I guess it's better than being run over by a backhoe, but it's all luck. And now to contradict myself: Luck is the residue of design. Any quote attributed to both John Milton and Branch Rickey is a Hall of Famer. 

This month's list.

Counties birded: Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                             First Sighting

Snow Goose  Pemberton Lake WMA

Brant  Baltimore Ave

Cackling Goose  Meadowedge Park

Canada Goose  Lake of the Lilies

Mute Swan  Barnegat Municipal Dock

Trumpeter Swan  Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan  Bamber Lake

Wood Duck  Reeves Bogs

Northern Shoveler  Lake of the Lilies

Gadwall  Double Trouble SP

Eurasian Wigeon  MacLearie Park

American Wigeon  MacLearie Park

Mallard  Lake of the Lilies

American Black Duck  Waretown

Northern Pintail  Pemberton Lake WMA

Green-winged Teal  Reeves Bogs

Redhead  Lake Como

Ring-necked Duck  Pemberton Lake WMA

Greater Scaup  Barnegat Municipal Dock

Lesser Scaup  Assunpink WMA

King Eider  Island Beach SP

Common Eider  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-tailed Duck  Barnegat Municipal Dock

Bufflehead  Barnegat Municipal Dock

Common Goldeneye  Sands Point--Dock Ave

Hooded Merganser  Sands Point--Dock Ave

Common Merganser  Sands Point--Dock Ave

Red-breasted Merganser  Baltimore Ave

Ruddy Duck  Assunpink WMA

Wild Turkey  Pasadena Road

Pied-billed Grebe  Bunker Hill Bogs

Horned Grebe  Manasquan Inlet

Eared Grebe  Manasquan Inlet

Rock Pigeon  Waretown

Mourning Dove  35 Sunset Rd

American Coot  Lake of the Lilies

Killdeer  Waretown

Ruddy Turnstone  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Sanderling  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

American Woodcock  35 Sunset Rd

Greater Yellowlegs  Manahawkin WMA

Thick-billed Murre  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Razorbill  Manasquan Inlet

Black-headed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Ring-billed Gull  Lake of the Lilies

Herring Gull  Lake of the Lilies

Iceland Gull  Lake Como

Lesser Black-backed Gull  Lake Como

Great Black-backed Gull  Lake of the Lilies

Red-throated Loon  Baltimore Ave

Common Loon  Manasquan Inlet

Great Cormorant  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Double-crested Cormorant  Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Great Blue Heron  Lake of the Lilies

Black-crowned Night-Heron  Assunpink WMA

Black Vulture  New Egypt

Turkey Vulture  Baltimore Ave

Northern Harrier  Pasadena Road

Sharp-shinned Hawk  Whitesbog

Cooper's Hawk  New Egypt

Bald Eagle  Whitesbog

Red-shouldered Hawk  Whitesbog

Red-tailed Hawk  Whitesbog

Eastern Screech-Owl  Whitesbog

Great Horned Owl  Whitesbog

Belted Kingfisher  Waretown

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  Crestwood Village

Red-bellied Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd

Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker  Whitesbog

Northern Flicker  Whitesbog

American Kestrel  BC Fairgrounds

Merlin  Colliers Mills WMA

Blue Jay  Crestwood Village

American Crow  Lake of the Lilies

Fish Crow  Whitesbog

Common Raven  Whitesbog

Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  Assunpink WMA

Golden-crowned Kinglet  Whitesbog

White-breasted Nuthatch  35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper  35 Sunset Rd

Winter Wren  Edwin B. Eno's Pond

Carolina Wren  Crestwood Village

European Starling  Crestwood Village

Northern Mockingbird  Waretown

Eastern Bluebird  Whitesbog

Hermit Thrush  35 Sunset Rd

American Robin  Lake of the Lilies

Cedar Waxwing  Whitesbog

House Sparrow  Waretown

House Finch  Lake of the Lilies

American Goldfinch  35 Sunset Rd

Snow Bunting  Manasquan Inlet

Field Sparrow  Whitesbog

American Tree Sparrow  Assunpink WMA

Fox Sparrow  Whitesbog

Dark-eyed Junco  35 Sunset Rd

White-crowned Sparrow  Assunpink WMA

White-throated Sparrow  Crestwood Village

Savannah Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA

Song Sparrow  Crestwood Village

Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog

Eastern Meadowlark  Colliers Mills WMA

Red-winged Blackbird  Waretown

Brown-headed Cowbird  New Egypt

Rusty Blackbird  Whitesbog

Common Grackle  Whitesbog

Boat-tailed Grackle  Manasquan Inlet

Pine Warbler  Whitesbog

Yellow-rumped Warbler  35 Sunset Rd

Northern Cardinal  35 Sunset Rd

Red-throated Loon, Manasquan Inlet

Backyard 2/26--American Woodcock

 I went out a little after 6 this evening to move the cars--I feel like I'm working in a parking lot sometimes--when, just as I was about to get into my car, I heard "peent!" from the detention basin next to the house. American Woodcock! I walked over there and heard it again and again and one more time. I walked down--the basin, aside from a small pool near the street is almost always dry--and hoped the woodcock would take flight, but it never did and shut up after 4 nasal calls. 

One of the reasons we bought this house is because of that basin--no neighbors either in back (the Whiting WMA) or on the side of the house. In the summer, of course, the whip-poor-will(s) take up residence. Bluebirds live there and the turkeys nest somewhere in the denser growth of the basin. All in all, quite a nice little spot to have next door if you're a birder. 

It isn't the first time we've had a woodcock in the backyard. (I consider the basin part of our backyard, though we don't own it. It's actually unclear who does own it.) A few years ago, in mid-winter, we had one sitting on the edge of the lawn where the underbrush starts. I remember seeing it from the back window and shouting, "Shari, come here!" She thought I was having a heart attack. Two days later it snowed heavily, and the woodcock was in a snow shelter that formed around some low hanging branches on a bent pine tree, answering Shari's question of "Where do they go when it snows?" 

Lake of the Lillies (sic)

I love a really big, hard to correct, misspelling. A typo in a book is easily overlooked (that's why they're typos) unless, like me, you spent 30 years worrying about them. But misspellings in other media are so much harder to understand. I've seen them in neon (PAY ALL UTILITES), in metal ("waterflow" for "waterfowl" on a sign at Magee Marsh), on silkscreened banners ("FRAMERS" for "FARMERS"), and today, carved in wood. There is a psychological law of perception in which you see what you expect to see, not what you are actually seeing. I have stood in front of botched signs with someone (not mentioning any names) and said, "Read the sign.... again...again." It usually takes 3 readings for the error to pop out. 

Today, while I was walking around 3 sides of the Lake of the Lilies in Point Pleasant Beach, I came to the southeast corner where there is a small grove of trees that sometimes holds a few passerines with which to pad your list. In front of this grove there is the sign above. I took one look at it, took a photo with my phone, and sent it to a birder friend who lives in "Point Beach." 

"Ever notice that this sign is misspelled?" I texted her. 

Immediately an answer came back that yes, she had, and had thought about asking the municipal authorities to correct it. However, whoever carved the sign may have been unwittingly copying a mistake, since the misspelling goes back many years and appears on old maps of Point Pleasant Beach, as evidenced by some pics she sent me. It is a cartographer's trick to put in a few mistakes in a map to have evidence should the map ever be plagiarized. I'm wondering if that's what happened here. It is also listed as a "variant" in the 1983 USGS Gazetteer for New Jersey (a page of which she also sent me) along with the variants Eskins Pond and Old Sams Pond*. It has also gone under the name of Mineral Lake. All very interesting, but "Lillies" is wrong. 

Now, I admit, that whenever I type the word "lily" I have to think about it. It seems like it should have two ells. But that's the point: I think about. I pause. I check. If I was carving a sign, I wouldn't just start hacking away with a chisel without confirming every letter I was about to chisel. It is congruent with the carpenter's law of "Measure twice, cut once." 

As to the bird life in the grove itself: one Song Sparrow, one Northern Mockingbird, and a horde of House Sparrows. 

But the sign made the walk worth it. 

*Without the expected apostrophe.

Pasadena Road 2/20--Wild Turkey

I always say that in birding it all depends upon your life-line intersecting with the bird's life-line. But Wild Turkeys have lots of life-lines and my life-line zigzags all over the place, so it was astounding to me that until I turned onto Pasadena Road this morning, I hadn't seen a turkey in 4 months to the day. Consider that the majority of my sightings are from our backyard, and it is even more astounding. 

I had spent the first part of the morning walking and backtracking at Reeves Bogs. I hadn't been there in a few months and in the interim some of the makeshift bridges had either shifted or been flooded by beavers so two or three times I found myself having to retrace my steps. On one of the back bogs I ran into my friend going in the opposite direction. After we stopped and compared bird notes, I asked him how he was getting back to his truck--he parks on the opposite of the bogs from where I do. "I'll just make a right up here on this path," he said. I laughed. "Why, is it flooded?" he asked. "I had to climb over a tree," I told him. "Oh, the tree," he said, "I won't cross that bridge anymore. I know about the tree." 

While I only counted 16 species on my meanders, among those species were close to 50 Tundra Swans (more than twice what I can expect at Whitesbog lately), hen & drake Wood Ducks (always a nice surprise), and 4 Green-winged Teal, unusual for this time of year. 

I considered heading to South Park Road, but having walked my requisite 4 miles at Reeves, I didn't need any more exercise. Impulsively, I turned onto Pasadena Road which runs through J.J.White's (the White in Whitesbog) property. I didn't expect much, but on the Pinelands Count, I did come across a Northern Harrier in the bogs. I had no real expectation of a year bird, so when I saw a flock of big birds in a scrubby field immediately on my right, I figured they would be geese. But of course, they were the turkeys, a big flock of 22. I couldn't get very close to them (private property) but took what photos I could from the fence line. I always find it much more satisfying to stumble upon a year bird than to go searching for one. 

I drove all the way back to City Line Road (what city, I wonder) without finding too much of interest. There are a lot of roads back there that look interesting, but I suspect they're more interesting to ATV riders than to birds. Maybe in spring migration a day could be devoted to exploring the roads that go back to the Pole Bridge Branch. 

Manasquan Inlet | Lake Como 2/19--Eared Grebe, Iceland Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull

Iceland Gull, Lake Como

With a wind advisory in effect--gusts up to 50 mph predicted--I was dreading today's NJA field trip to the inlets and ponds of the north shore. But the with the hopes of some rarities, I steeled myself for an ordeal. Since I stink at finding the most sought-after gulls, my best chance to find them is to go out with some good birders. I used to think I stunk at picking out rare gulls from the usual ones because my eyesight was poor, but since my cataract surgery I can't use that excuse. I stink at it because to study gulls you have stand out on a jetty or beach and go through huge flocks of ever shifting birds while the winter wind brings tears to your eyes and your hands freeze on the scope focus ring and as soon as I try to do that the "fun" question occurs to me and since it is decidedly not fun, I quickly give up. 

Better I should pay twenty bucks and let someone with the search image firmly in mind find one. Or as it turned out today, two. 

But the magnificent find was not a gull and was wholly unexpected. And the weather, while rough, wasn't as bad as I was expecting. 

We started the morning on the jetty at Manasquan Inlet. Bundled against the wind, 18 intrepid birders set up thousands of dollars of optical equipment to scan the churning sea, only to find loons, mergansers, and Long-tailed Ducks. The beach was barren of gulls. I left the scope in Shari's hands (literally, or else it would blow over) and started walking down the jetty, hoping to scare up a Purple Sandpiper or two and to move around. Of course, when I was far down the jetty everyone started yelling my name. I ran back to hear "Eared Grebe!" 

There was an Eared Grebe for a few days last month off Holgate that I missed. Eared Grebes being pretty rare in NJ I was chagrined, especially since I had never seen one in Ocean County. Manasquan Inlet, at least the part we were standing on, is in Ocean County. If I missed this bird, the day was ruined and all because I can't stand still. But luckily, happily, Shari had it in the scope as did a couple of other folks and I got a good look at the bird, though it dove a couple of times. No shot of getting a picture and then, as fast as it had appeared, it disappeared. Speculation was that it was keeping tight to the jetty where we couldn't see it, or that it had drifted north. But after everyone in the group, I believe, got on it, it was not seen again. 

Black-headed Gull, Manasquan Inlet

Just before everyone was frozen to the core, we made our way back to the parking lot and drove a few hundred yards to the back of the inlet where we saw our first rare gull of the day, the long-staying celebrity, a Black-headed Gull. Not a year bird for me, but I was happy Shari got to see it since it has been a few years (or possibly longer) since she's had one on her year list. 

We then began hopscotching various bodies of water starting with Lake of the Lilies (Killdeer, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shovelers) to Wreck Pond and the Spring Lake boardwalk, then up to Lake Como where we defied the no parking signs and scoped the pond. The first interesting gull was an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull that was pretty obvious once someone else pointed it out, but before I could get the camera to try for a pic, the caravan moved on to the other end of the lake because there was a small flock of Redheads to view, and Redheads are always worth the look. 

Just as I was about to get the Redheads in the scope an "interesting" gull flew into the pond. It was all white with a black-tipped bill. Remember: I stink at gulls. So, when it was identified as a Glaucous Gull, I just accepted that, as did everyone else in the group. Ever read the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds? Sometimes, that title pops into my mind when I'm birding in a group. In this instance, I was able to get a few pictures of the grayish bird in gray water under gray skies. Not great pictures, but good enough to have the bird's i.d. corrected almost immediately by the Monmouth County reviewer once I posted the photos on my eBird list. It was an immature Iceland Gull. Iceland/Glaucous, Glaucous/Iceland...I'll take either one. Gulls. This is why I didn't even consider going into Central Park in NYC to find the Slaty-backed Gull. My chances would be slim. 

We made a quick stop at the Shark River Inlet where the pickings were so poor that I didn't even bother with a list, then ended the day at MacLearie Park on the Shark River, where, reliably, there has been a Eurasian Wigeon this year, last year, the year before...and there it was, waddling on a sandbar with a few hundred Brant. 

The day accumulated 43 species the hard way with 3 year birds for me and 3 rarities on the list. 

Species  First Sighting

Brant  Manasquan Inlet

Canada Goose  Manasquan Inlet

Mute Swan  Lake of the Lilies

Northern Shoveler  Lake of the Lilies

Gadwall  MacLearie Park

Eurasian Wigeon  MacLearie Park

American Wigeon  MacLearie Park

Mallard  Lake Como

American Black Duck  MacLearie Park

Redhead  Lake Como

Ring-necked Duck  Lake Como

Lesser Scaup  Lake of the Lilies

Long-tailed Duck  Manasquan Inlet

Bufflehead  Little Silver Lake

Hooded Merganser  Lake of the Lilies

Red-breasted Merganser  Manasquan Inlet

Ruddy Duck  Lake of the Lilies

Horned Grebe  Manasquan Inlet

Eared Grebe  Manasquan Inlet

American Coot  Lake of the Lilies

Killdeer  Lake of the Lilies

Black-headed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Ring-billed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Herring Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Iceland Gull  Lake Como

Lesser Black-backed Gull  Lake Como

Great Black-backed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Red-throated Loon  Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon  Manasquan Inlet

Great Cormorant  Spring Lake

Double-crested Cormorant  Lake Como

Great Blue Heron  Lake Como

Turkey Vulture  Little Silver Lake

Bald Eagle  MacLearie Park

Red-tailed Hawk  Lake of the Lilies

Blue Jay  Wreck Pond

European Starling  Manasquan Inlet

American Robin  Lake of the Lilies

House Sparrow  Lake of the Lilies

Snow Bunting  Manasquan Inlet

Song Sparrow  Wreck Pond

Boat-tailed Grackle  Manasquan Inlet

Northern Cardinal  Wreck Pond

Red-throated Loon, Manasquan Inlet

Whitesbog | Meadowedge Park 2/16--Cackling Goose, Pine Warbler

I started the very cold morning on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog with low expectations, since all the water was frozen again. The most interesting birds I saw for the first part of the walk were 3 Rusty Blackbirds that flew out of the bog across from Big Tank. I saw rusties twice last week, both times behind Union Pond; this is my first sighting there over the line. 

After confirming that the Upper Reservoir was also a sheet of ice, I varied my usual route a little by walking over the Antrim bogs on the road that used to go around a now-breached bog. I remembered that a few years ago, that was the trail where I finally tracked down my FOY Pine Warbler. Birders are superstitious; if you found a good bird in a tree one time, you'll check out that tree every time you pass it. At the intersection there was a flurry of activity with titmice and chickadees flitting in the pines and then, a little higher, the Pine Warbler made its appearance. Pine Warblers use to flagged as "rare" in winter in OC, but they were always here. As my late friend Pete Bacinski explained, since they don't sing in winter, they go unnoticed. They don't even chip, like Yellow-rumps. 

With the rusties, the Pine Warbler, and 23 Tundra Swans on Union Pond in Burlco, I was satisfied with the morning's walk. On Saturday, birding with Jim and Matt, I had twice as many species on my list, but the weather was warmer, and we spent more than 5 hours walking the bogs. 

It was late in the afternoon when I saw an eBird alert that a Cackling Goose was "continuing" at Meadowedge Park down in Barnegat. This is the same park where I saw one last year. The park is a little more than a half hour away from here and having just finished a book I was reading I had nothing better to do before dinner. The advantage is that the park is small, so there aren't a lot of geese to sort through. I found the cackler within a few minutes of arriving, swimming in the tiny pond with about 50 Canada cousins. Then it was just a question of getting the right angle on it to take a photo. After a while the flock got out of the water and moved over to the adjacent lawn, so I was able to get photos of the bird on land too, though it kept disappearing behind other geese. At 4:28 the entire flock of 110 birds (1 cackler, 109 Canada) took off north. Apparently, they didn't go too far, because there are reports from around 5:00 of a Cackling Goose from a tavern on Route 9, less than a mile away. Guess it was drink time for the flock. 

Helpful Signs Along the Way

 Whitesbog Boardwalk Trail

Colliers Mills 2/13--Merlin

What idiot would stand in a snowstorm counting 246 Ring-necked Ducks one by one?  This idiot. Easily amused as I am, I do it just to blow up the eBird filter which flags large numbers of Ring-necks, I don't know why. The phrase "Exact count" also amuses me since at any one time, about a third of diving ducks are doing exactly that and are below the surface, so 246 is definitely low. I've seen lots more than that on Turnmill Pond, where I was counting. Last year, or the year before, I had upwards of 450. For some reason, it's a gathering spot for them in mid-winter. 

I didn't expect to be taking a snowy walk at Colliers Mills. I thought the snow had stopped when I left the house. It started again at the moment I stepped out of the car. Nothing for it but to walk. I decided on a peculiar route, since I wanted to look for specific birds and/or specific spots. I started up Success Road, hoping a kestrel would be along the wires. Instead, a Merlin, high and fast, blasted through the gray sky, going north to south at speed. I've decided on the acronym YALL for these sightings: Yet Another Lousy Look. 

With a year bird on the list, I briefly considered heading for home but pushed on to the woods north of Success, looking, unsuccessfully, for a Red-headed Woodpecker. Strange to go so many times without finding one. I'm wondering if they've moved on, or if they're back in the spot I haven't felt like walking to, beyond the power line cut. Nor did I see, or hear, the Great Horned Owl that I encountered last week. In fact, it was extremely quiet in the woods except for a brief volley of tweety birds. I found that in the snow I had lost track of landmarks and had walked much farther than I usually do there before I finally turned around. 

Then I walked down Hawkin Road which skirts Turnmill. After my stop for the Ring-necked Ducks, I continued south, finally turning off the road a little over a mile on, my destination the back of a pond that I started looking at last summer, thinking (having flushed a big flock of Wood Ducks there) that it might be interesting in winter. Naturally, I'd pick the worst weather to check it out. But it was interesting. The Mallards, black ducks, and Hooded Mergansers weren't noteworthy, and there were no Ring-necks as I hoped there'd be, just to explode the filter further; instead, it was the four Tundra Swans that were unusual. It is only the 2nd time I have seen Tundra Swans at Colliers. The first time was the first time Shari & I ever went there, and they were on Success Lake.  They didn't last long. Whether they flew off because they were just visiting or because they sensed my presence I don't know, but they flew north.

I did get a better look at a Merlin. As I was driving home on East Colliers Mills Road I saw one atop a utility pole. While I didn't have my bins or my camera handy, I was able to take a poor photo with my phone. 

My walk in the snow yielded 20 species. A lot of them were heard because I didn't feel like taking my hands out of my pockets. 

Canada Goose  26

Tundra Swan  4    

Mallard  8

American Black Duck  6    Hawkin Road ponds

Ring-necked Duck  246   

Hooded Merganser  8

Mourning Dove  2

Herring Gull  16    Flyover

Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard

Merlin  1    Flyover

Common Raven  1    Heard croaking

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Eastern Bluebird  4

American Robin  30

White-throated Sparrow  1

Savannah Sparrow  3

Song Sparrow  12

Red-winged Blackbird  1    Heard

BC Fairgrounds 2/12--American Kestrel

Usually, almost a month and a half into the year, I'll have seen a kestrel, even if it is just quick look at one perched on a wire on Colliers Mills Road while I'm driving between spots in New Egypt. But that hasn't happened this year. To rectify this lacuna on the year list, I made a few of stops in Burlco after spending 5+ hours birding Whitesbog with Jim & Matt, where, of course, no kestrels were present (though two Sharp-shinned Hawks, one of them just at dawn, were cool).  

I drove over to the Pemberton MUA grounds, where I've seen kestrels in the past and where they've been fairly regular of late, according to Jim. Of course, not there. Then I drove around the other side to the Early Learning Center, kind of hoping for Sandhill Cranes, but at least a kestrel hunting the fields or on a utility pole. No. 

Big Sigh. I drove up the BC Fairgrounds. There's at least one kestrel box at the fairgrounds. They like to hang out on the mysterious antenna in the middle of the field. They perch atop the lamp poles. No, no, & no. I walked the length of the parking twice without seeing one. I didn't even care if I saw the Rough-legged Hawk, which I didn't, though I felt bad for the birder with the Massachusetts plates who'd come to look for it. Finally, as I was leaning against my car, catching up with the Thick-billed Murre sightings at Barnegat Light (80 listings today and counting), a couple I'd spoken to earlier drove over toward me and honked the horn. As they were driving out, they'd seen an American Kestrel in the tree over its box and had watched it fly back toward me. It was sitting, obscured by branches, in a bare sweetgum tree over the pond. With my scope I could barely make it out. "Ah," says I to myself, "the Year of Lousy Looks continues relentlessly." But after a while the bird flew out of the tree, giving me at least enough of look to determine that it was a female. It perched at the back of the field on a slanted pole. The photos aren't much to look at. Had I truly given up on seeing the bird? Perhaps not totally, as I thought there was a chance I'd see one driving out, but essentially yes, at least enough for the Second Law of Birding to take effect.

Barnegat Light SP 2/10--Thick-billed Murre

It's funny, sometimes, how the timing works out. Had I not spent much longer than I planned at 5th Street in Barnegat Light waiting, unsuccessfully, for a Western Tanager to show up because I was having a pleasant conversation with Bob L who was waiting alongside me, I would have been leaving the state park probably an hour earlier after having spent time on the jetty looking for the current rarity there. I also would not have run into a couple of birders I know who also were searching for it. And I would not have been almost leaving the park 0 for 2 when I ran into one of them again, as he was rushing back to the jetty because the Thick-billed Murre had just been reported at the mouth of the inlet.  Since I don't subscribe to alerts, I wouldn't have known until hours later, when it would appear in the eBird rare bird reports.  

I fast walked with him back to the jetty and climbed up in "my" spot where there is a slanted rock that works almost like a ramp, but I was reluctant to walk very far out on the jetty as the boulders were wet and on that part of it seem more uneven with wider gaps than the section that runs along the beach. I advanced as far as couple of guys with scopes and said to myself that the murre could be anywhere and my odds were just as good there as they were at the end of the jetty where my fellow seekers had gone, perhaps another quarter mile of rough rock hopping.

The day, which had started out sunny and calm and unseasonably warm had turned partly cloudy and very windy. Lifting my bins to scan the inlet I felt unsteady as the wind hit me in the back. I abhor the jetty, productive as it has been for me. I also didn't want to stand there indefinitely waiting for a bird that has a tendency to dive and come up very far way if it all, especially after waiting for the non-appearing tanager. Waiting for a bird to show up is like holding a losing stock position--you have to know when to cut your losses and it is very hard to cut your losses because it is an admission of failure but, as the saying goes, your first loss is your best loss, because to lose an hour is much better than to lose 4 or 5. So I set an alarm. 16 minutes. I don't know why I picked 16 minutes, but I did. If I didn't see the bird in 16 minutes, then I take the loss. Like setting a stop-loss on a stock. 

So, I stood there, waves crashing on the rocks, wind making my balance slightly precarious, time skittering away, when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a non-duck, non-loon, YES, a Thick-billed Murre, out of nowhere seemingly, was just floating by me out to the ocean. "There's the bird," I yelled, and the 2 other guys standing near me got on the bird right away. It was a lifer for one of them. Meanwhile, my companions were way up the jetty at its tip. I yelled, but my words were lost in the wind. (As it turns out, one of them saw it and the other didn't as the bird, which was drifting toward them, was up for a minute or so then dove out of sight.)

Thus, in a New Age-y kind of way, failure leads to success, as my whiff on the tanager set up the perfect timing for the murre. Thanks Bob, my patience on 5th Street would have run out a lot sooner had you not been there too.

PWBC 2/6--Eastern Screech-Owl

Tundra Swans at dawn

After a week's weather delay, today was the 7th (I believe) Pinelands Winter Bird Census and I, as usual, did my section which centers on Whitesbog and takes in some surrounding bogs, roads, and Country Lakes Estates. This count, Jim Schill's idea, is done because great swaths of the Pinelands--oh please, "Pinelands" is a real estate euphemism--because great swaths of the Pine Barrens lay outside any Christmas Count circles, so a bunch of us run around the bogs, farm fields, ponds and forests of Burlington County (with a tiny slice of Ocean included because of Whitesbog) counting birds. I do my area solo, even though it is pretty large. That's why I scout beforehand, so I'll have an idea where the birds are and where I don't have to waste my time.

The highlights of the day were done by just after dawn. I started at 5 AM listening for owls. I wasn't too optimistic because in January I'd gone there a few times pre-dawn and never heard a hoot or a whinny. I took along Shari's Bluetooth speaker on the theory that my phone wasn't loud enough to attract an owl's attention but, as it turned out it, I didn't really need it. As soon as I got out of the car in the village parking lot, I heard two Great Horned Owls duetting without any prompting from me. Then I drove over to one of my owl spots in the Triangle Field and played an ESO call. I heard two more GHOs calling to each other, then, on the other side of the field, an Eastern Screech-Owl whinnied. At the entrance to the bogs, just as you come out of the village, another reliable spot, I heard another screech-owl. So maybe I wasn't getting there early enough, or maybe I just got lucky. 

I drove back through the Triangle Field hoping to flush a woodcock in the false dawn but was unsuccessful. Then I drove out to Union Pond, just as the sky was lightening. I could see the 5 Tundra Swans on the ice. There is a small area of open water on the pond where yesterday there were quite a few ducks were concentrated, but today, only the swans, and a very small number at that. Even though the "flock" built up to 9 by mid-day, it is a very disconcerting number. I used to get swans in the dozens there, now I can count them on two hands. On the bright side, 9 Tundra Swans is 9 more than I got last year, when I was completely skunked on the swans. 

After that it was drive to a previous hot spot and walk around. Some places where birds were yesterday were barren, some spots were very active. The tweety birds were in the village, one immature Bald Eagle flew over Union Pond at dawn while another was atop the water tower where the vultures usually rest. 

Digiscoped Northern Harrier

A drive around the Ocean County section of Whitesbog was almost a complete washout--4 lousy juncos that I could find. Then I drove over to Pasadena Road along the bogs and was surprised to see one Herring Gull. I lost it in the bogs then drove along and thought I saw it fly up and land farther out. However, that bird, while gray, didn't strike me as the gull. With the scope the bird turned out to be a gray ghost Northern Harrier with prey between its talons that it was tearing apart with its beak. Don't think I've ever seen a gray ghost on the ground and eating. 

A stop at Country Lake Estates got me my only ducks of the day--Mallard and Hooded Merganser. And a solitary Ring-billed Gull. I ate lunch at Whitesbog in the village and I could tell that things had quieted down substantially. My last list came from Whitesbog Road and it didn't have much on it. 

For the day I tallied 35 species, 8 more than last year. I'll be curious to see the final numbers for the whole group. 

Canada Goose  Whitesbog
Tundra Swan  Whitesbog
Mallard  Country Lake Estates
Hooded Merganser  Country Lake Estates
Mourning Dove  Whitesbog
Ring-billed Gull  Country Lake Estates
Herring Gull  Pasadena Road
Great Blue Heron  Whitesbog
Turkey Vulture  Whitesbog
Northern Harrier  Pasadena Road
Bald Eagle  Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk  Whitesbog
Eastern Screech-Owl  Whitesbog
Great Horned Owl  Whitesbog
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Downy Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Hairy Woodpecker  Whitesbog
American Crow  Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee  Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse  Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch  Whitesbog Road
Carolina Wren  Whitesbog
European Starling  Whitesbog
Eastern Bluebird  Whitesbog
Hermit Thrush  Whitesbog
American Robin  Whitesbog
House Sparrow  Country Lake Estates
House Finch  Whitesbog
American Goldfinch  Whitesbog
Dark-eyed Junco  Whitesbog
White-throated Sparrow  Whitesbog
Song Sparrow  Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog Road
Yellow-rumped Warbler  Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal  Whitesbog