Island Beach SP 5/1--Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Wood Thrush, Marsh Wren, Baltimore Oriole

Spotted Sandpiper

Supposedly, a million birds flew over Ocean County last night. I went to Island Beach this morning, hoping a few of them landed. The problem with Island Beach, migrant trap that it is, is that you can't really get in there early enough to see the morning flight unless you cheat with fishing gear and fool the booth attendant into thinking you're there to fish. This, of course, enrages birders, and when I got to Reed's Road at 8:02, I could hear, up the trail, a familiar rant from a birder who'd gotten into an argument trying to get in a little early. There is a solution to this; just as Sandy Hook doesn't charge in the summer if you go there to bird (you're just restricted from parking in swimming lots), Island Beach could institute a similar program, since their rationale has to do with keeping the beaches clear in the morning so they can "comb" them. 

But enough about an easily solved insoluble problem. Apparently, I learned from a wily birder, the morning flight was terrific and by 8, was predictably dying down. I don't know why, but I was surprised that so many people had the same idea I did, including Steve, Scott, Chelsea and Doug. I was glad to see them though as we formed a loose group and birded up and down the road. I saw, finally, a pair of Spotted Sandpipers on the beach, a Wood Thrush on the road, and a Baltimore Oriole high up in the tree.  

Iceland Gull

No wind to speak of today made birding a delight as we stuck to the bay side trails, working our way down to Spizzle Creek. Among the year birds were a couple of lingering rarities, a Horned Grebe in full breeding plumage at the kayak access across from A15 and an Iceland Gull (once a nemesis bird for me in the county) which has been loafing for weeks at the end of the Johnny Allen Cove Trail. We had a flyover Solitary Sandpiper, which means I don't have to make a special trip to Cloverdale to list one. At the end of Spizzle Creek where the Marsh Wren usually sings...it sang! I had such a crappy look at a Northern Parula that I refused to count it, and walking out on the Spizzle trail I missed an Orchard Oriole. No worries on either species, especially the parula, which in my experience, will reach a point where I'm sick of seeing them once I at last see one.