August Wrap-up--Shorebirds Edition

Marbled Godwit, Whitesbog

The most exciting bird of the month was the last new bird for the month--the first recorded Marbled Godwit in Burlington County, at Whitesbog, where shorebird season has been in full swing for a month and seems like it might continue to reward well into September. I was just putting on my boots this morning when the alert popped up on my phone at exactly 7 AM.  Yesterday, I had been at Whitesbog for half an hour by then, but today I got a late start and thus became a chaser instead of a finder. Still, it is a terrific bird to end the month with. Much excitement on the bogs today, as the godwit, unlike Saturday's Whimbrel, stayed the whole day, long enough for one intrepid birder to make his way from Philadelphia in rush hour traffic to put it on his list. 

Whimbrel, Whitesbog

In August you look for shorebirds and for the month I tallied 27 species--mostly at Whitesbog, but also at Brig, Bombay Hook, and one--Upland Sandpiper--at the BC Fairgrounds. The last couple of years I did a "Whitesbog Challenge" where I tried to list at least 100 species for the month there, but I skipped it this year because I knew I'd be in Delaware for 4 days. But even with that hiatus, I had 94 species there for the month--with a little more poking around I might have actually reached 100 again. 

Monk Parakeet, Sylvan Lake

In terms of year birds (bold italics)it was a slow month--only 4 added. In terms of rarities (underlined on the list), it was great, though the rarities were for the most part either rare for the area or rare for the date (i.e the Hooded Merganser on my local pond). I also made one side trip back to Sylvan Lake so I could get a decent picture of the Monk Parakeet that was building a nest atop a disconnected utility pole. Haven't heard much about the parakeet lately, come to think of it.  Either everyone who wanted to see it saw it, or else it realized that Monk Parakeets don't live alone, but in colonies. 

Counties birded

Delaware: Kent, New Castle

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species               First Sighting
Canada Goose  Whitesbog
Mute Swan  Brig
Wood Duck  Whitesbog
Mallard  Whitesbog
American Black Duck  Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal  Brig
Hooded Merganser  Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon  Lake Como
Mourning Dove  Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  Colliers Mills WMA
Common Nighthawk  Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will  Whitesbog
Chimney Swift  Whitesbog
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail  Brig
Virginia Rail  Bombay Hook
Sora  Bombay Hook
Black-necked Stilt  Bombay Hook
American Avocet  Brig
American Oystercatcher  Brig
Black-bellied Plover  Brig
American Golden-Plover  Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Plover  Whitesbog
Killdeer  Whitesbog
Upland Sandpiper  BC Fairgrounds
Whimbrel  Brig
Marbled Godwit  Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone  Brig
Stilt Sandpiper  Brig
Sanderling  Spring Lake
Dunlin  Bombay Hook
Least Sandpiper  Whitesbog
White-rumped Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Pectoral Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Western Sandpiper  Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher  Whitesbog
Wilson's Phalarope  Brig
Spotted Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Willet  Brig
Lesser Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Bonaparte's Gull  Bombay Hook
Laughing Gull  Whitesbog
Ring-billed Gull  Wawa New Castle
Herring Gull  Brig
Great Black-backed Gull  Brig
Least Tern  Brig
Gull-billed Tern  Whitesbog
Caspian Tern  Brig
Black Tern  Bombay Hook
Common Tern  Brig
Forster's Tern  Brig
Royal Tern  Brig
Black Skimmer  Brig
Double-crested Cormorant  Brig
Brown Pelican  Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron  Whitesbog
Great Egret  Whitesbog
Snowy Egret  Brig
Little Blue Heron  Whitesbog
Tricolored Heron  Island Beach SP
Green Heron  Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Brig
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Brig
White Ibis  Brig
Glossy Ibis  Brig
Black Vulture  Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Turkey Vulture  Whitesbog
Osprey  Brig
Cooper's Hawk  Whitesbog
Bald Eagle  Brig
Red-shouldered Hawk  Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk  Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Screech-Owl  Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher  Whitesbog
Red-headed Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Northern Flicker  Whitesbog
Merlin  Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon  Brig
Monk Parakeet  Sylvan Lake
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Whitesbog
Acadian Flycatcher  Bombay Hook
Eastern Phoebe  Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher  Whitesbog
Eastern Kingbird  Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo  Whitesbog
Red-eyed Vireo  Whitesbog
Blue Jay  Whitesbog
American Crow  Whitesbog
Fish Crow  Wawa Galloway
Common Raven  Jumping Brook Preserve
Carolina Chickadee  Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse  Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Whitesbog
Purple Martin  Whitesbog
Tree Swallow  Whitesbog
Bank Swallow  Brig
Barn Swallow  Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch  35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Whitesbog
House Wren  Whitesbog
Marsh Wren  Brig
Carolina Wren  Whitesbog
European Starling  Whitesbog
Gray Catbird  Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher  Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird  Lakewood
Eastern Bluebird  Whitesbog
Wood Thrush  Whitesbog
American Robin  Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing  Whitesbog
House Sparrow  Lake Como
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow  Brig
Seaside Sparrow  Brig
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee  Whitesbog
Bobolink  Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Meadowlark  BC Fairgrounds
Red-winged Blackbird  Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird  Whitesbog
Common Grackle  Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle  Brig
Ovenbird  Whitesbog
Northern Waterthrush  Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler  Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat  Whitesbog
American Redstart  Whitesbog
Yellow Warbler  Jumping Brook Preserve
Pine Warbler  Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler  Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal  Whitesbog
Blue Grosbeak  Whitesbog 

Green Heron, Whitesbog

A Couple of Recent Rarities at Whitesbog

It's too bad we can't have someone stationed dawn to dusk at Whitesbog to catch the shorebird rarities, because it stands to reason that some are going unrecorded when we're not looking. Whitesbog gets a fair number of unexpected sandpipers and plovers, but they don't "stick." A couple of recent ones serve as examples.  

Wilson's Phalarope

I spent the morning at Whitesbog on Friday, concentrating on Union Pond which is very shallow due to drought--evaporation has exposed large areas of mud and sand. Union Pond has substituted nicely for the still full Middle Bog--usually the best birds on Union this time of year are Belted Kingfisher, and Purple Martins staging in the trees on 3 little islands. On Friday, I found most of the expected shorebirds, along with more than a dozen Great Egrets and the long-staying (very long-staying) immature Little Blue Herons. Satisfying, but unexciting. I went home, had lunch, started reading a book, when, around 4 o'clock, an alert popped up on my phone: Wilson's Phalarope on Union Pond. I know it wasn't there in the morning, so sometime between noon and 4 it "dropped in." I have the advantage of living only about 15 minutes from the bogs, so I put on my shoes, jumped in the car, and within a half hour had the bird in my scope. A couple of other birders saw the phalarope after I left, but when I returned Saturday morning it was, no surprise, gone. 

Whimbrel

This morning I got there late, after walking around Jumping Brook Preserve where the birding, unfortunately, has slowed down. At the parking spot I recognized a couple of the cars, and I saw guys scoping Union Pond, so I got my scope and started walking toward the SE corner of the pond. I was just making the turn on to the dam between Lower & Middle Bogs when my phone rang and pinged at the same time. I answered the call, and it was Jim, telling me that a Whimbrel had just landed on the mud flat in the pond. Whimbrel is very rare in Burlington County, rare inland anywhere in NJ, and it had never been recorded at Whitesbog until today. The "ping" was the alert for Whimbrel. I got to the pond edge and quickly got the bird in my scope. When Jim & Matt came around from the other side, 5 of us crept up the road to get a closer look at the bird. The bird was a young one since its bill was long and slightly curved, but not nearly as long or curved as you'd expect in an adult. The bird seemed unperturbed by our presence, even letting Jim and Matt creep past it so they could retrieve their scopes, but then, without warning, it started to get restless, called repeatedly and took flight over the Middle Bog heading east toward Ocean County. Maybe the bird had touched down for half an hour. My timing was perfect and totally inadvertent. As I think of it, my lifeline intersected with the Whimbrel's lifeline. Had the birding been more productive at Jumping Brook, I would have missed this bird (my 185th at Whitesbog) and I'd have been devastated. I felt bad for the couple of birders who'd, like me on Friday, run out of their houses when they saw the alert, but didn't have as fortunate an outcome as I did. 

So, the shorebird season at Whitesbog continues to be a good one despite not having the usual bogs drawn down--so far Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, plus the phalarope and Whimbrel have been seen since July 31. And now, due to the drought, Middle Bog will start to be drawn down, which should extend shorebird season well into September. Can't wait. 

Delaware 8/22-8/25--American Golden-Plover, Black Tern

Black Tern

Come for the avocets, stay for the rarities.

Shari & I & our buddy Bob Auster spent 4 days in Delaware this week, mostly at Bombay Hook, bracketed around an NJ Audubon trip led by Scott Barnes. The trip didn't get off to an auspicious start. We got into Delaware a little after noon on the 22nd and headed straight for the pond on Amalfi Road in Clayton, in order to get the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks "out of the way." However, in a phrase that was to be repeated many times over the next four days, the pond was "dry as a bone," and thus, no ducks. 

On to Bombay Hook, a short distance away. A Sedge Wren had been reported across from the pay station "where it always is" so we stopped to listen. "Always" apparently has a stale date because we never heard, never mind saw, the bird in the four days we were there. The construction of a new visitor's center/HQ across the road didn't add to our listening enjoyment. 

Next stop, Raymond Pool. Never have I seen so much mud with nothing on it. Not a sandpiper, an egret, a gull, or a tern. Empty. Fortunately, things picked up at Shearness Pool around the bend where we started lots of egrets, along with what, a few years ago, would have been an astonishing number of juvenile White Ibis. Here's a bird that used to a rarity and is now being seen in great numbers much farther north than its usual breeding area. That's good news right? Nope. They're coming north due to climate change.

Also in Shearness we had two of the shorebirds that make Bombay Hook an attraction--a couple of Black-necked Stilts and hundreds of American Avocets. The stilts turned out to be a problem on the trip. While the group saw perhaps 70 species each day, we never came across any stilts, which for some of the people in the group would have been a life bird. Then today, as we made our last pass around the refuge, Bob found a single stilt, again in Shearness. A much closer look, too, than what we'd had on Monday. What frustration!

Green Heron, Shearness sluice gate

Tuesday morning, we met up with the group. Happily, Raymond Pool, at high tide in the surrounding marshes, was full of birds, as was Shearness where I got my first year bird of the trip, a Black Tern. Not a rarity down there, but a darn hard bird for me to see in New Jersey. Not a rarity, yet not exactly seen in flocks either. One on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, three today. 

After spending perhaps a little more time than I like squinting into a scope (I'm of the Mississippi Fred McDowell school of birding--You Got Ta Move), we drove on to Bear Swamp Pool. Here's the joke about Bear Swamp Pool: No Bear, No Swamp, No Pool. Dry as a bone. 

Which makes good habitat for the so-called "grasspipers." Everybody started scanning the flocks of little shorebirds in front of us but I focused on the empty quarter farther away. After a while, all the little peeps look the same to me (because, they are, for the most part, the same), so I look for single anomalies away from the flock. And even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes, because back at the edge of the "pond" I saw a medium-sized shorebird with dove-like head and buffy coloring. "Uh, Scott." Luckily, Scott was somehow able to look in the vicinity of where my scope was pointed and confirmed that it was indeed, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Not a year bird (had one at Whitesbog in July), but a rarity and a good one for the group. I didn't have much time to bask in my glory, because a few moments later Scott called out "Golden-Plover!" An American Golden-Plover was seen in flight and then landed far back in the pond (naturally) among a slew of gulls & egrets. A number of birders were able to get their scopes on it after an assiduous search and I believe everyone in the group got a half-way decent look at this bird which, surprisingly, is not considered rare this time of year in Delaware. New for the year for me though. 

After lunch, we headed down to Port Mahon Rd, a rough road (though not as rough as I remembered it in the past) along the bayshore where we were treated to a Royal Tern show, along with a number of Caspian Terns.

Bonaparte's Gull

The next day was more scoping in Raymond Pool where Scott, somehow, picked out a Dunlin, a few Western Sandpipers, and a Wilson's Phalarope from the thousand or so Semipalmated Sandpipers picking at the mud. On our return trip, Scott stopped the caravan at the sluice gate of Shearness Pool. There, in the channel with a flock of Laughing Gulls in every molt, was a Bonaparte's Gull in basic plumage. Rare this time of year and an easier bird (for me, at least) to identify when it isn't in it's winter garb.

Clapper Rail juvenile

When the trip was over, mid-afternoon, Shari, Bob & I drove down to Mispillion to check out the bay and the jetty at the du Pont Nature Center. It was a little bit disappointing; not many shorebirds on the beach, no oystercatchers, and only a smattering of terns on the pilings. But, a family of Clapper Rails close in kept us entertained as the mama and a couple of juveniles ran in and out of the reeds and fed on the shell-covered sand bar. 

Today we were not ambitious, so we didn't go, as we sometimes do, all the way down to Prime Hook. Instead, we made one more fast (3 hours, 18 minutes) run around Bombay Hook. Aside from the Black-neck Stilt, probably the most interesting bird we added to our trip list was a Sora whinnying from the reeds at Shearness. 

For the trip I listed 88 species. I think Bob may have seen a couple of high/fast flying birds that I missed. 

Species        First Sighting
Canada Goose  Bombay Hook
Mute Swan  Bombay Hook
Wood Duck  Bombay Hook
Mallard  Bombay Hook
Mourning Dove  Bombay Hook
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  Bombay Hook
Clapper Rail  Bombay Hook
Virginia Rail  Bombay Hook
Sora  Bombay Hook
Black-necked Stilt  Bombay Hook
American Avocet  Bombay Hook
Black-bellied Plover  Bombay Hook
American Golden-Plover  Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Plover  Bombay Hook
Killdeer  Bombay Hook
Ruddy Turnstone  Port Mahon Rd.
Sanderling  Port Mahon Rd.
Dunlin  Bombay Hook
Least Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
White-rumped Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Pectoral Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Western Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Short-billed Dowitcher  Bombay Hook
Wilson's Phalarope  Bombay Hook
Spotted Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Solitary Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Greater Yellowlegs  Bombay Hook
Willet  Bombay Hook
Lesser Yellowlegs  Bombay Hook
Bonaparte's Gull  Bombay Hook
Laughing Gull  Bombay Hook
Ring-billed Gull  Wawa New Castle
Herring Gull  Bombay Hook
Great Black-backed Gull  Bombay Hook
Caspian Tern  Bombay Hook
Black Tern  Bombay Hook
Common Tern  DuPont Nature Center
Forster's Tern  Bombay Hook
Royal Tern  Port Mahon Rd.
Double-crested Cormorant  Bombay Hook
Great Blue Heron  Bombay Hook
Great Egret  Bombay Hook
Snowy Egret  Bombay Hook
Little Blue Heron  Bombay Hook
Tricolored Heron  Bombay Hook
Green Heron  Bombay Hook
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Bombay Hook
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Bombay Hook
White Ibis  Bombay Hook
Glossy Ibis  Bombay Hook
Black Vulture  Port Mahon Rd.
Turkey Vulture  Bombay Hook
Osprey  Bombay Hook
Cooper's Hawk  Bombay Hook
Bald Eagle  Bombay Hook
Red-shouldered Hawk  Bombay Hook
Red-tailed Hawk  Bombay Hook
Belted Kingfisher  Bombay Hook
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Bombay Hook
Downy Woodpecker  Bombay Hook
Peregrine Falcon  Bombay Hook
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Bombay Hook
Acadian Flycatcher  Bombay Hook
Eastern Phoebe  Bombay Hook
Eastern Kingbird  Bombay Hook
White-eyed Vireo  Bombay Hook
Red-eyed Vireo  Bombay Hook
Blue Jay  Bombay Hook
Fish Crow  Dover
Carolina Chickadee  Dover
Tufted Titmouse  Bombay Hook
Tree Swallow  Bombay Hook
Barn Swallow  Bombay Hook
Marsh Wren  Bombay Hook
Carolina Wren  Bombay Hook
European Starling  Bombay Hook
Gray Catbird  Bombay Hook
Eastern Bluebird  Bombay Hook
House Sparrow  Bombay Hook
American Goldfinch  Bombay Hook
Eastern Towhee  Bombay Hook
Bobolink  Bombay Hook
Red-winged Blackbird  Bombay Hook
Brown-headed Cowbird  Bombay Hook
American Redstart  Bombay Hook
Northern Cardinal  Bombay Hook

Great Egrets (mostly)

Brig 8/15--Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

I thought I'd give Whitesbog a rest today and go down to Brig where a virtual phlock of phalaropes has been reported for the last few days. I figured with so many in one confined area at the dogleg, I had a decent chance of finding at least one. I prefer to bird Brig alone because I can bird it my way which is different than the way most people do it. I get there in the cool of the morning, park at the Gull Pond, drink my coffee, then walk back up the road, hang a right on the old railroad bed path, then walk up the upland portion of the trail to Jen's Trail, do the horseshoe of Jen's, then walk back to the car through the parking lot and grasslands around the Visitor's Center, usually making a stop either coming or going at the old Experimental Pond. This affords me a chance to find a lot of land birds and gets in my obligatory daily walk. Altogether, it's about 4 miles of hoofing. Since it was so cool this morning and the flies didn't seem to be a problem (that changed around noon when the sun came out), I briefly considered walking the entire Wildlife Drive, but just didn't feel like lugging the scope and backpack all that distance. 

After my walk I started around the drive. In contrast to the last time I was there a couple of weeks ago, the water on both sides of the drive was high, so shorebirds were at a premium. Where previously I had estimated around 1000 each of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers, today I only had around 90 of the former and 36 of the latter. Whether that was because of the tides or a lull in migration, or a combination, I have no way of knowing. 

Black-crowned Night-Heron

However, the high water didn't deter the herons and egrets. Most impressive to me was the number of Black-crowned Night-Herons I was finding, of all ages--adults, near adults, and first year birds. There was at least a dozen at the dogleg and probably more as a lot of them were tucked into the cedar trees. I also found a couple of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, both juveniles, one on the south dike and one among the flock at the dogleg. 

By the time I made the turn and stopped at the pool at Goose Marker 14, I was pretty tired. That's the disadvantage of taking a long walk before you start the drive--your concentration wanes. Happily for me, my friend Kay was already there, and she had a general location for where a couple of the Wilson's Phalaropes were. Using the Atlantic City skyline as landmarks, I focused on what I believe is (or was) The Borgata, came down from there to the far shoreline and found two of the phalaropes agitating the relatively deep water, near a trio of dowitchers. A third one was a bit more to the right. As is almost the case with rare shorebirds, the possibility of me getting a photo of one (or even seeing it in my viewfinder) was negligible. I did get the extremely crappy digiscope photo above. If you squint, you can make out the light-colored phalarope, but if you don't squint, just take my word for it. 

I had in mind when I started a list of 70 species, but since I really didn't feel like spending much time sorting through sandpipers, I didn't list any westerns, stilts, or white-rumps, and the avocet was a no-show for me, as were, surprisingly, Willets. Eating lunch in the parking lot brought my list up to 62. 

Canada Goose  3
Mute Swan  72
Wood Duck  7
Mallard  13
Green-winged Teal  1     dogleg
Mourning Dove  10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Clapper Rail  2     Heard
American Oystercatcher  4
Semipalmated Plover  5
Whimbrel  3
Least Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  90
Short-billed Dowitcher  36
Wilson's Phalarope  3     
Greater Yellowlegs  6
Lesser Yellowlegs  3
Laughing Gull  250
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Least Tern  40
Gull-billed Tern  1
Caspian Tern  1
Common Tern  2
Forster's Tern  90
Black Skimmer  2
Double-crested Cormorant  200
Great Blue Heron  8
Great Egret  80
Snowy Egret  90
Little Blue Heron  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  13
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  8
Osprey  15
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     Heard
Peregrine Falcon  1     dogleg
Eastern Wood-Pewee  3     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  24
Carolina Chickadee  3     Heard
Tufted Titmouse  3     Heard
Purple Martin  1
Tree Swallow  50
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  1
Carolina Wren  5     Heard
Gray Catbird  11
American Robin  1     Heard parking lot
American Goldfinch  4
Field Sparrow  1     Heard
Seaside Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Boat-tailed Grackle  1     Molting its tail
Common Yellowthroat  4
Northern Cardinal  1     Heard
Blue Grosbeak  1

Blue Grosbeak

Surreptitious Bird-A-Day

Anhinga, #105, 4/15, Playa Puerto Morelos

This year I decided to play Bird-A-Day for the first time in 6 years, but surreptitiously. For one thing, Shari thinks it's just one more obsession on top of an obsession, so I kept it a secret from her for about two months until she saw the Excel spreadsheet on my desktop. Secondly, it was surreptitious by default, since there's no one to play against; there use to be a website where you would post your bird of that day and see what other birds from about 50 or 60 birders all over the world were posting. Sadly, the webmaster of that site died and the site along with him. 

To review the very simple rules of the game: Each day you have to pick a unique bird that you've seen or heard and list it as your bird of the day. Once you have used it, it can't be repeated. Ideally, at the end of the year, you'd have 365 birds listed, but unless you do a lot of traveling it almost impossible to achieve that. The winners on the site were usually professional bird guides. So, the interest in the game, if there is one, is how far into the year you can get. I was hoping to at least get into September, as I did 6 years ago, but the streak ended yesterday at 224 days. I could easily have extended it today if I had gone east and picked up a Herring Gull, and I probably could keep going another week if I felt like spending all my time along the shore, listing terns and some shorebirds that didn't make the list yet, but I don't feel like doing that. Having COVID this year didn't help, but looking over the list now, it was not that much of a hindrance. I appear to have used up only two backyard birds during the week or so I had it and one of them, House Sparrow, is a very odd bird for us to have in the backyard anyway.  Going to Mexico for 10 days, of course did help keep the streak going longer than it would have had I stayed only in NJ, as did our little trip to Delaware in May

The strategy of the game is to try to use the rarest bird you've found that day, saving the easy birds for rainy days or days where life gets in the way of birding with dentist appointments or visits to the eye doctor. The year didn't get off to a very good start because it was cold and rainy, so my first bird was an American Tree Sparrow at Whitesbog. Everything else I saw that day, I wanted to "save" for later. 

Arctic Tern*, #135, May 14, Assunpink

Of course, another aspect of the strategy is to use up the seasonal birds before they disappear from the area, so in winter, that means a lot of ducks, swans, geese, and other water birds, and in spring, with luck, a lot of warblers and vireos. Real rarities, like a Thick-billed Murre or an Arctic Tern are gifts. As the year progresses, the birds on the list get more common until Carolina Chickadee is the only bird seen that hasn't been used, and this on a day when I listed 51 species at Whitesbog. 

Here is my list of 224 species; if nothing else, it serves as a pretty good history of where I spend most of my time (Whitesbog appears 42 times). Birds in bold are rarities, birds with an asterisk* are species specifically sought out that day, and the two birds in ALL CAPS are the only lifers I added so far this year.

1-Jan	American Tree Sparrow	Whitesbog
2-Jan	Virginia Rail	Manahawkin
3-Jan	Yellow-rumped Warbler	Backyard
4-Jan	Eurasian Wigeon*	Maclearie Park
5-Jan	Snow Bunting	Island Beach SP
6-Jan	Common Goldeneye	Graveling Point
7-Jan	Brown Creeper	Crestwood Village
8-Jan	Wilson's Snipe	Cattus Island CP
9-Jan	Harlequin Duck*	Barnegat Light
10-Jan	Long-billed Dowitcher*	Deer Head Lake
11-Jan	Rough-legged Hawk*	BC Fairgrounds
12-Jan	Brown Thrasher	New Egypt
13-Jan	Northern Shrike*	Franklin Parker Preserve
14-Jan	Canvasback*	Riverfront Landing
15-Jan	Cedar Waxwing	Backyard
16-Jan	Rusty Blackbird	New Egypt
17-Jan	Winter Wren	Horicon Lake
18-Jan	Northern Pintail	Pemberton Lake
19-Jan	Pileated Woodpecker*	UTT New Egypt
20-Jan	Swamp Sparrow	UTT OC
21-Jan	Savannah Sparrow	Shelter Cove
22-Jan	Redhead*	Mantoloking
23-Jan	Horned Lark*	Jackson HS
24-Jan	Fox Sparrow	Manahawkin
25-Jan	Lapland Longspur	Holgate
26-Jan	Blue-headed Vireo	Whitesbog
27-Jan	Dark-eyed Junco	Backyard
28-Jan	Razorbill	Island Beach SP
29-Jan	Hermit Thrush	Backyard
30-Jan	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	Backyard
31-Jan	White-crowned Sparrow	New Egypt
1-Feb	Black-headed Gull*	Manasquan Inlet
2-Feb	Common Merganser	Sands Point
3-Feb	Hairy Woodpecker	Whitesbog
4-Feb	Northern Cardinal	Backyard
5-Feb	Ring-necked Duck	Whitesbog
6-Feb	Eastern Screech-Owl*	Whitesbog
7-Feb	Red-tailed Hawk	Meadowview Lane
8-Feb	Great Horned Owl	Colliers Mills
9-Feb	Gadwall	Double Trouble
10-Feb	Thick-billed Murre*	Barnegat Light
11-Feb	Hooded Merganser	Whitesbog
12-Feb	Sharp-shinned Hawk	Whitesbog
13-Feb	Common Raven	Colliers Mills
14-Feb	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Assunpink
15-Feb	Northern Harrier	Manahawkin
16-Feb	Cackling Goose*	Meadowedge Park
17-Feb	Eastern Meadowlark	Colliers Mills
18-Feb	Tundra Swan	Whitesbog
19-Feb	Eared Grebe	Manasquan Inlet
20-Feb	Green-winged Teal	Reeves Bogs
21-Feb	Eastern Bluebird	Manasquan River WMA
22-Feb	Merlin	New Egypt
23-Feb	Belted Kingfisher	Pond on Schoolhouse
24-Feb	Iceland Gull	Manasquan Inlet
25-Feb	Northern Flicker	Whitesbog
26-Feb	American Woodcock	Backyard
27-Feb	Trumpeter Swan*	Assunpink
28-Feb	King Eider*	Island Beach SP
1-Mar	Lesser Scaup	Colliers Mills
2-Mar	Greater Scaup	Great Bay Blvd
3-Mar	American Coot*	Lake of the Lilies
4-Mar	Common Grackle	Whitesbog
5-Mar	Eastern Phoebe	Colliers Mills
6-Mar	Northern Shoveler	Brig
7-Mar	Peregrine Falcon	Great Bay Blvd
8-Mar	Killdeer	Whitesbog
9-Mar	Black Vulture	Crestwood Village
10-Mar	Wood Duck	Colliers Mills
11-Mar	Great Cormorant	Island Beach SP
12-Mar	White-throated Sparrow	Backyard
13-Mar	Fish Crow	Crestwood Village
14-Mar	Pied-billed Grebe	Double Trouble
15-Mar	Red-breasted Merganser*	Waretown
16-Mar	Bufflehead	Cattus Island CP
17-Mar	Tree Swallow	Whitesbog
18-Mar	Snow Goose*	Brick Reservoir
19-Mar	Brown-headed Cowbird	Colliers Mills
20-Mar	American Oystercatcher	Barnegat Municipal Dock
21-Mar	Brant*	Cedar Bonnet Island
22-Mar	Bald Eagle	Cranberry Bogs
23-Mar	Golden-crowned Kinglet	Whitesbog
24-Mar	Red-winged Blackbird	Cloverdale Farm
25-Mar	Double-crested Cormorant	Whitesbog
26-Mar	Louisiana Waterthrush*	Budd's Bogs
27-Mar	Field Sparrow	Cloverdale Road
28-Mar	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	Colliers Mills
29-Mar	Glossy Ibis*	Waretown
30-Mar	Red-Shouldered Hawk	Whitesbog
31-Mar	Northern Gannet	Great Bay Blvd
1-Apr	Bonaparte's Gull	Whitesbog
2-Apr	Glaucous Gull	Sandy Hook
3-Apr	American Kestrel	Colliers Mills
4-Apr	Little Blue Heron*	Island Beach SP
5-Apr	Palm Warbler	Whitesbog
6-Apr	Laughing Gull	Horicon Lake
7-Apr	Sandhill Crane	Jumping Brook Preserve
8-Apr	Red-throated Loon	Island Beach SP
9-Apr	Red-breasted Nuthatch	Double Trouble
10-Apr	White-fronted Parrot	Casa Primavera
11-Apr	Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl	Puerto Morelos
12-Apr	ROSE-THROATED BECARD	Cenote Zapotec
13-Apr	White-winged Dove	Puerto Morelos
14-Apr	Yellow-billed Cacique	Jardin Botanica
15-Apr	Anhinga	Playa Puerto Morelos
16-Apr	Olive-throated Parrot	Puerto Morelos
17-Apr	MORELET'S SEEDEATER	Mangles de Puerto Morelos
18-Apr	Plain Chachalaca	Casa Primavera
19-Apr	Cinnamon Hummingbird	Puerto Morelos
20-Apr	White-winged Scoter	Island Beach SP
21-Apr	Broad-winged Hawk	Double Trouble
22-Apr	Prairie Warbler	Whitesbog
23-Apr	Stilt Sandpiper	Forsythe-Barnegat
24-Apr	Greater Yellowlegs	Jumping Brook Preserve
25-Apr	Clapper Rail	Great Bay Blvd
26-Apr	House Wren	Cranberry Bogs
27-Apr	Common Loon	Reeves Bogs
28-Apr	Eastern Kingbird	Whitesbog
29-Apr	Hooded Warbler	Colliers Mills
30-Apr	Northern Rough-winged Swallow	Manahawkin
1-May	Horned Grebe	Island Beach SP
2-May	Marbled Godwit	Island Beach SP
3-May	White Ibis*	Ocean City Visitors Center
4-May	Red-headed Woodpecker*	Colliers Mills
5-May	Least Flycatcher	Island Beach SP
6-May	Indigo Bunting*	Emson Preserve
7-May	Wild Turkey	Backyard
8-May	Yellow-throated Vireo	Huber Preserve
9-May	Nashville Warbler	Jumping Brook Preserve
10-May	Chuck-Will's-Widow	Collinstown Road
11-May	Bank Swallow	Cranberry Bogs
12-May	Red Knot*	Great Bay Blvd
13-May	Blue-winged Warbler*	Manasquan River WMA
14-May	Arctic Tern*	Assunpink
15-May	Yellow-billed Cuckoo	Jumping Brook Preserve
16-May	Wilson's Storm-Petrel*	Barnegat Light
17-May	Canada Warbler	Island Beach SP
18-May	American Redstart	Double Trouble
19-May	Black-bellied Whistling Duck*	Amalfi Pond
20-May	Brown-headed Nuthatch*	Cape Henlopen SP
21-May	Black-necked Stilt*	Bombay Hook
22-May	Warbling Vireo	Colliers Mills
23-May	Scarlet Tanager	Whitesbog
24-May	White-rumped Sandpiper	Great Bay Blvd
25-May	Acadian Flycatcher*	Double Trouble
26-May	Blackpoll Warbler	Whitesbog
27-May	Brown Pelican	Island Beach SP
28-May	Saltmarsh Sparrow	Great Bay Blvd
29-May	Chimney Swift	Jumping Brook Preserve
30-May	Yellow-breasted Chat*	Double Trouble
31-May	Eastern Wood-Pewee	Crestwood Village
1-Jun	Garganey*	National Guard Train Ctr
2-Jun	Cliff Swallow*	Wesley Lake
3-Jun	Ovenbird	Whitesbog
4-Jun	Great Blue Heron	Cranberry Bogs
5-Jun	Black-and-White Warbler	Reeves Bogs
6-Jun	Spotted Sandpiper	Jumping Brook Preserve
7-Jun	Worm-eating Warbler*	Evert Preserve
8-Jun	Least Tern	Great Bay Blvd
9-Jun	Grasshopper Sparrow*	Laurel Run
10-Jun	Orchard Oriole	Jumping Brook Preserve
11-Jun	Sora	Brig
12-Jun	Blue Grosbeak	South Park Road
13-Jun	Green Heron	Whitesbog
14-Jun	American Avocet*	Barnegat Light
15-Jun	Black-billed Cuckoo*	Whitesbog
16-Jun	White-eyed Vireo	Colliers Mills
17-Jun	Eastern Towhee	Double Trouble
18-Jun	Least Bittern	Jumping Brook Preserve
19-Jun	Purple Martin	Reeves Bogs
20-Jun	Willow Flycatcher	Cranberry Bogs
21-Jun	House Sparrow	Backyard
22-Jun	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	Backyard
23-Jun	Great Crested Flycatcher	Whitesbog
24-Jun	Northern Mockingbird	Crestwood Village
25-Jun	Wood Thrush	Jumping Brook Preserve
26-Jun	Common Nighthawk*	Whitesbog
27-Jun	Royal Tern*	Island Beach SP
28-Jun	Ruff*	Brig
29-Jun	Veery*	Double Trouble
30-Jun	Eastern Whip-poor-will	Backyard
1-Jul	Yellow-crowned Night-Heron*	Great Bay Blvd
2-Jul	Barn Swallow	Jumping Brook Preserve
3-Jul	Mallard	Reeves Bogs
4-Jul	Mute Swan	Colliers Mills
5-Jul	Common Tern	Manasquan Inlet
6-Jul	Pine Warbler	Whitesbog
7-Jul	Common Yellowthroat	Whitesbog
8-Jul	Marsh Wren	Manahawkin
9-Jul	Song Sparrow	Backyard
10-Jul	Canada Goose	Jumping Brook Preserve
11-Jul	Chipping Sparrow	Whitesbog
12-Jul	Black Skimmer	Cattus Island CP
13-Jul	Red-bellied Woodpecker	Jumping Brook Preserve
14-Jul	Gray Catbird	Crossley Preserve
15-Jul	Great Egret*	Cranberry Bogs
16-Jul	Red-eyed Vireo	Jumping Brook Preserve
17-Jul	American Crow	Whitesbog
18-Jul	Snowy Egret*	Waretown
19-Jul	Least Sandpiper*	Whitesbog
20-Jul	American Robin	Lakehurst RR Tracks
21-Jul	Short-billed Dowitcher*	Great Bay Blvd
22-Jul	Lesser Yellowlegs	Whitesbog
23-Jul	Blue Jay	Colliers Mills
24-Jul	Solitary Sandpiper	Reeves Bogs
25-Jul	Monk Parakeet*	Sylvan Lake
26-Jul	Semipalmated Sandpiper	Whitesbog
27-Jul	Yellow Warbler	Whitesbog
28-Jul	Semipalmated Plover	Whitesbog
29-Jul	House Finch	Backyard
30-Jul	Western Sandpiper	Whitesbog
31-Jul	Buff-breasted Sandpiper*	Whitesbog
1-Aug	Pectoral Sandpiper*	Whitesbog
2-Aug	American Goldfinch	Backyard
3-Aug	White-breasted Nuthatch	Backyard
4-Aug	Upland Sandpiper*	BC Fairgrounds
5-Aug	Mourning Dove	Whitesbog
6-Aug	Black-bellied Plover	Brig
7-Aug	Gull-billed Tern	Whitesbog
8-Aug	European Starling	Whitesbog
9-Aug	Turkey Vulture	Whitesbog
10-Aug	Tufted Titmouse	Backyard
11-Aug	Great Black-backed Gull	Belmar
12-Aug	Carolina Chickadee	Backyard

Black-bellied Whistling Duck*, #139, May 19, Amalfi Drive Pond,