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| Gray-cheeked Thrush, Island Beach SP |
It wasn't for lack of effort that I only added two year-birds this month--Dickcissel (a couple of flyovers) and Clay-colored Sparrow seen briefly in a parking lot on Island Beach. I was at Island Beach, that supposed migrant trap, 4 or 5 times this month, I spent the first 5 rainy days of the month at Whitesbog where the shorebirding was terrific and the lighting terrible, tried for something interesting at places like the Manasquan River WMA, Cedar Bonnet Island, Manahawkin WMA und so wieter, but all I came up with was those two birds, so even had my camera been working, I wouldn't have anything to show in this blog.
I have to say that for the two weeks I had no camera (it was under warranty and the company sent me a new one to my surprise, since I was in the middle of trying to get proof of delivery from the ever-more incompetent Post Office) I enjoyed not carrying one. I've always said you can't take pictures and bird at the same time. One always gets in the way of the other. But on the rare occasions I do find something of interest, I do like to prove it.
Interesting birds abounded: a random selection included Gray-cheeked Thrush, Red Knot, Rusty Blackbird, Brown Pelican, Wilson's Snipe...and I was finding birds in unexpected places, like the drained bogs on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog (which, in the 11 years I've been birding there had never been drawn down) and Forty Acre Pond in the extreme southern section of Colliers Mills. But I didn't find it blog-worthy.
For the month I listed 150 species which seems pretty good to me. Particularly when I realize, as I just did now, that I only birded two counties, Ocean & Burlington.
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| Northern Flicker, Colliers Mills |
Species First Sighting
Brant Cedar Bonnet Island
Canada Goose Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan Lake of the Lilies
Wood Duck Whitesbog
Blue-winged Teal Island Beach SP
Gadwall Holly Lake
American Wigeon Lake of the Lilies
Mallard Whitesbog
American Black Duck Whitesbog
Northern Pintail Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal Whitesbog
Ring-necked Duck Bamber Lake
Lesser Scaup Colliers Mills WMA
Surf Scoter Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-winged Scoter Island Beach SP
Black Scoter Island Beach SP
Hooded Merganser Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Ruddy Duck Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey 35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe Colliers Mills WMA
Rock Pigeon Wrangle Brook
Mourning Dove 35 Sunset Rd
Virginia Rail Island Beach SP
American Coot Lake of the Lilies
American Oystercatcher Great Bay Blvd
Black-bellied Plover Island Beach SP
American Golden-Plover Holgate
Semipalmated Plover Whitesbog
Killdeer Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red Knot Island Beach SP
Sanderling Island Beach SP
Dunlin Holgate
Purple Sandpiper Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Sandpiper Whitesbog
White-rumped Sandpiper Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper Whitesbog
Western Sandpiper Island Beach SP
Wilson's Snipe Manahawkin WMA
Spotted Sandpiper Colliers Mills WMA
Solitary Sandpiper Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs Whitesbog
Lesser Yellowlegs Whitesbog
Laughing Gull Crestwood Village
Ring-billed Gull Island Beach SP
Herring Gull Whitesbog
Lesser Black-backed Gull Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull Island Beach SP
Caspian Tern Holly Lake
Common Tern Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern Island Beach SP
Royal Tern Island Beach SP
Red-throated Loon Island Beach SP
Common Loon Island Beach SP
Northern Gannet Island Beach SP
Great Cormorant Bay Pkwy
Double-crested Cormorant Whitesbog
Brown Pelican Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron Whitesbog
Great Egret Whitesbog
Snowy Egret Island Beach SP
Little Blue Heron Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron Island Beach SP
Black-crowned Night-Heron Great Bay Blvd
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Great Bay Blvd
Black Vulture Whitesbog
Turkey Vulture Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Osprey Island Beach SP
Northern Harrier Island Beach SP
Sharp-shinned Hawk Colliers Mills WMA
Cooper's Hawk Colliers Mills WMA
Bald Eagle Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk Manasquan River WMA
Belted Kingfisher Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Island Beach SP
Red-bellied Woodpecker 35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker Whitesbog
Hairy Woodpecker Whitesbog
Northern Flicker Whitesbog
American Kestrel Whitesbog
Merlin Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon Island Beach SP
Eastern Wood-Pewee Island Beach SP
Eastern Phoebe Whitesbog
Blue-headed Vireo Whitesbog
Red-eyed Vireo Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay Whitesbog
American Crow Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Fish Crow Manasquan Inlet
Common Raven Colliers Mills WMA
Carolina Chickadee Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse 35 Sunset Rd
Tree Swallow Island Beach SP
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Colliers Mills WMA
Golden-crowned Kinglet Whitesbog
Red-breasted Nuthatch 35 Sunset Rd
White-breasted Nuthatch Whitesbog
Brown Creeper Island Beach SP
House Wren Island Beach SP
Winter Wren Horicon Lake
Carolina Wren 35 Sunset Rd
European Starling Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Catbird Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Mockingbird Island Beach SP
Eastern Bluebird 35 Sunset Rd
Gray-cheeked Thrush Island Beach SP
Hermit Thrush Island Beach SP
American Robin Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing Island Beach SP
House Sparrow Island Beach SP
House Finch 35 Sunset Rd
Purple Finch Island Beach SP
American Goldfinch Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow Crestwood Village
Clay-colored Sparrow Island Beach SP
Field Sparrow Island Beach SP
Dark-eyed Junco Whitesbog
White-crowned Sparrow Island Beach SP
White-throated Sparrow Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow Great Bay Blvd
Savannah Sparrow Whitesbog
Song Sparrow Whitesbog
Lincoln's Sparrow Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee Whitesbog
Eastern Meadowlark Great Bay Blvd
Red-winged Blackbird Island Beach SP
Rusty Blackbird Whitesbog
Common Grackle Manasquan River WMA
Boat-tailed Grackle Island Beach SP
Black-and-white Warbler Horicon Lake
Nashville Warbler Island Beach SP
Common Yellowthroat Whitesbog
American Redstart Great Bay Blvd
Cape May Warbler Island Beach SP
Northern Parula Colliers Mills WMA
Magnolia Warbler Island Beach SP
Black-throated Blue Warbler Island Beach SP
Palm Warbler Whitesbog
Pine Warbler 35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler Manasquan River WMA
Scarlet Tanager Island Beach SP
Northern Cardinal Crestwood Village
Rose-breasted Grosbeak Island Beach SP
Blue Grosbeak Island Beach SP
Dickcissel Whitesbog
