October Wrap-up--Uneventful Edition

Gray-cheeked Thrush, Island Beach SP

That there was not a single entry this month was due to two factors (well, maybe three if I include chronic laziness): The birding was unspectacular this month and my camera broke. 

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.

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