Barnegat Lighthouse SP 1/12--Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpipers

I went looking for LBI specialties this morning and had a fairly successful trip. A quick walk around Cedar Bonnet Island had nothing of interest and I was disappointed that the Black-crowned Night-Heron roost on Bayview Avenue seems to have been abandoned by the birds, probably because someone cut a path into the pines and made it too accessible for the birds to countenance. When I went in late December they weren't there either, so two times in a row, and I get the message. 

Barnegat Lighthouse SP (I just noticed that it is "Lighthouse" not "Light" as the official designation; "Barnegat Light" is the town) was the real goal anyway. The tide was high and coming in, crashing against the jetty, which I had no intention of walking on anyway, but the incoming tide also runs into the plover pond that was created in the dunes a few years ago. Since I wasn't wearing my wading boots, I couldn't get across the stream, so I was forced to walk along the back edge of the pond. Which led to my first happy find of the morning, 5 Least Sandpipers feeding at the east end of the pond. My first thought was Semipalmated Sandpiper, but I knew they would be ridiculously rare. I then considered Western Sandpiper, which does occur in the winter, but they didn't look right for that either once I sent some pix to Steve and consulted with him via text. I knew they weren't Dunlin (I studied some Dunlin later on the jetty, and the bills were much longer than my peeps. I ran one of my photos through my Seek app and it came up Least Sandpiper. Then I remembered that in December a small number of Least Sandpipers had been reported for a few days but none had shown up this year so far. They had all the characteristics of Leasts, save for the yellow legs, but in the gray light and standing in mud, that really wasn't a disqualification. So, I went with Least and no one's told me different. 

Harlequin Ducks

Once out at the beach, I gingerly climbed up on the jetty with my scope. I was willing to maneuver on 3 relatively flat and dry rocks. Everything else looked precarious. Down at the far end of the jetty I found one Brant sitting on the rocks, surrounded by a small flock of Purple Sandpiper (one of the specialties, though I'd already ticked this species off at Manasquan Inlet) and closer to me a larger flock of Ruddy Turnstones, next to said Dunlin. The waves were hitting the jetty and splashing up pretty high and even the interior rocks I was standing on were getting the spume, so when I finally spotted one Harlequin Duck, I was more than happy to climb down intact. While I was going back & forth with Steve about the peeps I scanned the ocean for ducks and after a while found a small flock of Common Eiders. Eiders have been scarce this winter; I know Steve has commented on the paucity of the flocks--I counted 8 eiders, where in usual times a flock of 50 or 100 wouldn't be uncommon. I looked as long as I could stand looking at the ducks bobbing in the rough surf for one smiling eider which would indicate the hen King Eider that has been seen off and on there, but distance and light and constant motion were all arrayed against me. I also spotted a few Harlequins sitting on the far end of the jetty, as well as some Black Scoters, one Surf Scoter, and lots of Long-tailed Ducks. 

My last stop, as it usually is in the winter, was Sunset Park in Harvey Cedars. For some peculiar reason, this is the best place to find a specific duck and when I plunked my scope down to look at the bay, I immediately found that duck, a Common Goldeneye. Then I quickly found 5 more. Much better looks that I got on the first at Sandy Hook, and besides, they're now on the Ocean County list. And having seen the goldeneyes, I figured I'd exhausted the entertainment value of LBI for the day.

34 species on the Island:

Species  First Sighting
Brant  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose  Cedar Bonnet Island
Mallard  Cedar Bonnet Island
American Black Duck  Cedar Bonnet Island
Greater Scaup  Bayview Ave Marina
Common Eider  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Long-tailed Duck  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead  Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Goldeneye  Sunset Park-
Hooded Merganser  Cedar Bonnet Island
Red-breasted Merganser  Cedar Bonnet Island
Ruddy Duck  Sunset Park-
Rock Pigeon  Bayview Ave Marina
Ruddy Turnstone  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Purple Sandpiper  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Sandpiper  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Herring Gull  Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Black-backed Gull  Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Loon  Bayview Ave Marina
Great Cormorant  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Blue Heron  Cedar Bonnet Island
Belted Kingfisher  Bayview Ave Marina
American Crow  Bayview Ave Marina
Carolina Wren  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Robin  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-throated Sparrow  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Savannah Sparrow  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow  Cedar Bonnet Island