Barnegat Lighthouse SP | Jackson Liberty HS 1/22--Greater White-fronted Goose, King Eider

I was feeling pretty good this morning; I had just found, finally, the hen King Eider that has been bobbing in the sea with the skimpy flock of Common Eiders for what seems like a month now.  The last couple of times I'd looked for it, conditions were against me, with heavy seas making swelling over the ducks, making identification of eiders other than full adult drakes impossible. But today, the ocean was relatively calm, and, once I'd located the little flock of eiders down at the south end of the old jetty, I was able to locate the hen and get decent enough looks enough times to convince myself that I had the right duck. I didn't want to feel like I was cheating because, really, who am I cheating? So, I'd let the flock move around a little then look again in the scope and see if I could find the same bird again. After 3 or 4 attempts, and after getting a hint of the hen's diagnostic "smile" I felt confident enough to list the bird. Interestingly, it wasn't until I said to myself, standing on the jetty scoping the water, "I guess I'm not going to get a King Eider this season," that I saw the eiders a football field away. 

Then I got an eBird alert that a Greater White-fronted Goose had been spotted at Jackson Liberty HS, 44 miles away, followed by a text message from a birder friend telling me the same. I really didn't feel like driving all the way up to Jackson after walking up and down the beach, but the only time it is okay to walk school grounds with optics and camera is on the weekend. Otherwise, the authorities take a dim view. It wasn't until I was about to make the turn onto the Parkway north that I decided to drive up there. I figured, worst case scenario, I could add Horned Larks to the county list. For some mysterious reason, the soccer fields at Jackson Liberty are the best place to find Horned Larks and not just a few but numbering in the dozens. 

It took just about an hour to get there and when I drove past the little retention pond, I saw a small flock of geese on the grass. None of them were the rarity. I looked in the pond itself; a few more geese and some gulls. Oh well, look for the larks. I walked on to soccer fields, which are studded with goose shit, looking for the larks. The fields have a slight undulation to them (must make playing interesting, especially with the goose shit) so sometimes the larks will be a in a kind of swale. After a few minutes, I found a flock, very well camouflaged on the lawn. They immediately picked up and flew around the field. Each time I turned to where they landed, they'd fly again. I walked over to some metal stands, and I guess that was enough to hide me from them because I was able to count 63 larks before they once again took off and landed behind me.

I was about to walk back to my car when I saw a birder I know. I told him my count, to save him the trouble and he told me that the GWFG was back on the football field about a quarter of a mile away. I moved my car to the closest parking lot and walked over to the field where there were about 250 geese, which, as soon as they noticed me, started to amble away. Again, none of them were the bird I was looking for. I walked on the running track and then out of nowhere, the bird appeared. As the eBird description goes: Unmistakable. 

It kept walking away from me, along with the other geese but I was able to get close enough for some decent pictures. I'm a little annoyed that this rarity showed up there though, since I have a somewhat proprietary feel for Jackson Liberty; Mike & I used to go there once a year to get the larks and whatever else might be interesting in the retention pond. Now everyone knows about it, judging from the number of eBird reports pinging my phone.