IBSP Marina 4/30--Roseate Tern, Spotted Sandpiper, Indigo Bunting

Roseate Tern with a Forster's Tern looking like I felt.

I was lolling on the couch, half-awake this afternoon, listening to the rain, which is approaching Book of Noah proportions, when I got a text from Steve that there were Roseate Terns at the Island Beach SP Marina. Shoes, hat, jacket, out the door. Not only is Roseate Tern rare in New Jersey, I have never seen one in Ocean County. In fact, I've only seen the species once, a few years ago at the Shark River Inlet. For a Roseate Tern I could stand in the rain. 

Steve, who lives closer, was already there when I arrived, slightly frazzled from negotiating all the mysterious street closures on the way down. He had texted me that one was still on the dock--and, as we all know, you only need one. I bolted from the car and immediately saw the bird in front of a group of Forster's Terns--the blush on the chest was obvious and probably easier to see than if it had been sunny. It turned to the right and I saw the thin black beak. It was really too far away for my camera, but I hauled out the scope and managed one halfway decent digiscope photo. 

Then it got amusing. I would have been very happy to end the month with a county lifer, but Steve pointed out a Spotted Sandpiper standing on the dock, which was also a year bird for me (there were actually two), and then, in a place you'd never expect to find one, an Indigo Bunting flew by the far end of the dock, then turned, wisely, inland, zipping right by us. Another year bird that has been frustrating me this month. And then the skies opened up, again, and we beat a retreat to our vehicles. 

With the Wood Thrush I heard at Double Trouble this morning during a brief break in the downpours, I added four species to the year list on the last day of the month.