LBI 4/27--Piping Plover, Seaside Sparrow

Met my birding buddy Bob Auster this morning at Cedar Bonnet Island on the LBI causeway, where it was a lot rainier and colder than the weather reports had led us to believe. We both had a few birds in mind to get as FOY. I my ploy was to use Bob's better ears to hear a Seaside Sparrow in the marsh at CBI, which he did, as did I eventually. I'd probably have missed it without Bob as the weather conditions were not conducive to my standing in one place and just listening. Bob, who lives up in Somerset County, was hoping for a couple of waders that are hard to find in those parts, but the only ones we came up with at CBI were Great Egrets and Glossy Ibises, not the target birds for us. 

Then it was on to Barnegat Light SP, a spot Bob doesn't visit except in winter--well the weather was right, at least. Barnegat Light isn't that interesting in the warmer months (which April supposedly is), but it does host an area especially dug out a few years ago for nesting, endangered birds, one of which, Piping Plover, was my target bird for the day. (Bob had already seen the species up at Sandy Hook.) We walked along the stringed off area, scoping the sandy barrens, but only found the plover's arch enemies, Herring & Great Black-backed Gulls. Wherever a Piping Plover had decided to nest, which consists of a scratch or two in the sand, the monitors had put up a cage over it to protect it, along with a number of surveillance devices aimed at the cage. But we didn't see any plovers in any of the cages. We walked to the ocean and picked up a few birds, like gannets, Black Scoter, and a flock of Purple Sandpipers (a surprise to us both that they were still there so late into the spring), when we saw a couple of small shorebirds flying out over the jetty then making a U-turn into the protected area. Those, I thought, were probably Piping Plovers, but I really didn't want to count that crappy look even if I could be certain of their identity. 

Walking back, though, we saw a couple, right by the string line and then later, checking out a cage we hadn't seen, there was one sitting inside, perhaps incubating an egg or two. Still, no waders for Bob.

We checked a couple of marshes on the bayside with no luck, so I suggested we got to the Joe Torg Preserve a little south of the Light, which is a big marsh with a rickety boardwalk. Bob had never been there, I had only been there in the winter. We walked out and Bob looked around and said it was good habitat and with a little patience, we might find some herons. 

"Patience? Bob, this is Larry you're talking to." 

Nevertheless, we hung out at the end of the boardwalk and out of nowhere, a Snowy Egret appeared. That was a good sign. A little longer, and sure enough, in came a Tricolored Heron, one of Bob's targets, displacing the Snowy in a ditch. The Snowy and the Tricolored switched places off and on--there must have been some good eating in that draw and after we saw a Great Egret fly in, we decided that we'd been patient enough. 

But wait, there's more. I left, but Bob lingered, having a post-birding snack. His binoculars were put away, so, I'd say that qualifies as giving up according to the Second Law of Birding. And, as he later texted me, what flies in and lands in front of him? A Little Blue Heron, his other target wader for the day. Never fails.