Manasquan Inlet 4/5--Common Murre

It was misty, foggy, breezy, and cold at the Manasquan Inlet early this morning as I walked up and down the length of the parking lot 5 times, racking up well over a mile in steps. It was my second day in a row there. Yesterday, I had spent a half hour on the jetty, seeking the Common Murre that has been floating in and out of the inlet for the last 3 days. Rarely seen from shore, as my friend Steve says, "it's a good bird for someone who doesn't go on boats." But yesterday I didn't find the bird. The last report had it drifting out of the inlet, so I assumed it was gone. I wasn't too upset, since my stop there coincided with a trip to the dentist in nearby Sea Girt, so I hadn't made a special trip. But then the reports started coming in late in the afternoon and early evening that bird was being seen in the back of the inlet. It had flown in late in the day. 

But five times back and forth in the parking lot had produced only about 6 loons and 3 oystercatchers. As happens so often that it is a law of birding, I had given up on my fifth pass of the fisherman statue when I was taking my last look across the water--"that's a Common Loon, that's a Common Loon...that's not a Common Loon!" Where the murre came from I don't know, but there it was right in the middle of the channel, drifting west toward Baltimore Avenue. I texted Steve, who was on his way, took my fog-enshrouded photos and left. I was very proud of myself, not for any skill I used, since none was involved, but for my sheer persistence in hanging around long enough for the bird to pop up. A very good county bird for someone who doesn't go on boats.