January Wrap-up--The Usual Suspects

Eastern Bluebirds w House Finch, Great Bay Blvd

There was one obligatory bird this month: the (now) long-staying Red-flanked Bluetail that seems to have made a permanent home in a backyard in the community I live in, one mile from where I write this. This remarkable little bird that has survived temperatures well below freezing and some seriously severe storms, not to mention the hostilities of mockingbirds and Hermit Thrushes, has been seen by well over a thousand birders and the photographs of it must number ten times that amount. It has been adopted by Crestwood Village as our mascot and named "Riker" after the homeowners who originally found it and in whose yard it has stayed, living on the meal worms they put out for it every day. On the second of the month, I stopped there and instead of the long wait I expected, saw the bird within 15 or 20 minutes. In the early days of its residency, it would disappear for hours on end, but now it seems to have become accustomed to its fans and puts on a show a few times an hour. 

Other than that bird, most of what I saw was the usual suspects, with some rarities chased as has been documented in the entries below. A few relatively close rarities I didn't chase either because I didn't feel like driving up to parks I don't know or because I really don't like the idea of standing around in someone's backyard waiting for the rare bird (in this case a Western Kingbird) to show up, no matter how gracious the homeowner is. 

Purple Sandpiper, Manasquan Inlet

On my last day of birding for the month I started at Whitesbog pre-dawn, scouting for owls for the Pinelands Winter Bird Count on Sunday. I tried 5 different spots, 4 of which have usually produced and the other a spot that seems like it should be a good owl spot, and I came up empty in all 5 places. Not a happy harbinger for Sunday. I did, however, hear, as the skies lightened, a Fox Sparrow low in the bushes, my 122nd species of the month and thus the year. Not really a satisfactory way to end the month's list, but I know I'll see Fox Sparrows aplenty in the months to come. 

In the back of my mind in January and through the first few months of the year, I have the notion that if I miss such and such a bird now, I get a second chance at the end of the year. You can't really say that about spring migration--the warblers in spring are a lot easier to deal with than whatever dull-plumaged birds straggle back in the autumn. 

Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, taken by our feeder camera.

Our feeders have pleased me so far this year--we're attracting some unusual yard birds--Pine Siskin most notably, though we've had bluebirds, waxwings, a kinglet, Brown Creepers and 2 winter warblers. 

As I said, 122 species. Rarities are underlined. 

Counties birded: Burlington, Mercer (incidentally), Monmouth, Ocean

Species             First Sighting
Snow Goose   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters
Brant   Sandy Hook
Cackling Goose   Sunset Park
Canada Goose   Sandy Hook
Mute Swan   Waretown
Trumpeter Swan   Assunpink WMA
Tundra Swan   Whitesbog
Northern Shoveler   Marshall's Pond
Gadwall   Sandy Hook
American Wigeon   Marshall's Pond
Mallard   Sandy Hook
American Black Duck   Sandy Hook
Green-winged Teal   Assunpink WMA
Canvasback   Riverfront Landing
Redhead   Waretown
Ring-necked Duck   Bamber Lake
Greater Scaup   Waretown
Lesser Scaup   Assunpink WMA
Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter   Sandy Hook
White-winged Scoter   Sandy Hook
Black Scoter   Sandy Hook
Long-tailed Duck   Sandy Hook
Bufflehead   Sandy Hook
Common Goldeneye   Sandy Hook
Hooded Merganser   Assunpink WMA
Common Merganser   Assunpink WMA
Red-breasted Merganser   Sandy Hook
Ruddy Duck   Assunpink WMA
Pied-billed Grebe   Prospertown Lake
Horned Grebe   Sandy Hook
Red-necked Grebe   Sandy Hook
Rock Pigeon   Wawa South Toms River
Mourning Dove   Whitesbog
American Coot   Sandy Hook
American Oystercatcher   Holgate
Killdeer   Lake Barnegat
Greater Yellowlegs   Lake Barnegat
Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling   Sandy Hook
Dunlin   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Purple Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Guillemot   Shark River Inlet
Razorbill   Sandy Hook
Bonaparte's Gull   Sandy Hook
Ring-billed Gull   Conines Millpond
Herring Gull   Sandy Hook
Great Black-backed Gull   Sandy Hook
Glaucous Gull   Sandy Hook
Iceland Gull   Sandy Hook
Red-throated Loon   Sandy Hook
Common Loon   Sandy Hook
Northern Gannet   Sandy Hook
Great Cormorant   Sandy Hook
Double-crested Cormorant   Sandy Hook
Great Egret   Manahawkin WMA
Great Blue Heron   Sandy Hook
Black Vulture   BC Fairgrounds
Turkey Vulture   Sandy Hook
Northern Harrier   BC Fairgrounds
Cooper's Hawk   Assunpink WMA
Bald Eagle   Conines Millpond
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Crestwood Village
Rough-legged Hawk   BC Fairgrounds
Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   35 Sunset Rd
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker   Sandy Hook
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Northern Flicker   Franklin Parker Preserve
American Kestrel   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve
Merlin   Waretown
Peregrine Falcon   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Northern Shrike   Franklin Parker Preserve
Blue Jay   Whitesbog
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Riverfront Landing
Common Raven   Sandy Hook
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Black-capped Chickadee   Sandy Hook
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Assunpink WMA
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Brown Creeper   35 Sunset Rd
Winter Wren   Whitesbog
Carolina Wren   Sandy Hook
European Starling   Sandy Hook
Gray Catbird   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Mockingbird   Sandy Hook
Eastern Bluebird   Franklin Parker Preserve
Hermit Thrush   Whitesbog
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
Red-flanked Bluetail   Crestwood Village
Cedar Waxwing   Sandy Hook
House Sparrow   Waretown
American Pipit   Waretown
House Finch   Sandy Hook
Pine Siskin   Bamber Lake
American Goldfinch   Whitesbog
Snow Bunting   Sandy Hook
Chipping Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Field Sparrow   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters
American Tree Sparrow   Shelter Cove Park
Fox Sparrow   Whitesbog
Dark-eyed Junco   Whitesbog
White-throated Sparrow   Whitesbog
Savannah Sparrow   Whitesbog
Song Sparrow   Sandy Hook
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Meadowlark   BC Fairgrounds
Red-winged Blackbird   Waretown
Brown-headed Cowbird   CR 526 Allentown
Common Grackle   Cattus Island County Park
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Pine Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Sandy Hook
Western Tanager   Sandy Hook
Northern Cardinal   Sandy Hook