Brig 3/31--Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe, Snowy Egret, Purple Martin, Brown Thrasher

Snowy Egret

Easter, a rare Sunday off for Shari, and we headed down to Brig to see what shorebirds had come in and what ducks remained. The Gull Pond was the hot spot today. Yesterday, a Ruff had been sighted there, so naturally, thousands of dollars of optics were set up there, with 7 or 8 birders on the observation tower. I'm not a fan of the observation towers--I don't like being in crowded places where I can't look into my scope (if I even have room to set up my scope) because every movement by someone shakes the eye piece so that the distant little bird in the shimmer is even more impossible to see. Thanks, I'll find other ways to frustrate myself. 

Long-billed Dowitchers

Anyway, no one saw the Ruff today. It is probably somewhere on the refuge and no doubt will turn up tomorrow, in a flock of yellowlegs. But there were other new shorebirds to see--we finally got nice looks at the very large flock of Long-billed Dowitchers that have wintered there. Supposedly rare, there always seem to be LB Dowitchers somewhere in NJ in winter. I counted 22, but they were pretty far away and bunched together--someone else counted 32. I only need one. 

I can't tell you how many times I've gone looking for Wilson's Snipe this year. Actually, I could, I just don't feel like looking it up. This is like using the word "countless" when you just mean "a lot." There are very few things in this universe that are countless--atoms, molecules, grains of sand, the numbers themselves--otherwise, in principle, as the philosophers say, you can count anything. But this has nothing to do with snipe. There were Wilson's Snipe in the Gull Pond, which were fairly easy to see if you were up on the tower--so Shari told me after she climbed up there. But down on the edge of the pond they were much more difficult to find--you had to peer through the phragmites to find the cryptic bird--eventually one appeared in our scope, extremely difficult to make out, with its bill tucked into it feathers, but the "racing stripes" on its back clearly visible. There were five there, so I'm told. I only need one. 

Unexpected bird I should have expected: When we arrived there were Tree Swallows flying around the Visitor's Center and in with their twittering I heard the different "song" of Purple Martins which have returned and were investigating the martin houses in front of the center. I saw three. Probably more. I only need one. 

Out on the Wildlife Drive between markers 4 & 5 we came across a car backing up. We knew the birders in the car so we didn't think they were complete morons as we would strangers--they had heard that back at marker 4 2 Pectoral Sandpipers and a Stilt Sandpiper were being seen. We had obviously overlooked them in the flock of Greater Yellowlegs that we saw there. We weren't about to back up for them. Someone we don't know might think we were complete morons. 

However, at Marker 5 we notched our 4th year bird of the day--a Snowy Egret preening near the channel. After that it was pretty much waterfowl and Ospreys until we got to the upland portion of the trail where about 3/4 of a mile in Shari stopped the car because she thought she heard a vireo. Way too early for that kind of bird, but we listened and at first I thought it might be a chat until we realized that the songs were differing and were repeated twice. A check with Merlin confirmed that we had our first Brown Thrasher of the year, deep in the brush and not willing to show itself. 

5 year birds compensated for a short list of 42:

Canada Goose  150
Mute Swan  9
Northern Shoveler  125
American Black Duck  150
Green-winged Teal  60
Bufflehead  40
Hooded Merganser  3
Red-breasted Merganser  1
Ruddy Duck  25
Mourning Dove  3
Long-billed Dowitcher  22     
Wilson's Snipe  1     
Greater Yellowlegs  25     25+
Ring-billed Gull  2
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  5
Double-crested Cormorant  20
Snowy Egret  1
Great Egret  9
Great Blue Heron  6
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey  12
Northern Harrier  1
Bald Eagle  1     3rd year?
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  15
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  6
Purple Martin  3
Carolina Wren  2
Brown Thrasher  1     
American Robin  2
House Finch  2
Dark-eyed Junco  2
White-throated Sparrow  8
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Common Grackle  1
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  3
Northern Cardinal  2

Joe Torg Nature Preserve 3/27--Tricolored Heron

 I knocked around some on LBI today, figuring I'd get out ahead of tomorrow's rain. I decided to stop at the Joe Torg Nature Preserve, which, despite its label in eBird, is in Loveladies (wonderful name) not Harvey Cedars (another wonderful name). I only go there about once a year--it's really a very small parcel of marsh behind the LBI Foundation. There is a rudimentary boardwalk that goes through part of the marsh, but with all the rain we've had of late, part of that boardwalk was submerged under a few inches of water (no problem if you're wearing rubber boots) and there was a gap of no boardwalk about 2/3 of the way out to the new (to me) Osprey blind (big problem), so I wasn't able to bird it as much as I would have liked. 

Just before I left, though, I heard a squawk. It didn't sound like a Great Blue Heron (which I'd seen), so, since looking through the phragmites was impossible, I walked back out onto the boardwalk. There, across the marsh, I saw three Tricolored Herons, which like the Little Blue Heron I saw last week at Manahawkin, are flagged as "rare," but only because of the date. There always seems to be at least one that winters on LBI--it seems like everyone else I know has already seen one. But good to see them, another harbinger of warmer weather. 

On a grimmer note: A couple of weeks ago, when I was at Barnegat Lighthouse SP with Bob Auster, we found a dead Great Black-backed Gull on the edge of the dunes pond. We didn't think much of it at the time; since it showed no signs of being attacked by a raptor, we thought it may have died a natural death, or "ate a bad clam," so to speak. But today, walking around that pond, I found four freshly deceased Great Black-backs. What is going on? I texted Bob and he suggested avian flu. There were no other dead gulls or other birds around, which I thought curious. I posted on Jerseybirds, and indeed, according to a professor of biology, Great Black-backs have been heavily affected by avian flu and many have been found dead with other birds in the vicinity being apparently unaffected.  With those corpses, a Herring Gull with a broken wing and badly limping American Oystercatcher, it was not an especially pleasant walk along the beach today. The Harlequin Ducks and Purple Sandpipers are still hanging in there in big numbers though.

A mere 38 for the morning's walks

Species    First Sighting

Brant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose    Cedar Bonnet Island
Mallard    Cedar Bonnet Island
American Black Duck    Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Eider    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Long-tailed Duck    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead    Cedar Bonnet Island
Red-breasted Merganser    Cedar Bonnet Island
Mourning Dove    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
American Oystercatcher    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Piping Plover    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Greater Yellowlegs    Cedar Bonnet Island
Dunlin    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Purple Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Herring Gull    Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Black-backed Gull    Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Loon    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Cormorant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Tricolored Heron    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
Great Blue Heron    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
Osprey    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
Northern Harrier    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Flicker    Cedar Bonnet Island
American Crow    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
Fish Crow    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
Carolina Wren    Cedar Bonnet Island
European Starling    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Robin    Cedar Bonnet Island
House Sparrow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-throated Sparrow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Savannah Sparrow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Red-winged Blackbird    Cedar Bonnet Island
Boat-tailed Grackle    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Cardinal    Cedar Bonnet Island

Manahawkin WMA 3/20--Blue-winged Teal, Little Blue Heron

I took a walk through the Manahawkin WMA--once pheasant season starts the gunfire can get a little distracting. I'd seen on eBird, before it went off-line for 1 1/2 days, that Anonymous Birder (what are you hiding?) had seen a Little Blue Heron there. Flagged as rare. Well, rare for the date, but pretty soon they'll be all over the marshes. Still, something to look for. 

I bird Manahawkin eccentrically, which is why I prefer to do it alone. I park on Stafford, in front of the path, then scope the impoundment on the north from the little hill you have to walk up and over to get in. From there, I could see a good variety of ducks--mostly Green-winged Teal, but mixed in with them, happy surprise, were a few Blue-winged Teal, a duck that had somehow fallen off my radar. After that scan, I hoist the scope on my shoulder and walk the "L" the trail makes between the impoundments facing Stafford and then the one in the back. After getting to the end of the back impoundment, I turn around, still stopping to scope every now and again, cursing all along the tendency of the ducks to always hug up against the far shore, then ditch the scope in the car and walk back with only binoculars, following the trails back to the parking lot off Hilliard, which, after you make a right at the back impoundment, is mostly upland forest. If you've been following the arithmetic here, that give me four looks at the impoundments. I needed only the third one before I found the Little Blue. 

Just before I reached the back impoundment, the Little Blue flew by me and landed in the marsh on tussock. I doubled back and took some backlit photos. It then picked up and flew to the edge of the marsh, then jumped up when it saw me and flew into the back impoundment, where I was able to get better pictures--i.e. they weren't silhouettes. It flew off again, back into the marsh, only to fly back and land in the branches of leafless, probably dead, tree. After that back into the impoundment and I never saw it again as it was probably hidden in the phragmites with all kinds of cool waders that weren't about to show themselves. Two year birds and no shotguns booming--a successful morning. 

30 species for the day:

Canada Goose  2
Mute Swan  5
Blue-winged Teal  4     
Gadwall  15
Mallard  5
American Black Duck  25
Northern Pintail  3     
Green-winged Teal  48
Bufflehead  4
Hooded Merganser  4
Mourning Dove  1
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull  5
Little Blue Heron  1     
Great Blue Heron  3
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Blue Jay  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  2
American Robin  1
Song Sparrow  5
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Pine Warbler  1

LBI 3/16--King Eider, Piping Plover, Osprey

I met my buddy Bob Auster at Barnegat Lighthouse SP this morning for some late-winter birding. We were especially interested in finding one of the long-staying King Eiders. Whenever either of us has been there this year, the seas have been too rough to find any rarities riding the troughs of the waves. Fortunately, today the water seemed calmer when started walking along (not on) the jetty, but the swells got impressive when got to the mouth of the inlet. Off the end of the north jetty (Island Beach SP) there was a flock of Common Eiders, and in amongst them we could, fleetingly, find a smaller, browner duck with a rounder head, and shorter bill without as much slope to it as a Common Eider. Since we were both finding the bird independently of each other, we were confident in our identification as a (oxymoron alert) hen King. 

Piping Plover

Just before we had climbed onto the jetty, we had seen our first Piping Plover of the year nestled down in the sand, practically invisible among the broken shells. We'd probably have overlooked it had not another birder brought it to our attention. These threatened shorebirds are just adorable, though apparently not adorable enough that they don't need constant protection provided by beach monitors and cordoned off areas that piss off people who think it is their constitutional right to either have their dogs run wild on the sand or to drive their vehicles along the beach. I remember that once a big-time ad executive who had a house on Long Island threw a hissy fit because he couldn't shoot off fireworks on the beach in front of his house since the plovers had scratched out their nests there.  Too effin bad, sez I. 

We found most of the expected birds there, though not in great numbers--only a few Purple Sandpipers when a couple of weeks ago we had close to 150; probably about half the number of Long-tailed Ducks than our previous visit. There were a good number of Harlequin Ducks still around, though it was hard to get good looks at them as most of them were bobbing in the breakers at the end of the old 8th Street jetty. They and the Purple Sandpipers will be gone soon. And now that I've ticked my Piping Plover, unless something exceptional shows up, there is no compelling reason to go there for the rest of the year (though I'm certain I will). 

After lunch and a walk along the concrete walkway where we got some good looks at molting Common Loons, we headed south, making stops at the usual spots. We were hoping for the Tricolored Heron that had been seen earlier in the week at the Bayview Marina, but dipped on that one--Tricolors are more important to Bob, who lives in Somerset County, than to me--they're an easy bird for me compared to the driving he has to do to get one.

Bye-bye Osprey

Another mile south and we came to the Bayview Avenue Park, where in the past we've seen Tricolors. Dipped again on that, but we did see our FOY Osprey sitting on a platform. Of the raptors that I don't care about, Osprey heads the list--they and eagles are too charismatic for me to care about but I traditionally take one picture of the first one I see, which should stand in for the billion pictures of Ospreys that will be taken this year--which will look like the billion pictures taken last year, which will look like the billions upon billions of pictures taken in all the previous years since photography was invented--but the bird flew off just as I raised my camera.  Bob cracked up. Ain't that the way? 

Our last stop was Harvey Cedars--Sunset Park, the winter goldeneye spot, but they seem to have left already. The oddest bird we saw today was Surf Scoter drake in the cove. Very odd to find a "skunk-head" in the bay instead of the surf. It was definitely a patch bird for me. 

For the day I tallied 52 species--the Peregrine Falcon was sitting on the hacking tower on Cedar Bonnet Island--I caught a look at it as I drove over the causeway. It isn't distracted driving; it's distracted birding. 

Species    Location
Brant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Mute Swan    Sunset Park
Mallard    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Black Duck    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Greater Scaup    Sunset Park
Lesser Scaup    Bayview Ave Park
King Eider    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Eider    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter    Sunset Park
Black Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Long-tailed Duck    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red-breasted Merganser    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Mourning Dove    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Oystercatcher    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Killdeer    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Piping Plover    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Ruddy Turnstone    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Purple Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Herring Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Black-backed Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red-throated Loon    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Loon    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Northern Gannet    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Cormorant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Blue Heron    Bayview Ave Marina
Osprey    Bayview Ave Park
Northern Flicker    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Peregrine Falcon    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue Jay    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Crow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Fish Crow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Raven    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Carolina Chickadee    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Carolina Wren    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
European Starling    Sunset Park
Northern Mockingbird    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Hermit Thrush    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Robin    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
House Sparrow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
House Finch    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-throated Sparrow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red-winged Blackbird    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Brown-headed Cowbird    Sunset Park 

Whitesbog 3/13--Eastern Phoebe

Fee-Bee!

After my automotive debacle yesterday, I got right back on the horse and returned to Whitesbog this morning.  Again, I stopped at the Lower Bog, hoping for snipe, and again, I found that the only shorebirds were Killdeer. But, since the supervisor told me yesterday that he was going to keep the bog lowered for a while, some spring shorebirds there are a distinct possibility. I moved on to "my" parking spot, on the border of Burlington and Ocean Counties, and walked around the Ocean County side for a few hours. I really wasn't expecting much, so I was happy with the ducks I was finding in odd corners of reservoirs--the ducks are usually on the Burlco side. I was especially pleased to scare up (literally) a couple of Wood Ducks in a quiet pool off a trail used mostly by fishermen. 

I was walking along the dike that runs between the Upper Reservoir and a smaller reservoir when I thought I heard a harsh "fee-bee," coming from the woods at the edge of the water. It was pretty faint, at first, but as I got into the pines there, it got louder and louder, until it seemed like the bird--obviously, an Eastern Phoebe--was right on top of me. A little beyond where I was, as the corner of the road, is a usually reliable spot for nesters--there is a concrete structure over the water there that would make a good nesting spot (phoebes used to be called Bridge Peewees for their habit of building nests beneath bridges), and I walked around there, peering up into the pines. Finally, almost by accident, I found the singing bird (if you want to call that singing) high atop a pine. Unfortunately, my camera battery had died an hour ago, so all I could do was take the laughably bad picture on the left with my phone. Still, year bird and in the county no less, and no one had to tow me out of the muck today. 

25 species on the Ocean County side:

Wood Duck  2
Mallard  11
American Black Duck  11
Ring-necked Duck  7
Bufflehead  17
Hooded Merganser  4
Mourning Dove  2
Killdeer  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1     Upper reservoir
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1     Recorded
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
American Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  15
Tufted Titmouse  2
Tree Swallow  3
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
Eastern Bluebird  1
Dark-eyed Junco  2
Song Sparrow  5
Swamp Sparrow  2     Breached bog & Big Tank
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Pine Warbler  3

The Dumbest Thing I Have Done This Year

But it's early.

Stuck

I have been birding Whitesbog for more than 12 years.  I have been there well over 700 times. I have driven its dikes and dams for hundreds of miles, in the dark, in the rain, through snow and over ice.  But, as the guy supervising getting my car out of the Lower Bog said, "You come here enough, eventually you're gonna slide off the road."  

Which didn't make me feel any less stupid. 

The day started like hundreds of others out on the bogs. I stopped at the Lower Bog, which this month was lowered to discouraged the Tundra Swans and Canada Geese and keep them in Union Pond, away from the working bogs. I pulled over to the side of the road, right in front of the wooden bridge that is inset into the road. Had I driven a foot and half farther and set my front tires on the bridge, you wouldn't be reading this. But I didn't, because I wanted to keep the road clear in case someone else was driving around. I scanned the bog for a while, hoping for snipe, but only came up with Killdeer, blackbirds, and grackles. 

I put my scope in the car, started it up, put it in drive...and it wouldn't go forward. I looked ahead of me and saw that my bumper was actually up against the edge of the bridge. The shoulder was soft. I didn't think it was that big a deal--at first. I'd just turn the wheel to the left and get back on the hard part of the road. First, I had to back up a little. And backing up collapsed the road more. Then I went forward a little, then back, then I put the car into X mode, which just spun the tires more and when I got out of the car I was perpendicular to the road, and about 2 feet away from the water at the edge--front tires buried in sand, back tires in mud. 

My first thought was that maybe my friend was around, and he could help. I called him, and he said he'd be right over, but he didn't have anything to pull me out with. I called AAA and after the usual the rigamarole they said they'd be there within an hour and a half. Just then M--- pulled up and saw my predicament. He's the supervisor and was checking the water flow of the gates. I told him that AAA was on the way. He thought that would be good, because, while he had the equipment to get me out, he didn't want to take the chance of damaging my car. He'd make his rounds and check back with me around 10. So now all I had to do was wait. I couldn't really imagine how a tow truck was going to pull me out with the front of the car buried in sand, but I guessed they had their ways. A little later my friend came up and said it was a good thing the bog wasn't full of water.  I replied, "If the bog had been full of water, I wouldn't have stopped here!" 

The extrication begins

Then I got a text from AAA asking me to share my location with them, which I did. 10 minutes later I got another text saying that now that they saw where I actually was, they couldn't help me, because they only do towing in accessible places that are no more than 50 feet from a paved surface. Thanks for nothing. I called M--- (I had taken his number) and told him I would have to prevail upon him. Very quickly, he and J arrived, J in a backhoe. J and I have the occasional chat about birds and the bogs when we see each other. J and M--- got to work, first J smoothed out the slope where I had grooved it trying to get out up the hill, then M---attached one end of strap to the axle of my car and the other end to the shovel of the backhoe. Warning me that they might damage the bumper, they got to work. It seemed excruciatingly slow, but the car inched up the incline, and within 10 minutes was on the road again--with, miraculously, no damage to the car. This obviously wasn't the first vehicle they've pulled from the bogs. "Hell," M--- said, "we've had overturned dump trucks in the bogs." Again, it didn't make me feel any less stupid. 

But I can tell you one thing: It's the last time I'm considerate about where I park there. 

Almost

Extricated

Delaware 3/5-3/9--Sandhill Crane, American Avocet, Forster's Tern, Short-eared Owl, Tree Swallow, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Towhee

Sandhill Cranes, Bombay Hook
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Shari & I spent a good part of the week in Delaware and despite some dreary weather, we did pretty well. We left late Tuesday morning in a persistent rain that continued all the way to Smyrna. But just as we turned onto to Whitehall Neck Road, about 2 1/2 miles from Bombay Hook, the rain stopped. About a mile up the road we saw a few Killdeer and then a couple of Horned Larks feeding the on the road and then we got our official greeting when about 5000 Snow Geese descended onto the sodden potato fields.  I know, because I kept seeing reports, that there was a Ross's Goose (I'll be glad to lose that eponym with the orthographically silly s's) in with them, but I wasn't about to spend hours sorting through the flock which pulsated like a gigantic living organism. 

Short-eared Owl, Bear Swamp Pool

Once inside the refuge proper we stopped to admire the new, very attractive, large Visitor's Center (hint, hint, Forsythe), and then started around the impoundments. Waterfowl, as you would expect in late winter, prevailed. No shorebirds, as the water levels were ridiculously high--areas that are usually marshy showed only the tips of the reeds and grasses breaking through the water. And the tide appeared high on the bayside too. We scored our first year bird with a Tree Swallow flying over Shearness Pool. We found what we would expect at Raymond Pool and Shearness--lots of eagles, ho hum, and then we started making our way around Bear Swamp Pool, hoping for the Glossy Ibis that had been seen there for what seemed like the last month as I read the rare bird reports for Kent County. The joke about Bear Swamp Pool as always been NO bear, NO swamp, and since it is usually just mud, NO pool, but like everything else in Delaware, this time the impoundment was flooded--Common Mergansers had no problem diving into its depths. Naturally, the last report of the ibis was on the 4th. Here on the 5th, nothing. But then Shari suddenly stopped the car, cussed, and told me to get out the scope. Just as I was pulling it out of the back seat, she cussed again, and I looked up to see a Short-eared Owl fly away from us onto a dead tree in the middle of the pool. Shari was disappointed that it wasn't as close as when she first spotted it, but with the scope we had very good looks, especially of its back, though it did rotate its head to give a couple of facial views. I took some digiscope photos, proving how perfectly camouflaged these owls can be. Not only was that a year bird for us, but it was our first Delaware Short-eared Owl. 

We spent a little under 3 hours there, leaving as it was started to get darker. We were amused to find one Wild Turkey crossing and recrossing the road to Finis Pool as if it couldn't make up its mind, and then just beyond the refuge gate, we had 7 more toms cross the road and run up a lane between the fields and the refuge. 35 species for the few hours we were there. 

Wednesday we weren't as lucky with the weather. The forecast was for rain in the afternoon, so our plan was to drive down to Mispillion and stand on the deck of the DuPont Nature Center, looking for shorebirds (read: oystercatchers), ducks, and what not. The forecast was optimistic. It started to rain a little about two miles from the center, and in earnest when we got there--a blowing, cold, nasty rain and DuPont has very little shelter--we stood under the eaves of the old lighthouse structure, but that doesn't help when the rain is horizontal. We did get Shari's oystercatchers, very briefly, a Black-bellied Plover, 7 eagles, ho-hum, gulls and let's get the hell out of here. The other part of our plan, which was to work our way north at some other spots, was obviously not going to work. We spent the rest of the day indoors. 

Thursday was better. Overcast, colder than I like, but better. At Bear Swamp Pool we took a little walk along the trail toward the back of the impoundment, thinking that maybe the ibis was there (why I wanted to see an ibis so badly escapes me since in a month or so they'll be all over the place) but of course, that bird was long gone. We did hear another year bird though--our first Eastern Towhee calling "chwink!" in the woods. As we were heading back to the parking lot for lunch, just emerging from the woods, Shari stopped and pointed right--"There they are!" "They" were two Sandhill Cranes feeding in a big field a quarter mile from the Visitor's Center. Sandhill Cranes are apparently not flagged as "rare" anymore in Kent County--just "infrequent." "Elusive" might be a better word, since no one else seems to have seen them that day. 

Friday was the best day weather-wise--sunny and seasonable. We drove down to Prime Hook. Prime Hook is harder to bird than Bombay Hook because it takes in so much more territory and requires a lot more driving. What we usually do, and did, is walk around the boardwalk area and the marsh trail, look at one of the ponds, and take a ride down to look at the Broadkill Marsh. But, because I noticed an interesting listing on eBird, we took a walk on a trail we'd never tried before--it was in an area with the rather convoluted designation Turkle Pond--pinewoods--Fleetwood Pond. We'd been to the ponds before, but never before walked the trail, which is less than a mile, and goes through a loblolly pine stand. Loblolly pines are the preferred (and for all I know, only) habitat of the Brown-headed Nuthatch. (It isn't hard to identify loblolly pines in Delaware--find a pine tree and it's a loblolly). To find Brown-headed Nuthatches, we have either gone to Cape Henlopen, we're you can track them down on a certain trail, or else on Big Stone Beach Road in Kent County (where the population there is flagged as rare) which was one of our abandoned stops on Wednesday. I had no idea they were present at Prime Hook. We walked along the trail for about quarter of a mile, and it was deadly quiet. Shari played the recording of the nuthatch, which really does sound as it is described, like a pet's squeak toy, but we got no response. On a spur off the main trail which leads to a wetland (where, because of the phragmites, we could see nothing) we heard, as we were heading back, the little squeak. Again. And again. And then persistently, one, then two. Shari played the recording again and called in a chickadee, but then, crawling down the pine tree head-first, just like a nuthatch should, we saw the brown-capped little bird. I have to say it was quite a thrill--there is something very satisfying about find a tiny bird in a big area. But it wasn't a Kent County bird--Shari was not sympathetic. 

We did go down Broadkill Road to look at the marsh, but again, the water was very high, and there were no shorebirds--there was no mud or high spots for them, except for one sandbar, where I saw some gulls and smaller white birds. One was flying, and with the scope I could see that they were Forster's Terns (FOY), so not a totally wasted trip. 

Raymond Pool
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Today, the weather again sucked. Overcast, and with a steady wind, making 45 degrees feel more like 35. Rain was supposed to start around noon. We went to Bombay Hook, intending to make a relatively quick trip around and then head back to New Jersey. Despite having seen some really good birds, I was still a little let down because we hadn't seen one of the Delaware specialties. That changed at Raymond Pool when Shari said that flock of birds that had just flown in looked like shorebirds, but they were too big. "Which means," I said, "they might be avocets." I didn't think I'd be scoping much in the wind, but to make sure of our identification, I pulled out the scope and got on the flock--180 American Avocets (give or take). The flock was very nervous, with good reason, as an eagle, ho-hum, was making its rounds over them. They would pick up and circle around the pool, then land, then do another touch and go. It didn't help for one of them as we saw the eagle flying off with an avocet in its talons. I love avocets in winter plumage--I think the high-contrast black-and-white coloration is much more appealing than the russet they have when they're breeding. As I was counting the avocets, Shari was whisper-yelling at me to come back to the car. "Hurry up, hurry up," (now there's a switch, her telling me to hurry up). What she wanted me to see was the two Sandhill Cranes, feeding right in front of us in Raymond Pool. Again, I don't think anyone else reported them today. 

The eagle taking the avocet was not the most dramatic eagle meal we saw this trip. Yesterday, before we finished for the day, we decided to take a drive down Port Mahon Road, which has to be the most dismal spot in Delaware, a rock-strewn unpaved road with derelict piers and utility poles in the middle of the road.  But a good place to look for shorebirds, gulls, ducks, and so forth. Except maybe not in the winter, since there was virtually nothing there except for the usual gulls and, ho-hum, 4 eagles. We didn't bother going to the end of the road, since the place is a flat tire waiting to happen, but on our way out, on smooth macadam, a car was stopped in the middle of the road "What's he looking at?" As he was blocking the road, he drove off, but we stopped to see a vulture and an eagle standing on the side of the road, the eagle eviscerating a red fox. The vulture was just waiting for the eagle to finish. Eagles can kill a fox, but they'll usually go after easier prey, so this might be roadkill. The eagle dragged the fox around, looking for the tasty bits, I suppose. And the vulture just stood by.

Forgive me, but the English major in me is about to come out: T.S. Eliot, Nobel Prize-winning poet, had a concept he called the "objective correlative," in which, as I remember, an image stood for an emotion. Watching the eagle disembowel the fox was the objective correlative for Port Mahon Road. 

For our 3 full days and 2 partial ones, we had 72 species. Not as many as I had hoped, but quality made up for quantity:

Species             First Sighting
Snow Goose    Whitehall Neck Rd.
Canada Goose    Bombay Hook
Mute Swan    Bombay Hook
Tundra Swan    Bombay Hook
Wood Duck    Bombay Hook
Northern Shoveler    Bombay Hook
Gadwall    Bombay Hook
Mallard    Bombay Hook
American Black Duck    Bombay Hook
Northern Pintail    Bombay Hook
Green-winged Teal    Bombay Hook
Bufflehead    Bombay Hook
Hooded Merganser    Bombay Hook
Common Merganser    Bombay Hook
Ruddy Duck    Bombay Hook
Wild Turkey    Bombay Hook
Pied-billed Grebe    Bombay Hook
Mourning Dove    Whitehall Neck Rd.
Sandhill Crane    Bombay Hook
American Avocet    Bombay Hook
American Oystercatcher    DuPont Nature Center
Black-bellied Plover    DuPont Nature Center
Killdeer    Whitehall Neck Rd.
Greater Yellowlegs    Bombay Hook
Dunlin    Bombay Hook
Bonaparte's Gull    DuPont Nature Center
Ring-billed Gull    DuPont Nature Center
Herring Gull    DuPont Nature Center
Great Black-backed Gull    DuPont Nature Center
Forster's Tern    Prime Hook 
Great Egret    Bombay Hook
Great Blue Heron    Bombay Hook
Black Vulture    Dover
Turkey Vulture    Bombay Hook
Northern Harrier    Bombay Hook
Cooper's Hawk    Prime Hook
Bald Eagle    Bombay Hook
Red-shouldered Hawk    Prime Hook
Red-tailed Hawk    Bombay Hook
Short-eared Owl    Bombay Hook
Belted Kingfisher    Bombay Hook
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Bombay Hook
Downy Woodpecker    Bombay Hook
Northern Flicker    Bombay Hook
American Kestrel    Milford
Blue Jay    Dover
American Crow    Prime Hook
Fish Crow    Dover
Carolina Chickadee    Bombay Hook
Tufted Titmouse    Bombay Hook
Horned Lark    Whitehall Neck Rd.
Tree Swallow    Bombay Hook
Brown-headed Nuthatch    Prime Hook 
Carolina Wren    Bombay Hook
European Starling    Dover
Gray Catbird    Bombay Hook
Northern Mockingbird    Bombay Hook
Eastern Bluebird    Bombay Hook
Hermit Thrush    Prime Hook
American Robin    Bombay Hook
House Sparrow    Bombay Hook
House Finch    Bombay Hook
American Goldfinch    Bombay Hook
Fox Sparrow    Prime Hook 
White-throated Sparrow    Bombay Hook
Song Sparrow    Bombay Hook
Eastern Towhee    Bombay Hook
Red-winged Blackbird    Bombay Hook
Common Grackle    Bombay Hook
Boat-tailed Grackle    DuPont Nature Center
Yellow-rumped Warbler    Bombay Hook
Northern Cardinal    Bombay Hook 

February--One Day Longer But Still a Dreary Month

Wood Ducks, Cranberry Bogs, Dover Road

The additional leap day didn't make any difference to the winter birding--as almost always around here, February is a dreary month. Most of the month's year birds have been noted here previously--a couple were either so quick and brief--Sharp-shinned Hawk flying across the cedar alley on Great Bay Blvd or didn't allow for any pictures like the hide-and-seek Lapland Longspur on Scott's Sandy Hook trip--are the exceptions. 

Usually, I bemoan the lack of birds, like every other birder--didn't see this, didn't find that--but this month I'm focusing on the positive--some of my favorite birds were abundant. Pine Siskins have been regular at our feeder this month, aggressive little bastards that they are, fighting off the more common finches and other tweety birds.  We've had as many as 12 at one time, some on the ground since they all can't fit on the feeders and get along. We've also had Eastern Bluebirds on our feeders. You don't think of them as seedeaters and, oddly, when Shari bought mealworms for them, they were nowhere in evidence (starlings were), but as soon as the mealworms ran out, they showed up to eat the shelled sunflower seeds. Cedar Waxwings--big flocks on Sandy Hook, and scattered all about on my walks, eating cedar berries. Purple Sandpipers not only at Barnegat Light, where they were fighting the breaking waves on the jetties, but also on the jetty at Manasquan Inlet, finding something to eat off the big concrete jacks that buttress it. And then of course, there were the Horned Larks--the huge resident flock at Jackson Liberty High School and another big flock on Sandy Hook in which the Lapland Longspurs were playing peek-a-boo. Those were all pleasures. 

I also spent rainy or snowy days dipping into my 1936 copy of American Birds--a huge illustrated book with all kinds of information about the stomach contents of birds and many outdated or alternate names, which I find fascinating, and, in light of the "no eponyms" movement, I think a source for "new" names for some birds. 

I think the "no eponyms" movement is dumb for a number of reasons, but the main reason is that while the common names might be changed, the scientific names stay the same, and a lot of those scientific names are eponyms. For instance: McCown's Longspur, named after a confederate officer and Indian killer, has been changed to Long-billed Longspur, which is a more descriptive name (one of the psuedo- rationales for getting rid of eponyms), but the scientific name remains Rhynchophanes mccownii. So, you're just sweeping the name under the rug. 

But, on the other hand, when you look through this book, it is obvious that a lot of the names we know now weren't in existence 90+ years ago. Ever in flux. A lot of birds that have the "common" adjective now, were "American" back then. And some eponyms have already been lost. Wilson's Tern (Wilson, who, if he were alive today would be a hero of the left, has more birds named for him than anyone else) is now the Common Tern. 

But here are some interesting alternate names I've gleaned:

Harris's Sparrow was also known as Hood-crowned Sparrow or Blackhood.  Either would be a fine name for the bird.

Bachman's Sparrow was once the Pine-woods Sparrow

Cooper's Hawk could go back to being called Big Blue Darter, or simply Striker (I think Chicken Hawk is off the table)

Another bird that Wilson lost is the Veery, which once was Wilson's Thrush.

And, one of the more amusing nicknames I've found, Red-headed Woodpecker was known as Flag Bird, or Patriotic Bird, because, so they say, in some light, its black feathers looked deep blue and combined with the white patch and red head...I have yet to see this effect. 

Another: Common Gallinule, before it had the misleading name of Common Moorhen (half of them weren't hens, and we have no moors), was known as Florida Gallinule.

And probably my favorite so far: the simple Ovenbird used to be known as the Golden-crowned Accentor. 

For the month 114 species.

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species             First Sighting
Snow Goose   Brig
Brant   Brig
Canada Goose   Brig
Mute Swan   Brig
Tundra Swan   Whitesbog
Wood Duck   Reeves Bogs
Northern Shoveler   Brig
Gadwall   Brig
American Wigeon   Brig
Mallard   Brig
American Black Duck   Brig
Northern Pintail   Brig
Green-winged Teal   Brig
Canvasback   Brig
Redhead   Holly Lake
Ring-necked Duck   Whitesbog
Greater Scaup   Bayview Ave Park
Lesser Scaup   Lake of the Lilies
Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter   Manasquan Inlet
Long-tailed Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead   Brig
Common Goldeneye   Brig
Hooded Merganser   Brig
Common Merganser   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Red-breasted Merganser   Brig
Ruddy Duck   Brig
Wild Turkey   Crestwood Village
Horned Grebe   Graveling Point
Rock Pigeon   Jackson Liberty HS
Mourning Dove   Brig
Clapper Rail   Brig
American Coot   Brig
Black-bellied Plover   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Killdeer   Lake of the Lilies
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin   Brig
Purple Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Razorbill   Manasquan Inlet
Ring-billed Gull   Brig
Herring Gull   Brig
Great Black-backed Gull   Brig
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Lake of the Lilies
Red-throated Loon   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Loon   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Northern Gannet   Manasquan Inlet
Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Brig
Black-crowned Night Heron   Bayview Ave Park
Great Egret   Brig
Great Blue Heron   Brig
Black Vulture   Brig
Turkey Vulture   Brig
Northern Harrier   Brig
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Great Bay Bvld
Cooper's Hawk   35 Sunset Rd
Bald Eagle   Brig
Red-shouldered Hawk   Reeves Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk   Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Great Horned Owl   Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher   Brig
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Whitesbog
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Brig
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
American Kestrel   Pasadena Road
Blue Jay   Brig
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven   Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee   Brig
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Horned Lark   Jackson Liberty HS
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   Brig
Brown Creeper   Cranberry Bogs
Winter Wren   Whitesbog
Carolina Wren   Brig
European Starling   Brig
Northern Mockingbird   Whitesbog
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Hermit Thrush   Brig
American Robin   Brig
Cedar Waxwing   Lake Shenandoah County Park
House Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
House Finch   Brig
Red Crossbill   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Pine Siskin   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Lapland Longspur   Sandy Hook
Snow Bunting   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Chipping Sparrow   Bamber Lake
Field Sparrow   Pasadena Road
American Tree Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Fox Sparrow   Brig
Dark-eyed Junco   Brig
White-crowned Sparrow   New Egypt
White-throated Sparrow   Brig
Savannah Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Red-winged Blackbird   Brig
Brown-headed Cowbird   Whitesbog
Rusty Blackbird   Reeves Bogs
Common Grackle   Lakehurst Railroad Tracks
Boat-tailed Grackle   Brig
Pine Warbler   Crestwood Village
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Brig
Northern Cardinal   Brig