November Kneecap I Mean Recap

American Bittern, Great Bay Blvd

For the second year in a row, Shari had knee surgery in November which limited my birding for more than half of the month, as she needed my assistance during her recovery, which is going all right now, thank you, but has been much rougher (read "painful") than last year's knee. Even when I felt it was safe enough to leave her for a while, I didn't go very far (Whitesbog, the Cranberry Bogs on Dover Rd, Colliers Mills) as I wanted to be fairly close in case of an emergency. 

I only added one year bird this month, a surprising female Purple Finch at our bird bath one morning. There have been a couple of very cool species along the shore this month--Cave Swallows in Point Pleasant and a Pomarine Jaeger flying back and forth between Barnegat Light & Island Beach, but I couldn't make the trips. It may be sour grapes, but often when I hear about a rarity and consider chasing, I think, "That's not birding, that's driving." It also helps to have a spotty memory. The last day of our October trip to Portugal and Spain there was a great rarity reported at Whitesbog that absolutely had me crippled with despair; the other day I couldn't even remember what the bird was, I had to look it up (Sage Thrasher). 

But I did have two happy sightings early in the month before Shari had to go under the knife (what an expression!). The day before the surgery I was down on Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton having a relatively uneventful yet pleasant morning when, as I was walking back to my car I glanced to my left, and there, across a little stream, was an American Bittern in classic beak-up pose, trying unsuccessfully to blend in with the reeds. It wasn't my first bittern of the year, but it was definitely the one I saw best and the only one I was able to photograph. 

The day after the election, I was moping around Whitesbog when I ran into my informant. We commiserated for a while then got back to the much more interesting topic of what we'd seen that day. He mentioned that in one of the old blueberry fields, which was now an empty reservoir, he'd seen an interesting sandpiper along with the Killdeer, snipe, and yellowlegs feeding there, but as he didn't have a scope, he couldn't make an ID. Since that field was only a few minutes from where I was parked, I drove up to it, set up my scope and found a very late White-rumped Sandpiper among the now-exposed blueberry bush stumps. It was the only "rarity" I listed this month, but satisfying as I (sort of) found it by myself. 

The bogs and reservoirs at Whitesbog remain drained for the most part but this morning as I passed the Lower Bog which does have some water in it, I saw my first Tundra Swans of the season. Normally, this time of year, with water in Union Pond and the other 3 bogs, you might find 20 or 30 of them. This year does not look promising for them. I almost felt bad for the 7 swans I later saw flying over the Ocean County side, looking for water and not finding it.

For the month 102 species--a very low count for November but sometimes the serious gets in the way of the silly. 

Counties birded: Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species            First Sighting
Brant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose   Jumping Brook Preserve
Mute Swan   Assunpink WMA
Tundra Swan   Whitesbog
Wood Duck   Jumping Brook Preserve
Gadwall   Lake Carasaljo
Mallard   Jumping Brook Preserve
American Black Duck   Reeves Bogs
Green-winged Teal   Jumping Brook Preserve
Ring-necked Duck   Lake Carasaljo
Lesser Scaup   Lake Carasaljo
Surf Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-winged Scoter   Great Bay Bvld
Black Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Long-tailed Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead   Cedar Bonnet Island
Hooded Merganser   Lake Carasaljo
Ruddy Duck   Assunpink WMA
Mourning Dove   Whiting WMA
American Coot   Lake Carasaljo
American Oystercatcher   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black-bellied Plover   Great Bay Bvld
Killdeer   Reeves Bogs
Wilson's Snipe   Reeves Bogs
Lesser Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin   Great Bay Bvld
White-rumped Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Laughing Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Ring-billed Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Herring Gull   Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Black-backed Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Forster's Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Royal Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Pied-billed Grebe   Jumping Brook Preserve
Horned Grebe   Great Bay Bvld
Common Loon   Great Bay Bvld
Double-crested Cormorant   Assunpink WMA
American Bittern   Great Bay Bvld
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Bvld
Great Egret   Great Bay Bvld
Great Blue Heron   Whiting WMA
Black Vulture   Jumping Brook Preserve
Turkey Vulture   Whiting WMA
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Cedar Bonnet Island
Cooper's Hawk   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Harrier   Reeves Bogs
Bald Eagle   Jumping Brook Preserve
Red-shouldered Hawk   Reeves Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk   Assunpink WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whiting WMA
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Pine Park
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whiting WMA
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Flicker   Reeves Bogs
American Kestrel   Cranberry Bogs
Merlin   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Jumping Brook Preserve
Blue Jay   Whiting WMA
American Crow   Whiting WMA
Fish Crow   Bayview Ave Marina
Common Raven   Whiting WMA
Carolina Chickadee   Whiting WMA
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whiting WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Brown Creeper   Lake Carasaljo
Winter Wren   Jumping Brook Preserve
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   New Egypt
Gray Catbird   Assunpink WMA
Northern Mockingbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Bluebird   Whiting WMA
Hermit Thrush   Whiting WMA
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
House Finch   Whiting WMA
Purple Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Jumping Brook Preserve
Snow Bunting   Great Bay Bvld
Chipping Sparrow   Whitesbog
Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Fox Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd
White-throated Sparrow   Jumping Brook Preserve
Savannah Sparrow   Assunpink WMA
Song Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Swamp Sparrow   Jumping Brook Preserve
Red-winged Blackbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Brown-headed Cowbird   Lake Carasaljo
Rusty Blackbird   Reeves Bogs
Common Grackle   Lake Carasaljo
Boat-tailed Grackle   Bayview Ave Marina
Palm Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Cardinal   Jumping Brook Preserve

Objective Correlative

I hadn't been to the cranberry bogs in South Toms River for a few weeks, so I was glad to see that the park's administration (the bogs are part of Double Trouble Park which in turn is part of Brendan Byrne Forest) had put up a barrier to keep unauthorized vehicles out. It looked pretty solid to me, the concrete post sunk deep into the ground. I thought you'd need a bulldozer to damage it. 

Two hours later I was disheartened, disgusted, to see the barrier already pushed aside, the warning sign ripped off, and fresh tire tracks going up the hill. The rules don't apply in the Age of Trump. I know it's a stretch and it has been ever thus, but to me, this is the objective correlative of the state we're in and I don't mean New Jersey.  

Election Day at Assunpink

 A weird nostalgia brought me to Assunpink this morning because I remembered being there on an Election Day 10 years ago. It wasn't that I expected to find anything special there, and I hadn't 10 years ago either, according to my eBird report, but when I ponder the absolute mess we're in, I think back to a conversation I had with a young guy there while I was scoping the lake. He was off from work or school because of the "holiday" and was just hanging out "in nature." Curious as to what I was looking at, he started talking to me and I must have been in a decent mood because I answered his questions about the ducks and geese on the water. I wish I recalled how, but the conversation veered to evolution, and I gave him the quick, canned version of "birds are the last of the dinosaurs." 

"Dinosaurs," he said, "that was before Christ, wasn't it?" 

"Quite a while before," I affirmed, while thinking to myself:

And yet, you're allowed to vote.