Barnegat Lighthouse SP 3/20--Dunlin, Snowy Egret, Osprey

Snowy Egret

Driving up interminable Central Ave on LBI to Barnegat Lighthouse this morning through what the weather report called "haze," and I call "rain," I thought, "This is not the day to be here." But by the time I pulled into the parking lot the haze stopped and behind the clouds the sun was a silver dollar. Still, I was not optimistic about scoping the ocean but there were other target birds that I thought I might find on the beach. I only found one of them, but I did come up with two surprise species, surprises only because I wasn't thinking about them on this first day of spring. 

The first surprise was a supposed rarity in the big pool--a Snowy Egret among the waterfowl. This is rare only because of the date and probably only by a couple of days. Still, a new bird for the year and one not at the top of my mind. The year bird I saw was another I wasn't considering--an Osprey that flew over me while I was at the ocean's edge, trying to scope ducks in the rolling waves.  At first, I was annoyed that I couldn't get a picture of this year bird and then I remembered, it's an Osprey, there are billions of pictures of Ospreys, the world doesn't need another photo of one. 

Dunlin

I was searching the beach for a Piping Plover, which I never found. I was hoping to get one early, before the beach is stringed-off for the breeding season. All the while I was scanning the two or three big flocks of Purple Sandpipers for something not a Purple Sandpiper. I listed 100 Purples only because that's as much as the eBird filter allows and I wasn't really counting, but I'm certain their numbers were double that. Finally, on my way back, I scanned a flock again and saw a bird with its head tucked in--but different color and clean breast told me it was a Dunlin, FOY. How I managed to go almost 3 months without a Dunlin I don't know--you'd think I'd run into one by accident, even not going to the shore very much. It spent all the time I was standing in front of it with its beak under its wings except for a few seconds when a Purple Sandpiper bothered it and I saw its curved beak, just to cinch the i.d.

I was hoping for Lesser Black-backed Gull today too, and thought I had a good candidate in an immature bird, but after I sent pix to better birders than me, it turned out to only be a Great Black-backed Gull. I like them better when they're adults with easily identifiable yellow legs and charcoal mantles. 

Because the waves were crashing up over the jetty, I couldn't look into the inlet to find the Harlequin Ducks that usually stay close to the rocks. I'll live with the disappointment. For the almost 3 hours I walked the beach I tallied 31 species.

Brant  120
Canada Goose  4
American Wigeon  2     Pool
Mallard  7
American Black Duck  11
Greater Scaup  2
Surf Scoter  4
Black Scoter  40
Long-tailed Duck  35
Red-breasted Merganser  15
Mourning Dove  3
American Oystercatcher  6
Dunlin  1
Purple Sandpiper  100     100+
American Herring Gull  50
Great Black-backed Gull  6
Common Loon  2
Great Cormorant  10
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Snowy Egret  1     Small white egret yellow feet black beak
Osprey  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  2
Carolina Wren  1
House Sparrow  2
House Finch  5
Song Sparrow  3
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  28
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Northern Cardinal  2