Holly Lake | Great Bay Blvd 4/6--Clapper Rail, Black-bellied Plover, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, Glossy Ibis, Peregrine Falcon

Caspian Terns

I stopped in the little pull-in at Holly Lake on Great Bay Blvd to check the weather report. Even though it said it was merely cloudy in Tuckerton when I left the house, I couldn't see more than about 50 feet into the pond, such was the fog. The "haze" was supposed to last for a couple of more hours, so I resigned myself to only finding birds close to the road. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a white non-gull flying around in the gray and said to myself I might as well check it out to see if it's a Forster's Tern. I soon as I got bins on it, despite the poor lighting, I could see that it was a Caspian Tern instead, rare for this time of year. There's no doubting a Caspian Tern: on field trips it is required of the leader to proclaim that the Caspian Tern is the largest tern in the world. This one, with its huge red beak, full black cap, and rasping call, plunged dived into the water and came up with a fish. Already the day was a success. 

Forster's Tern

The Foster's Terns were added latter down the road, one sitting on a sign out in the marsh, others flying around and roosting on the pilings of the boat launch just before the second wooden bridge. I also heard and recorded Clapper Rails in a couple of different spots but never got eyes on any of them. As I normally do, I drove the length of the road down to the bay, walked the beach east & west, then walked up the road from the beach to the 2nd wooden bridge. It seemed like every time I put up my bins another interesting bird flew into view--one of them was a Peregrine Falcon hunting over the marsh, another was my first Black-bellied Plover (immature, or basic plumage, hard to say) way out in spartina that I found in the spot where there are often dozens, if not hundreds of them. I only need one. Finally, on my way back I saw a small flock of birds over the marsh which I at first took for more cormorants, but with the bins up I could see were my first Glossy Ibises of the year. Funny to get White Ibis last month at Brig before I get the common ibis of New Jersey. 

Black-bellied Plover

Glossy Ibises

Because the weather was so closed in, I didn't break out the scope until I was leaving. Usually, I stop at Tuckerton Cove on my way in, but this morning that would have been pointless. On the way out the weather had cleared enough for me to see the big flock of Green-winged Teal that lives there and, whaddya know, two Caspian Terns, sitting on a sand bar. A few years ago, a couple of birder friends showed me the little path that goes in through the cedars where you can view the cove because there was an out of season Caspian Tern there, so there might be something about that spot that attracts them--but it's a small sample size. I bet, though, that one of them was the bird I saw earlier at Holly Lake.

American Oystercatchers

For the morning, I had 39 species included 6 year birds. An excellent day, especially taking into consideration how unpromising the weather looked at 7:45 AM. T

Brant  25
Canada Goose  5
Mallard  4
American Black Duck  20
Green-winged Teal  50
Bufflehead  5
Red-breasted Merganser  13
Mourning Dove  8
Clapper Rail  3
American Oystercatcher  4
Black-bellied Plover  1
Killdeer  1
Greater Yellowlegs  14
American Herring Gull  40
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Caspian Tern  2     
Forster's Tern  12
Common Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  16
Glossy Ibis  5
Black-crowned Night Heron  1     Cedars
Tricolored Heron  1
Snowy Egret  11
Great Egret  19
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  8
Northern Harrier  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Northern Flicker  4
Peregrine Falcon  1
Fish Crow  2
Tree Swallow  1
American Robin  2
Song Sparrow  10
Eastern Towhee  1     Cedars before first wooden bridge
Red-winged Blackbird  75
Boat-tailed Grackle  50
Northern Cardinal  3