August Wrap-up: Shorebirds, Spoonbills, & Bobolinks

American Golden-Plovers

A couple of trips to Brig and another excursion to Bombay Hook provided all the new birds for the year, aside from the Forked River spoonbills so early in the month that it seems like last August. That is until today. Up until this afternoon, I had listed American Golden-Plover 48 times with a total number of 92 individuals--the highest count I ever had was 18. Today, on a sod farm in Burlington County I saw a flock of FORTY-THREE of them in a recently mowed alfalfa field. (I don't know why a sod farm has an alfalfa field; I am going on information that the agronomist who found them told me.) I had seen his report yesterday, and after walking around Reeves Bogs this morning, I drove over there only to find nothing. I figured it was a one-day wonder until I got home, and the reports started rolling in, including a sighting of an Upland Sandpiper in the same field, another example of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect. 

I figured I could stay home, watch the Mets game and be aggravated on two fronts, or I could get back in the car and try again. I tried again. Fortunately, this time there was a line of birders who I knew parked on the side of the road and both the plovers and the uppie were easy to see, though very hard to photograph. How I missed the plovers the first time I don't know unless they were over a small rise in the field and were flushed by ATV activities in the field. Whatever the reason, I'm glad I went back, since the Mets played another crappy game and lost. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch

While I was at Reeves Bogs this morning, I walked along Coopers Road in the state forest. I had a suspicion I might find a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which seem to be irrupting this month. At the corner of Cooper and Muddy I found one, yanking away, and managed to get a decent photograph as it hopped from pine branch to pine branch. In itself, a Red-breasted Nuthatch is not remarkable, but an irruption of RB Nuts is often a precursor of northern finches coming this far south in the winter. We'll see. 

For the month I tallied 137 species

Counties Birded:

Delaware: Kent

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose   Brig
Mute Swan   Brig
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Blue-winged Teal   Bombay Hook
Northern Shoveler   Bombay Hook
Gadwall   Bombay Hook
Mallard   Whitesbog
American Black Duck   Bombay Hook
Green-winged Teal   Bombay Hook
Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   South Toms River
Mourning Dove   Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk   Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Cranberry Bogs
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
Sandhill Crane   Bombay Hook
Black-necked Stilt   Bombay Hook
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Great Bay Blvd
American Golden-Plover    Allen Sod Farm
Killdeer   Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated Plover   Great Bay Blvd
Upland Sandpiper    Allen Sod Farm
Hudsonian Godwit   Brig
Marbled Godwit   Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Long-billed Dowitcher   Bombay Hook
Wilson's Phalarope   Brig
Red-necked Phalarope   Brig
Spotted Sandpiper   Brig
Solitary Sandpiper   Bombay Hook
Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig
Willet   Great Bay Blvd
Greater Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd
Ruddy Turnstone   Great Bay Blvd
Curlew Sandpiper   Bombay Hook
Stilt Sandpiper   Brig
Sanderling   Cattus Island County Park
White-rumped Sandpiper   Brig
Least Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper   Bombay Hook
Western Sandpiper   Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig
Laughing Gull   Great Bay Blvd
American Herring Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Great Black-backed Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Black Skimmer   Brig
Least Tern   Brig
Gull-billed Tern   Brig
Caspian Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Common Tern   Brig
Royal Tern   Port Mahon Rd.
Double-crested Cormorant   Brig
White Ibis   Brig
Glossy Ibis   Brig
Roseate Spoonbill   Forked River
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Brig
Black-crowned Night Heron   Brig
Little Blue Heron   Cattus Island County Park
Tricolored Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Snowy Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Great Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Great Blue Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Black Vulture   Brig
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Brig
Cooper's Hawk   Cattus Island County Park
Bald Eagle   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Cattus Island County Park
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker   Cattus Island County Park
Hairy Woodpecker   Double Trouble SP
Northern Flicker   Cattus Island County Park
Peregrine Falcon   Brig
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo   Double Trouble SP
Red-eyed Vireo   Double Trouble SP
Blue Jay   Manahawkin
American Crow   Whitesbog
Fish Crow   Manahawkin
Common Raven   Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Bank Swallow   Whitesbog
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Purple Martin   Brig
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Whitesbog
Barn Swallow   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Red-breasted Nuthatch      Reeves Bogs
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog
Northern House Wren   Whitesbog
Marsh Wren   Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren   Whitesbog
European Starling   Whitesbog
Gray Catbird   Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird   Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Bluebird   Cattus Island County Park
American Robin   Double Trouble SP
Cedar Waxwing   35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow   Lake of the Lilies
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Brig
Seaside Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow   Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog
Bobolink   Bombay Hook
Baltimore Oriole   Island Beach SP
Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird   Double Trouble SP
Common Grackle   Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd
Ovenbird   Whitesbog
Northern Waterthrush   Island Beach SP
Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog
Pine Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal   Whitesbog
Blue Grosbeak   Brig
Indigo Bunting   Brig

Brig 8/25--Marbled Godwit, Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit

                            Don't look for the bird, look for the birders
                                                                             --Birding Law #4 

The other day I was talking to Bob Auster on the phone. He'd just been down to Brig and said he'd seen something there he'd never seen before: A Marbled Godwit and an Hudsonian Godwit in the same scope view. Come to think of it, neither had I, and since I had neither bird for the year, I went godwit chasing. 

 According to the information on eBird, the birds were around Goose Marker 15, which is about 3/4 of the way around the Wildlife Drive. Instead of taking my walk first, which is how I usually approach my trips to Brig, I drove directly to that area--more or less the same place that the phalaropes were being seen a couple of weeks ago. There were shorebirds in the shallows and on the mud, including one Wilson's Phalarope (no longer flagged as rare this time of year), but of godwits there were none. With sigh and a groan, I continued on to Jen's Trail, parked the car and started my walk from there to the Gull Pond and back, with the only notable birds being a large flock of White Ibis that flew into the trees by the Gull Pond. 

Immature White Ibises with Great Egret

The White Ibis situation in New Jersey has gotten out of hand. Time it was (and what a time it was) when one White Ibis anywhere in the state was an alert-worthy bird and the optics came running. Now, at Brig, I estimated 225 White Ibis in the trees, in the pools, and in the marshes across the channels. And that wasn't even the high count (estimate) for the day. And they were probably 95% immature birds, which means that they're a breeding bird in the state. There were far more White Ibis than there were Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and both night-herons combined.  Glossy Ibis? I saw none, though another birder listed 10. Brig is not that far, as the ibis flies, from the Ocean City rookery, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's where these birds originated. All great for the White Ibis, but not so great if you're a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, which used to nest in big numbers there and have been pushed out by the newcomers. There are only so many trees in the rookery.

Returning to the car, I drove back to the start of the Wildlife Drive and did some actual shorebirding. As would be expected this time of year, Semipalmated Sandpipers abounded in take-a-guess numbers and random surveys of the flocks turned up the usual shorebirds, including a few White-rumped Sandpipers, in smaller numbers. I'm certain there were Western Sandpipers in there, but none with obvious field marks stood out to me, no surprise. 

On a Monday, there weren't that many people there, which is good in one way, bad if you're hoping for a better set of eyes than yours. But at the dogleg I saw a vehicle parked and two scopes on the road, so I pulled over. The scopers turned out to be a couple of birding friends from Ocean County who I hadn't seen in a long time and, even better, they had both godwits in view. I got the Marbled Godwit first and then a second one was called to my attention. Meanwhile, the Hudsonian was in sight for a moment and then we lost it and after a few false sightings that turned out to Short-billed Dowitchers, we found it again. The Hudsonian had retreated to the mud and was standing there, preening, when one of the Marbled Godwits came up to it and casually moved it away, like a bully bumping you in the bar because he can and whaddya gonna do about it? So, I had my two species of godwits (and 50% of the godwit species in the world) in one scope view. Goal achieved. Unfortunately, distance and shimmer made for poor pictures but the slight upturned bills were no doubters.

For the two loops I had 60 species, pretty good, I thought, until I looked at the list of one guy who birds there almost every day--he had 99 which is by my precise calculations, 65% better.  Anyway, here's what I got:

Canada Goose  20
Mute Swan  30
Blue-winged Teal  4
Mallard  125
Mourning Dove  4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Clapper Rail  2
American Avocet  4
Semipalmated Plover  4
Hudsonian Godwit  1     
Marbled Godwit  2
Short-billed Dowitcher  150
Wilson's Phalarope  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  20
Greater Yellowlegs  50
Ruddy Turnstone  2
White-rumped Sandpiper  4
Least Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1000
Laughing Gull  200
American Herring Gull  25
Black Skimmer  75
Caspian Tern  25
Forster's Tern  125
Common Tern  2
Double-crested Cormorant  250
White Ibis  225     
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  3
Snowy Egret  30
Great Egret  100
Great Blue Heron  8
Osprey  3
Cooper's Hawk  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  20
Fish Crow  2
Common Raven  1     Croaking. Mobbed by crows
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  2
Tree Swallow  20
Barn Swallow  25
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  50
Gray Catbird  8
Northern Mockingbird  1
House Sparrow  1
American Goldfinch  4
Seaside Sparrow  1
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
Northern Cardinal  1                                                                                         

Bombay Hook 8/18-8/20--Curlew Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Bobolink

Curlew Sandpiper (on the right) with Semipalmated Plovers & Semipalmated Sandpipers

 For the second time in less than a month, Shari & I were at Bombay Hook, this time for our annual NJ Audubon field trip led by Scott Barnes. The weather reports were promising, with only a slight chance of rain--but slight chances are why people gamble, and we lost the bet on the first and third days. 

We left NJ around 12:30 in the afternoon in a drizzle and by the time we got to Bombay Hook, around 3, for a quick turn around the impoundments (the trip started officially the next day) it was a steady rain and not the conditions for scoping the mud for rarities. So uncharacteristically optimistic was I that the weather would be warm and dry that I didn't pack a rain jacket or even a long-sleeve shirt. I had to buy an overpriced long-sleeve shirt with a sappy nature scene on the back from the gift shop there so I wouldn't freeze in the gusting winds. But everyone seemed to like the shirt and since my head doesn't revolve like an owl's, what I couldn't see didn't bother me. 

We were on our way back driving the two-way road at Shearness when we saw Scott and Linda in coming in the opposite direction. We stopped and talked for a while griped about the weather. Naturally, looking at their list on eBird later in the evening I saw that they'd listed about 50% more birds than we did, but it's not a competition--unless I'm winning. 

The next morning, thankfully, it was dry, as well as overcast and unseasonably cool. The group headed out for the impoundments, making our first long stop at Raymond Pool where the Semipalmated Sandpipers were feeding in droves. This time of year is a good time to look for Western Sandpipers if you have the patience to glean the slightly different field marks that distinguish them from Semipalmated. I don't. In fact, when I was at Brig on Sunday, I didn't even bother to carefully scan the flocks of semis there--why aggravate myself--and get bitten by greenhead flies--when in a couple of days Scott will pick out a few "obvious" Westerns and I can get them on the year list that way. It isn't like they're a particularly handsome bird--finding them is a game that I don't want to play. So, Scott picked out a few that day and I even found a couple on my own by accident while scoping some dowitchers.  When I looked at the some of the other eBird lists for that day I saw that one well-known birder had listed 80 Western Sandpipers and noted that it was probably a low count. That's just showing off, I think. 

Now, the bird I did want to see was a little farther up the road. Looking at the rare bird alerts before we came down, I saw that in the north end of Raymond a Curlew Sandpiper had been spotted. Curlew Sandpipers are a Eurasian species and quite rare in North America--I've seen a few but never in Delaware. This bird was attracting some of what Linda calls the "glitterati" of birding and they were all clustered at the north end where the bird was still being seen, ironically too close to the road and thus obscured by the high grass, making it difficult for the shorter birders in our group to see it. A falcon coming through scattered the thousand birds on that mud flat and we moved on, only to find out, when we had stopped at Shearness, that the bird had returned, so we did too ensuring that everyone in the group got to see this good-looking rarity. I was pleased and surprised by how fast I was able to find it and that Shari was able to see the bird without much fuss. I was even able to take a few pictures to prove I saw it. 

Roseate Spoonbill

The other rarity at Bombay Hook was a Roseate Spoonbill which I was more concerned that Shari see since it wasn't even a month bird for me. It had been out feeding while we were back at the Curlew Sandpiper spot, but by the time we returned to Shearness it had wandered back into the reeds. However, moving up the road a bit got us a different angle and the bird was in sight. "You can't miss it," someone in the group said, not knowing how easily I can miss it, especially when the directions include references to clumps of grass at the end of the peninsula when there are many clumps of grass on a few different peninsulas, but, again, like the Curlew Sandpiper, I did quickly find it. And so did Shari. 

Black Swan with Snowy Egret, Caspian Terns, and Canada Geese

The silliest sighting of the day was long-staying Black Swan that we originally saw when we were there in July. Lots of jokes about "Black Swan events" which just proves that the economist who coined that expression knew nothing about ornithology because if you're in Australia a Black Swan is expected. 

Black-necked Stilt

For the first day of the trip, we had 56 species. Today, when I was packing the car it was drizzling. Looking at my weather app it said it was cloudy. So, want do you want to believe--the app or your own lying eyes? All the way up to Bombay Hook it was cloudy in theory, raining in reality. And the trip started in a slight drizzle which got heavier as we progressed along Raymond. But we did add a few trips birds, like Bank Swallow and Pectoral Sandpiper and we did find the Curlew Sandpiper again, this time too far out for any really satisfying looks. By the time we got to Shearness it was a steady rain and we were contemplating bagging it but the weather app said that the rain would stop in 30 minutes--why I put any credence in that I don't know--maybe I was just glad that the app reflected reality for the first time today. So, we continued with the group up to Bear Swamp Pool and glad that we did since a small flock of Bobolinks was sighted and although a Jeep flushed them so that we at first only saw them silhouetted in flight, they soon returned, with two landing in a tree beneath a singing Blue Grosbeak--which didn't like them there and chased them away. And then, popping up in the tall grass were two Sandhill Cranes. And it had stopped raining.

That was pretty much it for the charismatic birds on the trip. In all, including about an hour along lovely Port Mahon Road, Shari & I had 76 species for the 2 1/2 days we were in Delaware. It rained all the way back on our drive north. 

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Black Swan^#
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mallard
American Black Duck
Green-winged Teal
Wild Turkey
Mourning Dove
Clapper Rail
Sandhill Crane
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone*
Curlew Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Sanderling*
White-rumped Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern*
Double-crested Cormorant
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue Jay
Carolina Chickadee
Bank Swallow
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling*
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow*
Eastern Towhee
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting

^#Not Countable
*Port Mahon Rd

 

Brig 8/17--Wilson's Phalarope, Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope (center)

 August used to be so easy. By this time of the month the lower and middle bogs plus Union Pond at Whitesbog would be mud and puddles and the place would be a mini-Brig. Every day I'd go over there and look at the shifting populations of shorebirds and waders. At least once a week there would be a rarity there--American Golden-Plover, Buff-Breasted Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper...but sadly, it appears dem days are over. So now, every day I have to make a decision as to where I think the birding will be most "productive" (read: "interesting"). 

Today, it was Brig because the interesting birds there were two species of phalarope which I hadn't notched for the year. After taking my walk from the Gull Pond up and around Jen's Trail, where the flies weren't too bad until the end, I drove the 8-mile loop, finally coming upon both the Wilson's Phalarope and the Red-necked Phalarope in the northwest corner of the drive, fairly far out and barely photographable. The flies, by the time it started to heat up, were getting bad enough to draw blood--I noticed a red blotch on my sock, so I wasn't too inclined to stand in one place scoping the sandpipers as they fed in the mud, but quick looks turned up a White-rumped Sandpiper, a Stilt Sandpiper, and 4 American Avocets, as well as the usual plovers and dowitchers. I'm sure there was a Western Sandpiper somewhere amongst the Semipalmated Sandpipers but there are only so many greenhead flies I'm willing to swat.

White Ibis (immature)

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

The waders were especially cooperative today, more concerned with feeding by the outflow of the sluice gates than avoiding gawkers, so I was able to get some very close photographs of birds that normally are in the middle of the impoundments. Four immature White Ibis were at GM 6--gee, I remember when they were rare. 

I was only going to make one trip around the loop but after lunch I decided that a second loop might be worth it--if for no other reason than that I had missed Common Terns on the first trip around and that just didn't seem right. It was on the second loop that I managed to get both phalaropes in one scope view. Years ago at Whitesbog, right after I had just returned from Utah, we had both phalaropes in the Middle Bog. Phalaropes in Burlco are really rare, so when Greg pointed out the first odd bird to me, I said, "Oh, I just saw 5000 of these at the Great Salt Lake, it's a Wilson's Phalarope." Then someone found another phalarope and I said, "Well, I just saw 10,000 of these out there, it's a Red-necked Phalarope." Then all hell broke loose. I miss those days. 

For the two loops and a walk, 58 species. 

Canada Goose  30
Mute Swan  2
Wood Duck  7
Mallard  48
Mourning Dove  5
Clapper Rail  1
American Avocet  4
Black-bellied Plover  5
Semipalmated Plover  35
Short-billed Dowitcher  150
Wilson's Phalarope  1     
Red-necked Phalarope  1     
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Willet  5
Greater Yellowlegs  20
Ruddy Turnstone  1
Stilt Sandpiper  1
White-rumped Sandpiper  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  600
Laughing Gull  150
American Herring Gull  20
Black Skimmer  30
Least Tern  4
Caspian Tern  25
Forster's Tern  30
Common Tern  3
Double-crested Cormorant  60
White Ibis  4
Glossy Ibis  100
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  2
Snowy Egret  10
Great Egret  30
Great Blue Heron  12
Osprey  5
Cooper's Hawk  2
Bald Eagle  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
American Crow  12
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tree Swallow  30
Purple Martin  40
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  5
Marsh Wren  2
Carolina Wren  3
Gray Catbird  12
American Goldfinch  3
Field Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Common Yellowthroat  1
Northern Cardinal  3

Instructions That Will Never Be Followed

 

Forked River 8/4--Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbills with Great Egret

The probability of a Roseate Spoonbill turning up in New Jersey is low, but with at least 15 past sightings, not that remarkable. Narrow it down to Ocean County and the odds get longer, but it has happened a few times--Island Beach and Manahawkin stand out in my memory. But the odds of three Roseate Spoonbills turning up in Forked River in the lagoon just off Spoonbill Court? Astronomical.  And yet, for the last couple of weeks or more, that has been the place to go to put this species on your year list--if you can time the tide right. Which the first three times I went to this obscure section of Barnegat Bay I wasn't able to do and left frustrated. 

But today, after I passed Albatross, Egret, Grebe, Plover, Penguin, Skimmer, and Gannet Courts and arrived at Spoonbill, there they were, with the customary M.obs facing west as they fed just at the edge of the reeds to where, when the tide gets higher, they apparently retreat. 

Immature Roseate Spoonbills are known to widely disperse, perhaps pushed out by adults who don't want them impinging on their territories, so these birds were not as pink as the adults would be, but still amusing birds to observe. For 15 minutes. I have a wise birding friend who has (or had, I don't know if he still keeps it) a rule that he had to stay at a spot at least as long as it took to drive there, and since I had come down from Double Trouble SP I only shaved off a few minutes from that edict. I don't like standing around a private neighborhood with a large group of birders, no matter how well-behaved they are; I really feel like I'm intruding. So, I took some photos, listed the obvious birds around the spoonbills and had my one cool species for the day

July Wrap-up--Bombay Hook Saves the Month

Double-crested Cormorants, Lighthouse Center

What was threatening to be an incredibly dull month with only one new year bird on the list (a very poorly seen but clearly heard Eastern Meadowlark at the local airport) was rescued by a trip to Bombay Hook the last two days of the month. We were meeting our friends from Minnesota there who had never visited the NWR (in fact, had never been in Delaware despite being adventurous world travelers), and it was there, the glary impoundments that three year birds jumped onto the list: Pectoral Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, & Stilt Sandpiper. All relatively difficult birds to find and identify, but all three were fairly close in on the mud. 

The two most amusing birds of the month were also there. On the first day, Shari & I made a quick go round of the impoundments and as we were returning on the far side of Bear Swamp Pool we saw two huge birds fly across the road. At first, seeing only black with white patches, I mistook them for Black Vultures, but Shari, of course, quickly set me straight as to their actual identity--Pileated Woodpeckers. We watched them fly from tree to tree in the dense woods, but they weren't about to pose for any pictures.  

The next day, as we were going around with Lon & Peg, we stopped to scope Shearness Pool which instead of all the sandpipers in the previous pool (Raymond) was full of boring Canada Geese, Mallards, and Mute Swans. But sharp-eyed Peg, using only bins, asked "What's the big black bird at the back by the shore?" I scoped the bird was surprised to find a Black Swan. Obviously, this is not a countable bird in the U.S. but as the four of us had made a trip to Australia together, where we saw huge numbers of these birds (or should I say "events"), it seemed an appropriate candidate for weirdest sighting of the day. 

Of course, American Avocets were present in large numbers in Raymond Pool, some in bright rufous breeding plumage, some already fading to black and white. Year bird for Shari 

Tricolored Heron, immature White Ibis, Snowy Egret, Lighthouse Center

As to the rest of the month for me, it was spent mostly in the abandoned cranberry bogs without much to show for it. I did finally go to a new hot spot in the county--the Lighthouse Center for blah blah blah which is located in Waretown. I liked it there and can see that it might be productive, but the main trail is only 3/8 of a mile long down to the bay so it isn't a place for me to get my walks in. I don't know if it is
open in the winter, but it looked like a good place to scope for bay ducks. Almost the first bird I saw there was an immature Bald Eagle sitting in the middle of the trail. It must have been a first year bird because it didn't seem to understand that I was a human approaching it until I got within 20 feet of it. I was a bit trepidatious about it actually playing possum in order to attack me, but it eventually figured out that both of us shouldn't be on the trail. 

Bald Eagle (imm)

For the month 129 species, about typical, for me, for July.

 Counties birded:

New Jersey: Burlington, Ocean

Delaware: Kent

Species    First Sighting
Brant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose    Meadowedge Park
Mute Swan    Holly Lake
Wood Duck    Cranberry Bogs
Mallard    Cloverdale Farm
American Black Duck    Manahawkin WMA
Common Eider    Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Wild Turkey    35 Sunset Rd
Mourning Dove    Cloverdale Farm
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk    Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Robert J. Miller Air Park
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Cloverdale Farm
Clapper Rail    Waretown
American Avocet    Bombay Hook
American Oystercatcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-bellied Plover    Bombay Hook
Killdeer    Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Piping Plover    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Short-billed Dowitcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Spotted Sandpiper    Colliers Mills WMA
Solitary Sandpiper    Whitesbog
Lesser Yellowlegs    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Willet    Waretown
Greater Yellowlegs    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Stilt Sandpiper    Bombay Hook
Sanderling    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-rumped Sandpiper    Bombay Hook
Least Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Pectoral Sandpiper    Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Bonaparte's Gull    Bombay Hook
Laughing Gull    Cloverdale Farm
American Herring Gull    Barnegat Municipal Dock
Great Black-backed Gull    Barnegat Municipal Dock
Black Skimmer    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern    Edwin B. Forsythe NWR--Barnegat
Gull-billed Tern    Whitesbog
Caspian Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Barnegat Municipal Dock
Common Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Common Loon    Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Barnegat Municipal Dock
White Ibis    Waretown
Glossy Ibis    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Waretown
Tricolored Heron    Joe Torg Nature Preserve
Snowy Egret    Forsythe--Barnegat
Green Heron    Cloverdale Farm
Great Egret    Cloverdale Farm
Great Blue Heron    Cloverdale Farm
Brown Pelican    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Vulture    School House Road Crestwood Village I
Turkey Vulture    Cloverdale Farm
Osprey    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Bald Eagle    Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher    Horicon Lake
Red-headed Woodpecker    Cloverdale Farm
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Cloverdale Farm
Downy Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Hairy Woodpecker    Whitesbog
Pileated Woodpecker    Bombay Hook
Northern Flicker    Cloverdale Farm
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Cloverdale Farm
Acadian Flycatcher    Cedar Bridge Tavern County Park
Willow Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Eastern Phoebe    Cloverdale Farm
Great Crested Flycatcher    Cloverdale Farm
Eastern Kingbird    Cloverdale Farm
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Red-eyed Vireo    Horicon Lake
Blue Jay    35 Sunset Rd
American Crow    Cloverdale Farm
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee    Cloverdale Farm
Tufted Titmouse    Cloverdale Farm
Horned Lark    Robert J. Miller Air Park
Tree Swallow    Cloverdale Farm
Purple Martin    Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Stafford Forge WMA
Barn Swallow    Barnegat Municipal Dock
White-breasted Nuthatch    Cloverdale Farm
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Cloverdale Farm
Northern House Wren    Cloverdale Farm
Marsh Wren    Meadowedge Park
Carolina Wren    Whitesbog
European Starling    Cloverdale Farm
Gray Catbird    35 Sunset Rd
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    Meadowedge Park
Eastern Bluebird    Cloverdale Farm
Veery    Double Trouble SP
Wood Thrush    Whitesbog
American Robin    Cloverdale Farm
Cedar Waxwing    Cranberry Bogs
House Sparrow    Waretown
House Finch    Cloverdale Farm
American Goldfinch    35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow    Cloverdale Farm
Field Sparrow    Stafford Forge WMA
Seaside Sparrow    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    Cloverdale Farm
Swamp Sparrow    Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee    Whitesbog
Eastern Meadowlark    Robert J. Miller Air Park
Orchard Oriole    Stafford Forge WMA
Red-winged Blackbird    Cloverdale Farm
Brown-headed Cowbird    Cloverdale Farm
Common Grackle    Meadowedge Park
Boat-tailed Grackle    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler    Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat    Meadowedge Park
Hooded Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow Warbler    Cattus Island County Park
Pine Warbler    Cloverdale Farm
Prairie Warbler    Whitesbog
Scarlet Tanager    Cedar Bridge Tavern County Park
Northern Cardinal    Cloverdale Farm
Blue Grosbeak    Cloverdale Farm
Indigo Bunting    Colliers Mills WMA