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