Island Beach SP 9/20--Bay-breasted Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow (right) with White-throated Sparrow

Suddenly it was autumn this afternoon on Spizzle Creek.  Shari & I went on Scott's Island Beach SP field trip with mostly migrating warblers in mind and we did see some drab returnees, including my FOY Bay-breasted Warbler which somehow eluded me this spring (along with Cape May Warbler which I saw there by myself on Thursday), but on the Spizzle Creek entrance trail the birds had a distinct autumn tang--a couple of early White-throated Sparrows (still flagged as "rare"), a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and my first Lincoln's Sparrow in quite a while. 

I looked up my Lincoln's Sparrow sightings and most of the ones I've had in New Jersey have come on that same Spizzle Creek trail. I can't guess what attracts them to that little patch of the park--or maybe the trail is just wide enough to see them more easily than on the narrower trails at the Tidal Pond or Reed's Road. 

I'm stunned that snapping away under lowering skies I was able to get one half-way decent photo of the bird (next to a White-throated for comparison). The warblers, on the other hand, were much too active for me to even consider getting the camera off my shoulder. We were fortunate when one of the warblers would come out from behind a leaf or branch for more than a second. 

The autumnal equinox is at 2:19 PM on Monday. Fall means ducks. I like ducks. They're big.

My list is small in comparison to the group's--we left before making it down to the winter anchorage for shorebirds on sandbars and some of the more obscure sightings I didn't bother to record. 

39 species
Northern Pintail  8     High flyers
Mourning Dove  1
Black-bellied Plover  4
Laughing Gull  10
American Herring Gull  10
Double-crested Cormorant  5
Little Blue Heron  1
Tricolored Heron  5
Snowy Egret  1
Great Egret  11
Great Blue Heron  1
Brown Pelican  1
Osprey  2
Bald Eagle  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Northern Flicker  4
Merlin  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Marsh Wren  1     Heard kayak access
Carolina Wren  1
Gray Catbird  5
Brown Thrasher  2
American Robin  1
House Finch  2
White-throated Sparrow  2     
Song Sparrow  3
Lincoln's Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Bobolink  2     Plink
Common Yellowthroat  2
American Redstart  2
Cape May Warbler  2
Magnolia Warbler  2
Bay-breasted Warbler  1
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1
Palm Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  4