Barnegat Light SP 6/21--Roseate Tern

Roseate Tern, Least Tern, Forster's Tern

When I awoke at 5:30 morning, I looked out the window and saw my brother sorting through his catch on the white tablecloth.  I joined him for a while and help disassemble the lights and cords. He took off for other places to look for butterflies and beetles, and I had to decide where to go for the day. Fighting off deer flies in the woods didn't hold much appeal, so I figured I'd go to Barnegat Light SP and hope for the best. 

This was either the 3rd of 4th expedition to find Roseate Tern in the county, and I promised myself while waiting at one of the stop lights on Central Avenue that if I didn't find one this time, I give up, no more slow-motion rides for 8 miles northward on LBI. When I finally arrived, just after the park was open, I shouldered my scope and ventured forth. Since the "bowl" is stringed off to protect the nesting Piping Plovers, oystercatchers, Least Terns, and skimmers, finding a decent vantage point is a challenge. There are a few gaps in the dunes that afford an obstructed view, and the first one is right where the water flows in from the inlet to feed the pond that was dug out a few years ago. I plunked down my scope, saying let the frustration begin, and boom--there was a Roseate Tern. Just luck, no skill, perhaps a dash of persistence. I swiveled the scope a little to the left and there were two more, breaking my all-time record for most Roseate Terns seen at one time but you only need one. 

Piping Plover

There were plenty of Piping Plovers scurrying about--they all looked grown up to me, and I saw two immature oystercatchers running to mama. There were a lot of Black Skimmers in the bowl and while the Least Tern colony wasn't overwhelming as it was a couple of weeks ago, there was still an impressive number there. 

I walked down to the ocean and south to the sunken mast. A few years ago, this mast of an old fishing boat was deep in the dunes and now it is about 20 feet off the beach which gives one an idea of how much erosion the island is undergoing. I saw 3 hen Black Scoters, which isn't remarkable for these normally winter waterfowl, but then, scanning farther out, I saw a huge flock of scoters--more than enough to break the eBird filter, but looking back at my list from a year ago I had a big flock in the same place then too. 

For the morning's walk 30 species. 

Mallard  3
Black Scoter  50     
Mourning Dove  1
American Oystercatcher  7
Piping Plover  8
Willet  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1     Bowl
Laughing Gull  10
American Herring Gull  30
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Black Skimmer  20
Least Tern  50
Caspian Tern  1     Bowl
Forster's Tern  15
Common Tern  5
Roseate Tern  3     
Common Loon  1     Near scoters
Double-crested Cormorant  5
Snowy Egret  1
Great Egret  4
Osprey  4
Fish Crow  1
European Starling  1
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  5
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
Common Yellowthroat  2
Northern Cardinal  1