June Wrap-up--Winter Waterfowl Edition

 

Common Eider, Barnegat Light

Most of the interesting days of June--the trip to Bermuda, the great day at Brig, the Yellow-breasted Chat, etc., have been chronicled already and there's no reason to go back over them--you can follow the links if you haven't been assiduously keeping up with me. The surprising sightings of June were the number of winter waterfowl that I came across. It started early in the month when I stopped at the Bay Parkway marsh in Waretown. Across the little inlet, sitting on a stony peninsula, was a Red-breasted Merganser. Obviously rare for the month, but nothing to write about. Okay, a lingering duck. But then, on my first trip of the month to Brig, I came across a flock of Ruddy Ducks.  Not flagged as rare, per se, but the number of them was out of the ordinary. On one of the walks to the north jetty at Island Beach I came across a flock of Common Eiders (definitely rare) a pair of Black Scoters, and a Surf Scoter. Over at Barnegat Light, when I went to hunt for the Roseate Tern, there were two Brants on the beach side of the jetty. Not to mention the Common Loon I saw the other day in the inlet at Island Beach, or the Green-winged Teal yesterday at Brig. Like a very warm February. 

Red-breasted Merganser, Waretown

It was because of these oddball sightings that I was able to pad the list up to 141 species for the month (13 year birds, including 4 on Bermuda), since June is a notoriously slow month--the warblers and the shorebirds have passed through to the north and a lot of what is resident is nesting and therefor quiet and out of sight. I didn't range very far in New Jersey in June, but Bermuda does lend an international tang to the list.

Species          First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck   Port Royal GC #17 Pond
Brant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan   Brig
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Blue-winged Teal   Brig
Mallard   Colliers Mills WMA
American Black Duck   Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal   Brig
Common Eider   Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter   Island Beach SP
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Red-breasted Merganser   Waretown
Ruddy Duck   Brig
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   Wawa Forked River
Mourning Dove   Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Double Trouble SP
Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Whitesbog
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Island Beach SP
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
Common Gallinule   Spittal Pond NR
American Coot   Airport Pond
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Blvd
Black-bellied Plover   Brig
American Golden-Plover   Brig
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover   Great Bay Blvd
Piping Plover   Island Beach SP
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig
Willet   Great Bay Blvd
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
Ruddy Turnstone   Great Bay Blvd
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd
Laughing Gull   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530
American Herring Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Great Black-backed Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Port Royal GC #17 Pond
Black Skimmer   Great Bay Blvd
Least Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Gull-billed Tern   Brig
Caspian Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Holly Lake
Common Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Roseate Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
White-tailed Tropicbird   Dockyard
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Great Bay Blvd
White Ibis   Waretown
Glossy Ibis   Great Bay Blvd
Least Bittern   Brig
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Front Street, Hamilton BM
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron   Island Beach SP
Snowy Egret   Holly Lake
Green Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Great Egret   Colliers Mills WMA
Great Blue Heron   Colliers Mills WMA
American White Pelican   Brig
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Great Bay Blvd
Bald Eagle   Brig
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Northern Flicker   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Colliers Mills WMA
Acadian Flycatcher   Beach Ave
Willow Flycatcher   Great Bay Blvd
Eastern Phoebe   Double Trouble SP
Great Crested Flycatcher   Colliers Mills WMA
Great Kiskadee   Dockyard
Eastern Kingbird   Colliers Mills WMA
White-eyed Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven   Brig
Carolina Chickadee   Colliers Mills WMA
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Bank Swallow   Reeves Bogs
Tree Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
Purple Martin   Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Double Trouble SP
Barn Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern House Wren   35 Sunset Rd
Marsh Wren   Brig
Carolina Wren   Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling   Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Catbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Brown Thrasher   Island Beach SP
Northern Mockingbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird   Colliers Mills WMA
Veery   Double Trouble SP
Wood Thrush   Whitesbog
American Robin   Colliers Mills WMA
Cedar Waxwing   Colliers Mills WMA
House Sparrow   Waretown
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Colliers Mills WMA
Grasshopper Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Chipping Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Field Sparrow   Brig
Seaside Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Brig
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Towhee   Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow-breasted Chat   Cranberry Bogs
Orchard Oriole   Colliers Mills WMA
Baltimore Oriole   Cranberry Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Brown-headed Cowbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Grackle   Holly Lake
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd
Ovenbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Black-and-white Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Yellowthroat   Colliers Mills WMA
Hooded Warbler   Double Trouble SP
American Redstart   Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Pine Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Scarlet Tanager   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak   Brig
Indigo Bunting   Brig

Lake Carasaljo 1/18--Redhead

Ever in search of open water, I went to Lakewood's Lake Carasaljo (or, as I think of it, Lake Unpronounceable) this morning and found that about 500 geese had managed to keep approximately 1/10 of the lake (which is over a mile long) free of ice. In among the geese were a couple of swans, some Mallards, Ring-necked Ducks, and like yesterday at Marshall's Pond, a solo Bufflehead--and this time I looked really carefully. But it wasn't until I walked along the shore a little distance and came to the neat, recently installed pontoon bridge that crosses the lake that I found the duck I'd hoped to see. Mixed in with a slew of white domestic ducks, geese, and one Muscovy Duck (more on it below), was a Redhead, swimming right next to the bridge. 

Redheads are always a welcome sight, right up there with Canvasbacks in my duck pantheon, and I was especially happy because this sighting meant I didn't have to go to an out-of-the-way street in Brick and scan the flocks of scaup in Barnegat Bay for a distant Redhead or two. Last year I got lucky when I found a couple of these ducks floating along off Bay Parkway in Waretown, but they were, as usual, too difficult to photograph. 

I walked up to Route 9 without seeing anything beyond big flocks of Ring-billed Gulls sitting on the ice and few geese munching on a challah someone had thrown on the shore. I returned to the bridge where a young woman was intently watching the ducks. She immediately pointed out the Muscovy Duck to me and asked me what wrong with it. 

"Nothing," I said, "They're just extraordinarily ugly ducks."

"No, no," she said, "There's something wrong with its bill." 

Here's where the really looking comes in. I was pretty sure this was the same Muscovy Duck I'd seen last month which had waddled up to me and tried to untie my boot laces and since Muscovy Ducks are not "countable" I didn't give it much of a look. But indeed, she was right, the top section of its bill was gone and its tongue clear to see resting on the bottom bill. 

"These birds are sometimes not kind to each other," I told her as we watched three gulls squabble over a slice of bread. It looked to me like the Muscovy was out of its element in the wilds of Lakewood.

More interesting to me was that the Redhead had disappeared. It being a diving duck, I gave it some time to come up to the surface, but it was gone. So, as often happens, my life line just happened to intersect with its life line at the right time--for me. 

I crossed over the bridge which leads to a more forested area of the park and then swung around over the rivulet of the Metedeconk River that feeds the lake without seeing much more of interest except for a Brown Creeper at the base of a tree. 

When I got back to my car a woman in the parking lot asked me if I'd seen anything "good."  I told her I'd seen a Redhead.

"Have you been to Lake of the Lilies?" she asked.

"Not recently."

"There are Redheads there."

"Yes, but now I don't have to go there, do I?"

Then she asked me about eagles. It was time to leave. 

Huber Preserve | Waretown | Collinstown Road 5/19--Chuck-will's-widow, Semipalmated Plover, Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler

Semipalmated Plover, Waretown

Shari & I have a springtime tradition where we eat dinner at a little restaurant in Forked River, then drive down to Collinstown Road in Barnegat to listen for our yearly Chuck-will's-widow.  Because of our Mexico vacation, our trip was delayed this year (to our 17th wedding anniversary as it happens) and consequently sundown was a little later. To kill some time, we first stopped at Bay Parkway in Waretown, which this time of year can have wading and shorebirds and did. The very first bird we saw was a new one for year--Semipalmated Plover flushed from the roadside. There was a small flock of them interspersed with another small flock of Least Sandpipers (it kind of looked like a gang fight at moments) and a few very noisy Willets flying about, along with both white egrets and a half dozen flyover Glossy Ibis. 

When we got down to Collinstown Road it was one minute before sundown and we were prepared to wait for a while until it got dark, our experience being that this species takes its crepuscular reputation seriously, but we got lucky, since one minute after sundown one began repeating its incessant eponymous call very loudly and very close, though of course, we didn't get eyes on one. It wasn't even dark enough to hope that driving along the road we'd get some eyeshine.  

That ended a very interesting day for me, which started out in Burlington County this morning with a walk through the woods at Reeves Bogs and then a walk along the white trail at the lengthily named Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve where I go each year to look for two species. I had no trouble at all finding Prothonotary Warblers--there were at least three of them, one of which I got good looks at while it hopped around the upper reaches of trees, but I had all but given up on my second target, since I couldn't find it at the bridge where I usually do, nor along the mile or so that I covered along the trail. It wasn't until I was heading out that I finally heard the sharp "Peet-sa!" call of an Acadian Flycatcher. Another bird that didn't want to show itself in the now thick foliage--one of the disadvantages of waiting to go looking for new birds when the trees have leafed out. 

For the day 61 species:

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose    Reeves Bogs
Wood Duck    Reeves Bogs
Mallard    Reeves Bogs
Mourning Dove    Reeves Bogs
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Reeves Bogs
Chuck-will's-widow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Killdeer    Reeves Bogs
Semipalmated Plover    Waretown
Willet    Waretown
Least Sandpiper    Waretown
Laughing Gull    Reeves Bogs
Herring Gull    Waretown
Snowy Egret    Waretown
Great Egret    Waretown
Great Blue Heron    Reeves Bogs
Glossy Ibis    Waretown
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Huber Preserve
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Reeves Bogs
Acadian Flycatcher    Huber Preserve
Eastern Phoebe    Huber Preserve
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Kingbird    Reeves Bogs
White-eyed Vireo    Huber Preserve
Warbling Vireo    Reeves Bogs
Red-eyed Vireo    Reeves Bogs
Blue Jay    Huber Preserve
American Crow    Huber Preserve
Carolina Chickadee    Reeves Bogs
Tufted Titmouse    Reeves Bogs
Tree Swallow    Reeves Bogs
Barn Swallow    Reeves Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    Huber Preserve
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Reeves Bogs
Carolina Wren    Huber Preserve
European Starling    Waretown
Gray Catbird    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Bluebird    Reeves Bogs
Wood Thrush    Huber Preserve
American Robin    Collinstown Road
Cedar Waxwing    Reeves Bogs
Chipping Sparrow    Reeves Bogs
Field Sparrow    Huber Preserve
Song Sparrow    Reeves Bogs
Swamp Sparrow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Towhee    Reeves Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird    Reeves Bogs
Brown-headed Cowbird    Huber Preserve
Common Grackle    Reeves Bogs
Ovenbird    Reeves Bogs
Blue-winged Warbler    Huber Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prothonotary Warbler    Huber Preserve
Common Yellowthroat    Reeves Bogs
Hooded Warbler    Huber Preserve
American Redstart    Reeves Bogs
Yellow Warbler    Waretown
Pine Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prairie Warbler    Huber Preserve
Northern Cardinal    Huber Preserve 

Waretown Bay Parkway 1/9--Redhead

2 Greater Scaup, hens (left) 3 Redheads (drakes & hen)

Unexpected birds are always satisfying. This blustery morning at the end of Bay Parkway in Waretown (which overlooks--surprise!--Barnegat Bay) I brought out the scope to look at ducks. I saw a big flock right off shore to the north but upon closer examination, they turned out to be decoys. Hunters were hiding in the brush just off the point. But, in front of me were some ducks, a couple hundred yards out. With just my bins, one of them appeared to have a red head. Scoping them, they turned out to be 6 ducks, 3 hen Greater Scaup + 1 hen and 2 drake Redheads. 

Not decoys

Last year I had no Redheads in New Jersey--it wasn't until we were in Oregon that I finally saw one. Usually there is a flock of them off some of the points in Brick, but I almost never go up there. Now, I don't have to. To find them off Bay Parkway was quite the surprise--it's a first for me at this spot and no one else has ever listed one from there either. 

However, there was a nagging thought: After seeing those decoys, I couldn't help but think there was the possibility that those were loose decoys bobbing along, pushed by the wind. I didn't see any of them dive or spread their wings. The light was gray and the birds (if they were birds) distant. I walked up the marsh into the woods and when I got back to the end of the road, saw the two hunters wading through the water in what is usually the eel grass covered beach. I asked them about their decoys and was happy to hear they had no Redheads in their spread--just scaup. They were surprised to hear that I'd seen the Redheads, an opportunity missed I guess. To be clear, I have nothing against duck hunting--I'm a member of Ducks Unlimited which does great work maintaining and rehabilitating marshes, but hunting sea ducks doesn't make a lot of sense to me since I can't imagine they're edible, given what (and where) they eat. They had shot one scaup and one merganser which they thought was a common but, looking into their bucket, I told them it was a red-breasted. Still, we all left Bay Parkway happy. 

(Update: That goose yesterday at Harvey Cedars was a Cackling Goose)

Lake Barnegat 1/3--Long-billed Dowitchers

About a month ago, one of my "stumble-upon" birds was a flock of Long-billed Dowitchers in the mudflats of partially drained Lake Barnegat in Lacey. They can now be described as the "long-staying" Long-billed Dowitchers, because they are still there. Out of all the rarities that are popping up on my alerts, they seemed like the easiest ones to get for the year and besides, I have a sort of proprietary interest in them. I even got a text New Year's Day from a birder who lives nearby there to tell me that "my" dowitchers were still present. 

So, after a couple of very long days of birding, I figured I'd take it easy and just hit a few spots in that area and see what I could add. I started out at Bamber Lake because that's a reliable spot for Tundra Swans--except for today when the lake was completely devoid of any waterfowl. An inauspicious start to the day.  Deer Head Lake, a bit west of Lake Barnegat, had lots of Canada Geese and I'm not that obsessive that I felt I had to make a list or count them. 

Finally, at Lake Barnegat a quick scan of the mud turned up the flock of dowitchers, mixed in with an eBird filter-busting number of Greater Yellowlegs and one Killdeer, the other new species for the year. I scoped from 3 different vantage points on the lake, but no matter where I stood, the dowitchers were still distant. One lousy digiscope was all I could manage. 

I made a couple of other stops: Bay Parkway in Waretown, where I added a few birds to the Ocean County list, and Eno's Pond where this winter's dearth of passerines continues. But one cool species for the day was enough for me and then it started to rain. 

July Wrap-up--Doldrums Edition

Hooded Merganser (hen), Pond on Schoolhouse Road

Until the last few days, when the Lower Bog at Whitesbog was completely drawn down and the shorebirds magically appeared, the highlight of my month, and the only new addition to the year list, was the Monk Parakeet that has been putting on a show up at Sylvan Lake in Monmouth County. I spent a goodly amount of time at my favorite spots--Whitesbog, Colliers Mills, and Jumping Brook Preserve--hoping to spot something unusual. Only the usual did I find. But, not one mile from here, while killing time waiting for a prescription to be filled, I found my own semi-rarity, a hen Hooded Merganser in a little pond on Schoolhouse Road. Not a bird that would get a MEGA on an eBird list, but at least it was something different. 

Then, as I've already written, the water was pumped out and suddenly, things got a whole lot more interesting. In the last 2 days of the month, I added 3 shorebirds to my year list: Pectoral Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, and today's Buff-breasted Sandpiper, one of the grasspiper specialties that we look for at Whitesbog. 

I went to the Manasquan Inlet a couple of times because I happened to be in the neighborhood. Each time I was hoping for a Roseate Tern. Each time I was disappointed. On a happier note, I went to Colliers Mills very early one weekday morning, figuring the hunters wouldn't be training their dogs then, and I walked along Success Road, listening and looking really hard. My reward: A Grasshopper Sparrow in Ocean County. I hadn't seen or heard one there in a few years, even though they're fairly easy to find on the Lakehurst base, just a bit to the south. A birder friend theorized that there might be "leakage" from the base after they finished nesting, and he apparently was right. I also made it a point one day at Colliers to find the Red-headed Woodpeckers this month and I was successful. It's these kinds of little games that keep me going as the summer months slog on. One of the saving graces for me is that I, at least, like the heat. For those birders who don't, this time of the year is truly a drag. 

Willet, Bay Parkway, Waretown

For the month I listed 123 species:

Counties birded: Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                 First Sighting
Canada Goose  Reeves Bogs
Mute Swan  Holly Lake
Wood Duck  Jumping Brook Preserve
Mallard  Holly Lake
Hooded Merganser  Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe  Whitesbog
Rock Pigeon  Lake of the Lilies
Mourning Dove  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Whip-poor-will  35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift  Jumping Brook Preserve
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Oystercatcher  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Semipalmated Plover  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Killdeer  Jumping Brook Preserve
Least Sandpiper  Whitesbog
White-rumped Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Western Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Short-billed Dowitcher  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Spotted Sandpiper  Jumping Brook Preserve
Solitary Sandpiper  Reeves Bogs
Greater Yellowlegs  Manahawkin WMA
Willet  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Lesser Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Laughing Gull  Holly Lake
Ring-billed Gull  Belmar
Herring Gull  Holly Lake
Great Black-backed Gull  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern  Manasquan Inlet
Common Tern  Manasquan Inlet
Forster's Tern  Holly Lake
Black Skimmer  Manasquan Inlet
Double-crested Cormorant  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Great Blue Heron  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Great Egret  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Snowy Egret  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Tricolored Heron  Cattus Island County Park
Green Heron  Reeves Bogs
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Glossy Ibis  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black Vulture  Whiting
Turkey Vulture  Colliers Mills WMA
Osprey  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Bald Eagle  Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk  Jumping Brook Preserve
Broad-winged Hawk  Lakehurst Railroad Tracks
Red-tailed Hawk  Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher  Whitesbog
Red-headed Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Jumping Brook Preserve
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Reeves Bogs
Northern Flicker  Jumping Brook Preserve
Monk Parakeet  Sylvan Lake
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Jumping Brook Preserve
Acadian Flycatcher  Budd’s Bogs
Willow Flycatcher  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Eastern Phoebe  Reeves Bogs
Great Crested Flycatcher  Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Kingbird  Jumping Brook Preserve
White-eyed Vireo  Reeves Bogs
Warbling Vireo  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo  Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay  35 Sunset Rd
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Reeves Bogs
Purple Martin  Holly Lake
Tree Swallow  Holly Lake
Bank Swallow  Cranberry Bogs
Barn Swallow  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch  Lakehurst Railroad Tracks
White-breasted Nuthatch  35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Reeves Bogs
House Wren  35 Sunset Rd
Marsh Wren  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Carolina Wren  35 Sunset Rd
European Starling  Jumping Brook Preserve
Gray Catbird  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Brown Thrasher  Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Mockingbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird  Whitesbog
Veery  Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Thrush  Jumping Brook Preserve
American Robin  Jumping Brook Preserve
Cedar Waxwing  Jumping Brook Preserve
House Sparrow  deCamp WildlifeTrail
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  Jumping Brook Preserve
Grasshopper Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Chipping Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow  Reeves Bogs
Seaside Sparrow  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog (Ocean Co.)
Eastern Towhee  Jumping Brook Preserve
Orchard Oriole  Colliers Mills WMA
Baltimore Oriole  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird  Holly Lake
Brown-headed Cowbird  Reeves Bogs
Common Grackle  Jumping Brook Preserve
Boat-tailed Grackle  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ovenbird  Jumping Brook Preserve
Louisiana Waterthrush  Budd’s Bogs
Black-and-white Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
Prothonotary Warbler  Budd’s Bogs
Common Yellowthroat  Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Hooded Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow Warbler  deCamp WildlifeTrail
Pine Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
Prairie Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
Scarlet Tanager  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal  35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak  Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting  Colliers Mills WMA

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Great Bay Blvd

March Wrap-up--117 Species

Hairy Woodpeckers, Whitesbog

The Lion/Lamb cliche about March wasn't in evidence today, as Mike & I tried to bird Great Bay Blvd in ridiculously windy conditions. In fact, for most of the month I stayed away from the ocean & bay because birding in wind is "challenging" and no fun. This explains the lack of Sanderlings, Purple Sandpipers, turnstones, etc., on the list. 

The only year bird I skipped in my entries was Glossy Ibis. Not much to say about that one. I drove down Bay Parkway in Waretown on my way back from Manahawkin out of idle curiosity. A few days before ibises had been reported there. The mud flats were empty, and the bay had practically nothing in it, but, when I happened to scan the sky, I saw a single ibis flying over the marsh. I watched it swoop down and up and around, finally landing in an inaccessible area beyond some cedars. I suppose it could have been a White-faced Ibis and strictly speaking I should list it as "Ibis sp" but I'm going with the odds and calling it a Glossy. 

For the month I had 117 species. Most of my time seemed to be spent at Colliers Mills and Whitesbog--in other words, "inland." 11 year birds for the month. That number will surge upward in April as migration gets into full swing. If it doesn't, then something is drastically wrong. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean  

Species           First Sighting
Snow Goose  Brig
Brant  Manasquan Inlet
Canada Goose  Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan  Lake of the Lilies
Tundra Swan  Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Duck  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Shoveler  Brig
Gadwall  Brig
American Wigeon  Manahawkin WMA
Mallard  Colliers Mills WMA
American Black Duck  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Pintail  Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal  Brig
Redhead  Holly Lake
Ring-necked Duck  Colliers Mills WMA
Greater Scaup  Great Bay Blvd
Lesser Scaup  Colliers Mills WMA
King Eider  Island Beach SP
Common Eider  Island Beach SP
Long-tailed Duck  Island Beach SP
Bufflehead  Colliers Mills WMA
Common Goldeneye  Great Bay Blvd
Hooded Merganser  Colliers Mills WMA
Common Merganser  Brig
Red-breasted Merganser  Great Bay Blvd
Ruddy Duck  Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe  Double Trouble SP
Horned Grebe  Barnegat Municipal Dock
Rock Pigeon  New Egypt
Mourning Dove  35 Sunset Rd
American Coot  Holly Lake
American Oystercatcher  Great Bay Blvd
Killdeer  Lake of the Lilies
Dunlin  Brig
American Woodcock  Crestwood Community Gardens
Wilson's Snipe  Brig
Greater Yellowlegs  Forsythe-Barnegat
Laughing Gull  Barnegat Municipal Dock
Ring-billed Gull  Lake of the Lilies
Herring Gull  Holly Lake
Great Black-backed Gull  Great Bay Blvd
Red-throated Loon  Great Bay Blvd
Common Loon  Great Bay Blvd
Northern Gannet  Great Bay Blvd
Great Cormorant  Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant  Lake of the Lilies
Great Blue Heron  Great Bay Blvd
Great Egret  Shelter Cove Park
Snowy Egret  Cattus Island County Park
Glossy Ibis  Waretown--Bay Pkwy
Black Vulture  New Egypt
Turkey Vulture  Colliers Mills WMA
Osprey  Shelter Cove Park
Northern Harrier  Brig
Sharp-shinned Hawk  Brig
Cooper's Hawk  Lake of the Lilies
Bald Eagle  Great Bay Blvd
Red-shouldered Hawk  Budd’s Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Screech-Owl  Budd’s Bogs
Great Horned Owl  Budd’s Bogs
Belted Kingfisher  Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker  Colliers Mills WMA
Merlin  Cranberry Bogs
Peregrine Falcon  Great Bay Blvd
Eastern Phoebe  Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay  Colliers Mills WMA
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  New Egypt
Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Budd’s Bogs
Tree Swallow  Whitesbog
Barn Swallow  Budd’s Bogs
Golden-crowned Kinglet  Colliers Mills WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch  Colliers Mills WMA
Brown Creeper  35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Colliers Mills WMA
Winter Wren  Budd’s Bogs
Carolina Wren  Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling  Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Catbird  Brig
Brown Thrasher  Manahawkin WMA
Northern Mockingbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird  Colliers Mills WMA
Hermit Thrush  Colliers Mills WMA
American Robin  Colliers Mills WMA
Cedar Waxwing  Manasquan River WMA
House Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow  Brig
Field Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
American Tree Sparrow  Cranberry Bogs
Fox Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Dark-eyed Junco  35 Sunset Rd
White-crowned Sparrow  Budd’s Bogs
White-throated Sparrow  Crestwood Community Gardens
Savannah Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee  Crestwood Community Gardens
Eastern Meadowlark  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Brown-headed Cowbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Rusty Blackbird  Budd’s Bogs
Common Grackle  Lake of the Lilies
Boat-tailed Grackle  Great Bay Blvd
Louisiana Waterthrush  Budd’s Bogs
Pine Warbler  Stafford Forge WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler  35 Sunset Rd
Northern Cardinal  35 Sunset Rd

Snow Goose, Brick Reservoir

Barnegat Municipal Dock 3/20--Laughing Gull

I had the Year Bird Jones today. Yesterday, I spent my birding time at Colliers Mills looking, for probably the 15th time this year, for Red-headed Woodpecker. The absence of a post here about that species tells you the result. Today, I figured I may as well look at my other supposedly reliable spot, South Park Road in Tabernacle. This is usually a good place for Red-headed Woodpeckers; I believe I have a higher "hit rate" for them there than I do at Colliers Mills, but a back forth walk of 1.9 miles on the gravel and dirt road turned up none of the birds today. Plenty of other birds, including the first Wood Ducks I've ever seen there and a Pine Warbler every 100 feet, but the target bird remains elusive. 

And I still wanted a year bird.  So, I did something I rarely do. Usually, after a long walk, I'm pretty much done birding. As I've said, I bird every day, but I don't bird all day. And I'm especially averse to taking a long drive from one spot to the other but that's what I did this morning, driving 28 miles from South Park Road up 70, across 72, down Bay Avenue, to the Barnegat Municipal Dock parking lot. Because that parking lot is always full of gulls and I figured it would be the obvious spot for Laughing Gull, despite my earlier vow to just let that bird come to me. 

When I got there, it was full of gulls, but just Herring and Ring-bill Gulls, it seemed. Then a few gulls shuffled about and revealed my FOY Laughing Gull. A couple of minutes later a second one appeared at another spot in the lot and was quickly joined by a third. And there, along with decent pictures, is my accomplishment of the day. 

A quick scan of the bay turned up a pair of Horned Grebes and then a couple of American Oystercatchers on an island, both flagged as "Infrequent" on eBird. The "Infrequent" designation is a little mysterious. It could just be that the area isn't birded as much as it might be and thus the reports are sparse, or it really could be that the species doesn't turn up there much. For the most part when I encounter this flag, I assume the former. 

A couple of more stops on the way back home turned up semi-interesting birds: Greater Yellowlegs off the observation platform at the Barnegat Impoundments (hadn't seen them this month) and a Pied-billed Grebe in a channel along Bay Parkway in Waretown (again, "Infrequent," and maybe so, because it is the first time I've seen one there).

Deer Head Lake 1/10--Long-billed Dowitcher

The pleasures and frustrations of chasing all in one moment. This morning I finally got around to going to Deer Head Lake in Lacey, where since late December a quartet of Long-billed Dowitchers have been feeding on the mud flats (the lake is drawn down in winter).  LB Dowitchers are always a good bird in NJ and especially in Ocean County. And winter dowitchers eliminates the angst over whether they're the Short-billed on Long-billed species. Short-bills just aren't around after summer. 

Usually, I bird from the west side of the lake where there's a big culvert platform to stand on, but today, driving there I noticed an opening on the east side of the lake and saw a big flock of geese there, so I parked, found a path, and set up the scope on the edge of the mud. Immediately I found a couple of Killdeer (new for the year) and then was slightly surprised to see a Greater Yellowlegs fly by. Promising. I scanned the flats near me, then started on the flats across the lake. More Killdeer, and lots of Green-winged Teal and Hooded Mergansers mixed in with the geese, but no target species. From my angle I was blocked from the northwest part of the lake, so I packed up the scope and drove the 3/4 of a mile to the other side. There I set up again and scanned. More yellowlegs flew in from who knows where and the flock was up to 8. I shifted my perspective and looked more northerly, but still no dowitchers. After another look through the exposed stumps and shallow puddles I was ready to give up. It was cold. I had the scope on my shoulder when I saw some movement on a little island. I said to myself, "One more look," and I was trying to remember if "One more look" ever worked when I saw three shorebirds fly to my right with big white streaks up their backs. So apparently "One more look" does work. (If you find what you're looking for it will be in the last place you looked.) 

The birds landed right on the edge of the shore moving in and out between the much larger geese. And where were they? Right where I had been, on the east side of the lake. So, no possibility of getting photos. I thought about driving back to the east side, but I could already see the dowitchers getting up and flying off as I approached so I didn't let a win turn into a loss. Looking through the subsequent eBird reports for the day, only the trio has been reported. Where did #4 go? 

Deer Head Lake is one of those spots that is under-birded. A few years ago, I went there for the first time only because a birder I know who works nearby would find good birds on her lunch hour. Almost the first bird I saw that day was a Ross's Goose! Cackling Goose has been there a few times if one is inclined to sort through the hundreds of geese that frequent the lake. And now the dowitchers. Fortunately, a few good birders live nearby and give it regular coverage. 

Eastern Bluebird, Dark-eyed Junco, Meadowedge Park

I'd started the day at Bamber Lake (another under-birded spot) and came away with my first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the year. After Deer Head, I drove over to Bay Parkway in Waretown then down to Barnegat. Meadowedge Park didn't have anything unusual, but it did have some pretty bluebirds. I made my last stop Cloverdale Farm; again, nothing exciting. All that wandering around produced 38 species for the day, with the dowitchers and nuthatch being the highlights.

Northern Mockingbird, Cloverdale Park