Prospect Park 2/18--Ruby-crowned Kinglet

A spring-like day and my duty as a citizen-scientist to participate in Cornell's Great Backyard Bird Count took me out this morning to Prospect Park. Prospect Park is my backyard. The best bird I saw was the last bird I saw--Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the Rose Garden. I saw it fluttering among the bare tree branches on the northern perimeter. It's rushing the season and that's all right with me.

Other new birds for the year: Hairy Woodpecker on the suet by the feeders--on one side was the Hairy, on the other a Downy Woodpecker, making the identification so easy; Common Grackles have returned; and I heard my first Carolina Wren of the year.

I am annoyed, though, that I missed 2 Ring-necked Ducks spotted by another birder on the lake. I can't imagine how I could have overlooked them. Maybe my timing was off, again.

Two lists:
Prospect Park
Number of species:    32
Canada Goose    153
Mute Swan    6
American Black Duck    4
Mallard    165
Northern Shoveler    77
Ruddy Duck    1
Red-tailed Hawk    4
American Coot    5
Ring-billed Gull    200
Herring Gull    100
Great Black-backed Gull    2
Rock Pigeon    1
Mourning Dove    8
Red-bellied Woodpecker    2
Downy Woodpecker    2
Blue Jay    18
Black-capped Chickadee    21
White-breasted Nuthatch    2
Carolina Wren    1    Near Wellhouse
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    1    Rose Garden
American Robin    9    In sumac near peninsula
Northern Mockingbird    1    Behind Boathouse
European Starling    13
Song Sparrow    2    One behind Boathouse, one in Vale
White-throated Sparrow    10
Dark-eyed Junco    8    Vale
Northern Cardinal    20
Red-winged Blackbird    1    Lake shore
Common Grackle    4    Boathouse
House Finch    4    Breeze Hill
American Goldfinch    6    Five on Breeze Hill, one bathing in ice puddle on lake
House Sparrow    30


Feeders
Number of species:    16
Mourning Dove    3
Red-bellied Woodpecker    1
Downy Woodpecker    3
Hairy Woodpecker    1
Blue Jay    5
Black-capped Chickadee    6
Tufted Titmouse    1
White-breasted Nuthatch    2
White-throated Sparrow    3
Dark-eyed Junco    1
Northern Cardinal    5
Red-winged Blackbird    1
House Finch    1
Pine Siskin    2
American Goldfinch    5
House Sparrow    2

Pier One 2/17--Ruddy Ducks (Finally)

They are there, the Ruddy Ducks. I was starting to get just a little paranoid that I wasn't seeing them. Today there were 8 floating off the pilings. Here's the odd thing: When I went back about 1/2 hour later after covering the land area of the park (with little success), I couldn't find the Ruddy Ducks again. All the other ducks were there, but no Ruddies. It is enough to make one doubt one's senses.

Brant numbers seem to be increasing there; I counted 59 today.

I imagine the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is not going to be so happy with these avian visitors once they notice all the fertilizer they're leaving behind.

Note to self: Don't sit on the lawns at Pier One.

Lists for the day:
Brooklyn Bridge Park--between Piers 3 & 4
Number of species:    6
Gadwall    4
American Black Duck    3
Bufflehead    2
Double-crested Cormorant    1
Great Black-backed Gull    1
Mourning Dove    1
Brooklyn Bridge Park--Pier One
Number of species:    9
Brant    59
Gadwall    12
American Black Duck    7
Bufflehead    1
Ruddy Duck    8
Double-crested Cormorant    1
Ring-billed Gull    15
Herring Gull    2
House Sparrow    4

Seven Presidents Park / Sandy Hook 2/13

Another weekend spent in NJ due to family problems. Shari & I got away on Sunday to Long Branch and Sandy Hook and managed to add 3 new birds for the year--not much, but something. Typically, the White-winged Crossbills we'd hoped to see at Seven Presidents were spotted a half hour after we left.

We just haven't been able to get in sync with where the birds are this year. Weather and family contingencies have played their part, but still, I feel that we should be doing better.

Our lists:
Seven Presidents Park
Number of species:    11
Canada Goose    80
Common Merganser    2
Common Loon    1
Sanderling    16
Ring-billed Gull    100
Herring Gull    100
Great Black-backed Gull    2
Mourning Dove    4
Red-breasted Nuthatch    1
American Robin    15
European Starling    25
Sandy Hook
Number of species:    18
Brant    100
Canada Goose    100
American Black Duck    100
White-winged Scoter    1
Long-tailed Duck    3
Bufflehead    2
Red-breasted Merganser    4
Red-throated Loon    1
Horned Grebe    1    Spermaceti Cove
Turkey Vulture    3
Ring-billed Gull    200
Herring Gull    100
Great Black-backed Gull    3
Mourning Dove    1
American Robin    100
European Starling    25
Song Sparrow    1
White-throated Sparrow    1

Prospect Park 2/12

A cold icy walk in Prospect Park this morning yielded some good birds, despite having to watch my feet more than the bushes, trees, and sky: American Tree Sparrow hopping around near the Boathouse Pond; 4 Fox Sparrows beneath the feeders; & a slew of Pine Siskins on the thistle sock--I listed 5, but there were probably more, it's just that they were jumping around so much it was hard to count.

I was also surprised to see that today was the first time this year I've seen Red-winged Blackbirds. There were a lot, males and females. Soon, the males will be staking out their territories and there won't be flocks of them like this one. Soon=Spring.

Prospect Park
Number of species:    18
Canada Goose    40
Mute Swan    6
Mallard    205
Northern Shoveler    12
Red-tailed Hawk    1    LP 249
American Coot    10
Ring-billed Gull    300
Herring Gull    10
Rock Pigeon    25
Mourning Dove    5
Red-bellied Woodpecker    2
Blue Jay    10
Black-capped Chickadee    3
Tufted Titmouse    1    Terrace Bridge
American Tree Sparrow    1    Boathouse Pond
White-throated Sparrow    5
Northern Cardinal    4
House Sparrow    11
Prospect Park--Feeders
Number of species:    14
Mourning Dove    3
Downy Woodpecker    1
Black-capped Chickadee    5
Tufted Titmouse    1
White-breasted Nuthatch    1
European Starling    1
Fox Sparrow    4
White-throated Sparrow    20
Dark-eyed Junco    5
Northern Cardinal    6
Red-winged Blackbird    15
House Finch    6
Pine Siskin    5
American Goldfinch    15

HAPPY LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY
      (This was a holiday when I was a kid.)       

Possible Epiphany at Pier One

UPDATE 2/15: I see that 2 Ruddy Ducks have been reported at Pier One by a birder whose identification skills I would certainly trust. SO:
I went down to Pier One again today. There was nothing new, though while I was scanning the ducks around the pilings I thought I saw a Ruddy Duck. They've been reported there this year, but I still haven't seen one, which struck me as odd since I'm there a lot and you'd think I'd have stumbled upon one by now.


However, upon closer examination my Ruddy turned out to be a hen Bufflehead. That's when I had my possible epiphany--maybe the Ruddies being reported are actually Buffleheads. After all, a hen Bufflehead could easily be mistaken for a winter plumaged Ruddy, either drake or hen. Both species have white patches on their faces, they're about the same size, and they both dive. The difference, of course, is that hen Buffleheads have a small white patch below the eye, while the Ruddies, both M & F, have much larger patches, with the hen having a dark stripe running through hers.


I'm not saying that's the case, that the birds are being misidentified, but there have been some suspect sightings down there of late, leading one to wonder. Of course, I could go down there tomorrow, spot a RUDU and then have to put a big black X through this whole entry.

Today's little list:
Number of species:    8
Brant    27
Canada Goose    3
Gadwall    15
American Black Duck    10
Bufflehead    2
Ring-billed Gull    6
Herring Gull    3
American Robin    1

American Wigeon at Pier One

A drake American Wigeon was dabbling with the the usual ducks and geese in the little impoundment by the piers this morning. This makes species # 53 for the park. I'm not counting the dubious records from eBird, i.e. I know there wasn't a Western Reef-Heron there in July of 2007. That listing is off by about 15 miles, since there was one in Drier-Offerman Park around that time--Shari & I walked through  a homeless encampment to see it.

Not many passerines yet--3 Song Sparrows and my first robin of the year at the park. It's a big myth that robins herald spring. When the Red-winged Blackbirds start singing "Conka-ree," then spring is nigh.

List:
Number of species: 11
Brant 5
Canada Goose 2
Gadwall 9
American Wigeon 1 Impoundment
American Black Duck 13
Mallard 3 Impoundment
Bufflehead 1 Closer to Pier Two
Ring-billed Gull 4
Herring Gull 1
American Robin 1
Song Sparrow 3 

Brig & Batsto

Photo: Shari Zirlin

We were finally able to do some serious birding this month. We drove down to Brigantine and added some new birds for the year--mostly waterfowl but the highlight was the very well camouflaged BARRED OWL another birder pointed out to us.  This was my first Jersey Barred Owl. I've only encountered them in my friends' woods up in Massachusetts. Other interesting birds @ Brig were Tundra Swans, Snow Geese and Northern Pintails.

We had hoped to find Rough-legged Hawk there; everyone else has, it seems, but there was no luck with that species--possibly a raptor that flew past us and then was obscured by trees, but neither of us got even a quarter-way decent look at it. The owl was a happy substitute for the miss.

Instead of going around the 8 mile drive again we decided to go to Batsto Village about 15 miles northwest of Brig. We've passed the sign for it every time we've gone to Brig and just the name alone, pronounced explosively--Bat-STO--has made us want to visit but usually we're too tired to work up the ambition. Today we had enough energy--just the fact that there was virtually no snow on the ground seem to energize Shari.

Batsto Village is a restored iron foundry town in the Pine Barrens that was originally started prior to the Revolutionary War.  They made the bullets and buckets for George Washington. It continued make iron, then window glass up to the 1870's, with the foundry (& town) changing hands a couple of times. They seem to like to buy and sell entire towns in south Jersey  http://tinyurl.com/6cq68om . Eventually Joseph Wharton bought the whole town and a huge chunk of the Pine Barrens with plans to dam all the streams and rivers and sell the water to Camden and Philadelphia. That didn't work out, so instead he kept the town and ran it, judging from some of the rules posted, as a benign prison camp. The place is similar to the other preserved iron foundry town farther north in Allaire State Park, but it seems like many more buildings have been preserved--along with Wharton's mansion. My favorite tidbit of information was that he had the entrance to the town's general store moved so that it faced away from the house. He didn't want to see the serfs going about their business.

Photo: Shari Zirlin

The day was topped off with a BALD EAGLE we saw perched in a tree next to what I believe was the Mullica River. So, first bird owl, last bird eagle. Full lists for a decent day of birding:

E. B. Forsythe NWR--Wildlife Drive
Number of species: 25 

Snow Goose    1200
Brant    600
Canada Goose    175
Tundra Swan    24
Gadwall    5
American Black Duck    500
Mallard    15
Northern Shoveler    5
Northern Pintail    50
Bufflehead    60
Hooded Merganser    1
Common Merganser    4    Experimental Pond
Ruddy Duck    1
Great Blue Heron    1
Turkey Vulture    2
Northern Harrier    2
Peregrine Falcon    1
Ring-billed Gull    100
Herring Gull    100
Great Black-backed Gull    2

American Crow   8
Barred Owl    1    Gull Pond
Carolina Chickadee    1
Tufted Titmouse    2
Yellow-rumped Warbler    2
Batsto Village
Number of species:    9

Canada Goose   14
American Black Duck    3
Ring-necked Duck    31
Pied-billed Grebe    2
Great Blue Heron    1
Red-bellied Woodpecker    1
Carolina Chickadee    2
Red-breasted Nuthatch    1
Dark-eyed Junco    12

County Rd 542
Number of species:    1
Bald Eagle    1    In tree next to river