Brig 12/24--Warm, Wet, Windy

Goose Cozy

Pete Dunne has oft propounded the maxim "Bad-weather birding is the best birding," to which I have never subscribed; however, facing a third day staying inside due to rain, Shari & I decided to test the theory by driving down to Brig. The temperatures here in the east are ludicrously warm--as I type it is 70 degrees--but with the gloomy forecast of rain and wind we figured we'd be in the car the whole 8 mile loop. Driving down on the Parkway the conditions were not propitious as sheets of rain had the windshield wipers swiping away at maximum speed. I was doubtful we'd even be able to see out the car windows. However, as soon as we pulled into Brig's parking lot, the sun emerged and for the first half hour we were looking at winter birds in conditions more like Easter than Christmas.

Someone at the refuge wanted to make certain we knew it really was winter--all the goose markers but one had a knitted scarf and cap. We found 17 species of waterfowl (geese, swans, ducks, grebes, coots) and most of the other expected birds. Nothing rare for the day which quickly deteriorated once we started driving around the impoundments--a constant drizzle and a strong gusty wind discouraged us from scoping a lot of the duck flocks for anything "rare" like a Eurasian Wigeon. Shari found the best bird of the day--a Clapper Rail at the start of the drive; unfortunately, I missed that one.

Altogether we managed 36 species in one loop around the dikes. Not great, but better than staying at home looking at the umpteenth goldfinch at the thistle feeder.

Snow Goose  215
Brant  210
Canada Goose  125
Mute Swan  3
Tundra Swan  30
Gadwall  8
American Wigeon  10
American Black Duck  115
Mallard  20
Northern Shoveler  14
Northern Pintail  60
Green-winged Teal  10
Bufflehead  6
Hooded Merganser  8
Red-breasted Merganser  12
Ruddy Duck  25
Pied-billed Grebe  1     Experimental Pool
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  3
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  5
Bald Eagle  1
Clapper Rail
American Coot  8
Ring-billed Gull  5
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Peregrine Falcon  1
Blue Jay  5
Carolina Chickadee  1     Heard upland portion
Carolina Wren  1     Heard, HQ
American Robin  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
White-throated Sparrow  1     Heard, Purple Martin field
Red-winged Blackbird  25
American Goldfinch  1     Heard, parking lot

Bokay?

If there was ever a time for quotation marks to prove you're making a joke and don't really think the word is spelled that way, it is on this card. No florist could be this stupid. And yet...

And, what am I ordering to get this free bokay? 

After Dealing with Many Bureaucracies

Phone Rep: And sir, have we met or exceeded your expectations?

LZ: Yes, you've met my expectations because I expected you to screw this up and you've exceeded my expectations because even I, as pessimistic as I am, didn't believe you could screw it up as much as you did.

Phone Rep: Thank you sir and have a nice day.

Least Credible Sign of the Year

This sign

On this building

In this setting

On these bogs

"These bogs" are technically part of Double Trouble State Park, but they are hidden away so well off Dover Road that no one except a few hard core birders ever goes there--birders and judging from the tire tracks, illegal off-roaders. I'm certain that somewhere in a command central a park ranger has his/her eyes glued to a monitor. Watching. Surveilling, diligently.

I started going to the bogs last month after seeing them listed on eBird. I wasn't never sure how to access them until I realized, after looking at Google maps, that driveway that led to a private road forked and that the right hand of the fork led into the bogs. There's no parking lot--you just pull off to the side of what Google laughingly calls "Holmes Road," which probably, at one time was a decent road into the work area, but now is a blocked off dirt trail.

The first time I went I found a nice flock of Tundra Swans along with a Sharp-shinned Hawk. This is one of those places that you always say to yourself has habitat with "potential." Just not this season. Maybe in the winter there will be ducks. Or spring migration might be good. Maybe in summer it attracts shorebirds or waders. Since it is "under birded," maybe I'll find a rarity. But right now it is just a long hike around abandoned bogs and their derelict buildings. Although, toward the end of my walk, I did find, among a small flock of chickadees, my FOS Red-breasted Nuthatch. My spirits perked up after that.

Brig 12/13--A December Rarity

I never thought I'd be hot in December, but standing on the dikes at Brig today, wearing a black sweatshirt, I was. The temperature was in the mid-60's. I knew I was heading east today; I decided on Brig this morning because I realized it was probably the only place I could go where "civilians," strolling along the beach or fishing off a jetty, wouldn't get in the way of my birding.

There had been some rarities reported there the last week or so, but I really didn't expect to find any. I just wanted to see if could build up the month list and see some of favorite winter waterfowl like Snow Geese (abundant), Northern Shoveler (a few at the dogleg) and American Coots (Gull Pond).

The road to the Gull Pond was very active and I happy to see a Hairy Woodpecker as well as a decent flock of Cedar Waxwings mixing in with the robins. At the tower itself I was standing with another birder when we heard a "kidik, kidik, kidik." I clapped my hands, as I've seen Scott Barnes do, and when the bird responded with more chattering, we checked off Virginia Rail for our day lists.

After one loop around the Wildlife Drive I was considering heading home. I stopped into the Visitor's Center to list the Wood Duck hen I'd seen at the Experimental Pool (birders love Wood Ducks). I said to the woman working the desk that I hadn't seen the American Avocet that had been reported there and I guessed it was gone, but she said, no, someone had had it earlier that day. American Avocet is a rare bird in New Jersey and in the winter almost unheard of, so I decided to do the loop again, stopping only for birders with scopes--you can waste a lot of time if you stop for photographers who care more about the shot than the bird. On the north dike, just before the drive goes into the upland area, there were a couple of birders with a scope. They were the first ones I'd seen in the 6 miles I'd already driven. When I got out of the car one of them told me the avocet was out. I took a quick look in their scope then set up mine. "It isn't official until I see it in my scope," I joked.

I love the way avocets look in their winter plumage--I actually prefer them in stark black & white than with the cinnamon coloring they get when they're breeding. The bird was pretty far off in the marsh, but I managed to get a photograph with my little camera, locating it by standing in front of  my scope once I had the bird in it.

American Avocet

Not the greatest picture but good enough to be diagnostic. Blown up and grainy:

For the two trips around the dike, plus a walk on Jen's Trail, I had 45 species. Not bad, especially considering that aside from the avocet, there were absolutely no shorebirds to be found. 

The list:

Snow Goose  1000
Brant  500
Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  2
Tundra Swan  30
Wood Duck  1     Experimental Pool
Gadwall  10
American Black Duck  200
Mallard  50
Northern Shoveler  10     Dogleg
Northern Pintail  100
Green-winged Teal  15
Bufflehead  80
Hooded Merganser  10
Red-breasted Merganser  8
Pied-billed Grebe  3
Horned Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  1     East Pool from south dike
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  3
Northern Harrier  1
Virginia Rail  1     Heard, Gull Pond
American Coot  10
American Avocet  1     
Ring-billed Gull  50
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  6
Belted Kingfisher  1     Heard, entrance pond
Hairy Woodpecker  1     Gull Pond Road
Northern Flicker  1     Gull Pond road
Peregrine Falcon  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  2     Heard
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2     Heard
Tufted Titmouse  2
Carolina Wren  1     Heard, Gull Pond Road
American Robin  150
Gray Catbird  1     Heard, Jen's Trail
Cedar Waxwing  15
Yellow-rumped Warbler  60
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  10
House Finch  2     Gull Pond Road
American Goldfinch  3     Heard

Assunpink WMA 12/11--A Few "Good" Birds

I put on my blaze orange hat and  blaze orange vest and went up to Assunpink where it's open for hunting. There is always a great sense of anticipation right before you start birding--I could find anything here. Maybe a year bird, maybe a rarity. The bird list is thrillingly blank. So it was a little deflating when I ran into Bob D at my first stop by the burnt house. Bob birds Assunpink more than anyone and if there are interesting birds to find there, he's usually the first to find them. And Bob said there was nothing of note this morning. And so far he was right because where we were standing was the place that is usually reliable for White-crowned Sparrows and there were none in sight. So far I had 4 species: Grackles (at least a hundred in the stubble field) a Mourning Dove on a wire, a junco, and a White-throated Sparrow I heard singing. My fallback reasoning for a barren day of birding is "Well, at least I'll get my exercise in," and that's what I was already thinking.

We chatted for a while and then I continued north to the lake, expecting to only see the Ruddy Ducks that Bob had. At this point in the year the game changes from "year birds" to "month birds" because me finding a year bird this late is pretty unlikely. So I was delighted that, while scanning the flock of ruddies, I found my first Redhead of the month and season. Redheads are very dramatic looking ducks and I don't find them all that often so I was pleased.

Now began the exercise portion of the trip. I walked around the west side of the lake, finding the usual expected species plus a good look at a Belted Kingfisher that I was finally able to track down after hearing its rattle off and on for a half hour.

I drove down to the model airplane field to look at the east side of the lake, in the vain hope that the Trumpeter Swans of the last couple of years had just flown in, but of course, there were only a couple of mutes there. However, I was surprised to see a dark bird fly across the path. It struck me as a Gray Catbird, a species known as "half hardy" meaning some will stay the winter (and so far, with this warm weather, I'm surprised more haven't been reported). A little vigorous pishing brought the bird into view:

Gray Catbird

I put away the scope and then walked the big half-circle road that hugs the east side of the lake. Two relatively hard to find woodpeckers were along here: Hairy Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Along with the many sparrows & goldfinches, this was enough to keep my interest. So, considering that I thought it would just be a 3 mile walk and a short list, I wound up with 4 month birds, all of them "goodies" for this time of year. The complete list:
29 species
Canada Goose  12     f/o
Mute Swan  6
Redhead  1     
Ring-necked Duck  4
Ruddy Duck  46
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Ring-billed Gull  41
Mourning Dove  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  15
Carolina Chickadee  10
Tufted Titmouse  2
Carolina Wren  1     Heard.
Eastern Bluebird  3
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  1     
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Dark-eyed Junco  1    
White-throated Sparrow  15
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  2     Clarksburg-Robbinsville Rd
Common Grackle  100     
American Goldfinch  15

Florida burglary suspect eaten by alligator after fleeing police

A 22-year-old man suspected of burglarizing homes in Florida was killed and partially eaten by an 11-foot alligator after he waded into a lake, apparently to avoid detection by law enforcement officers pursuing him, police said on Tuesday.

An autopsy on the man determined that he drowned in November after an apparent alligator attack. A necropsy on the alligator revealed parts of the man's body in the reptile's stomach, according to a report released this week by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's deputies chased him and another suspect with dogs and a helicopter on Nov. 13 after residents in the Barefoot Bay community reported two men walking behind houses, authorities said.

No suspects were caught that night. His body was found 10 days later floating in a lake, with an aggressive gator standing guard, sheriff's Major Tod Goodyear said.

"I believe he was hiding," Goodyear said of how he ended up in the lake. "With the dogs out there, it's not a bad idea to go into the water."

Well, apparently in this case, it was.