Shelter Cove Park | Cattus Island CP 2/3--Virginia Rail, Killdeer

Killdeer

For years, Killdeer was a bird I would pick up casually, early in the year. I would simply stop off at the Wawa on Route 70 in Lakewood and there'd they be, in the undeveloped field next to the parking lot. When we did the World Series of Birding in Ocean County, that's where we stop to pick up Killdeer...and lunch. 

But fields don't stay undeveloped too long in Lakewood and now there is a self-storage facility going up where Killdeer once roamed. So this morning, wanting to get out after being cooped up in the house during a two day snowstorm and wanting something new, I hied myself to Shelter Cove where Killdeer had been reported on the playing fields. I found them right away on the snow-covered fields and could have just left, but I wanted pictures for this entry so I walked out toward them. Mistake. The fields were a layer cake of wet--a thin coating of snow  atop a thin layer of ice atop two inches of water, making for cold, hard going as I tromped out toward them getting just close enough for the zoom on the camera without spooking them, too much. It seemed odd to see shorebirds on snow. I remembered as I walking in the parking lot that the first place in the county that I saw Killdeer was on the median at the entrance. Funny how those memories stick with you.

Savannah Sparrow

Not much else was on the slushy acres; some geese and a couple of Ruddy Ducks in the bay. In the parking lot, just as I was about to leave, I came upon a small flock of Savannah Sparrows. The other interesting birds that had been there during the storm--pipit and Horned Larks--were not in evidence, though I heard the larks, in big numbers, turned up after I left. 

My next stop was a few minutes north at Cattus Island CP where most of the action for most of my visit was at the feeders. Very little to be seen along the mostly snow-covered paths. When I'd come to a bare spot in the path it would feel weird to be walking on solid ground--and quiet too. With each step breaking through ice I wasn't going to sneak up on any birds when I sounded like I was walking on Rice Krispies. Even the bay was frozen to a large extent with only a few Buffleheads and a Red-breasted Merganser in the open water. 

But, coming back, I had just started walking on the boardwalk that goes through the marsh to the parking lot when I flushed a bird from beneath the boards. It flew up and quickly disappeared in the reeds, but in the few seconds it was in flight I recognized it as a Virginia Rail--rare in winter and hard to find anytime and mostly heard. This isn't the first time Virginia Rails have been in that marsh and I've flushed them in another part of the park too, but to get one in the dead of winter was a thrill. That is why I go out birding. I only need one cool bird for the day to be a success. 

My last two stops were searches for waterfowl. Marshall's Pond (mostly frozen) had a drake and a hen wigeon along with Ring-necked Ducks among its hundred geese and Riverfront Landing had lots of ruddies and Mallards, along with a some Lesser Scaup and, what I really came to find, 3 Canvasbacks that I had to find just the right angle to see as they floated around the piers and boats of the marina. 

A good day. Two days of counting juncos in the backyard can get old fast. 

January Summary--A Long Month

Cooper's Hawk, backyard

It's been a long month. Winter weariness has inflicted itself on me since the really cold weather set in. I thought the real birding year would start on the 21st, after I could stop being distracted by the imminent demise of the republic (now, I just worry that I'll out live the eventual, inevitable collapse of the country), but I still found it hard to motivate myself to take long walks along windswept beaches or through freezing fields looking for birds because, I kept telling myself, "they're just birds." Never a good sign when you find yourself stepping outside your obsession. 

I suppose that any month I get a life bird, and one I assumed I'd never see because I don't do pelagics can't be considered a bust, but I think part of my dissatisfaction is that I didn't really find any cool birds on my own. Happy to get the rarities, but not happy to chase them. And especially not happy to chase them when the chase is unsuccessful and there seemed to be a lot of those this month...I won't go into a litany of failure but on more than a few days, frustration reigned. 

I hit most (all?) of my favorite hotspots this month. Sandy Hook started the year with a goodly number of birds, Island Beach yielded the Common Redpoll and later in the month the coveted DOVEKIE, 3 trips to Brig finally produced the American White Pelican (which went into the "How can you miss it?" category), and of course there was always Whitesbog, where I find the most pleasure birding. 

For the month I found 132 species. That's probably just about half the number of birds I'll see all year, at least in New Jersey and I don't have any plans to leave the state yet non-vaccinated in a pandemic. 

Species First Sighting
Snow Goose   Brig
Brant   Sandy Hook
Cackling Goose   Meadowedge Park
Canada Goose   Sandy Hook
Mute Swan   Riverfront Landing
Trumpeter Swan   Assunpink WMA
Tundra Swan  Bamber Lake
Wood Duck   Brig
Northern Shoveler   Brig
Gadwall   Mud City
Eurasian Wigeon   Silver Lake
American Wigeon   Brig
Mallard    Pond on Schoolhouse Road
American Black Duck   Sandy Hook
Northern Pintail   Brig
Green-winged Teal   Brig
Canvasback   Brig
Ring-necked Duck   Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Greater Scaup   East Bay Av
Lesser Scaup   Riverfront Landing
King Eider    Sandy Hook
Common Eider   Sandy Hook
Harlequin Duck    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter   Sandy Hook
White-winged Scoter    Sandy Hook
Black Scoter    Sandy Hook
Long-tailed Duck    Sandy Hook
Bufflehead    Sandy Hook
Common Goldeneye   Sandy Hook
Hooded Merganser   Crestwood Village
Common Merganser   East Bay Av
Red-breasted Merganser   Sandy Hook
Ruddy Duck   Riverfront Landing
Wild Turkey   Pinewald Keswick Rd
Pied-billed Grebe   Lake Como
Horned Grebe   Sandy Hook
Rock Pigeon   Wawa South Toms River
Mourning Dove   Island Beach SP
American Coot    Lake Como
Ruddy Turnstone     Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling   Sandy Hook
Dunlin   Brig
Purple Sandpiper   Shark River Inlet
Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
DOVEKIE   Island Beach SP
Razorbill   Island Beach SP
Bonaparte's Gull   Sandy Hook
Black-headed Gull   Manasquan Inlet
Ring-billed Gull    Sandy Hook
Herring Gull    Sandy Hook
Lesser Black-backed Gull    Shark River Inlet
Great Black-backed Gull    Sandy Hook
Red-throated Loon   Sandy Hook
Common Loon   Sandy Hook
Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Manahawkin WMA
American White Pelican    Brig
American Bittern   Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron   Crestwood Village
Great Egret   Brig
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron  Bayview Ave Marina
Black-crowned Night-Heron   Bayview Ave Park
Black Vulture   New Egypt
Turkey Vulture   Sandy Hook
Northern Harrier   Sandy Hook
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Bayview Ave Park
Cooper's Hawk   Sandy Hook
Bald Eagle   35 Sunset Rd
Red-shouldered Hawk    Sandy Hook
Red-tailed Hawk    Holly Lake
Rough-legged Hawk BC Fairgrounds

Eastern Screech Owl  Whitesbog
Great Horned Owl   35 Sunset Rd
Belted Kingfisher   Crestwood Village
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Sandy Hook
Downy Woodpecker   Sandy Hook
Hairy Woodpecker   Etra Lake Park
Pileated Woodpecker   Etra Lake Park
Northern Flicker   Etra Lake Park
American Kestrel   BC Fairgrounds
Merlin    Tip Seaman County Park
Peregrine Falcon    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Shrike    Franklin Parker Preserve
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Etra Lake Park
Common Raven     Sandy Hook
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse     35 Sunset Rd
Horned Lark      Sandy Hook
Golden-crowned Kinglet      Levi’s Rd
Red-breasted Nuthatch      Ocean Acres Park
White-breasted Nuthatch      Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Brown Creeper      35 Sunset Rd
Winter Wren      Brig
Carolina Wren     Sandy Hook
European Starling      35 Sunset Rd
Gray Catbird     Sandy Hook
Northern Mockingbird     Sandy Hook
Eastern Bluebird      Levi’s Rd
Hermit Thrush      Whitesbog
American Robin      Sandy Hook
Cedar Waxwing      Brig
House Sparrow      Riverfront Landing
House Finch      Shelter Cove Park
Purple Finch     Brig
Common Redpoll      Island Beach SP
Pine Siskin      35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch      Assunpink WMA
Snow Bunting      Sandy Hook
Chipping Sparrow      Colliers Mills WMA
Field Sparrow      Sandy Hook
American Tree Sparrow      Sandy Hook
Fox Sparrow      Manahawkin WMA
Dark-eyed Junco      35 Sunset Rd
White-throated Sparrow     Sandy Hook
Savannah Sparrow      Bridge to Nowhere
Song Sparrow      Sandy Hook
Swamp Sparrow      Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Towhee      Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Meadowlark      BC Fairgrounds
Red-winged Blackbird      Mud City
Brown-headed Cowbird      New Egypt
Rusty Blackbird      New Egypt
Common Grackle      Levi’s Rd
Boat-tailed Grackle      Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Orange-crowned Warbler      Sandy Hook
Pine Warbler      Franklin Parker Preserve
Yellow-rumped Warbler    Sandy Hook
Northern Cardinal      35 Sunset Rd

Wild Turkeys, Berkeley Township Police HQ

Pinelands Winter Bird Census

Mute Swans (sigh) on Union Pond

This is the sixth year of the Pinelands Winter Bird Census which Jim Schill organizes since great swaths of the Pinelands (Barrens) lie outside any Christmas Count Circles, so this is our alternative count. As usual, I started the birding early, 4:53 AM in Whitesbog Village listening for owls. For the first time I got both Great Horned Owl and Eastern Screech Owl. I have in the past heard one or the other (or neither) but never both. Two Great Horned Owls to boot. 

The funny thing about the owls is that I heard each one in the place where I would expect to hear the other. After failing in the village, I drove out onto the bogs to the double-laned road where in the past I've heard (and seen) Great Horned Owl. Before I could even play the call, I heard the screech owl. Now, since the double-laned road is the borderline between Ocean and Burlington Counties, after notching the owl for Burlington, I walked about 100 feet to the east and listed it for Ocean too. I actually have no idea which county the bird was in and since eBird's silly rules make it a survey of where your feet are, not where the bird truly is, it counts as a 2 for 1. 

Whitesbog Dawn

I drove back into the Village and in the parking lot heard the hooting of the Great Horned. I then walked back to the Lower Meadow where I have been told on good authority that screech is often heard. So, naturally, I heard another Great Horned. By this time the sky was lightening up, though it was still a half hour before dawn. I walked around the meadow which leads to the entrance road and before going out onto the bogs again, checked the feeders: The usual tweety birds. 

Driving on the bogs in the dark, I had had a bad feeling. Yesterday, when I was scouting, the water was 95% "stiff" but I did see a decent number of Tundra Swans on the Lower Bog, resting on the ice. But driving by in the dark, I didn't hear any swans and my flashlight showed only an unbroken sheet of ice. Since one of the main targets of the census is Tundra Swans and since Whitesbog has always been a prime location for the species, this wasn't a good sign. 

Out on the bogs at dawn I saw two swans with their heads tucked in on Union Pond and the bad feeling got worse because, though I didn't see them yesterday, I could tell just from the pointy tails that those were Mute Swans--scarce in the county but not what you want to see if you want to see other waterfowl. And nary a Tundra Swan on any of the bogs, nor were there any when I drove into the Ocean County side and checked out the Upper Reservoir. The first time in 6 years I've gotten skunked on the species. 

Although the sunrise was pretty, as I've often noticed, almost immediately after a picturesque dawn, the skies clouded up, a precursor to the Nor'easter that was on its way and promised to make the afternoon a snowy one. 

While the temperatures were below freezing, the lack of wind made the walking bearable, but the birds just were not in evidence. Most of the passerines I saw were in the Village. When I walked the old blueberry fields along the entrance road, I was happy to see a Northern Harrier, but the hunting hawk probably killed any chance I had of finding sparrows in what is usually a very productive area. 

I saw more waterfowl at Country Lake Estates, where the lake was 100% frozen, but along the far shore Canada Geese, Mallards, and American Black Ducks huddled, along with 5 Swan Geese which I couldn't count.  

My last stop was Whitesbog Road, a dirt road that runs from 530 to 70. By this time it was snowing, lightly at first, but by the time I approached 70 it was really swirling around. I did come across a feeding flock of chickadees with a Red-breasted Nuthatch joining them and had my only gull of a day, a flyover Herring Gull. By then I'd been at it almost 9 hours, had walked 9.9 miles and driven another 5 or so and I could tell it was going to be diminishing (or no) returns from here on in. 

I ended the day with a paltry 27 species. I guess the birds sensed the storm coming and hunkered down. Birds are smarter than we are. 

76 Canada Goose
2 Mute Swan
37 Mallard
2 American Black Duck
1 Mourning Dove
1 Herring Gull
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Northern Harrier
2 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Eastern Screech-Owl
2 Great Horned Owl
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Downy Woodpecker
4 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
6 American Crow
10 Carolina Chickadee
4 Tufted Titmouse
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Red-breasted Nuthatch
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
5 Carolina Wren
7 American Robin
20 Dark-eyed Junco
2 White-throated Sparrow
10 Song Sparrow
7 Northern Cardinal

Meadowedge Park 1/23--Cackling Goose

The weather, as often happens in the winter, defeated me this morning. I drove down to Franklin Parker Preserve, my goals two-fold: Get another, better, look at the shrike and get a better handle on the geography of that eastern section. I accomplished the latter. I knew the weather was supposed to cold and windy today, so I thought going inland would at least mitigate the windy aspect of the forecast. Wrong. Gusts of 30 mph were blowing on the bogs and after walking all the way out to pumphouse 18 and almost out to pumphouse 19 the wind was just too much for me. When I saw an eagle blown vertical by the wind I knew I didn't care enough about seeing the bird again to search in the biting wind. A 2.7 mile round trip for a couple of eagles and a Hermit Thrush. Despite two pairs of gloves, it took miles of driving with the heat blasting before my fingers thawed. 

Have I mentioned that I hate winter? 

Later in the afternoon I saw that Meadowedge Park, in Barnegat, once again was hosting a Cackling Goose. Since Meadowedge isn't much bigger than a lot of backyards, I figured it would be a quick, binary search--there/not there. When I got to the park, I saw that almost all the geese were in the pond. Looking for a Cackling Goose in a flock of Canada Geese is like solving a puzzle. Thousands of geese and it's sheer luck if you find one. 175 geese and all you need to solve the puzzle is a little patience. Even I can look at every goose in a flock of that size, especially when they don't especially care that you're fairly close to them. 

Cackling Goose in the hexagon

I went through the flock once and came up with nothing. Halfway through my second scan I saw one goose bite another on the ass--the one with the bitten butt was the Cackler. Two-thirds the size of the biter and with a stubby little beak that didn't offer much fight back. Then the flock played 175 goose monte and I lost it. Now the game was, could I find it again. Yes, I could after a bit and then the game was could I, with no camera, manage at least a bad picture with my phone. Again it was in the affirmative, though I had to take off the glove on one hand, which almost instantly lost circulation in the wind, which, of course, being near the water, was ferocious. 

Still, at least I can count one mini-accomplishment for the day. Two, if you count avoiding frost-bite. 

Brig 1/22--American White Pelican.

American White Pelican

Today, as the sportscasters like to say, I "flipped the script" at Brig. Usually, I get there early, walk down to the Gull Pond, then either walk back and bird the upland area or else walk on the drive up to maybe Marker 4, before I drive the loop. But instead, today I just drove 3/4 of the way around the dikes to Marker 15, got out of the car, plunked down my scope and scanned the distant phragmites. 

Stubbornness. Persistence. Stick-to-itiveness.  Just to see if I can. That's what impelled me this morning. I just wanted to get that damned American White Pelican on the list. There is a fine line between stubbornness and irrationality. I have erased that line. But, after a few minutes scanning back and forth I finally found the silly bird, half-hidden in the reeds. Hard for a big bird like that to hide, but, just for the record, on my 2nd trip around this afternoon,  I couldn't find the bird again, so I made the right choice to drive first and walk later. The pictures I took are bad, but they are indicative of the kind of looks I was getting. 

After that, I drove down to Jen's Trail, parked, and walked the last 2 miles of the drive and back, finding whatever passerines would brave the wind, mostly bluebirds and sparrows. I made a second trip around, more slowly than the first and saw impressive numbers of waterfowl, especially Snow Geese which were swirling around in huge flocks, like a murmuration of starlings. There were also a few big flocks of Dunlins. A more patient birder would have scoped every one of them, looking for a Western Sandpiper or something even more exotic like a wayward stint, but I am not that birder, especially since the wind, which was mild in the morning, started gusting to car shaking speeds. 

The one bird I was most surprised, and happy, to see, was a Great Egret around Marker 4, not rare, but my first one of the year. I would have taken a picture of it but today was the day my camera officially died, having been dropped one too many times by both Shari & me.

My list for the day is slightly smaller than it might normally be but that's the result of obsessing on one bird instead of just birding. 

They were:

47 species

Snow Goose  5000

Brant  150

Canada Goose  200

Mute Swan  3

Northern Shoveler  65

Gadwall  85

Mallard  30

American Black Duck  200

Northern Pintail  85

Green-winged Teal  220

Canvasback  33     Marker 15

Ring-necked Duck  19

Greater Scaup  200     Turtle Cove

Bufflehead  15

Hooded Merganser  10

Common Merganser  10

Mourning Dove  1

Dunlin  1150

Long-billed Dowitcher  7     Continuing at Gull Pond

Greater Yellowlegs  17     Gull pond & dogleg

Ring-billed Gull  100

Herring Gull  45

Great Black-backed Gull  1

American White Pelican  1     Continuing at marker 15

Great Blue Heron  6

Great Egret  1     Marker 4

Turkey Vulture  2

Northern Harrier  1

Bald Eagle  8

Belted Kingfisher  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  2

Blue Jay  10

American Crow  6

Carolina Chickadee  5     Heard

Tufted Titmouse  2

Winter Wren  1     Heard exit ponds

Carolina Wren  8

European Starling  8

Eastern Bluebird  10

American Robin  10

American Goldfinch  2

Field Sparrow  2     Upland fields near overlook

White-throated Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  5

Northern Cardinal  2     Jen's Trail 

Immature Bald Eagle

Franklin Parker Preserve 1/20--Northern Shrike

 I don't get it. Yesterday, I met Mike at the Speedwell Entrance to Franklin Parker Preserve. I've been there plenty of times, but yesterday we were searching an area across the road that I'd never been to, so we were feeling our way in, looking at maps and instructions that previous birders had posted, all in the hopes of finding the latest rarity. When we got to the spot that seemed to match maps & text, I started to scan the tree line without much confidence, but I know that sinking feeling is often a prelude to success. And after a few minutes, I found the Northern Shrike we had come for, far out over the other side of the bog, sitting atop a cedar tree. I got Mike on it, the bird moved to a leafless tree for a moment, then disappeared. Not as exciting as finding the Dovekies this month, but I was impressed I found this little bird in that big area. And that's what I don't get...I can find some relatively nondescript black and gray bird without much effort other than the walk in, but later, when I drove to Pemberton for the umpty-umpth time to search for Sandhill Cranes that have been in the area for a month, I once again had no luck, and twice this year I've gone to Brig, parked at Marker 15, and still haven't found the huge American White Pelican that has been reported there everyday this year (I did see it a couple of times last year). 

So what gives? It isn't skill I'm missing. It doesn't take much skill to find 3 birds that stand 4 feet tall or a gigantic white one. Sometimes I'm diffident about chasing a bird, but I've gone after these two species numerous times, so I can't blame my laziness. So what gives is...find a bird, luck, miss a bird, luck. And try again tomorrow either way. 

Silver Lake1/16--Eurasian Wigeon

Every year a Eurasian Wigeon makes an appearance in Belmar and every year I go up there to find it. The last few years it (though who knows if it is the same bird every year) it has been a little difficult to get a look at since you either had to set up a scope in the parking lot of a gas station and look into a cove in the river, or else find just the right angle in MacLearie Park and stand on one foot and tilt you head your head just so to find the bird.

This year was supposedly easier, as the bird was being seen in Silver Lake one of the artificial ponds that dot the North Shore from Long Branch down to Point Pleasant Beach. But late in December I missed it and last week when I went up there the water was "stiff," and today when I got there I didn't see many birds on the water either. What I did see were hundreds of geese, both Canada and Brant, feeding on the grass around the lake. Wigeons are one of the few ducks that will also graze a lawn so I walked toward a big flock of geese, swerving into the street so as not to scare them all away. Not that they seemed to care that much, they're all pretty use to humans walking around. And after a bit, a few geese moved and there, almost at my feet was the drake Eurasian Wigeon, along with a few American cousins. It is such a pretty duck that it's worth the trip and the effort to find it.

I have a long history of unsuccessful attempts to find a Eurasian Wigeon before actually getting one. Our life EUWI was at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge when we lived in Brooklyn. I don't know how many trips we made there seeking one out after seeing it reported on the rare bird listserv (which shows how long ago this was) that we subscribed to. 

Jamaica Bay, being one of the most famous refuges in the country and being in NYC, attracts birders from all over the world. I remember that Patrick O'Brian, the author of the Aubrey/Maturin series of naval thrillers set during the Napoleonic Wars and also an enthusiastic British birder, said that JBWR was one of his favorite places to have birded.  

One day when Shari & I had gone again to find the wigeon, a birder from Australia stopped me and asked me if I could confirm an ID of a Little Blue Heron. Sort of in a rush and sort of feeling snotty, I looked in his scope, saw the bird and said, "Well, it's little, it's blue, it's a heron...it's a Little Blue Heron." 

He didn't care how snarky I was, it was a life bird for him. Then I told him I had to rush because there was a Eurasian Wigeon on the other side of the pond and it was my "White Whale." 

He replied (and imagine a thick 'stralian accent), "You mean, your Moby Duck." 

Touché

(We got the bird that day.)