Birds & Words

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Barnegat Light SP 7/16--Piping Plover

Today, looking for something new for the year, I headed over to Long Beach Island. Huge swatch of the beach at Barnegat Light State Park were stringed off to give the breeding birds there half a chance. Running in one of the furrows along the corridor that was left open to the beach I saw a tiny fuzzy gray bird--a baby Piping Plover, my first of the year and my first one in Ocean County. I lost sight of it when someone walked by. When I got up to where he was, he was reading the warning sign; he asked me if I'd seen any of the plovers. I told him he'd scared one away. He didn't seem broken up about, but later, while I was looking at the bird again and also, presumably, its parent, he called out that there were two more birds behind me. These also were juveniles. I guess he was pleased that he'd found them.

The nesting behavior of the Piping Plover seems like one of Nature's more misguided moves. Their "nest" is nothing more than a scraped out depression in the packed sand with some bits of lining. That any of this endangered species survives is astounding to me, given the number of gulls and crows lolling about in the vicinity. I could understand the strategy if the plovers were like terns where large colonies gather to nest and there is safety in numbers (plus, terns have really sharp bills), but Piping Plovers are spread out thin on the ground. Happily, the beach goers seemed to respect the cordoned off areas and the "No Pets" rule was followed. So those three little juveniles I saw have a fighting chance.

Seeing the plovers made the trip worth it--none of the other birds I'd hoped to see--pelicans or rare terns--were around. I did see one juvenile Dunlin on the jetty, but it took flight when a kid with headphones obliviously lumbered by. There were also flocks of peeps flying over the jetty and skimming along the water, but I'm not good enough to identify them on the fly--probably Semipalmated Sandpipers, but they could have been Least, or they could have been Dunlins. There were too many people on the beach for them to land.

I only had 17 species for the mile long walk to the beach, but the Piping Plover was a winner, and also the Bird A Day entry. I'm running on fumes in that contest--if I make it through Friday (which would be 200 days) I'll consider it a real accomplishment.

My little list for a morning at the beach:
Double-crested Cormorant 12
Osprey 2 Nest on tower at head of inlet
Piping Plover 4
American Oystercatcher 4
Dunlin 1
Laughing Gull 15
Herring Gull 100
Great Black-backed Gull 10
Least Tern 1
Common Tern 2
American Crow 5
Barn Swallow 30
Song Sparrow 2 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 1
American Goldfinch 2 Heard
House Sparrow 2 Parking lot

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Adorable Photo of the Month

Photo: Shari Zirlin

American Oystercatchers have been nesting on the side of the Wildlife Drive at Brigatine this year. Today, Shari shot one of the results of that nesting. This is the first juvenile oystercatcher I recall seeing. That's one of the great appeals of birding--every day there's a chance you'll see something new.

Two loops around the drive produced 54 species. There was a good build up of shorebirds starting to make the return trip south--in the next couple of weeks the impoundments should be teeming with peeps. Happily, we're going on a couple of field trips with much better birders than us, so if there are any Western Sandpipers or Long-billed Dowitchers to be found in the flocks, they'll find them. There were a couple of candidates today, but unless I'm right on top of one of those birds I don't have confidence in my i.d.

The rarest bird today, oddly, was a Brant hanging out with a large flock of Canada Geese. If the two I saw last month in Tuckerton were late, then this one is probably not going anywhere for the summer--why bother at this point?

Our day list:
Brant 1
Canada Goose 300
Mute Swan 6
American Black Duck 5
Mallard 15
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 30
Snowy Egret 35
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
Glossy Ibis 40
Osprey 10
Clapper Rail 1
Black-bellied Plover 15
American Oystercatcher 5
Greater Yellowlegs 6
Willet 25
Lesser Yellowlegs 8
Whimbrel 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 220
Least Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 100
Laughing Gull 90
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 7
Least Tern 1
Gull-billed Tern 4
Forster's Tern 100
Black Skimmer 17
Belted Kingfisher 1 Gull Pond
Peregrine Falcon 1 Tower
Eastern Kingbird 3 Gull Pond
American Crow 1 Heard
Fish Crow 6
Purple Martin 25
Tree Swallow 100
Barn Swallow 10
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 1 Heard upland trail
Carolina Wren 2 Heard Parking lot
American Robin 1 Parking lot
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 1 Experimental pool
European Starling 25
Common Yellowthroat 1 Heard
Yellow Warbler 1 Exit Ponds
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard upland trail
Chipping Sparrow 2 heard, parking lot
Field Sparrow 1 Heard, Experimental pool
Northern Cardinal 1 Upland trail
Red-winged Blackbird 150
Boat-tailed Grackle 4
American Goldfinch 2

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Great Bay Blvd WMA 7/3 8:30 AM

click photo for larger view

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Bird A Day 1/2 Way Point--Common Nighthawk

Surprisingly, at least to me, today is the 1/2 way point of the year, not June 30. I did my birding at Colliers Mills this morning and in the backyard this afternoon and turned up nothing special--I thought I was going to have to use Tufted Titmouse, from the quickly diminishing reliable list, but I was sitting outside as dusk turned to night when 2 Common Nighthawks flew overhead, fairly low. I've been looking for them every clear evening since the Spring and finally found a couple to extend the streak another day.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

June Wrap-up

Upland Sandpiper, Lakehurst NAES
Photo: Shari Zirlin

June is supposed to start the summer birding doldrums, the period between migrations, but we did all right with one life bird (MISSISSIPPI KITE on Staten Island) and 16 first of year birds. It was also a good month for time of year rarities--birds that should have moved on by now but for whatever reason, didn't get the message, like the Ruddy Duck and Hooded Merganser we found at Brig, the Common Loon I saw at Tuckerton a couple of weeks ago, and especially interesting these very late or extremely early Brants I saw on Friday hanging out in a marina parking lot on Great Bay Blvd.

Brants hang around later than most waterfowl because they nest farther north than most waterfowl but the end of the June is really stretching it. These two are probably at a procreative dead end, at least for this season.

I found myself gravitating to a couple of places more so than normal--one inland Colliers Mills, was very productive for passerines, and the other, Great Bay Blvd, got me a fair number of marsh birds plus surprisingly, Willow Flycatcher a few times. The main reason I kept returning to these spots was that I knew I had a decent chance of adding to my Bird A Day list, though at this point, unless I can turn up a Blue Grosbeak, Colliers Mills is pretty much exhausted until migration starts anew, while Great Bay Blvd still has potential for a couple of birds. But I truly doubt I'm going to make it too much farther in July. In just the last week I had to use "reliables" like Canada Goose and Turkey Vulture. Even driving down to Brigantine every day wouldn't extend the streak very much. And, as I've said before, this is starting to seem like a job and I like being retired. I can tell you Shari will certainly be happy when the streak ends.

For the month the tally is 135 species, not as long a list as last month, but last month had migration in Ohio.

Counties birded:

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset

New York: Richmond

Species Location

Brant Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Canada Goose Colliers Mills WMA

Mute Swan Brigantine

Wood Duck Double Trouble State Park

American Black Duck Brigantine

Mallard Crestwood Village

Hooded Merganser Brigantine

Ruddy Duck Brigantine

Wild Turkey 35 Sunset Rd

Common Loon Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Double-crested Cormorant Great Kills Park

Great Blue Heron Colliers Mills WMA

Great Egret Double Trouble State Park

Snowy Egret Great Kills Park

Little Blue Heron Cattus Island County Park

Tricolored Heron Cattus Island County Park

Green Heron White's Bogs

Black-crowned Night-Heron Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Glossy Ibis Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Black Vulture Lakehurst NAES

Turkey Vulture Colliers Mills WMA

Osprey Great Bay Bvld. WMA

MISSISSIPPI KITE Cemetery of the Resurrection

Cooper's Hawk Colliers Mills WMA

Bald Eagle Assunpink WMA

Red-tailed Hawk Colliers Mills WMA

Clapper Rail Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Virginia Rail Great Bay Bvld. WMA

American Coot Brigantine

Black-bellied Plover Brigantine

Semipalmated Plover Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Killdeer Colliers Mills WMA

American Oystercatcher Great Kills Park

American Avocet Brigantine

Willet Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Lesser Yellowlegs Brigantine

Upland Sandpiper Lakehurst NAES

Whimbrel Brigantine

Marbled Godwit Brigantine

Ruddy Turnstone Brigantine

Semipalmated Sandpiper Brigantine

Dunlin Brigantine

Short-billed Dowitcher Brigantine

Laughing Gull Great Kills Park

Herring Gull Crestwood Village

Great Black-backed Gull Great Kills Park

Least Tern Horicon Lake

Gull-billed Tern Brigantine

Caspian Tern Brigantine

Common Tern Mt. Loretto

Forster's Tern Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Black Skimmer Brigantine

Rock Pigeon Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Mourning Dove Colliers Mills WMA

Yellow-billed Cuckoo White's Bogs

Black-billed Cuckoo Forest Hill Rd

Barred Owl Lakehurst NAES

Common Nighthawk Colliers Mills WMA

Chuck-will's-widow E. Bay Ave, Barnegat

Eastern Whip-poor-will 35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift Crestwood Village

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 35 Sunset Rd

Belted Kingfisher Colliers Mills WMA

Red-headed Woodpecker Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker Colliers Mills WMA

Downy Woodpecker Crestwood Village

Northern Flicker Colliers Mills WMA

American Kestrel Lakehurst NAES

Peregrine Falcon Brigantine

Eastern Wood-Pewee Colliers Mills WMA

Acadian Flycatcher Double Trouble State Park

Willow Flycatcher Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Eastern Phoebe Colliers Mills WMA

Great Crested Flycatcher Colliers Mills WMA

Eastern Kingbird Colliers Mills WMA

White-eyed Vireo Double Trouble State Park

Warbling Vireo Assunpink WMA

Blue Jay Colliers Mills WMA

American Crow Crestwood Village

Fish Crow 35 Sunset Rd

Horned Lark Lakehurst NAES

Northern Rough-winged Swallow Mt. Loretto

Purple Martin Brigantine

Tree Swallow Colliers Mills WMA

Bank Swallow Lakehurst NAES

Barn Swallow Double Trouble State Park

Carolina Chickadee Colliers Mills WMA

Black-capped Chickadee Mt. Loretto

Tufted Titmouse Colliers Mills WMA

White-breasted Nuthatch Colliers Mills WMA

House Wren Crestwood Village

Marsh Wren Brigantine

Carolina Wren Crestwood Village

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Colliers Mills WMA

Eastern Bluebird Colliers Mills WMA

Veery Double Trouble State Park

Wood Thrush Double Trouble State Park

American Robin Colliers Mills WMA

Gray Catbird Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Mockingbird Colliers Mills WMA

Brown Thrasher Colliers Mills WMA

European Starling Crestwood Village

Cedar Waxwing Crestwood Village

Ovenbird Colliers Mills WMA

Black-and-white Warbler Double Trouble State Park

Common Yellowthroat Colliers Mills WMA

Yellow Warbler Great Kills Park

Blackpoll Warbler Colliers Mills WMA

Pine Warbler Crestwood Village

Prairie Warbler Colliers Mills WMA

Yellow-breasted Chat Assunpink WMA

Eastern Towhee Colliers Mills WMA

Chipping Sparrow Colliers Mills WMA

Field Sparrow Negri-Nepote Grasslands

Grasshopper Sparrow Negri-Nepote Grasslands

Saltmarsh Sparrow Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Seaside Sparrow Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Song Sparrow Crestwood Village

Swamp Sparrow Assunpink WMA

Scarlet Tanager Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Cardinal Colliers Mills WMA

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Assunpink WMA

Blue Grosbeak Mt. Loretto

Indigo Bunting Colliers Mills WMA

Dickcissel Negri-Nepote Grasslands

Red-winged Blackbird Colliers Mills WMA

Eastern Meadowlark Lakehurst NAES

Common Grackle 35 Sunset Rd

Boat-tailed Grackle Great Kills Park

Brown-headed Cowbird Colliers Mills WMA

Orchard Oriole Double Trouble State Park

Baltimore Oriole Colliers Mills WMA

House Finch 35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch Crestwood Village

House Sparrow Mt. Loretto

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Barnegat Twp 6/26--Chuck-will's-widow

Tonight we drove down to Barnegat Township around the Forsythe impoundments to listen, successfully, for Chuck-will's-widows. I've always wondered why we get so many Whip-poor-wills and no Chucks around here and the answer, of course, is habitat. Whips prefer hardwood forests--plenty of that 25 feet from the house. On Saturday, talking about nightjars with Scott Barnes, he told me that Chuck-will's-widow is found around here in the marshes east of Route 9--they're more of a coastal bird. I knew from eBird there was a spot where one birder was often listing them, so just as it got dark we drove over Double Creek Bridge and pulled to the side on East Bay Avenue. We didn't have to wait long to hear two birds bellowing their eponymous calls. Scott also told me that, unlike Whips, which will call all night (don't I know it!) Chucks are crepuscular--they call for a short time on either side of sundown and then shut up, so I knew that if we didn't hear them right away, we weren't going to hear them.

Shari teased me that I only wanted the bird for my Bird A Day list but she was wrong--I wanted it for
my Bird A Day list P
my year listP

my Jersey year listP
my Ocean County year listP

and my Ocean County life list.P

And also, just for the thrill of tracking one down.P

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Brigantine 6/23--American Avocet

Normally, we would travel down to Bombay Hook in Delaware to see this bird:

Photo: Shari Zirlin

But every once in a while an American Avocet wends its way a little farther north and since we may not get to Delaware this summer, we went down to Brig to find it today. And we found it easily; it was in the same place it had been reported and, to make it easier, Gregory Cantrell was standing on the road with his scope on the bird when we pulled up.

That was the main attraction. A bonus would have been the reported Ruff that was found yesterday hanging out with the Black Skimmers on the sand bar where we had the Marbled Godwits last week. The godwits were there again, but despite two trips around the loop no one, to my knowledge, reported the Ruff. We had one "maybe" from another birder we know who thought he might have had it, in bad light, around 6:20 this morning. I'll be curious to see if the Ruff shows up again--it might need a low tide to be attracted back to the impoundment.

We had our usual favorite birds--the skimmers, a few American Oystercatchers, a Caspian Tern and some Gull-biled Terns, as well as the lingering, or, at this point, summering, Ruddy Duck. The Green-head Flies were out in force, bashing against the windows of the car as we drove along, but a combination of the wafting breeze and a few good spritzes of Off! seemed to keep them off us for the most part when we ventured out of the car.

50 species for our two loops around the drive:
Canada Goose 150
Mute Swan 7
Mallard 10
Ruddy Duck 1 Stiff tail, white face, swimming in channel to right of north dike.
Double-crested Cormorant 10
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 25
Snowy Egret 20
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
Glossy Ibis 25
Osprey 8
Bald Eagle 1
Clapper Rail 2
Black-bellied Plover 1 Basic plumage
American Oystercatcher 6
American Avocet 1
Willet 50
Marbled Godwit 2
Laughing Gull 300
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Least Tern 2
Gull-billed Tern 3
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 50
Black Skimmer 25
Mourning Dove 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 Visitor Ctr feeders
Peregrine Falcon 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Fish Crow 1
Purple Martin 6
Tree Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 4
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 2
European Starling 2
Common Yellowthroat 5 Heard
Yellow Warbler 2 Heard
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 1 Heard
Seaside Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird 75
Common Grackle 5
House Finch 2 Picnic tables