July Recap--A Meager 7 Year Birds

Tricolored Heron, Manahawkin WMA

I was happy to see that a couple of birders went to Whitesbog yesterday afternoon and re-found the Little Blue Heron I reported in the morning, because I hate to report a rarity without any photographic or audio back-up, even if the rarity is not so rare. On one of the lists the birder put in his comments, "Great find by Larry Z." While I appreciate the compliment, it wasn't a such a great discovery. 

A birder standing on a windswept beach in January, going through a huge flock of gulls and pulling out a Glaucous Gull, that's a good find. Identifying a California Gull--that's a great find. Or a birder standing on a dike at Brig in summer, fighting off the greenhead flies, scanning thousands of sandpipers to find a few Western Sandpipers is a good find. Finding a Red-necked Stint or Curlew Sandpiper in the ever-shifting flock--that's a great find. Or a birder on a pelagic spotting an incredibly rare Bermuda Petrel--that's a great find. Or a birder who sees a relatively nondescript flycatcher and realizes that it's a Western Flycatcher in New Jersey--that's a great find.  Those birders have patience and skill in abundance, the former of which I lack completely, the latter of which I have a modicum. So, me coming across a slightly out-of-range bird that I've seen hundreds of times--to paraphrase Bob Dylan, "I just happened to be there, that's all." 

Greater Scaup, Island Beach

Despite only adding 7 birds to the year list, some of those birds were choice, especially yesterday's Broad-winged Hawk, and the Sedge Wren at Laurel Run Park. The other 5 new birds for the year came were the result of two trips to Brig--all shorebirds except for a Least Bittern at the Gull Pond. In the "rare but not new" category there was an out of season Greater Scaup at the Barnegat Inlet, a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks in Burlco & Ocean, and Grasshopper Sparrows at Laurel Run which peculiarly get flagged as rare in the summer. 

For the month I tracked down 135 species, mostly bouncing around my close-by spots--Whitesbog, Reeves Bogs, Double Trouble, the cranberry bogs in South Toms River, Colliers Mills and Island Beach. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean

Species              First Sighting
Canada Goose   Wells Mills Park
Mute Swan   Cedar Run Dock Rd.
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Mallard   Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck   Brig
Greater Scaup   Island Beach SP
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   South Toms River
Mourning Dove   Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
Virginia Rail   Whitesbog
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Brig
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover   Brig
Piping Plover   Island Beach SP
Whimbrel   Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Blvd
Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper   Franklin Parker Preserve
Lesser Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd
Willet   Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd
Ruddy Turnstone   Island Beach SP
Stilt Sandpiper   Brig
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper   Brig
Western Sandpiper   Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig
Laughing Gull   Cloverdale Farm
Ring-billed Gull   Brig
Herring Gull   Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer   Great Bay Blvd
Least Tern   Island Beach SP
Gull-billed Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Cranberry Bogs
Brown Pelican   Great Bay Blvd
Least Bittern   Brig
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron   Brig
Tricolored Heron   Cattus Island County Park
Snowy Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Great Egret   Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron   Cloverdale Farm
Glossy Ibis   Island Beach SP
Black Vulture   Jumping Brook Preserve
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Cloverdale Farm
Cooper's Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Bald Eagle   Brig
Red-shouldered Hawk   Reeves Bogs
Broad-winged Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher   Reeves Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Downy Woodpecker   Wells Mills Park
Hairy Woodpecker   Reeves Bogs
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon   Brig
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog
Willow Flycatcher   Island Beach SP
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo   Wells Mills Park
Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo   Wells Mills Park
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Whitesbog
Common Raven   Colliers Mills WMA
Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse   Cloverdale Farm
Bank Swallow   Brig
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Purple Martin   Cedar Run Dock Rd.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Reeves Bogs
Barn Swallow   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog
House Wren   35 Sunset Rd
Sedge Wren   Laurel Run Park
Marsh Wren   Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Whitesbog
Gray Catbird   Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher   Cloverdale Farm
Northern Mockingbird   Whitesbog
Eastern Bluebird   Wells Mills Park
Veery   Wells Mills Park
Wood Thrush   Whitesbog
American Robin   Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog
House Sparrow   Cedar Run Dock Rd.
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Whitesbog
Grasshopper Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Seaside Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Song Sparrow   Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog
Yellow-breasted Chat   Brig
Orchard Oriole   Cranberry Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird   Cloverdale Farm
Common Grackle   Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog
Yellow Warbler   Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Scarlet Tanager   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak   Cloverdale Farm
Indigo Bunting   Colliers Mills WMA

Royal Terns, Island Beach

Whitesbog 7/30--Broad-winged Hawk

I saw this bird at 8:22 this morning on a path that parallels the entrance road to Whitesbog. I didn't find out that I had a year bird until 4:17 this afternoon when one of my Burlco friends, looking at my eBird list, pointed out in a message that it wasn't the Cooper's Hawk I assumed it was, but rather, a Broad-winged Hawk. 

The bird was flying through the woods along the path and the only picture I got was the one above. It didn't look quite right for a Coop to me (I had seen one earlier mobbed by crows on the runway near Ditch Meadow) but Broad-winged Hawk is flagged as rare, and, without being able to the band on the tail or the underwings, I defaulted to the "infrequent" bird rather than the rarity.  All this is a roundabout way of saying that I'm pretty lousy when it comes to hawks that I only see once in a while. Every birder misidentifies birds, but it is embarrassing when you're the birder doing the misidentifying. It also leads me to wonder what other rarities I've missed along the way.

But that capped off a good morning at Whitesbog--not as good as I would hope at this time of year, when in the past the bogs would have started to be drawn down. This year, like last year, it doesn't look as if the farmer can afford to do the birding community the favor of turning the bogs to mud---a combination of little rain this summer and beavers damming up the source of a lot of his water has made the water in the bogs too precious to just drain away down Cranberry Run. We might get lucky later in the month if he has to pump out one of the bogs, but as of now, any mud I'm seeing is due to evaporation. So far this summer only the most common shorebirds have been seen there--Least Sandpaper, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, though I did have a Semipalmated Plover fly overhead around Union Pond. 

The two birds that I got excited about before the hawk were a Virginia Rail calling from a wetlands across from the Upper Bog (it's the first Virginia Rail I've had on the Burlco side of Whitesbog) and an immature Little Blue Heron that I saw standing in a Union Pond then watched fly over the road, circle the Middle Bog and then fly back over Union and...gone. Another half mile up the road in Ocean County and LBHE would just be flagged as infrequent--in Burlco it's "rare." 

For the morning, 44 species.

Canada Goose  11
Wood Duck  3
Mallard  7
Mourning Dove  2
Virginia Rail  1     Kek kek kek across from Upper Bog
Semipalmated Plover  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper  4
Little Blue Heron  1     
Green Heron  3
Cooper's Hawk  1     Chased by crows on landing strip
Broad-winged Hawk  1     
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee  5
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  15
White-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  9
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  60
Purple Martin  10
Barn Swallow  6
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  3
Gray Catbird  20
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  6
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  10
Swamp Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  15
Orchard Oriole  1     Corner of Triangle Field
Red-winged Blackbird  15
Common Yellowthroat  8
Prairie Warbler  1

Laurel Run Park 7/24--Sedge Wren

Sedge Wren

I've heard more Sedge Wrens than I've seen and the ones I've seen have been distant, brief, unphotographed looks, so, when the one reported at Laurel Run Park in Burlco stuck around for a third day, I got myself out there early this morning. The bird was being seen in the northwest corner of the park--technically just outside the park on the adjoining farm property and I walked directly there. I heard its bubbly song immediately upon getting in the vicinity. Interestingly, the Merlin app identified it as a Carolina Wren, because I suppose, that's the closest it could get with a bird in the New Jersey "pack" I have loaded onto it (and another example of why to heed Cornell's warning not to take what it returns as gospel). I saw the bird naked eye, then had a bit of a hard time finding it in my bins until I realized I was looking too far out into the field. The bird was singing in a little bush about 15 feet away from me. 

Grasshopper Sparrow on the site of a future soccer field

Laurel Run is one of the few areas of grassland extant around here, the place to go for Grasshopper Sparrow if you can't get onto the Lakehurst base, and home to many grassland loving birds like Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and the occasional Dickcissel, so naturally, there are plans to mow it all down and create lawns and soccer fields. Something there is about a suburban municipality that can't stand to see "unused" land and feels compelled to turn it into an "active" recreational area rather than the passive activity of watching nature take its course. And, as Shari pointed out to me, most of the time lawns and soccer fields go unused too--in the winter, in the rain, at night--while wildlife uses the grasslands all the time 24/7, 365. Habitat loss is a major factor in decreasing bird populations, and I can't understand the rationale of developing land for housing and industry (though not really), but destroying habitat for lawns, which are green deserts? It's just wrong and worse, any argument you make to someone who wants to "develop" a property will sound like Klingon to them. 

I circled the one mile loop 3 times this morning. This is what I found:

24 species
Canada Goose  3
Mourning Dove  15
Green Heron  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Willow Flycatcher  1     Fitz-bew
Blue Jay  2
Sedge Wren  1     
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  30
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  3
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2
Grasshopper Sparrow  4     Resident here
Chipping Sparrow  4
Field Sparrow  6
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  1
Northern Cardinal  1
Blue Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  1

Brig 7/13--Whimbrel, Stilt Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least Bittern

Finally, some new year birds, and a lesson on the unreliability of weather reports. Shari & I went on Scott's Brig trip this morning, driving down the parkway in a teeming downpour. The forecast called for "light rain" for most of the day, but the windshield wipers going full speed seemed to belie that. However, when got off the highway, the rain did turn to drizzle. At Wawa, the rain had stopped. 10 minutes later, in the parking lot it was raining yet again. 

But then it stopped. And instead of an annoying drizzle, we had cloudy, breezy weather, giving way to sunny, humid conditions. And there were lots of shorebirds to sort through--frankly, too many for my liking, because it is hard to sift through an ever-shuffling flock of  peeps, looking for the outliers. Some in our group are much better at it and way more patient than I am. It thrilled me to see, at the Gull Pond, my first Least Bittern of the year flying over the phragmites, coming from who knows where and disappearing a little farther on. Whimbrels, which I missed while we were in Mexico, were the next year birds and they're pretty obvious. Even the Pectoral Sandpipers on the east dike among the thousand or so Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitchers, were easy to see once someone with sharper eyes found them in the flock. But the Stilt Sandpipers were frustrating--their position in the flock seemed to change whimsically and I only ever got a good look at one--until we got to the dogleg where the light was lousy but where six of them could be easily seen feeding like (pick your simile) an oil derrick or like the "perpetual motion" drinky bird of my youth. I know the experts in the group were looking & hoping for a stint, but my attitude was, even if you find one, 40 yards out, the chances of me seeing are small. Some people saw Western Sandpipers among the peeps, but I didn't even bother to try to find them--unless I'm right on top of one, I have no chance. 

American Avocet

The coolest bird we saw today was not a year bird, but a rarity, most of the time, in NJ--American Avocet, which we saw early in the year in Bombay Hook where they're common. No one has ever been able to explain to me why Brig, which is farther south than Bombay Hook to the west, gets only the occasional avocet, while at Bombay Hook you find huge flocks. The habitats appear to be exactly the same yet today two avocets, widely separated, were the highlight for me, while down in the Delaware they're expected.

The group, after lunch, was going to do a second loop to find a Black-necked Stilt (another Delaware specialty) but Shari had a commitment for later in the day, so we were the sacrificial birders. Still, without much walking or exploring the upland portion of the refuge, we managed 56 species:

Canada Goose  200
Mute Swan  100
Mallard  5
Mourning Dove  1     Heard
Clapper Rail  2
American Avocet  2     
American Oystercatcher  2
Black-bellied Plover  6
Killdeer  2
Whimbrel  15
Short-billed Dowitcher  1000
Lesser Yellowlegs  50
Willet  4
Greater Yellowlegs  100
Stilt Sandpiper  7
Least Sandpiper  100
Pectoral Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  500
Laughing Gull  80
Herring Gull  10
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Black Skimmer  10
Least Tern  2
Gull-billed Tern  4
Forster's Tern  12
Double-crested Cormorant  100
Least Bittern  1     Gull pond
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  4
Snowy Egret  20
Great Egret  25
Great Blue Heron  8
Glossy Ibis  40
Osprey  19
Bald Eagle  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1   Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Bank Swallow  3
Tree Swallow  10
Purple Martin  20
Barn Swallow  3
Marsh Wren  6
Carolina Wren  1     Heard
European Starling  15
Gray Catbird  1
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  3
Chipping Sparrow  1     Heard
Field Sparrow  1     Heard
Seaside Sparrow  6
Song Sparrow  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  25

Blue Grosbeak  1 

June Recap--Rarities & Other Desiderata

The bird of the month, for me, was not one of the rarities I chased, nor was it one of the birds I deliberately sought out in Burlco, like the Grasshopper Sparrow or Pileated Woodpecker.  I was at Whitesbog in the middle of the month, walking on the Ocean County side. I hadn't seen anything of note that morning, though the list was respectable. I was heading back to the car and decided to take a "shortcut" through a wooded path that connects two of the sand roads. From one of the trees a large bird flew out--I knew immediately it was a raptor but had no idea what it was. I walked on and it flushed again and flew out of sight. Cooper's Hawk? Red-shouldered Hawk? No idea. I stood still and peered around. Again, it flew, but this time I caught sight of it as it landed on the branch of a pitch pine. It wasn't a hawk, but it was a raptor--a Great Horned Owl, staring at me with a look that said, "There's nothing more I'd like to do than to rip your face it off, but it's too much bother."  Of course, I hear owls whenever I do pre-dawn birding, but I very rarely get to see one in plain sight like that one. That certainly fulfilled the "one cool bird a day" goal. 

A bird I got tired of waiting around for was Common Nighthawk, so one late afternoon I drove over to Whitesbog and stood on the borderline between Ocean & Burlington and ticked it off for both counties. In August, they'll be flying over our house, but August seems a long way away. A bird I wasn't expected I heard on Scout Island at Cattus Island CP--a Virginia Rail, which I could hear clearly but couldn't find--it was probably under the boardwalk--I've flushed them from under boardwalks there in the past. And one day early in the month I made a concerted effort to find a Saltmarsh Sparrow, after not finding any in various marshes--I was finally successful at the Bridge to Nowhere. Subsequently, I got much better looks at Cattus Island where they can be found on the marshy peninsula that juts out into Barnegat Bay. 

In all the month produced 130 species, only10 of them year birds. It's June, it's slow. July will probably be slower--an article on eBird says that the least lists are posted in July of any month. It doesn't say that the most deer flies, greenhead flies, mosquitos, ticks, and chiggers can be found in July--I suspect an inverse correlation there. 

My month list:

Species                                         First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Canada Goose   Bridge to Nowhere
Mute Swan   Bridge to Nowhere
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Mallard   Bridge to Nowhere
American Black Duck   Whitesbog
Red-breasted Merganser   Island Beach SP
Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey   Whiting
Rock Pigeon   Lake of the Lilies
Mourning Dove   Beach Ave
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   South Park Rd
Common Nighthawk   Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Laurel Run Park
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Bridge to Nowhere
Virginia Rail   Cattus Island County Park
American Oystercatcher   Waretown
Black-bellied Plover   Island Beach SP
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Piping Plover   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Wilson's Phalarope   Brig
Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig
Willet   Beach Ave
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin   Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Herring Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Black-backed Gull   Waretown
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer   Island Beach SP
Least Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Caspian Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Bridge to Nowhere
Common Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Brown Booby   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Double-crested Cormorant   Waretown
Black-crowned Night Heron   Island Beach SP
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron   Bridge to Nowhere
Snowy Egret   Bridge to Nowhere
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Great Egret   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Blue Heron   Bridge to Nowhere
White Ibis   Waretown
Glossy Ibis   Bridge to Nowhere
Black Vulture   New Egypt
Turkey Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Osprey   Eno’s Pond
Cooper's Hawk   South Park Rd
Bald Eagle   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Red-shouldered Hawk   Bunker Hill Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk   Waretown
Great Horned Owl   Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher   Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker   South Park Rd
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Beach Ave
Downy Woodpecker   Meadowview Lane
Hairy Woodpecker   Huber Preserve
Pileated Woodpecker   Meadowview Lane
Northern Flicker   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Beach Ave
Willow Flycatcher   Beach Ave
Eastern Phoebe   Bamber Lake
Great Crested Flycatcher   Beach Ave
Eastern Kingbird   Eno's Pond
White-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog
Warbling Vireo   Laurel Run Park
Red-eyed Vireo   Beach Ave
Blue Jay   Beach Ave
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Bridge to Nowhere
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   Beach Ave
Tree Swallow   Bridge to Nowhere
Purple Martin   Bamber Lake
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Laurel Run Park
Barn Swallow   Waretown
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Beach Ave
House Wren   Bamber Lake
Marsh Wren   Bridge to Nowhere
Carolina Wren   Beach Ave
European Starling   35 Sunset Rd
Gray Catbird   Beach Ave
Brown Thrasher   Bamber Lake
Northern Mockingbird   Waretown
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Veery   Beach Ave
Wood Thrush   Beach Ave
American Robin   Beach Ave
Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog
House Sparrow   Waretown
House Finch   Beach Ave
American Goldfinch   Beach Ave
Grasshopper Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Seaside Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Song Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Swamp Sparrow   Reeves Bogs
Eastern Towhee   35 Sunset Rd
Orchard Oriole   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Red-winged Blackbird   Beach Ave
Brown-headed Cowbird   Eno's Pond Park
Common Grackle   Waretown
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Beach Ave
Louisiana Waterthrush   Evert Trail
Blue-winged Warbler   Huber Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler   Bamber Lake
Prothonotary Warbler   Beach Ave
Common Yellowthroat   Beach Ave
Hooded Warbler   Bamber Lake
American Redstart   Beach Ave
Yellow Warbler   Beach Ave
Pine Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Summer Tanager   Meadowview Lane
Scarlet Tanager   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   Beach Ave
Blue Grosbeak   South Park Rd
Indigo Bunting   Laurel Run Park

Brig | Lake of the Lilies 6/27--Wilson's Phalarope, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Wilson's Phalarope, Brig

 A couple of times yesterday, Shari forwarded me alerts about a Ruff down at Brig. The second time she did, when I was already home, I texted back, "Should I run down there?" Her reply was, "Will you kick yourself if you wait and it's not there tomorrow?" And my answer was, "No, I won't." A couple of years ago I probably would have, but now, now I have perspective. 

Which is not to say that I wouldn't like to see a Ruff this year, just that I was willing to take a chance on it hanging on overnight--which it didn't. In fact, had I gone down there yesterday, I might not have seen since it seems to have disappeared mid-afternoon. But a Wilson's Phalarope was also reported yesterday and appeared to be the consolation prize for those who missed the Ruff. At 7:40 this morning, I found it at the dogleg, mixed in with yellowlegs, peeps, and one Dunlin. 

From the dogleg I drove down to Jen's Trail where I parked the car and took a walk along the upland part of the drive down to the parking lot and back. I was just about to try to find a chat in the usual spot when Shari texted me that there were Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks at Lake of the Lilies in Point Pleasant Beach, a mere 56 miles away. I love Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. They're so goofy looking with the white circle like a lifesaver around their eyes. But now I was kicking myself, because my original plan for the day was to go to Lake of Lilies, which is mostly a winter birding spot, to see if anything unusual might show up in the summer. And obviously the answer was yes. 

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Lake of the Lilies

I fast-walked back to the car and drove up to the lake. I had no idea what part they were on, but it isn't a big lake (it isn't even a lake but a glorified retention pond) and I could walk around it pretty quickly. I first looked at the corner of Newark & Chicago where a few years a Common Gallinule was found, but when they weren't there, I called Shari for more info--they were over on Elizabeth. While walking there, I noticed a very late Ruddy Duck hanging out close to shore--not a good sign for diving duck to be where it can't dive. I walked up Elizabeth, gazed about at the address Shari had relayed to me, and found them hunkered down in the grass. I didn't expect them to put on a show, but I wished they at least would have stood up. And they were easier to find this time than last year when one showed up at an obscure marina in Toms River on the 4th of July. 

The Brig list from my abbreviated visit:

57 species
Canada Goose  75
Mute Swan  42
Mallard  5
Mourning Dove  20
Clapper Rail  3
Short-billed Dowitcher  50
Wilson's Phalarope  1     
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Willet  10
Greater Yellowlegs  20
Dunlin  1     Dogleg.
Semipalmated Sandpiper  20
Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  5
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Black Skimmer  25
Caspian Tern  1
Forster's Tern  3
Double-crested Cormorant  4
Black-crowned Night Heron  1
Snowy Egret  8
Great Egret  25
Great Blue Heron  6
Glossy Ibis  11
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  6
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  5
Red-eyed Vireo  1     Recorded Jen’s Trail
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  1
Purple Martin  20
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  4
House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  6
Carolina Wren  5
European Starling  20
Gray Catbird  15
American Robin  6
American Goldfinch  1
Field Sparrow  2
Seaside Sparrow  3
Eastern Towhee  2
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Ovenbird  1     Jen’s Trail heard
Common Yellowthroat  3
Pine Warbler  1
Indigo Bunting  1

Manasquan Reservoir 6/23--Brown Booby

I wouldn't have known about the Brown Booby if I hadn't been talking on the phone last night to my buddy Bob Auster. I don't subscribe to most of the rare bird alerts anymore and I've narrowed down the eBird reports to just a couple of counties. I've always worked on a need-to-know basis and the older I get, it seems, the less I need to know. 

There have been a few boobies in the state this year, but up until this one, they've all been too far to pursue. But the Manasquan Reservoir--one of my favorite spots--is only about a 40-minute drive from here, so Bob & I tentatively planned to meet there early in the morning, before the heat dome took over. 

I arrived first and set up my scope at the boat launch. I've never birded the reservoir in the summer, so I was surprised by how much fishing goes on there. The bird had been reported roosting on buoys way out by the pumping station, so I concentrated my efforts on those white blobs in the water. It was hazy to start, and I didn't see the booby. A park ranger came over and asked if I'd seen it and told me which of the buoys seem to be the magical one, but it still wasn't there--until it was. Somewhere, out of the heat shimmer, a brown shape had materialized and putting the scope up to full power I could see the white belly and light-yellow beak. Great. Now, where was Bob? Because of course, as soon as I took my eyes off it, it disappeared. 

Another birder came by, one of the reservoir regulars who'd already seen it the previous day and while we were talking the booby, seemingly out of nowhere, alighted on the buoy again. And stayed for a good long while, but still no Bob and then it disappeared. The second time it was on the buoy the sun had come out and I could see the details of the bird much better with the sun shining on it. 

Bob arrived around 7 and while I kept my scope on the buoy he scanned the reservoir. Eventually, after a couple of false alarms, he found the bird "loosely associating" with a few geese, floating in the middle of the water. Yesterday, there were pictures of the bird in the same behavior. Odd to see a sea bird tucked in among the geese, but then, it's odd to see a sea bird on fresh water anyway. When the geese got too far ahead of the booby, we saw it take off and fly a couple of hundred feet to catch up with them. 

That was all fine, except my digiscope photos were pathetic. Bob & I decided to walk the path to the other side of the reservoir, hoping to catch sight of the bird from a different angle where there is a road (closed to the public) and view of the pump house, which is only distant instead of our present view, which was very distant. 

It was just about a 2-mile walk to the other side of the reservoir and sure enough, we did have clearer views of the booby, and with only our binoculars since neither of us felt like carry a scope that far. And I got some photos for illustration. It really did like that one particular buoy. 

It is a 5-mile circumambulation around the reservoir, so instead of turning back we decided that it wasn't all that hot--yet--and one more mile wasn't going to make a difference on the sweat index so we completed the walk around, finding the summer birds you would expect(though 10 Warbling Vireos did seem excessive)--but since I'd never been there this time of year, I added 11 birds to my patch list.

This is the time of year when between migrations you either chase rarities or go to your usual spots and hope to find something that isn't supposed to be there. Today was the former; tomorrow I continue the latter. 

Today's list:

37 species
Canada Goose  50
Mute Swan  3
Mallard  1
Laughing Gull  5
Brown Booby  1     
Double-crested Cormorant  7
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Osprey  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
Eastern Kingbird  1
Warbling Vireo  10
Red-eyed Vireo  5
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  6
Tree Swallow  10
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Carolina Wren  5
Gray Catbird  10
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  2
American Goldfinch  1
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Ovenbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Yellow Warbler  2
Pine Warbler  1
Scarlet Tanager  1
Northern Cardinal   3