May Wrap-up--Migration in Fits

Black-necked Stilt, Manahawkin WMA

May never quite felt like May this year. Cold mornings, wrong winds, rain, and the usual complaints from birders about migration. I don’t know if migration was good or bad this year—seeing reports of 1 million birds over Ocean County would lead me to believe “good” but I’ve been doing this close to fifty years and I still haven’t heard anyone say, “What a great migration.” It’s always too something: too cold, too windy, too rainy. Meanwhile the real reasons for fewer birds — habitat loss, pesticides, building lights, wind turbines — are too depressing to contemplate

Still, the list grew. It always does. Sandy Hook and Island Beach carried most of the weight. Inland, Colliers Mills was its usual reliable mix of sand, gunfire, and birds, with the occasional surprise —Grasshopper Sparrow, Veery, Worm‑eating Warbler. Manahawkin WMA produced the flycatchers and and yet another Black-necked Stilt! The Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve had the expected warblers and vireos, and remains one of the few places in the area where you can stand on a trail deep in the preserve and not hear any noise from civilization save the occasional airplane.

Shari & I went on our annual date: dinner then down to Collinstown Road for Chuck-will’s-widow. Warblers came in fits and starts: Magnolia, Bay‑breasted, Blackpoll, Chestnut‑sided, Northern Parula on the good days; not much of anything on the others.

By the end of the month the list stretched from Brant to Indigo Bunting, a respectable range for a month that never quite got going. Nothing dramatic, but still May, and still worth being out.

June, with migration over, tends to be a dull month or so they say. I say, go out and see what’s around.

For the month, 168 species in Ocean and Burlington Counties.

Species    First Sighting
Brant    Sandy Hook
Canada Goose    Sandy Hook
Mute Swan    Manahawkin WMA
Wood Duck    Reeves Bogs
Mallard    Island Beach SP
American Black Duck    Sandy Hook
Green-winged Teal    Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter    Island Beach SP
White-winged Scoter    Island Beach SP
Black Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead    Island Beach SP
Red-breasted Merganser    Sandy Hook
Wild Turkey    Crestwood Village
Rock Pigeon    South Toms River
Mourning Dove    Sandy Hook
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Black-billed Cuckoo    Cranberry Bogs
Chuck-will's-widow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Sandy Hook
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail    Island Beach SP
Black-necked Stilt    Double Trouble SP
American Oystercatcher    Sandy Hook
Black-bellied Plover    Sandy Hook
Killdeer    Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Piping Plover    Island Beach SP
Hudsonian Whimbrel    Cedar Bonnet Island
Short-billed Dowitcher    Island Beach SP
Wilson's Phalarope    Forsythe-Barnegat
Spotted Sandpiper    Horicon Lake
Solitary Sandpiper    Cranberry Bogs
Lesser Yellowlegs    Sandy Hook
Willet    Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs    Island Beach SP
Ruddy Turnstone    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Red Knot    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Stilt Sandpiper    Forsythe-Barnegat
Sanderling    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin    Island Beach SP
Purple Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Sandpiper    Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Laughing Gull    Sandy Hook
Ring-billed Gull    Horicon Lake
American Herring Gull    Sandy Hook
Great Black-backed Gull    Sandy Hook
Lesser Black-backed Gull    Sandy Hook
Black Skimmer    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Gull-billed Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Sandy Hook
Common Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Royal Tern    Island Beach SP
Red-throated Loon    Island Beach SP
Common Loon    Sandy Hook
Northern Gannet    Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Sandy Hook
White Ibis    Island Beach SP
Glossy Ibis    Island Beach SP
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron    Island Beach SP
Snowy Egret    Sandy Hook
Green Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret    Sandy Hook
Great Blue Heron    Sandy Hook
Black Vulture    Sandy Hook
Turkey Vulture    Sandy Hook
Osprey    Sandy Hook
Sharp-shinned Hawk    Sandy Hook
Cooper's Hawk    Sandy Hook
Northern Harrier    Sandy Hook
Bald Eagle    Sandy Hook
Red-tailed Hawk    Sandy Hook
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Sandy Hook
Downy Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Northern Flicker    Sandy Hook
Merlin    Sandy Hook
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Colliers Mills WMA
Acadian Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Willow Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Eastern Phoebe    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Kingbird    Sandy Hook
White-eyed Vireo    Island Beach SP
Yellow-throated Vireo    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Blue-headed Vireo    Island Beach SP
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Blue Jay    Sandy Hook
American Crow    Colliers Mills WMA
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Sandy Hook
Carolina Chickadee    Island Beach SP
Tufted Titmouse    Reeves Bogs
Bank Swallow    Sandy Hook
Tree Swallow    Sandy Hook
Purple Martin    Cranberry Bogs
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Sandy Hook
Barn Swallow    Sandy Hook
Cliff Swallow    Cedar Bridge Tavern County Park
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    Sandy Hook
White-breasted Nuthatch    Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch    Island Beach SP
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Reeves Bogs
Northern House Wren    Sandy Hook
Marsh Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Carolina Wren    Horicon Lake
European Starling    Sandy Hook
Gray Catbird    Sandy Hook
Brown Thrasher    Sandy Hook
Northern Mockingbird    Sandy Hook
Eastern Bluebird    35 Sunset Rd
Veery    Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Thrush    Colliers Mills WMA
American Robin    Sandy Hook
Cedar Waxwing    Cedar Bonnet Island
House Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
House Finch    35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch    Sandy Hook
Grasshopper Sparrow    Colliers Mills WMA
Chipping Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow    Whiting WMA
White-throated Sparrow    Sandy Hook
Seaside Sparrow    Sandy Hook
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Savannah Sparrow    Sandy Hook
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Towhee    Sandy Hook
Orchard Oriole    Manahawkin WMA
Baltimore Oriole    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird    Sandy Hook
Brown-headed Cowbird    35 Sunset Rd
Common Grackle    Sandy Hook
Boat-tailed Grackle    Sandy Hook
Ovenbird    Sandy Hook
Worm-eating Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Waterthrush    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue-winged Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prothonotary Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Nashville Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Yellowthroat    Sandy Hook
Hooded Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
American Redstart    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Northern Parula    Island Beach SP
Magnolia Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Bay-breasted Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Yellow Warbler    Sandy Hook
Chestnut-sided Warbler    Island Beach SP
Blackpoll Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Black-throated Blue Warbler    Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler    35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prairie Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Black-throated Green Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Summer Tanager    Manasquan River WMA
Scarlet Tanager    Island Beach SP
Northern Cardinal    35 Sunset Rd
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak    Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting    Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Colliers Mills 5/21--Grasshopper Sparrow

Although they're not flagged as rare in Ocean County, there is not much appropriate habitat (grasslands) for Grasshopper Sparrows, making them really difficult to find.  They're reliable on the Lakehurst Base around the jump circle, but I don't have access to that site. 7 or 8 years ago, they were fairly easy to come upon if you walked the fields on Success Road at Colliers Mills, but then they pretty much disappeared. My theory was that all the hunting dogs running through their training in those fields made for unpleasant times for the sparrows and they stopped coming. (I don't begrudge the hunters and their dogs those fields--that's what the place is really for, and the hunters pay the tab for the WMA. We birders are the freeloaders.)

Yesterday, I went up to the Manasquan River WMA in Brick to see if I could locate the sparrow that was reported there, but I had no luck. I have had success (pun unintended) at Colliers if I go on a weekday morning, early, when there are no hunters and before the police start banging away at the firing range. That's what I did today, slowly walking along Success listening really hard. Grasshopper Sparrows, with their thin buzzy song, are pretty much out of my hearing range, so when Merlin picked one up, I had to take it on faith. Even playing back the recording, I couldn't hear the sparrow. Sometimes Merlin hallucinates (it once picked up a Prothonotary Warbler in our backyard and last week it heard an owl when two trees rubbed together in the wind), but I took a look and there, maybe 50 yards out, on a twig, was a sparrow that I was certain was a Grasshopper. Taking pictures kind of confirmed it--enlarging the photo in the viewfinder just up to the point where the image became pixelated showed me an eye ring. When the bird flew it flew like a little helicopter, as they do. I saw another sparrow closer to me, but I didn't know if it was another Grasshopper, or just a Field or Chipping Sparrow, both of which were around. I played the Grasshopper "song" by mistake (I meant to record) and suddenly, 10 feet in front of me, on another twig, was a singing Grasshopper Sparrow--at least its mouth was open, because I still couldn't hear the song. So perhaps there were two in the field.  You only need one. 

After that everything was gravy, but there were a few special birds along the long circuit around Turnmill and the Borden's Branch wetland--Acadian Flycatcher ("Pizza"), Worm-eating Warbler, 3 Hooded Warblers in the usual spot just off Hawkin Road, a couple of Scarlet Tanagers, and the Red-headed Woodpecker I heard giving the "queer" calls while I was walking through the field, creeping up on the Grasshopper Sparrow. 

In all 55 species for the day:

Canada Goose  6     Field
Mallard  2     Borden's Branch wetlands
Mourning Dove  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  2
Killdeer  3     One by police range, two in wetland
Spotted Sandpiper  1     Turnmill
Green Heron  1     Turnmill
Great Blue Heron  1     Flyover Turnmill
Turkey Vulture  3     Roosting in field on Success
Red-tailed Hawk  1     Flyover Success
Red-headed Woodpecker  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  5
Acadian Flycatcher  1     Pizza!
Eastern Phoebe  1     By derelict house
Great Crested Flycatcher  7
Eastern Kingbird  3
White-eyed Vireo  2
Eastern Warbling Vireo  3
Red-eyed Vireo  6
Blue Jay  3
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  4
Tree Swallow  3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2     Borden’s Branch wetland
Barn Swallow  10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Gray Catbird  11
Brown Thrasher  2
Northern Mockingbird  3
Eastern Bluebird  1
Veery  1     Heard call
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  12
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  1
Grasshopper Sparrow  1
Chipping Sparrow  2
Field Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  9
Baltimore Oriole  1     Parking lot
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Ovenbird  10
Worm-eating Warbler  1
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  8
Hooded Warbler  3
American Redstart  1     Heard
Magnolia Warbler  1     Heard
Prairie Warbler  3
Scarlet Tanager  2
Northern Cardinal  1
Blue Grosbeak  1

Double Trouble SP 5/19--Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilts, Double Trouble

After spending the weekend walking back and forth, up and down a couple of migrant hot spots rubbing shoulders with many birders and photographers, a Garboesque feeling came over me on Monday--I want to be alone. The best idea I had for that notion yesterday was the Huber Preserve--another hot spot teeming with birders in pursuit of its warbler specialties, pretty much empty on a weekday. Besides, there were a few bird possibilities that I was hoping for. But hope is a thing without feathers. 

Prothonotary Warbler, Huber

I started off pretty well there with a very loud and insistent Yellow-throated Vireo singing. I eventually tracked it down to the very top of tree close to the entrance. Huber is a reliable spot for them and the entrance or Sooy Place Road is where you'll find them. But that was it for year birds there. Despite being assured that Barred Owl starts hooting around the bridge area mid-morning, there were no hoots for me. And Summer Tanager, a long-shot I know, but last year I had two birds in the area, was also a no-show. Still, a morning with Prothonotary, Hooded, and Blue-winged Warblers is not a bust.  

As I've mentioned before, I have found that if I don't feel like going to a certain spot, it's usually a good idea to override that feeling and go. Yesterday, after I'd done my walk at Huber I was considering driving down the road about 3/4 of a mile to where Burrs Mill Brook goes under Sooy Place Road and opens up to a swamp. Nah, I'm tired. Yeah, go, it's only 3 minutes away and there's no more walking involved. 

Red-headed Woodpecker,
Sooy Place Rd.

As I got out of the car, I was glad the positive birding angel on my shoulder was persuasive, because immediately I heard the loud, very loud, "Queer!" calls of a Red-headed Woodpecker. I can find Red-headed Woodpeckers anytime I want at Colliers Mills, but in Burlco, despite there being more places they frequent than in Ocean County, they are flagged as rare. Despite sounding like the bird was right on top of me, it took me a while before I located it high up the trunk of a very dead tree, banging away and then screaming. 

This morning, despite the BirdCast count of close to a million birds flying across Ocean County during the night, I was not tempted to go to Reed's Road or Cedar Bonnet Island. Instead, a long walk around Double Trouble SP suited my mood. As I almost always do, I started the walk from the parking lot west to Mill Pond. I was thinking that I have found some weird birds for the area there--Black Skimmer and Caspian Term immediately come to mind--and when I saw mud flats instead of open water I thought the potential for an oddity was high. As soon as I approached the spillway I saw 3 or 4 shorebirds in the back. "I don't know, those don't look like yellowlegs," I said to myself and putting up my binoculars it was obvious that I'd stumbled upon 4 Black-necked Stilts, rare for the area, rare for New Jersey, and just weird so far inland. They were half-way across the pond but I was able to get documentary photos. I texted the one person who I know birds Double Trouble as much as I do and lives nearby, but she couldn't get there this morning. I told her that they might hang around and no sooner had I sent the text than the birds upped and flew--perhaps to the back of the pond, perhaps to some inaccessible marsh. Talk about your lifeline intersecting with a bird's lifeline!

Today is our anniversary (19 blissful years) and we often go to Delaware to celebrate. We didn't this year, but Black-necked Stilts (one of the few shorebirds we target when we're there) are an appropriate find for the day. 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Double Trouble

Walking around back to the Sweetwater Bogs, I was happy to see another oddity, though this one has been there at least a week--a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in the middle bog. Yellow-crowned Night-Herons had not been reported in the park until last week, but with the stilts today, that means it has had its bird list up by two in the last week or so. 

For my walk around Double Trouble, alone, I had 41 species.

Mallard  4
Mourning Dove  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Black-necked Stilt  4     
Killdeer  1     Mill Pond
Greater Yellowlegs  1     Mill Pond
Least Sandpiper  3     Mill Pond
Laughing Gull  2
Glossy Ibis  3
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Great Egret  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  2
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Gray Catbird  10
Veery  1
American Robin  2
Cedar Waxwing  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  5
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  1
Ovenbird  12
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  5
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  9

Island Beach SP 5/16--Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

According to Cornell's BirdCast site, 753,100 (the "100" is amusing) birds passed over Ocean County last night into dawn.  I don't usually pay much heed to BirdCast because I don't care what's passing over, I want to know what's landing, but with three-quarters of a million birds in flight, I figured some of them had to flutter down to spend a day in the county, so with that in mind, I was at Reed's Road as early as I was allowed into Island Beach SP. 

The trees weren't exactly dripping with birds, but there was enough action to keep me walking slowly. The two most interesting birds I saw on the quarter-mile trail to the bay were a Veery (usually just hear them) sitting on a fence rail and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which only the other day I heard but did not see at Whitesbog. Cuckoos too are more often heard than seen, and even this bird was well hidden, such that I could see it's yellow bill and its brown tail, the middle of the bird was leaves. 

I walked north along the bay to the "bowl," and it was there that I notched my three year bird for the day. An oak tree was active with birds and one of them was a beauty of Black-throated Blue Warbler. Parulas, Ovenbirds, Yellow Warblers, and of course, Common Yellowthroats were scattered around. On a second circuit of the area I saw a brilliant red bird in a pin oak and that was my FOY Scarlet Tanager. A female was close by. As I was admiring the pair, out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird flitting in a low-hanging branch above my heard--a Chestnut-sided Warbler I could have picked with my hand. 

Since I almost always manage to hit Reed's Road on a slow day, I was pretty happy with my results. Walks along the trails of Spizzle Creek (where I heard in the parking lot my first New Jersey/Ocean County Royal Tern, first seen this year in Mexico) and Johnny Allen's Cove added a lot of waders and shorebirds to the day list, bringing it up to 61 which is a fair number for a morning on half the bayside trails. 

Brant    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Canada Goose    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Mallard    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Mourning Dove    Reed's Road
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Reed's Road
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Reed’s Road
Clapper Rail    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
American Oystercatcher    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Black-bellied Plover    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Short-billed Dowitcher    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Spotted Sandpiper    Reed's Road
Willet    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Greater Yellowlegs    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Ruddy Turnstone    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Dunlin    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Least Sandpiper    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Laughing Gull    Reed's Road
American Herring Gull    Reed's Road
Least Tern    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Forster's Tern    Reed's Road
Royal Tern    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Double-crested Cormorant    Reed's Road
White Ibis    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Glossy Ibis    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Little Blue Heron    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Tricolored Heron    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Snowy Egret    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Great Egret    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Turkey Vulture    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Osprey    Reed's Road
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reed's Road
White-eyed Vireo    Reed's Road
Blue-headed Vireo    Reed's Road
Red-eyed Vireo    Reed's Road
American Crow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Carolina Chickadee    Reed's Road
Barn Swallow    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Marsh Wren    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Carolina Wren    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Gray Catbird    Reed's Road
Northern Mockingbird    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Veery    Reed's Road
American Robin    Reed's Road
American Goldfinch    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Seaside Sparrow    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Song Sparrow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Eastern Towhee    Reed's Road
Red-winged Blackbird    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Boat-tailed Grackle    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Ovenbird    Reed's Road
Black-and-white Warbler    Reed's Road
Common Yellowthroat    Reed's Road
American Redstart    Reed's Road
Northern Parula    Reed's Road
Magnolia Warbler    Reed's Road
Northern Yellow Warbler    Reed's Road
Chestnut-sided Warbler    Reed's Road
Black-throated Blue Warbler    Reed's Road
Scarlet Tanager    Reed's Road
Northern Cardinal    Reed's Road

Great Bay Blvd 5/12--Red Knot, Common Tern

Red Knots

Mid-May is the time to look for Red Knots, and you don't have to go to the Delaware Bayshore in Cape May to find this threatened species. It isn't the spectacle that you'll find there, but this time of year, the beach at Great Bay Inlet is a reliable spot to find a good flock of knots, and if you're a lister, you only need one. 

This morning I counted 38 birds jabbing at the mud during low tide. The controversy in Cape May is always about limiting the horseshoe crab harvest (their blood is used in medical tests and their bodies as bait), since the Knots depend on the crab eggs for their nutrition when they stop over on their long journey from South America to the Arctic. There are horseshoe crabs at Tuckerton, but not in great numbers so I have to suppose that the Knots were making do with the invertebrates that the Dunlins and turnstones were feeding on too. 

Terns were flying over the bay, but I'm very bad at distinguishing Forster's Terns from Common Terns on the wing, so I was happy when I was able to compare two pairs roosting on pilings by the Rutgers Research Center. The Common Terns have the redder bills, the shorter legs and this was clear in the scope. 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

I was also happy to find my FOY United States Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on the way down to the inlet. It was in the night-heron roost at the first bridge along with a few Black-crowned Night-Herons. I'd seen a few at Rio Lagartos last month, but this was the one that really counts. 

And as a little bonus, from that same bridge I spied in the distance a Hudsonian Whimbrel in the marsh, a much more satisfactory look than the flyover trio at Cedar Bonnet Island on Sunday. 

Lots of shorebirds today:

44 species
Brant  9
Canada Goose  3
Mute Swan  1
Mallard  1
Mourning Dove  7
Clapper Rail  4
American Oystercatcher  1
Black-bellied Plover  6
Semipalmated Plover  8
Hudsonian Whimbrel  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  215
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Willet  12
Greater Yellowlegs  14
Ruddy Turnstone  25
Red Knot  38
Dunlin  80
Least Sandpiper  17
Semipalmated Sandpiper  7
Laughing Gull  45
American Herring Gull  20
Black Skimmer  10
Least Tern  3
Gull-billed Tern  2     Tuckerton Cove
Forster's Tern  25
Common Tern  2
Double-crested Cormorant  16
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  5
Snowy Egret  10
Great Egret  20
Osprey  7
Tree Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  25
Marsh Wren  2
Gray Catbird  5
Northern Mockingbird  1
Seaside Sparrow  9
Song Sparrow  7
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Boat-tailed Grackle  40
Common Yellowthroat  6
Northern Yellow Warbler  3
Northern Cardinal  1

Cedar Bonnet Island | Barnegat Lighthouse SP 5/11--Least Tern, Cedar Waxwing

Least Tern

I returned this morning to Cedar Bonnet Island despite the blustery weather. It's days like this, cool, windy, wet, that make the cliche about going directly from winter to summer without a spring inevitable. I didn't think much would be around and I was right, but I did, finally, break a 4-month 10-day streak of not seeing a Cedar Waxwing. A half dozen flew overhead and this time low enough for me to count them. Not the ideal look for what is my favorite bird, but after 130 days, I'll take it. 

A portion of the flock roosting on the beach

Cedar Bonnet was just a quick walk on the way to Barnegat Lighthouse SP. This time of year the pool area is stringed off for breeding Piping Plovers and Least Terns and I wanted to see the terns. Fortunately, the wind died down and so the supposed real feel of 41 degrees didn't seem too onerous. As I walked along the dunes down to the beach, I could hear the terns, but none of them seemed to be around until suddenly, about halfway down, they started making an appearance, first as one or two but by the time I reached the ocean, dozens upon dozens were roosting on the beach, their back turned toward the wind. I saw a count of 66 yesterday, and I thought, when I saw a flock take off from the beach, that there must be at least 100, but the eBird filter balks at more than fifty. This looks like it is going to be a major breeding colony, much larger than the one up by the Shark River inlet in Belmar. It's an impressive sight and a hopeful sign. I also saw a couple of the Piping Plovers and a half dozen American Oystercatchers which also take advantage of the protected area. Surprisingly, I only saw one Forster's Tern and no Common Terns, which I was also hoping for. Purple Sandpipers, a park specialty, are still hanging in; Harlequin Ducks long gone. 

The Barnegat Lighthouse list:

36 species
Brant  85
Mallard  2
American Black Duck  2     Pool
Black Scoter  20
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
American Oystercatcher  6
Semipalmated Plover  1
Piping Plover  2
Willet  1
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Ruddy Turnstone  6
Sanderling  25
Purple Sandpiper  20
Laughing Gull  10
American Herring Gull  15
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1
Least Tern  50     50+
Forster's Tern  1
Common Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  20
Great Egret  1
Osprey  2
Fish Crow  1
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  3
House Sparrow  4
House Finch  1
Song Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
Common Yellowthroat  3
Northern Cardinal  1

Great Egret in full breeding plumage

Cedar Bonnet Island | Manahawkin WMA 5/10--Hudsonian Whimbrel, Acadian Flycatcher, Nashville Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler

 

Bay-breasted Warbler

A couple of years ago, one of the maintenance men from our village knocked on the door and said that there was a complaint that I was using a chain saw to illegally cut down trees in our yard.  It seems a neighbor had seen me carrying broken branches from a storm out to the curb while at the same time she heard a leaf blower and surmised that I was up to no good. I just laughed at the absurd notion of me using a chain saw, invited the guy to look around while we commiserated about the busybodies in the neighborhood. The only idea more unlikely than me using power tools is me getting a good photograph of a warbler. Case in point to the left. 

I didn't check to see if it was a good migration day or not, I just went to Cedar Bonnet Island early this morning, despite the foggy conditions.  I rationalized that maybe the fog would knock the birds down into the little alleyway of trees that leads to the restoration area.  Naturally, I wasn't the only one with this idea, and I quickly ran into a pod of birders I know (and thankfully, like) who quickly filled me in on the really cool warblers I'd already missed. And would continue to miss until I connected with a Nashville Warbler, high up in a tree. And then two more Nashville Warblers. I have gone a few years without seeing Nashville and now I'd seen three in three minutes. (I wish that Nashville Warblers hybridized with Tennessee Warblers to give us Nashville Tennessee Warblers, but there don't seem to be any records of this hybrid.)

Next up was an exhausted Bay-breasted Warbler that just sat on a branch, the only reason I was able to get the low-quality photo I did.  Warbler flitting from branch to branch, obscured to leaves give me no chance. Then someone heard Blackpoll Warbler. Since Blackpoll is way out of my hearing range, I had to see this bird in order to count it. Fortunately, I was able to find it in the canopy, and then, for good measure, another one came by. Finally, after whiffing a couple of times on Black-throated Green Warbler, I was able to get eyes on one practically on top of our heads, then two more, a male and female, in the more traditional "way up there."  There was also an big influx of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks on the island--more than I've ever seen in one place. I counted 7 but I wouldn't be surprised if the count was twice that. 

That short alley is probably a tenth of mile long--I looked at the pedometer on my phone after being there much longer than I planned and saw that I had walked back and forth, craning my neck for over a mile. Having exhausted, I thought, the entertainment possibilities of that stretch, I walked with a couple of the guys around the larger part of the island. The new bird there, which I probably would have missed had I not been alerted by a sharper-eyed friend, was Hudsonian Whimbrel (it used to be just "Whimbrel" until it was split into a North American and European species), a trio flying over. It wasn't an ideal look, but whimbrel is a hard bird for Ocean County, so I'll take it. We also saw a red fox kit, very calmly sitting in the middle of the path. Unfortunately, it had an injured leg, so its adulthood prospects are low. 

Coming back to the alley we met up with the two guys who'd stayed behind. They were on a pair of Magnolia Warblers. I'd seen them in Mexico, but it was new for the state, new for the county. After 2 hours and 45 minutes, I decided to finish my walk on the mainland and drove over to Manahawkin WMA. Unlike the last time I was there, the impoundments were pretty busy with shorebirds, but nothing new, unlike this day last year when there were both a Black-necked Stilt and a continuing White-faced Ibis in the back impoundment. I walked up Stafford for about a mile and found a few passerines I hadn't had on Cedar Bonnet. Flycatcher were a topic of conversation while we were walking and we were reviewing the various calls of the birds that should be appearing soon--Fitz-bew, Fee-be-o, Quick-three-beers, and Pizza! And I heard Pizza! about halfway up the road, so my last year bird for the day turned out to be Acadian Flycatcher. Couldn't find it, of course. Have to go to Huber to get eyes on it, since they nest by the bridge. 

For the two spots I had 67 species. For me, an excellent count. 

Canada Goose    Cedar Bonnet Island
Mute Swan    Manahawkin WMA
Mallard    Manahawkin WMA
Mourning Dove    Cedar Bonnet Island
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Cedar Bonnet Island
Semipalmated Plover    Cedar Bonnet Island
Hudsonian Whimbrel    Cedar Bonnet Island
Short-billed Dowitcher    Cedar Bonnet Island
Lesser Yellowlegs    Manahawkin WMA
Willet    Cedar Bonnet Island
Greater Yellowlegs    Manahawkin WMA
Least Sandpiper    Cedar Bonnet Island
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Manahawkin WMA
Laughing Gull    Cedar Bonnet Island
American Herring Gull    Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Black-backed Gull    Cedar Bonnet Island
Forster's Tern    Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Loon    Cedar Bonnet Island
Glossy Ibis    Cedar Bonnet Island
Little Blue Heron    Manahawkin WMA
Tricolored Heron    Manahawkin WMA
Snowy Egret    Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Egret    Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Blue Heron    Manahawkin WMA
Osprey    Cedar Bonnet Island
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Manahawkin WMA
Northern Flicker    Manahawkin WMA
Acadian Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
White-eyed Vireo    Cedar Bonnet Island
Red-eyed Vireo    Manahawkin WMA
Blue Jay    Manahawkin WMA
American Crow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Carolina Chickadee    Manahawkin WMA
Tufted Titmouse    Manahawkin WMA
Tree Swallow    Manahawkin WMA
Barn Swallow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Northern House Wren    Cedar Bonnet Island
Marsh Wren    Manahawkin WMA
Carolina Wren    Cedar Bonnet Island
Gray Catbird    Cedar Bonnet Island
Wood Thrush    Cedar Bonnet Island
American Robin    Cedar Bonnet Island
House Finch    Cedar Bonnet Island
American Goldfinch    Manahawkin WMA
Field Sparrow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Seaside Sparrow    Manahawkin WMA
Song Sparrow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Orchard Oriole    Manahawkin WMA
Red-winged Blackbird    Cedar Bonnet Island
Boat-tailed Grackle    Cedar Bonnet Island
Ovenbird    Manahawkin WMA
Black-and-white Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Nashville Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Yellowthroat    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Parula    Cedar Bonnet Island
Magnolia Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Bay-breasted Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Yellow Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blackpoll Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Pine Warbler    Manahawkin WMA
Prairie Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Black-throated Green Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Cardinal    Cedar Bonnet Island
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    Cedar Bonnet Island
Indigo Bunting    Cedar Bonnet Island