Yucatan 4/9-4/20--Trip List and Index

AMERICAN FLAMINGOS, Rio Lagartos

Earlier this month we visited our friends in Puerto Morelos, a little town just south of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula. While not strictly a birding trip, I did get out birding every day. Walking the streets of Puerto Morelos, or along the beach, you can find a lot of interesting birds. We did take a road trip to the northern part of the peninsula to the fishing village of Rio Lagartos where we had a fabulous boat trip around the lagoon. We also visited Yaax Che and Parque Cancun for a little birding. All these adventures are linked below.

I knew I was missing a good chunk of migration in New Jersey, but a lot of the warblers were still down there, and, amusingly, it took a trip to Mexico before I was able to add Gray Catbird to my list. For the 11+ days we were there I tallied 92 species, 65 of which were year birds and 9 of which were lifers.

The links 

Rio Lagartos

Puerto Morelos

Yaax Che | Parque Cancun

Yucatan Gallery

The List:

Species                    First Sighting
Plain Chachalaca    Puerto Morelos
Rock Pigeon    Parque Principal Francisco Cantón
RED-BILLED PIGEON    Puerto Morelos
Eurasian Collared-Dove    Puerto Morelos
Ruddy Ground Dove    Puerto Morelos
White-tipped Dove    Yaax Che
White-winged Dove    Parque Cancun
Common Squirrel-Cuckoo    Yaax Che
Black-bellied Plover    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Semipalmated Plover    Playa Puerto Morelos
Spotted Sandpiper    Playa Bonita
Willet    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Ruddy Turnstone    Reserva de la Biosfera Ri­a Lagartos
Sanderling    Playa Puerto Morelos
Least Sandpiper    Playa Bonita
Laughing Gull    Playa Puerto Morelos
American Herring Gull    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Black Skimmer    Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Gull-billed Tern    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Forster's Tern    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Sandwich Tern    Playa Puerto Morelos
Royal Tern    Playa Puerto Morelos
AMERICAN FLAMINGO    Reserva de la Biosfera Ri­a Lagartos
Magnificent Frigatebird    Playa Puerto Morelos
Anhinga    Playa Puerto Morelos
Double-crested Cormorant    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Neotropic Cormorant     Rio Lagartos
White Ibis    Rio Lagartos
Roseate Spoonbill    Puerto Morelos
BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
BOAT-BILLED HERON    Playa Bonita
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Playa Bonita
Little Blue Heron    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Tricolored Heron    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Reddish Egret    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Snowy Egret    Cooperativa Pescadores de RI­o Lagartos
Green Heron    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Western Cattle-Egret    Reserva de la Biosfera Ri­a Lagartos
Great Egret    Hotel Rio Lagartos
Great Blue Heron    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
American White Pelican    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Brown Pelican    Playa Puerto Morelos
Black Vulture    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Turkey Vulture    Carretera Ri­o Lagartos-Cancun-Tulum
LESSER YELLOW-HEADED VULTURE    Playa Puerto Morelos
Osprey    Playa Puerto Morelos
Common Black Hawk    Cenote Kambulnah
ROADSIDE HAWK    Parque Cancun
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl    Casa Carolina
Black-headed Trogon    Yaax Che
Belted Kingfisher    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
American Pygmy Kingfisher    Cenote Kambulnah
Yucatan Woodpecker    Puerto Morelos
Golden-fronted Woodpecker    Puerto Morelos
White-fronted Amazon    Casa Carolina
Olive-throated Parakeet    Cenote Kambulnah
GRAY-COLLARED BECARD    Parque Cancun
Dusky-capped Flycatcher    Puerto Morelos
Brown-crested Flycatcher    Puerto Morelos
Great Kiskadee    Casa Carolina
Social Flycatcher    Puerto Morelos
Tropical Kingbird    Puerto Morelos
Couch's Kingbird    Puerto Morelos
Rufous-browed Peppershrike    Parque Cancun
Lesser Greenlet    Yaax Che
White-eyed Vireo    Yaax Che
Mangrove Vireo    Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Green Jay    Playa Bonita
YUCATAN JAY    Puerto Morelos
Bank Swallow    Hotel Rio Lagartos
Gray-breasted Martin    Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancun
Barn Swallow    Puerto Morelos
White-bellied Wren    Yaax Che
Gray Catbird    Puerto Morelos
Tropical Mockingbird    Puerto Morelos
Hooded Oriole    Puerto Morelos
Yellow-tailed Oriole    Parque Cancun
Orange Oriole    Parque Cancun
Altamira Oriole    Parque Cancun
Bronzed Cowbird    Puerto Morelos
Melodious Blackbird    Puerto Morelos
Great-tailed Grackle    Puerto Morelos
Northern Waterthrush    Puerto Morelos
Black-and-white Warbler    Puerto Morelos
Prothonotary Warbler    Yaax Che
Common Yellowthroat    Puerto Morelos
American Redstart    Playa Bonita
Magnolia Warbler    Puerto Morelos
Northern Yellow Warbler    Parque Cancun
MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Palm Warbler    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Black-headed Saltator    Parque Cancun

Key: Year Bird, LIFE BIRD

 

Rio Lagartos--AMERICAN FLAMINGO, BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON, BOAT-BILLED HERON, MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER

AMERICAN FLAMINGOS

The birding highlight of the trip came a couple of days after we arrived when the four of us drove about 3 1/2 hours to the fishing village of Rio Lagartos on the north tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. The attraction there is a long, shallow lagoon that meets mangrove wetlands and the Gulf of Mexico. Part of the Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, it is famous for the large flocks of AMERICAN FLAMINGOS and chock full of other waders. We had a 4-hour boat trip booked, emphasis on the birds, not the crocodiles that so many other tourists are anxious to see (though we saw plenty of crocs along the way). 

The boat was just a long fishing boat with a tarp to keep the sun off and an outboard motor--perfect for getting in close to shore and moving around the sandbars. There was even a pole for some of the places where the motor had to be taken up lest it drag in the sand. We started off heading west to have the wind at our backs. The first sandbar we came to had Black Skimmers, Gull-billed Terns, & Sandwich Terns loafing on it, along with Double-crested Cormorants and Neotropic Cormorants sitting on some of the fishing boats that were beached there. Out a little farther we saw a Reddish Egret. Before our guide could identify it, I knew what it was just by the crazy dance it was doing--a treat for me and Shari and a wonderment to our friends who had never seen one. 

We went across the lagoon toward the mangroves--Roseate Spoonbills along with both white egrets were feeding in the shallows. Getting nearer the beach we had Little Blue Herons and a couple of Green Herons roosting in the red mangrove trees. A couple of little birds were flitting around in a scraggly tree on the beach and once the engine was cut, Andrea (our guide) identified by voice MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER. Mangrove Yellow Warbler is a recent split from Yellow Warbler (which is now Northern Yellow Warbler). I had Yellow Warbler on my Mexican list, but since I hadn't identified it to subspecies, it became a "slash" after the split, so I really wanted to get that one back. Within a couple of minutes two of the warblers came out into the tree and the difference is striking--their heads are red, so I'm pretty sure all the yellow warblers I previously saw would have fallen into the familiar species from New Jersey. Another warbler was on the sand, pumping its tail--Palm Warbler, which is actually "infrequent" in the area, and then into the same tree a Mangrove Vireo appeared.  

We moved on toward an inlet that led to the gulf but didn't enter it, instead going toward another fishing village called San Felipe. Here we got a few FOY shorebirds running along the jetty--Least Sandpiper, Willet, and Spotted Sandpiper, along with Ruddy Turnstones. By this time, Andrea could tell we were really interested in birds, so she started asking if we had seen this or that wader--one she threw out was BOAT-BILLED HERON. Oh, never seen that?  She motioned to the helmsman to turn around toward the mangrove again and pointed into a tree--it was hard to find in the foliage but eventually we all got on a bird that looks like a Black-crowned Night-Heron with a gigantic honker. 

Andrea had the boat docked at a place called Cenote Kambulnah. A cenote is a collapse in the limestone roof, exposing groundwater below. Cenote Kambulnah is a rather old one, so it looks more like a pond than the classic cenotes farther south. A boardwalk through the mangrove took us to the pond where a crocodile was lazily drifting in the water--a younger croc was half-buried in the mud. Hard to believe, but a huge hawk was flying through the dense trees--I only saw it for moment and figured it was gone, but Andrea spotted it up in the canopy--a Common Black Hawk, almost as big as eagle. We were to see others later in the day in more open spots but not having seen one in almost 10 years (I had to look it up), I thought it might have been another lifer. Ferruginous Pygmy Owls were calling to each other, a couple of American Pygmy Kingfishers were crisscrossing the boardwalk, and to impress my brother the lepidopterist, Andrea spotted an endemic, threatened butterfly, the Yucatan Cracker, which due to the dim light and its coloration, looks very much like the tree bark it was on. 

Andrea took us up a narrow stream into the mangrove, the channel twisting and turning. It got very quiet and still, but not particularly steamy. Eventually the channel ended and we had to back out, the branches of the mangrove just above our heads. 

By now we'd been out about 3 hours and I figured that flamingoes weren't going to be on our list, since their area was to the east of where we started. Andrea had said at the beginning that the high season for them had already passed. We were passing a place called Playa Bonita when something went wrong with the outboard and we drifted for 15 or 20 minutes while the helmsman fussed with the engine. We were never clear what happened, but once he got the motor going, he started racing back to Rio Lagartos, the flat-bottomed boat slapping the water. Amazingly, for someone prone to seasickness, I was absolutely fine except for the jolts to my kidneys. As we were close to the dock, Andrea asked if we had any plans for the afternoon. When we said no, she suggested we continue on, even though time was up. I think she was having fun and didn't have any tour for the afternoon. After a restroom break, we headed east toward Los Colorados. 

BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON

Common Black Hawk

Again, Andrea got coy. Finding out that BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON would also be a life bird for all of us, she directed the boat to turn around and pointed at a certain tree where she knew one was on a nest. Drifting by we got great looks but with the rocking of the boat, I wasn't in a good position for photographing it, so Andrea kindly took my camera and got some pictures. In was in this area that we also saw a couple of Common Black Hawks perched high in dead trees.

We continued on, past sandbars and abandoned fishing docks until we passed under a bridge. There were men standing under the bridge monitoring the boat traffic, since there was a toll to get into that section--we had Tyvek bracelets on to prove that the tour company was paid up. As we motored slowly through the shallow water another tour boat approached from the opposite direction. The guide in that boat made a sign with his hand, moving it as if it were a mouth--this meant "Crocodile" in their sign language and Andrea nodded in the affirmative that they were on the beaches behind us. Then she made a movement with her hand, bending in over so that her knuckles faced the water. He nodded yes. Flamingos were ahead. 

At first, they were just bright magenta dots in the distance, perhaps a dozen against a mangrove backdrop. Andrea, I think, was playing with us a little because she looked dubious about getting much closer. Stilt, we creeped along, and more flamingos appeared to our right and then a couple were pretty close and then somehow, all at once, we were in the midst of a loose flock of perhaps 50 of them. Nothing compared to high season when they number in the hundreds, but as Birding Law #6 states, "You only need one," and here we had dozens. Again, because of my position in the boat, I wasn't able to get decent shots, so Andrea took my camera and clicked away. When a couple of flamingos flew close by the boat, exposing their black wing tips, the entire boat emitted a collective "Wow!" So that was our fourth lifer of the day.

We were now well past the 4 hours we'd signed up for and with the climax of the flamingos we turned around. In about a half hour we were back at the dock with a day count of 51 species. It was one of those rare days of birding where everything is perfection.

The birds we saw (and heard in the case of the owls):

Eurasian Collared-Dove
Black-bellied Plover
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
American Herring Gull
Black Skimmer
Gull-billed Tern
Forster's Tern
Sandwich Tern
Royal Tern
AMERICAN FLAMINGO
Magnificent Frigatebird
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON
BOAT-BILLED HERON
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Western Cattle-Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
Osprey
Common Black Hawk
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Belted Kingfisher
American Pygmy Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Olive-throated Parakeet
Mangrove Vireo
Green Jay
Bank Swallow
Great-tailed Grackle
Northern Waterthrush
American Redstart
MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER
Palm Warbler

Feeding frenzy, Magnificent Frigatebirds and Laughing Gulls going after bits of shark thrown away by fishermen

Yucatan Cracker, endemic butterfly

Crocodile, Cenote Kambulnah

Puerto Morelos--RED-BILLED PIGEON, LESSER YELLOW-HEADED VULTURE, YUCATAN JAY

YUCATAN JAY

Our friends' house sits about two blocks from the Caribbean and across the street from an extensive mangrove. My routine each morning we were there would be to get up just before sunrise, when it was relatively cool, and walk north a few blocks, out of the residential section and along a road that cut through the mangrove. Usually, I'd walk about a mile and a quarter, sometimes a little longer, but after about a mile and half you start to come an enclave of resorts and the birding dies down and noise goes up. 

A few days, instead of just retracing my steps, I'd go on one of the short paths that lead to the playa and walk south before cutting over to the town to go back to their house. Even though they're extremely common, I really enjoy watching kettles of Magnificent Frigatebirds hoover overhead and lower down, big flocks of Brown Pelicans swooping close in over the beach. You see pelicans in New Jersey, of course, though much later in the summer, but they're not as numerous, and they tend not to float so close to the beach as they do down there. Also, overhead you see vultures. Because I see vultures constantly at home, I never particularly paid attention to the vultures down there, but looking through the sightings, I saw that not every vulture in Puerto Morelos is a Turkey Vulture. Once I was primed to look closely at the vultures overhead on the beach, it didn't take me long to find my first life bird of the trip: a LESSER YELLOW-HEADED VULTURE, which looks very similar to the familiar Turkey Vulture, but is whiter at the wing tips and, as the name implies, has a much lighter head than the Turkey Vulture. Once you know what to look for it isn't hard to find a few. One eBird the Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture is listed as infrequent, but I bet that's because so many birders just aren't looking hard enough.  It took me to my fourth trip down there to realize what I probably was missing the first three times. 

White-fronted Amazon

Walking along the streets there it is easy (very easy) to find Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Couch's Kingbird (although you can only identify those two kingbirds by voice), Tropical Mockingbird, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, White-fronted Amazon, and Plain Chachalaca, in good numbers, all along the wires and atop the buildings. What I inexplicably missed until this trip, though, was another very common street bird--YUCATAN JAY. Walking past a federal agricultural station a little north of town I heard and saw a commotion in the trees and when a big blue and black bird flew out, I knew I had another lifer. My friend was surprised that it took me so long to find them, since they're practically a nuisance at his house with their loud cries--but then so are the kiskadees, the Eurasian Collared Doves, and even the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, which call through the day. It's like living in an aviary. 

The first time I saw the jays they were jumping around in the mangrove, and I couldn't get decent photos, but the next day, along that same stretch of road the jays were picking up scraps off the road and flying back into the trees, so I was able to document them. Shari wanted to walk up with me to get them for her list, but it wasn't necessary since one afternoon, while we were having cocktails, a small flock decided to hang around just outside the house and she was able to get good close looks of them.

The day we were to leave, I took a last walk and came across some birds I hadn't seen in Puerto Morelos like Mangrove Vireo and Northern Yellow Warbler.  But the one that stopped me was a heard only bird--I heard a cooing that I knew wasn't either the collared dove or a White-tipped Dove. Merlin says it knows 86% of the birds in the Yucatan, and I was lucky that RED-BILL PIGEON was one of the ones it knew. It was deep in the mangrove and I never got eyes on it, but down there, in thick vegetation, you often have to settle for hearing. Never saw the owl either, even though it sometimes sounded like it was in the tree next door to the house. 

Just for my walks through the Puerto Morelos mangrove I had 36 species:

Plain Chachalaca

RED-BILLED PIGEON

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Ruddy Ground Dove

Magnificent Frigatebird

Roseate Spoonbill

Brown Pelican

Osprey

Black-headed Trogon

Yucatan Woodpecker

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

White-fronted Amazon

Olive-throated Parakeet

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Social Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Rufous-browed Peppershrike

Mangrove Vireo

Green Jay

YUCATAN JAY

Barn Swallow

Gray Catbird

Tropical Mockingbird

Hooded Oriole

Bronzed Cowbird

Melodious Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Northern Waterthrush

Black-and-white Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Magnolia Warbler

Northern Yellow Warbler

Yaax Che | Parque Cancun--ROADSIDE HAWK, GRAY-COLLARED BECARD

 

Black-headed Trogon, Parque Cancun

We spent a couple of mornings at two other birding hotspots. The first, was Jardín Botánico Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marín, named after a famous Mexican botanist, also known by the Mayan name Yaax Che which means "ceiba tree" the sacred tree of the Mayans. It about 150 acres of lowland coastal jungle, right off a main highway. It isn't a traditional botanic garden where there are many plants brought in, but more a preserve for the native plants that are already there, along with some recreations of Mayan homes and a chicle camp. It also skirts the mangrove which can be viewed from a 3-story tower, a big improvement over the ladder you had to climb in order to swing over to viewing platform the last time we were there. 

Since we arrived mid-morning, the birds had already gone quiet but we still managed to pick up some interesting ones. It was funny to find American Redstarts and a Prothonotary Warbler there, but we also had some neat Mexican species like Black-headed Trogon and Common Squirrel-Cuckoo. We also had a quartet of Lesser Greenlets which is a type of vireo. I have to say, they don't look particularly green to my eye. 

15 species
Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
White-tipped Dove  2
Common Squirrel-Cuckoo  1
White Ibis  6
Turkey Vulture  5
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture  5
Black-headed Trogon  1
Great Kiskadee  1
Tropical Kingbird  1
Lesser Greenlet  4
White-eyed Vireo  1
Green Jay  2
White-bellied Wren  1
Prothonotary Warbler  1
American Redstart  2

Common Squirrel-Cuckoo, Parque Cancun

On our last full day there we drove about 45 minutes north to Parque Cancun which is about 2/3 the size of Central Park. About a third of the park is situated on the old Cancun municipal landfill, but you'd never know from the beautifully laid out roads and paths that go past and through various kinds of gardens filled with art and iguanas. There is one fascinating section where they have a cross section of the old dump revealed, layers of bottles, wrappers, bags and all the detritus of civilization. 

But we were there for the birds and there were lots. We got there around 9 AM. Our original plan was to go on the regular Sunday bird walk there (even though it would be in Spanish) that was supposed to start a 7 AM. But when they changed it to 6 AM, we all agreed we weren't getting up at 4:30. So, by the time we got there, the bird walk was just ending and some of the birders gracefully directed us to where we might be most successful. 

The first bird we saw was a Bronzed Cowbird and the second was a Hooded Oriole. Up until then, Hooded Oriole was the only oriole I'd come across, so I was happy when I saw the trees were just full of orioles. Now all I had to do was separate them. With some studying and the help of Merlin analyzing their calls, we ticked off Orange Oriole, Altamira Oriole, and (and an especially hard one for me) Yellow-tailed Oriole. 

While we were walking along a road Shari & I kept hearing a hawk on the other side of the trees. Merlin identified it as ROADSIDE HAWK, a lifer. I was disappointed that we couldn't see it but consoled myself with the notion that while we were driving back from Rio Lagartos, we saw many hawks on the roadside, atop poles, and I was certain that they too were Roadside Hawks, but it's hard to identify them at 80 kph. 

The day before we went, I checked the recent bird lists for the park and found one species I'd never heard of. Like the Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, I was now primed, so when I saw a black and gray bird with a white wing patch fly across the path and land in a nearby tree, I was certain that we had another lifer, because as it says in the eBird description, "no similar bird in Mexico." It was a GRAY-COLLARED BECARD and relatively scarce compared to the Rose-throated Becard, which we were also looking for but never found, despite some guidance from other birders. If only it wasn't in shadow when I tried to photograph it. 

While we had heard and Shari saw a Black-headed Trogon at Yaax Che, they were much easier to find at Parque Cancun and very cooperative for the camera, as was the Common Squirrel-Cuckoo which was eating insects on the ground. I didn't recognize it as a cuckoo at first because I don't think I've ever seen a cuckoo of any type on the ground. Usually, you're straining you neck and eyes trying find one high up in a tree. 

And, after getting Mangrove Yellow Warbler in Rio Lagartos, I finally re-placed Northern Yellow Warbler on my Mexican list. No longer do I have the ignominy of a "spuh" on my list. 

27 species
Plain Chachalaca  2
Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
White-winged Dove  1
Common Squirrel-Cuckoo  1
Black Vulture  10
Turkey Vulture  20
ROADSIDE HAWK  1     Heard
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl  1     Heard
Black-headed Trogon  2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker  2
GRAY-COLLARED BECARD  1
Brown-crested Flycatcher  1
Great Kiskadee  10
Social Flycatcher  1
Tropical Kingbird  1
Couch's Kingbird  1
Rufous-browed Peppershrike  1
Yucatan Jay  15
Tropical Mockingbird  2
Hooded Oriole  2
Yellow-tailed Oriole  1
Orange Oriole  4
Altamira Oriole  2
Bronzed Cowbird  4
Great-tailed Grackle  5
Northern Yellow Warbler  1
Black-headed Saltator  1

Yucatan Gallery

 Some miscellaneous photos of our trip. (Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them)

Brown Pelicans, Rio Lagartos with mangrove in background

Mangrove, San Felipe

Bronzed Cowbird, Parque Cancun

Great-tailed Grackles, Puerto Morelos

Hooded Oriole, Puerto Morelos

Iguana, Parque Cancun

Iguana, Parque Cancun

Plain Chachalaca, Puerto Morelos

Agouti, a street mammal that lives in the mangrove

Western Cattle Egret, Rio Lagartos

Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Puerto Morelos

Ruddy Ground Dove, Puerto Morelos

Brown Pelican, Puerto Morelos

Island Beach SP 4/4--Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Spizzle Creek

I knew it was just a tad too early for warblers along Reed's Road at Island Beach, but I went anyway. There are still so many "easy" birds not on my list that I felt it was inevitable that I'd run into one there. I didn't and judging from the other lists I've seen from the day, no one there saw anything I haven't. 

The "inevitable" didn't happen until my second stop, walking out from Spizzle Creek, about 8 miles down the road. There too it had been disappointing with very few birds around and nothing surprising. It was a beautiful morning, very little wind, in the mid-60's, sunny and warm enough to get the insects going which should get the birds going. But the birds have got to be there to get going. As I was leaving, I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and the bird I saw was very small, so I was pretty certain it wasn't a warbler. Maybe a kinglet? It was flitting from branch to branch as kinglets will but once I saw the long tail I knew that I had a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and about time! As has been the routine this spring, the bird was persistently behind budding twigs (no doubt gleaning gnats), but I did manage one semi-clear shot. 

I made a few more stops going north. At Johnnie Allen Cove I saw a large flock of birds in the distance coming my way. I thought at first cormorants, then maybe Brant, but as they got closer I could see it was a flock of abut 40 Glossy Ibises.  That made up for the one distant bird I saw the other day at the Lighthouse Center. And it put me in mind of a funny incident quite a few years back when I was the end of Reed's Road with another birder. A large flock of glossies flew by and he, with his big machine gun-like camera, rattled off 50 shots. "Find the White-faced Ibis, in there," I joked. He went home, blew up his photos, and, wouldn't you know it, there was a White-faced Ibis flying with the glossies. This brought up the existential question of whether you could count a bird you saw but didn't know you were seeing. For me, the answer was I couldn't count it, but he could. And I think he did. 

Glossy Ibis, Johnnie Allen Cove

For the 5 stops, I made, all on the bayside, I managed 36 species. Meh. 

Brant
Mallard
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Mourning Dove
Greater Yellowlegs
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Horned Grebe
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Glossy Ibis
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Osprey
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Common Raven
Carolina Chickadee
Tree Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Whitesbog (Ocean County) 4/3--Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler

Another dreary morning turned brighter on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog when my informant, whom I hadn't seen since mid-December, pulled up behind me as I walked the road near Big Tank. Bad weather, icy roads, vacations, medical appointments, had conspired to keep us from running into each other for the entire winter. We both thought the worse. And both our wives bugged us to text the other to find out what was up, but we're guys and guys don't do that. After he parked at his spot we started to bird and immediately he pointed out a Palm Warbler in a budding red maple right in front of us. Not with the guy 5 minutes and I get a year bird. 

Common Loon, Big Tank

As we walked back toward the Upper Reservoir, we reviewed our sightings of the last couple of months--one of my most interesting ones had just occurred at Big Tank where I found a Common Loon in breeding plumage. My informant told me that he had seen them there occasionally, but usually on the reservoir. But here's the thing: he doesn't list so officially, this was the first Common Loon sighted on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog (to county birders it is an important distinction and there are records on the Burlco side). It's similar to describing a new species--it isn't necessarily the first person to find it; it is the person who describes it for science that gets the credit. I know this all sounds silly--it is--but silly is a large part of birding if you have any sense of humor. 

So to sum up, a year bird, a patch first record, and neither of us is dead. A good morning.

Coyote Scat.
One of the advantages of walking
 with my informant is the
 natural history lesson
you get with each step.

26 species

Canada Goose  14
Wood Duck  8
Mallard  7
Ring-necked Duck  2
Bufflehead  2
Greater Yellowlegs  2     Flyover
Common Loon  1     
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  5
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  3
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tree Swallow  10
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
Dark-eyed Junco  15
Song Sparrow  4
Swamp Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  15
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Common Grackle  4
Palm Warbler  2
Pine Warbler  15