Barnegat Light 2/6--Harlequin Ducks & a Celebrity

I went to Barnegat Light this morning by myself. Shari, who doesn't like walking on the jetty (for that matter neither do I) is in New York for a couple of days, so I figured it was a good time to get it out of my system and to, with luck, add Harlequin Ducks to my year list.

Another unseasonably warm day made walking on the rocks not too onerous--no real wind to speak of and the rocks were relatively dry. There was a dearth of birds except for Herring Gulls. They filled the air, the water, and rocks. It was as if there was no room for any other species, though I did find loons, mergansers and Long-Tailed Ducks. About half-way out along the jetty I found my first 4 Harlequin Ducks. I suspected I'd find them because there was a photographer crouched down the entire time I was hopping from rock to rock to get there. Having booked them, I proceeded farther along, hoping for some Purple Sandpiper, but no luck with them today--only four Ruddy Turnstones that flew off when I approached their hiding spot. Altogether I counted 18 harlequins. They were either swimming very close into the jetty or else sitting and sleeping on the rocks below, so close that I really didn't need my binoculars, much less the scope I was lugging. So happy that I'd seen them and happy that I hadn't broken my neck, I walked back on the sand. Flying low along the dunes to the left I saw a raptor--my first reaction was that it was a harrier. My second reaction was that it was a Short-eared Owl. They do sometimes hunt during the day. But holding my binoculars with one hand and manipulating the focusing wheel with a heavy glove didn't allow me to really get a good focus on the bird and I'll just have to let it go.

I put the scope in the car and took a little walk along the dune trail, only turning up a couple of yellow-rumps and a mockingbird. The day was getting even warmer and I didn't feel like leaving so I decided to take another walk on the concrete walkway; sometimes Purple Sandpipers can be found on the rocks below there.

No luck with them again, but I came across another couple of photographers and asked them what they had that was interesting. Nothing really--just a lot of Herring Gulls in various plumage cycles. I said that I was surprised not to have seen any Ring-bill Gulls today and one of the guys said he'd seen a few and started to look in the flocks below to find me one. He knew an awful lot about gull plumage and was happy to share his knowledge. I told them that there were harlequins out on the jetty, figuring that would be more interesting that a few hundred gulls and his friend told that they were on a harlequin hunt--they'd been to Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island already.

Then he said to me, "You know who that is?" pointing to his friend. Naturally, I didn't.

"Did you see the movie, "The Big Year?"

"No, but I read the book."

"That's Greg Miller."

The only character's name I remembered from the book was Sandy Komito, so I asked which one of the other two was he and his friend said the one played by Jack Black in the movie and I said never mind the movie, in the book, which one was he and Greg said the computer programmer. He was the underdog in the book, the one who had to steal time from his job and had just gone through some personal turmoil. I shook his hand and told him, truthfully, "I was rooting for you."

I asked him where he was living now (in the book, it was Maryland) and he said Ohio. I also remembered from reading somewhere that he was doing bird guiding and asked him about Magee Marsh, where Shari & I have talked about going during migration. I was wondering if he'd be available to be a guide--turns out he's pretty busy that week.

Photo Don Crockett

But I have his card. I felt like I should get his autograph or something. He asked me if I had a camera phone and I did have my crappy phone on me, but it was good enough for his
friend, Don Crockett, to snap this photo of the two of us. Looking at Don's video equipment, he was definitely slumming using my little Nokia phone.

We hung out for a while and he sorted through the gulls, but nothing unusual came up. There weren't even Bonaparte's around. I walked them up to the railing at the end of the concrete walkway where they dropped down onto the rocks, in search of harlequins. I'm sure they found them.

So, I never saw my Purple Sandpipers, but I'm glad I decided to make one more try.

The Big Year is in Shari's Netflix queue. I think Greg said that it is released February 28. I know how it ends, so I hope the acting is good.

On my way home I drove up a side street to the bay side and scoped it for about 10 minutes. Common Goldeneyes and 5 Horned Grebes were the interesting birds there.

Only 18 species for the day, but any day you see Harlequin Ducks is a good day.

Brant  6

Canada Goose   18
Harlequin Duck  18
Long-tailed Duck  50

Bufflehead   10

Common Goldeneye  3
Red-breasted Merganser  20
Red-throated Loon  6
Common Loon  5

Horned Grebe   5
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Ruddy Turnstone  4
Herring Gull  1000
Great Black-backed Gull  6
American Crow  4
Northern Mockingbird  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
Northern Cardinal  1    Parking lot