Brig 6/2--CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW + 4 FOY

Sometimes the day just gets away from you in a positive way. The original plan yesterday was to run down to Forsythe-Barnegat to see if we could find the 3 Black-necked Stilts that had been reported on Friday, perhaps check out Webb Mill Reservoir as a new birding site, then go up to Toms River to buy kitty litter and a bottle brush. The weather was great, the sun was out despite the predictions of rain and halfway down the Parkway Shari suggested Brigantine after we went to Barnegat. Let's see...Brigantine, bottle brush...Brigantine, bottle brush...while the choice was agonizing we opted for Brigantine.

At Forsythe-Barnegat we didn't find the stilts and speculated that the line of thunderstorms Friday night and early Saturday morning might have blown them away, but we did find some interesting birds including an out of season Northern Shoveler and the first Black-crowned Night-heron I've ever seen in Ocean County. The lacunae in my Ocean County list are wide and somewhat embarrassing, but I'm slowly filling them in.

We had 18 species in the half-hour or so we were there.
Canada Goose  9
Mute Swan  21
Mallard  5
Northern Shoveler  1    Across from Barnegat Beach.
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  1
Little Blue Heron  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Herring Gull  2
Least Tern  1
Mourning Dove  2
Tree Swallow  1
Carolina Wren  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  10


After a loop around Brigantine where we found 63 species we were eating lunch at the picnic tables when the day really got away from us. Shari saw Pete Bacinski of Jersey Audubon in the parking lot and went over to say  hello. Pete was there to lead an afternoon/evening caravan around the drive and  there was still room for a couple of more people so we immediately signed on, especially when we heard one of the target birds for the evening. 

Shorebirds had been sparse when we went around the first time in contrast to last week when there had been thousands of them, but we did find one Whimbrel standing in a tuft of tall grass. Pete had made a preliminary trip earlier and also hadn't seen much, but a great birder like him can tease out birds that mere mortals can't find, so he managed to turn up a few White-rumped Sandpipers, some Semipalmated Plovers and a Dunlin out of the few flocks of sandpipers that we saw, along with 3 more Whimbrels on the 2nd loop around. 

We also managed, on the 2nd loop around (our 3rd) to find the previously reported White-faced Ibis, which we had missed the previous two times. Not a life bird but always interesting to find this rarity among the common Glossy Ibises.  Pete also heard Seaside Sparrows on the north dike and I was able to find a few with the scope so most of the party got brief looks at that skittish little bird. 

But it was not the looking part of the day that really attracted us to the trip. As the sun was setting Pete hurried us to the upland portion of the drive so that we could listen for "whips and chucks." As darkness set in almost immediately, in the distance, we could hear the song of CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW, a life bird for both of us, though a little unsatisfying because we (and that includes most of the group) could only hear the last two notes of the call. We drove on and in addition to the chuck also heard a faraway Whip-poor-will--it was funny to have to strain to hear a bird that in our neighborhood is so loud as to be considered a nuisance.

We drove further down the road to the exit ponds and there, much louder, were another couple of chucks calls and this time we able to hear the full call and feel like we could truly "count" the bird. Also at the ponds we heard a Virginia Rail "tick-tick-ticking."  I was fairly certain I'd heard one earlier in the day coming from the marsh near Visitor's Centers, but it was good to have Pete confirm what we were hearing. 

In all, our 3 loops plus 3 stops at the Experimental Pool and time at the picnic tables produces 72 species for us. We got home around 10:30, and as we driving along Sunset Road, the Whip-poor-wills were deafening. 

Today we bought the kitty litter and bottle brush.

Canada Goose  77
Mute Swan  5
Wood Duck  5    Exit Pond
American Black Duck  6
Mallard  25
Double-crested Cormorant  7
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  50
Snowy Egret  9
Cattle Egret  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  5
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1    Gull Pond
Glossy Ibis  50
White-faced Ibis  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  6
Peregrine Falcon  2
Clapper Rail  5
Virginia Rail  1
Common Gallinule  2
Black-bellied Plover  5
Semipalmated Plover  3
American Oystercatcher  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Willet  60
Whimbrel  4
Semipalmated Sandpiper  170
White-rumped Sandpiper  2
Dunlin  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  2
Laughing Gull  300
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  20
Gull-billed Tern  5
Caspian Tern  1
Forster's Tern  50
Black Skimmer  25
CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW  5    Heard in woods between 8:30 & 9 PM
Eastern Whip-poor-will  1    Heard in woods between 8:30 & 9 PM
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    f/o Visitor's Ctr
Great Crested Flycatcher  1    Heard, Visitor's Ctr
Eastern Kingbird  2    Experimental Pool & Exit Pond
Blue Jay  1    Heard
American Crow  1    Heard
Fish Crow  2
Purple Martin  10
Tree Swallow  20
Barn Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard, picnic tables.
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard, picnic tables.
Carolina Wren  3    Heard
Marsh Wren  1    Heard, Leeds Trail
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  4
European Starling  1    Visitor's Ctr
Cedar Waxwing  4    Experimental Pool
Common Yellowthroat  5    Heard
Yellow Warbler  3    Heard
Eastern Towhee  1    Heard
Chipping Sparrow  2    Picnic tables
Field Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  2
Indigo Bunting  1    Experimental Pool
Red-winged Blackbird  250
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Visitor's Ctr
Orchard Oriole  2    Experimental Pool & Exit Pond
House Finch  3
American Goldfinch  2    Experimental Pool