Brig 1/20--American Bittern, Bald Eagle, ducks, etc

American Bittern at the Gull Pond

Somehow, both Mike and I had manged to get 20 days into the year without going to Brig. We planned to remedy that today, but, with the government shutdown looming, we had a Plan B, which, with the government shut down, we instituted this morning, by driving down to Brigantine Island (not to be confused with the Brigantine Unit [Brig] of Forsythe NWR), hoping for godwits and such. "And such" turned out to be one stinking Western Sandpiper out on a distant sandbar. No godwits, Willets, oystercatchers, or any ducks of real interest did we see in our various stops. The "B" in Plan B seemed to stand for "Blech" so it was back to Plan A.

Even with the shutdown, national parks are open. Open, in the sense, that you can go in, just don't expect to find a bathroom with a flush toilet. So, why wouldn't a National Wildlife Refuge be open? No reason at all, apparently, because when we arrived at 9:30, the gate was open, cars were on the drive, and year birds were to be found. We did a loop around the Wildlife Drive, where the predominant bird was Snow Goose--thousands upon thousands of Snow Geese. We found some new ducks for the year, and at the north-east corner of the drive, a Snowy Owl. It has been another good year for Snowy Owls (this was my third for the year and Mike had some on a trip to the Midwest last week) and since this bird has been on the refuge almost all year, it wasn't a big surprise. Still, obligatory pictures were taken:

We weren't going to make a second loop but another birder told us he had seen both a Bald Eagle and a Golden Eagle on the drive, one to the south, one to the north, about 500 feet ahead of Jen's Trail. That was enough incentive to get us back on the drive--but first a detour for a second look at the Gull Pond, which I thought would be a fruitless task since there was little there on our first trip in the morning. Of course, had we followed my inclination, we wouldn't have seen the American Bittern that was lurking in the reeds. And, in accordance with Zirlin's Second Law of Birding, we didn't see the bird until we had truly given up on looking for it--we peered into the vegetation from all angles,  we went to the top of the observation tower and looked into the phrags, but it wasn't until we were getting into the car to leave that the bird decided to emerge and pose, freezing in position as if by doing so it would become invisible.

On our second trip we did indeed find the Bald Eagle--the Golden Eagle we suspect might be an immature Bald Eagle sighting. It wouldn't be the first time.

Brig's status is unclear--we saw a ranger make the rounds of the drive (poor guy doesn't know when he's going to get paid next) and briefly the gate, we were told, was closed, but as of mid-afternoon the refuge was open. I'm glad we got in when we did. I remember in 1996 during the first government shutdown, I took the subway (!) to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel, walked a mile from the station to the refuge, only to find it closed--I didn't make the connection back then. I didn't make the connection this time either--it took Mike, a state employee who knows from shutdowns, to point out the potential problem.

Our list for two trips around the non-shutdown dikes:
36 species
Snow Goose 3125
Brant 25
Canada Goose 175
Mute Swan 14
Gadwall 15
American Wigeon 5
Mallard 25
American Black Duck 1100
Northern Pintail 5
Bufflehead 40
Hooded Merganser 12
Red-breasted Merganser 10
American Bittern 1
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 3 One Gray Ghost
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1 On ice, NW corner
Red-tailed Hawk 1 F/O Marsh, NW corner
Dunlin 6
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull 30
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Snowy Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard, parking lot
Northern Flicker 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 20
Carolina Chickadee 1
Carolina Wren 1 Heard parking lot
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 14
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Swamp Sparrow 1 Gull Pond
House Finch 1 Upland section
American Goldfinch 2