Sandy Hook 3/24--Tufted Duck (drake), Osprey, Piping Plover

Comparison of Ring-necked Duck (left) and Tufted Duck

As I hoped, I've been picking up the year bird pace this month. Sandy Hook today was full of interesting birds on Scott's & Linda's trip where, on our first stop at the ocean by B lot we had my FOY Osprey (hovering above the bay, no photo) and Piping Plover (good look, but too distant for photo). The most noteworthy bird, however, was not a year bird. Scott got a phone call from a birder who had a Tufted Duck up at the North Pond. Tufted Duck is not a year bird for me. I've seen one 3 times this year, probably the same hen that moved around from the Shark River Inlet to Wreck Pond to Lake of the Lilies. What made this bird intriguing was that it was a drake and let's face it unless the bird is a phalarope, males are almost always more interesting to see than females and that isn't being sexist. (You never hear anyone say "OMG, look how gorgeous that female Painted Bunting is.") Most birds are named after the male so if you really want to see the tuft on a Tufted Duck (instead of the vestigial one on a hen), find a drake.

The whole group made its way up the north end of the Hook and we found the bird almost instantly. Getting a decent vantage point to see the duck through the phragmites was more of a challenge and the high ground was also a slippery slope but everyone got to see the bird and it even made itself available for photographs, conveniently swimming with a Ring-necked Duck for easy comparison.

Other birds I was happy to see:

American Oystercatchers (a Zirlin Family favorite) at Spermaceti Cove

Black-bellied Plovers 

After the trip ended, four of us went looking for one more bird, which we found and which I am not allowed to reveal else I suffer the stern look of Bob Auster.  While it wasn't a year bird for me, I was surprised and pleased to find that it was a Monmouth County life bird.

In the non-avian category: Early in the trip Scott and Linda marched the group along a beach on the bay side to see the seals that haul themselves out on sandy island at low tide. If they don't have feathers, I'm usually not very interested in other animal life, but this was an impressive congregation of both Harbor and Gray Seals and way more than I've ever seen outside of Alaska. Someone stopped counting at 136.

Gray Seals (small) and Harbor Seals

For the 8 1/2 hours of birding I did on the Hook I came back with 47 species including That Which Shall Not be eBirded For A Week.
Brant 45
Canada Goose 15
American Black Duck 30
Ring-necked Duck 15
Tufted Duck 1 Tuft clearly seen, brilliant white flanks.
Surf Scoter 8
White-winged Scoter 1
Black Scoter 30
Bufflehead 4
Red-breasted Merganser 1o
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 1
Horned Grebe 3
Northern Gannet 50
Great Cormorant 1
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 1 Spermaceti Cove
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Osprey 3
Bald Eagle 1
American Oystercatcher 8
Black-bellied Plover 4 Beach at the end of the Fisherman's Trail
Piping Plover 1
Sanderling 6
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Ring-billed Gull 10
Herring Gull 350
Great Black-backed Gull 250
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
American Crow 4
Fish Crow 9
Tree Swallow 1
Carolina Wren 2
American Robin 200
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling 100
Cedar Waxwing 55
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
Song Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 4
House Finch 2 Heard North Beach