Great Bay Blvd 4/30--Clapper Rail, Semipalmated Plover, Whimbrel, Short-billed Dowitcher, Seaside Sparrow

Whimbrels behind Herring Gull

It is the last day of April and there I was this morning on Great Bay Blvd, wearing gloves and a winter jacket, looking for new birds. I thought that after our Mexican interlude the weather here would normalize into a spring, but no. I didn't go down to GBB over the weekend to avoid the fishermen/crabbers/and "I wonder where this road leads?" drivers. Weekdays you can bird peaceably there.

I was getting coffee at the Wawa on 539, a couple of miles away when an alert about a Cattle Egret just before one of the marinas there went off. How fortuitous! Except, by the time I got there, 27 minutes later, the egret was nowhere to be found. I walked up and down the road in a 20 mph wind with spritzes of rain into the bargain and all I found were the usual egrets and herons. I drove down the road to the other side of the marina (the words "200 yards before the marina" could mean north or south depending on your perspective), and stopped to scan the marsh. No Cattle Egret, but there was a big flock of Whimbrels in the marsh, so the trip flipped over into the success category.

Another birder joined me, asking if I'd found the egret. I pointed out the Whimbrels. I said there were 13, he said there were many more and was right. I stopped counting on just one little island but there were more standing nearby. He counted 28, which is apparently a large number for this time of year in this county. Turning around, we saw some other shorebirds east side of the road--Black-bellied Plovers and Short-billed Dowitchers. The dowitchers were new for me. Then I heard a Clapper Rail and soon after that a Seaside Sparrow. I couldn't find the rail but I did flush the sparrow and saw it fly deeper into the marsh. Just standing there, not finding one bird, I came up with 4 FOY.

Horned Grebe

Out in open water my fellow birder spied what he thought might be a grebe and once I got my scope on it I was pretty sure he was right. It looked like a Horned Grebe, going into breeding plumage and that makes it both beautiful and late (rare) for NJ. We drove down to the sandy parking lot and got better looks at it, especially the orange "horns." Later, on my way back up the road, I stopped and walked out onto a rickety dock and took some doc shots. (Click photos to enlarge.)

While the rain had stopped, the wind was picking up so I decided I wasn't going to be able to take my usual walk from the inlet to the first wooden bridge. Cold I can stand; wind I cannot. We drove down to the inlet where I was hoping there would be some shorebirds on the beach, but the tide was high. Happily, the only shorebird we saw there was one I "needed" for the year: Semipalmated Plover. #5 for the day. Add in the Black-crowned Night-Heron we saw flying near the roost by the 2nd wooden bridge for my Ocean County list and call it a good day.
31 species
Brant 35
Canada Goose 5
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Common Loon 1
Horned Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 125
Great Egret 25
Snowy Egret 30
Little Blue Heron 1 Adult
Tricolored Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Osprey 5
Bald Eagle 1 Nest at end of the road
Clapper Rail 1 Heard
American Oystercatcher 2
Black-bellied Plover 10
Semipalmated Plover 1
Whimbrel 28
Short-billed Dowitcher 5
Greater Yellowlegs 6
Willet 4
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Forster's Tern 15
Peregrine Falcon 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 5
Gray Catbird 1
Seaside Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Boat-tailed Grackle 30