Winter Ducks in July

Biff the Bufflehead, Whitesbog

This seems to be the summer of winter ducks. This month I have encountered 4 species of ducks that, if they were behaving by the book, wouldn't be here. For instance, there is a drake Bufflehead that has been in the Middle Bog of Whitesbog so long that I've named him Biff. He has been drifting around there since early June. He isn't starving, obviously. He is looking bedraggled either from molting or the tannin in the water or perhaps a combination. Flagged as rare, I find him every time I'm there, the only duck in the vicinity. I feel a little guilty reporting him each time because it's just more work for the reviewer. I got tired of taking lousy pictures of Biff. He manages to stay just enough distance out in the bog to make my photos low res and blurry. 

Common and King Eiders, Island Beach SP

King hen

Then last week, walking along the jetty at the southern end of Island Beach SP toward the "back" of Barnegat Inlet, I flush a big flock of Common Eiders. It isn't that remarkable for the occasional eider not to the make the migration north. Usually it is an immature drake who hasn't gotten the signal straight. But this flock was 60 strong with a mix of drakes and hens with all age ranges from immature to fully adult. And, there were 4 King Eiders scattered around in the flock. King Eider is a rarity in winter--it's notable when there's one in an eider flock. Now four is the default report, 1 drake, 3 hens. (They really ought to eliminate gender in the common names of birds because a "hen King" just sounds stupid.) Again, these eiders, Common & King, have been floating off the jetty for months. Maybe they aren't "rare" anymore. 

Ring-necked Duck, Jumping Brook Preserve

Finally, yesterday I was walking around the underbirded bogs of Jumping Brook Preserve in New Egypt, hard up against the boundary with Fort Dix. I decided to walk back to some bogs I haven't investigated in years because the trail looked like it had been recently mowed. That was a good idea because in one of those bogs (or reservoirs, I don't know the history of this parcel) was a drake Ring-necked Duck, which should have left for cooler climes months ago. He too, like Biff, was looking a little shabby, again probably from all the tannin in the cedar water. And again, like Biff, there are probably enough little fish, crustaceans, bugs, and plants for him to survive but he may be at the end of his genetic line. I'm not a "month" birder but if it was, all these ducks would be good July birds. 

Oh, and I almost forgot the two Ruddy Ducks we saw at Brig last week. Along with the two presumably injured Snow Geese. Half the month to go. Anyone know the whereabouts of, say, a Common Goldeneye? 

Ruddy Duck, Brig