Brig 8/15--Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

I thought I'd give Whitesbog a rest today and go down to Brig where a virtual phlock of phalaropes has been reported for the last few days. I figured with so many in one confined area at the dogleg, I had a decent chance of finding at least one. I prefer to bird Brig alone because I can bird it my way which is different than the way most people do it. I get there in the cool of the morning, park at the Gull Pond, drink my coffee, then walk back up the road, hang a right on the old railroad bed path, then walk up the upland portion of the trail to Jen's Trail, do the horseshoe of Jen's, then walk back to the car through the parking lot and grasslands around the Visitor's Center, usually making a stop either coming or going at the old Experimental Pond. This affords me a chance to find a lot of land birds and gets in my obligatory daily walk. Altogether, it's about 4 miles of hoofing. Since it was so cool this morning and the flies didn't seem to be a problem (that changed around noon when the sun came out), I briefly considered walking the entire Wildlife Drive, but just didn't feel like lugging the scope and backpack all that distance. 

After my walk I started around the drive. In contrast to the last time I was there a couple of weeks ago, the water on both sides of the drive was high, so shorebirds were at a premium. Where previously I had estimated around 1000 each of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers, today I only had around 90 of the former and 36 of the latter. Whether that was because of the tides or a lull in migration, or a combination, I have no way of knowing. 

Black-crowned Night-Heron

However, the high water didn't deter the herons and egrets. Most impressive to me was the number of Black-crowned Night-Herons I was finding, of all ages--adults, near adults, and first year birds. There was at least a dozen at the dogleg and probably more as a lot of them were tucked into the cedar trees. I also found a couple of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, both juveniles, one on the south dike and one among the flock at the dogleg. 

By the time I made the turn and stopped at the pool at Goose Marker 14, I was pretty tired. That's the disadvantage of taking a long walk before you start the drive--your concentration wanes. Happily for me, my friend Kay was already there, and she had a general location for where a couple of the Wilson's Phalaropes were. Using the Atlantic City skyline as landmarks, I focused on what I believe is (or was) The Borgata, came down from there to the far shoreline and found two of the phalaropes agitating the relatively deep water, near a trio of dowitchers. A third one was a bit more to the right. As is almost the case with rare shorebirds, the possibility of me getting a photo of one (or even seeing it in my viewfinder) was negligible. I did get the extremely crappy digiscope photo above. If you squint, you can make out the light-colored phalarope, but if you don't squint, just take my word for it. 

I had in mind when I started a list of 70 species, but since I really didn't feel like spending much time sorting through sandpipers, I didn't list any westerns, stilts, or white-rumps, and the avocet was a no-show for me, as were, surprisingly, Willets. Eating lunch in the parking lot brought my list up to 62. 

Canada Goose  3
Mute Swan  72
Wood Duck  7
Mallard  13
Green-winged Teal  1     dogleg
Mourning Dove  10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Clapper Rail  2     Heard
American Oystercatcher  4
Semipalmated Plover  5
Whimbrel  3
Least Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  90
Short-billed Dowitcher  36
Wilson's Phalarope  3     
Greater Yellowlegs  6
Lesser Yellowlegs  3
Laughing Gull  250
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Least Tern  40
Gull-billed Tern  1
Caspian Tern  1
Common Tern  2
Forster's Tern  90
Black Skimmer  2
Double-crested Cormorant  200
Great Blue Heron  8
Great Egret  80
Snowy Egret  90
Little Blue Heron  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  13
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  8
Osprey  15
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     Heard
Peregrine Falcon  1     dogleg
Eastern Wood-Pewee  3     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  24
Carolina Chickadee  3     Heard
Tufted Titmouse  3     Heard
Purple Martin  1
Tree Swallow  50
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  1
Carolina Wren  5     Heard
Gray Catbird  11
American Robin  1     Heard parking lot
American Goldfinch  4
Field Sparrow  1     Heard
Seaside Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Boat-tailed Grackle  1     Molting its tail
Common Yellowthroat  4
Northern Cardinal  1     Heard
Blue Grosbeak  1

Blue Grosbeak