Barnegat Lighthouse SP 11/25

Eastern Meadowlark

 In an early Peterson guide I used to have, long since fallen to pieces and discarded, I remember being struck by a phrase in his introduction, discussing habitat and the kinds of birds one should expect to find in them: "A meadowlark needs a meadow." It seemed axiomatic at the time, but even Homer nods, as, over the years I have compiled a little list in my head of all the spots I have seen meadowlarks that were not meadows, including the marsh at the Bridge to Nowhere, Rome Pond at Whitesbog, an airport runway, and today, in the big sandy area next to the concrete walkway at Barnegat Lighthouse SP. I was walking back toward the lighthouse when I saw to my left a large bird fly off into a little bit of scrub. It's outer white tail feathers immediately told me what it was, but I was certainly surprised, not having that bird on my expected list for the day. Yet, there it was, picking at the little bush it had flown to. I suppose with no bugs around whatever seeds or berries it could find in that wasteland would have to suffice for a diet. It wasn't particularly shy, so I was able to get some decent pictures of it. 

Blue-headed Vireo

It was a day of little discoveries. Earlier I stopped off at Cedar Bonnet Island, only because the traffic on the bridge to LBI was at a standstill, so I figured I'd walk around the refuge and let it ease up. I'm glad I did, because though the birdage wasn't heavy, as I was walking out on the entrance path I came across what I mistook for a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which would be "infrequent" according to eBird, but instead it turned out to be a Blue-headed Vireo, which, for this time of year, is "rare." The spectacles fooled me initially, but I was able to get one quick photo and my suspicion that the bird was too big and too inactive for a kinglet was confirmed. 

Back at Barnegat Lighthouse, I climbed the hill to overlook the pool and saw a big flock of American Oystercatchers and, just like at Holgate, where there are a lot of oystercatchers in winter there is a good

Marbled Godwit

chance of finding a Marbled Godwit mixed in among them. This was a much better look than I had at Holgate last month, the birds being only about a hundred yards away instead of half a mile. Also within that big scooped out area was a large flock of Snow Buntings swirling around. I looked in vain for a Lapland Longspur. Snow Buntings are a restless species, seemingly constantly in motion, but at one point, while I was scanning the ocean at the beach, the flock landed behind me and was stationery long enough for me to count up to 73. 

What I really wanted from the ocean was White-winged Scoter, which I hadn't seen January and hadn't seen in the county yet this year.  I was hopeful that the ocean would be calm, since the inlet seem lake-like, but the seas were rough, and it made finding the ducks a challenge, though I did tally Common Eiders and Harlequin Ducks around the old, submerged jetty, but the scoters I was hoping for were not swimming. Instead, there were big flocks of Black Scoters flying along the horizon and finally, after my patience was just about spend, a couple of big ducks with white wings shot past me going south, followed a few minutes later by another 9 more. So, I had my target and few more goodies and trudged back to the parking lot, stopping along the jetty until I got a couple of Ipswich Savannah Sparrows to round out the list. Oh yes, one Purple Sandpiper on the north jetty, viewed with the scope, so I got all the Barney specialties.

Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)

My Barnegat Light list: 

31 species (+1 other taxa)
Brant  75
Canada Goose  4
Mallard  15
American Black Duck  10
Common Eider  7
Harlequin Duck  6
White-winged Scoter  11
Black Scoter  130
scoter sp.  25
American Oystercatcher  33
Black-bellied Plover  1
Marbled Godwit  1
Ruddy Turnstone  10
Dunlin  5
Purple Sandpiper  1
Bonaparte's Gull  2
American Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  30
Horned Grebe  1
Red-throated Loon  25
Common Loon  4
Northern Gannet  50
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Northern Flicker  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
Common Raven  2     Two large croaking corvids over the pool
Carolina Wren  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
House Sparrow  5
Snow Bunting  73
Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)  2
Eastern Meadowlark  1

Lake of the Lilies 11/19--Eurasian Wigeon

Eurasian Wigeon with American Coots, American Wigeons and Mute Swan

It was raining this morning so I couldn't go for my birding walk; instead, I went to Costco in Brick and since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to go to Lake of the Lillies in Point Pleasant Beach, despite the cold rain. There has been a Eurasian Wigeon there for more than a week and this seemed like a good time to try to find it. When I first heard about it, last week, I had just gotten back from a place not too far away and I wasn't about to make a special trip for this oxymoronic common rarity. I assumed I had one ticked off for the year. However, checking my year list, I didn't. Still, I assumed it would stick around. It has been my experience that once a duck, swan, or goose finds its happy place, there is no reason for it to leave. The challenge would be in finding the oddball in the flocks of swans, wigeons, Gadwalls, Ruddy Ducks, coots, gulls and so forth in the 12 acres of water the lake encompasses.  I parked at the "L" in the NW corner of the lake where there was a big flock of Ruddy Ducks, walked to the edge of the water and immediately flushed two Wilson's Snipes from the reeds.  I already felt like I was in the "win" column since snipes were a patch bird for me. Looking out through the murk and the needles of rain, I could see that I was going to need my scope. With it, I scanned through the flock of ruddies, found a few Gadwalls, Mallards, and then more and more American Wigeons appeared, along with coots and big, lumbering swans, which I suspected might be blocking my view of the target bird. I finally found our Eurasian visitor--brick red head, gray body--all the way on the south side of the lake. I briefly thought about driving over to that side but saw that the angle would be no good as it would be blocked by vegetation. I took out my camera and, zoomed it up to maximum, and took pictures of the general vicinity in which I'd found the bird. The photo above is the best of a poor batch. Fortunately, all this only took me 15 minutes, as the rain at the shore was becoming more or less horizontal. Happy is the man who finds his target bird along with a couple of snipes. 

The quarter-hour list:

13 species
Mute Swan  50
Gadwall  5
Eurasian Wigeon  1     
American Wigeon  50
Mallard  10
Hooded Merganser  1
Ruddy Duck  75
American Coot  60
Wilson's Snipe  2     
Ring-billed Gull  5
American Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  20
Great Blue Heron  1

Wild Turkey Fun Fact

 I have to start examining my lawn more carefully. According to an article in the latest Audubon Magazine, the poop of a tom turkey is J-shaped, while that of a hen turkey is more of a spiral. I asked my informant about that this morning, and he confirmed that it was true and was, in fact, one of the ways he used to track turkeys back in his hunting days. We started to speculate as to why males and females would extrude different shapes but quickly decided that it was subject we didn't want to pursue.

Tom turkey in our backyard.

Double Trouble SP 11/6--Vesper Sparrow

The sandy trails around the back bogs at Double Trouble are often a good place for sparrows in the fall--they pick at the seeds that fall from the overhanging vegetation. Today though, it was pretty quiet there, as were the reservoir and the two now overgrown bogs. It wasn't until I was halfway down the middle path that I saw a couple of sparrows ahead. The glare was intense, so I was at a disadvantage, but with my bins I could tell that one was another Song Sparrow, but the other was "interesting." You can almost never get very close to feeding sparrows, so I crept up a few steps and took a few pictures of the duo for comparison later, and then a few pictures of the interesting sparrow solo. I could tell that it had a big eye ring--like a whitewall tire, and when eventually it flew into the bog, I saw a flash of white outer tail feathers. I had a feeling that it was a Vesper Sparrow, (eye ring, white outer tail feathers) but not having seen one in a couple of years, I waited until I got home and could blow up my photos on the computer. And yes: Year Bird, Patch Bird.  

With Song Sparrow

Having fulfilled the "one cool bird a day" requirement, I didn't mind that the rest of the list was pretty pedestrian--after all, I was walking. 

The sparse list:

21 species
Canada Goose  15
American Black Duck  2
Bald Eagle  2     Immatures on power line towers seen from Mill Pond
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  26     Flyover Sweetwater Bogs
Common Raven  1     Croaking flyover
Carolina Chickadee  3
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
Winter Wren  1
Eastern Bluebird  2
American Robin  2
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  3
White-throated Sparrow  6
Vesper Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1

Red-headed Woodpecker Behavior

Red-headed Woodpecker

You learn something new every day. Most of it is not worth knowing. This is:

I was at Colliers Mills this morning, and as I do almost every time I go, I headed first to the woods north of Success Road to look for Red-headed Woodpeckers. They aren't hard to find, usually, though sometimes I have to cheat and play a recording of their "queer!" cry. Today, though, I was just standing at the edge of the woods when I heard a pecking above me and there was a beautiful adult (they breed there so sometimes you get a motley juvenile) on the side of a thin, dead tree. Its head was lit up brilliantly by the rising sun. And when I took my camera off my shoulder and it slid around out of sight, I realized I had to add to the Laws of Birding:

    #7 No matter where you stand, the woodpecker is always on the other side of the tree.

The woodpecker played hide and seek with me for a few minutes and then came around to where I could see the majority of its body and in its beak was an acorn. Where did that come from? It could only be a cache. I didn't know that Red-headed Woodpeckers store food like Acorn Woodpeckers but looking it up I found that they do so and more elaborately and with more varied foods than the western species. 

Red-headed Woodpeckers are not social like Acorn Woodpeckers. They defend their cache vigorously and instead of having an open granary like Acorns Woodpeckers, they stuff little bits of wood in the hole where they've wedged the acorn (or other tree nut, or even an insect) in order to hide it. I remember out west seeing trees and even utility poles, stuffed with hundreds of acorns. The cover up with bits of wood explains why I've never seen a similar sight at Colliers Mills all the years I've been going there. Also, since it is not a family enterprise as it is with Acorn Woodpeckers, the behavior is much less obvious. Granted, I'm not the most observant naturalist, but this is the first time in 14 years of going to Colliers Mills that I've ever seen this species with food in its beak. Pretty cool, at least it seems to me. 

Red-tailed Hawk

This was my second day in a row at Colliers Mills. Yesterday was one of the rare days that I missed the Red-headed Woodpecker, but then, I didn't look until late in the morning. I spent a lot of time the last two days scoping the wetlands of Borden's Mill Branch, which is a good spot for shorebirds. Scott had told me that he'd had a Long-billed Dowitcher there and since I've never had an LBDO at Colliers, I wanted to add it to my patch list. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it over the two days, but I did get Pectoral Sandpipers (rare for the date), lots of Killdeers, and both yellowlegs, as well as today, a big flock of Rusty Blackbirds feeding on the mudflats. When everything got up and flew off, I looked around and saw a big lump in a leafless tree which resolved itself into a Red-tailed Hawk. That's explains it.

I've also been flushing up can't count 'em Ring-necked Pheasants there. I don't like to anthropomorphize, but I feel bad for them. They look perplexed standing on the path near the Police Shooting Range--bred to be shot and yet somehow still here.

34 species
Canada Goose  8
Wood Duck  7
Green-winged Teal  2     Borden’s Mill Branch wetlands
Ring-necked Pheasant  2      Hens
Killdeer  25
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Pectoral Sandpiper  2     
Turkey Vulture  4
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1     East side of Colliers Mill Lake
Red-headed Woodpecker  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  8
Blue Jay  10
American Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  25
Eastern Bluebird  6
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  100
House Finch  5
American Goldfinch  2
Dark-eyed Junco  10
White-throated Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  8
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Rusty Blackbird  24     Exact count of those on mudflats

Yellow-rumped Warbler   15

Northern Cardinal   1

Ring-necked Pheasants--"They can't see us here!"

Whitesbog 11/3--Purple Finch

Because it looked like the rain was coming in from the south and east, I went over to Whitesbog this morning hoping to avoid the green on the radar and walk in the light blue. It started to drizzle as soon as I got there but the rain never really became more than an annoyance, and I was rewarded with some infrequently recorded birds like the duo of Rusty Blackbirds I saw at the back of Union Pond through the raindrops on my bins. 

I was slightly surprised to find a small flock of Pectoral Sandpipers still lingering on Union Pond alongside a little conclave of Killdeer, but sparrows were the family of the day with large numbers of White-throated Sparrows, along with Swamp, Song, Savannah, and Dark-eyed Juncos. It was in the village that I got my first year-bird of the month. I was looking into the brush across from the Garden Bog which was full of the above sparrows. I started Merlin to see if any of the flitting birds was anything different from what I was seeing and heard a ticking sound above me--just as I was saying to myself that that sounds interesting, Purple Finch popped up on the app. The proverbial "calling flyover." It seems to me it used to be easier to find Purple Finch around here--it is, after all the native finch unlike its House Finch relative, but I go great lengths of time between sightings (or hearings). They used to come, occasionally, to our feeders, but it's been years since that's happened, so I'll take the little ticking in the sky and be happy.

Franklinia altamaha in autumn

When I'm in the village I almost always stop by the big Franklinia tree up the road a bit from the general store. There are actually 3 examples of this tree in Whitesbog but the others 2--one by the general store itself and the other behind Elizabeth White's house--are pretty scrawny examples, while this tree is full and robust. 

The Franklinia tree has an interesting story. It was discovered in Georgia around 1765 by the great Philadelphia father-and-son botanists John and William Bartram. William brought back seeds of the tree and eventually was able to propagate the tree in their Philadelphia garden. Over the years he returned for more seeds but on trip could no longer find the stand of trees (which was only found in one, limited location on the Altamaha River) and by the early 1800's the tree was extinct in the wild. Various reasons for its demise in the wild have been put forth, including fire, flood, and overcollection--sound familiar?  In any case, all the trees that now grow (at one count there were only around 2000 of them worldwide) are descended from the seeds Bartram collected in the late 18th Century. The name of the tree is derived from Benjamin Franklin who was a great friend of John Bartram. In the summer, in bloom, it is a striking tree with large, cup-like flowers that have creamy petals and with golden-yellow stamens. Interestingly, I almost never see birds in it, and, in the summer, hummingbirds seem to pass it by. 

Flower

In summer

The rain stopped after about an hour and I managed to list 36 species on the bogs, Ditch Meadow, and in the Village.

Mallard  15
Green-winged Teal  4     Fenwick Bogs
Ring-necked Duck  2
Mourning Dove  3
Killdeer  7
Pectoral Sandpiper  6
Great Blue Heron  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Northern Harrier  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Hairy Woodpecker  1     Heard Village
Northern Flicker  3
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  3
Carolina Chickadee  6
Tufted Titmouse  6
Tree Swallow  6     Over Fenwick Bogs
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  1
Northern Mockingbird  1     Heard village
Eastern Bluebird  4
Hermit Thrush  3
American Robin  100
House Finch  5
Purple Finch  1   
American Goldfinch  1
Dark-eyed Junco  3
White-throated Sparrow  30
Savannah Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  10
Swamp Sparrow  3
Rusty Blackbird  2    
Yellow-rumped Warbler  6
Northern Cardinal  2

October Wrap-up--An Uneventful Month

You, if you're paying attention to these notes, could probably figure out that not much birding-wise was going on for me in October. It wasn't until Scott's Island Beach trip at the end of the month that I added any year birds to the list and they weren't exactly crippling looks--a flyover American Pipit at Johnnie Allen's Cove and a couple of distant Parasitic Jaegers chasing gulls out over the ocean during a sea watch--the kinds of sightings I'll only get on a trip with better eyes ears and more patience than I have. 

Even the county birds for the month were merely check marks--I finally found a previously reported Common Gallinule in the county at Tip Seaman Park in Tuckerton after traipsing up to Lake Unpronounceable 3 or 4 times in the summer without success, and scanning a huge flock of American Oystercatchers at Holgate I came upon a Marbled Godwit I was sure would be there since there always seems to be a Marbled Godwit in the oystercatcher flock in the fall at Holgate, but it was  identifiable only because it wasn't an oystercatcher. 

And that was it for the month. I actually got more armchair birds from eBird splits this month than I did from wandering around beaches and cranberry bogs--Western Warbling Vireo from our various trips out west (eBird assigns our first sighting to Florida Canyon-Lower in Arizona), Little Heron which was split from Striated Heron which was split previously from Green Heron and which we've seen in both South Africa and Australia, and Eurasian Whimbrel which was split from what is now called Hudsonian Whimbrel and which we first sighted on the Cairns Esplanade in Australia and have subsequently seen in Portugal and Spain. There is one other species, apparently, since eBird upped my total by 4, but damned if I can figure out which one it is. Had I been paying attention to sub-species in Puerto Rico and Mexico, I might have added Mangrove Yellow Warbler--actually had I know there was a sub-species I might have made the distinction, but now it simply goes down as a slash Northern Yellow Warbler/Mangrove Yellow Warbler. 

I did take some decent pictures though:

Immature White-Crowned Sparrow, Spizzle Creek

Immature White Ibis & Little Blue Heron, Lighthouse Center

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Island Beach

Eastern Bluebird, Colliers Mills

For the month 127 species restricted to Burlington and Ocean Counties:

Species      First Sighting
Brant   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Canada Goose   Whiting WMA
Mute Swan   Bridge to Nowhere
Wood Duck   Cranberry Bogs
Gadwall   Stanley H. 'Tip' Seaman County Park
Mallard   Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck   Forsythe--Barnegat
Green-winged Teal   Reeves Bogs
Ring-necked Duck   Riverfront Landing
Common Eider   Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter   Holgate
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   Manasquan Inlet
Mourning Dove   Whiting WMA
Common Gallinule   Stanley H. 'Tip' Seaman County Park
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Island Beach SP
Killdeer   Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated Plover   Island Beach SP
Marbled Godwit   Holgate
Short-billed Dowitcher   Island Beach SP
Spotted Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Willet   Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs   Forsythe--Barnegat
Sanderling   Holgate
Dunlin   Cattus Island County Park
White-rumped Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Parasitic Jaeger   Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Ring-billed Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock
American Herring Gull   Manasquan Inlet
Great Black-backed Gull   Manasquan Inlet
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Manasquan Inlet
Pied-billed Grebe   Whitesbog
Horned Grebe   Island Beach SP
Red-throated Loon   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Manasquan Inlet
White Ibis   Lighthouse Center
American Bittern   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron   Forsythe--Barnegat
Tricolored Heron   Forsythe--Barnegat
Snowy Egret   Forsythe--Barnegat
Great Egret   Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
Black Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Turkey Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Osprey   Island Beach SP
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Island Beach SP
Cooper's Hawk   Crestwood Village
Northern Harrier   Island Beach SP
Bald Eagle   Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whiting WMA
Red-tailed Hawk   Manasquan River WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whiting WMA
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Cattus Island County Park
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whiting WMA
Downy Woodpecker   Whiting WMA
Hairy Woodpecker   Reeves Bogs
Northern Flicker   Whiting WMA
Merlin   Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Whiting WMA
White-eyed Vireo   Manasquan River WMA
Blue-headed Vireo   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Blue Jay   Whiting WMA
American Crow   Whiting WMA
Fish Crow   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Common Raven   35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee   Whiting WMA
Tufted Titmouse   Whiting WMA
Tree Swallow   Cedar Bonnet Island
Barn Swallow   Island Beach SP
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Bridge to Nowhere
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Manasquan River WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Whiting WMA
Brown Creeper   Island Beach SP
Northern House Wren   Manasquan River WMA
Winter Wren   Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Lakewood
Gray Catbird   Manasquan River WMA
Brown Thrasher   Reeves Bogs
Northern Mockingbird   Lakewood
Eastern Bluebird   Whiting WMA
Hermit Thrush   Island Beach SP
American Robin   Whiting WMA
Cedar Waxwing   Bridge to Nowhere
House Sparrow   Crestwood Village
American Pipit   Island Beach SP
House Finch   Whiting WMA
American Goldfinch   Whiting WMA
Chipping Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Field Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Dark-eyed Junco   Bridge to Nowhere
White-crowned Sparrow   Island Beach SP
White-throated Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Nelson's Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Savannah Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Song Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Lincoln's Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Swamp Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Eastern Towhee   Whiting WMA
Eastern Meadowlark   Island Beach SP
Red-winged Blackbird   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Common Grackle   Lighthouse Center
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-and-white Warbler   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Common Yellowthroat   Manasquan River WMA
American Redstart   Cranberry Bogs
Northern Parula   Cranberry Bogs
Palm Warbler   Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler   Whiting WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Whiting WMA
Black-throated Green Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Stupid Advice

Carpe diem!

Eat a goldfish every day?

No! Seize the day!

What does that mean?

Live every day as if it's your last.

Oh, so I should be in a hospital bed attached to a monitor with tubes sticking out of my arms and oxygen stuffed up my nose. Thanks. 

September Wrap-up--All Over the Place

The month began with dozens of American Golden Plovers on a sod farm in Burlco and ended with a semi-nemesis bird for Ocean County--2 Pileated Woodpeckers at Colliers Mills (only my second county sighting of this local rarity).  Neither one was a year bird--the plovers were repeats from the last day of August and Shari & I saw two Pileated Woodpeckers at Bombay Hook in August. Still, nice bookends for the month. 

In between those days I ranged farther afield than I usually do in a month--my first trip up to Sandy Hook since New Year's Day, a day at Brig, a couple of forays into Monmouth County, one of them co-leading a field trip with some Brooklyn birders, a few trips over to Island Beach SP--and in all these places, there were rare birds. Of course, it helps that in most of these spots I was with really good birders which always increases your chances of seeing some cool birds. 

Drake & hen Wood Ducks, Cranberry Bogs

As the month wound up, I was walking around Reeves Bogs with my informant and his dog. I guess my mind hadn't made the transition from early fall migration to the end of fall migration, because I said possibly the dumbest thing I've ever said when trying to identify a bird. We saw a warbler flitting around a tree, and we couldn't get good looks at it, but then it flew a little higher and I caught a glimpse of a patch of yellow on its rump. My brain, still living in early September, went into what warblers have yellow-rumps--Magnolia? Cape May? "How about Yellow-rumped Warbler?" my friend said. Yeah, like duh, it's September 28, of course the Yellow-rumps are back! And this is why I am not qualified to lead field trips.

9 year birds in a  month where I tallied 143 species, which is quite a bit more than my usual count this time of year.

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species               First Sighting
Canada Goose   Whitesbog
Mute Swan   Lake Carasaljo
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Northern Shoveler   Brig
Mallard   Whitesbog
American Black Duck   Brig
Northern Pintail   Island Beach SP
Green-winged Teal   Brig
King Eider   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ruddy Duck   Brig
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   Shelter Cove Park
Mourning Dove   Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Lake Carasaljo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Coot   Lake of the Lilies
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-bellied Plover   Sandy Hook
American Golden-Plover   Allen Sod Farms
Killdeer   Allen Sod Farms
Semipalmated Plover   Cattus Island County Park
Short-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Spotted Sandpiper   Double Trouble SP
Solitary Sandpiper   Double Trouble SP
Lesser Yellowlegs   Double Trouble SP
Willet   Sandy Hook
Greater Yellowlegs   Double Trouble SP
Curlew Sandpiper   Brig
Buff-breasted Sandpiper   Reed Sod Farm
Dunlin   Brig
Baird's Sandpiper   Sandy Hook
White-rumped Sandpiper   Sandy Hook
Least Sandpiper   Double Trouble SP
Pectoral Sandpiper   Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Double Trouble SP
Laughing Gull   Cattus Island County Park
American Herring Gull   Shelter Cove Park
Great Black-backed Gull   Sandy Hook
Least Tern   Sandy Hook
Caspian Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Sandy Hook
Royal Tern   Sandy Hook
Pied-billed Grebe   Whitesbog
Eared Grebe   Brig
Common Loon   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Double-crested Cormorant   Whitesbog
White Ibis   Lighthouse Center
Glossy Ibis   Brig
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron   Lighthouse Center
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron   Island Beach SP
Snowy Egret   Cattus Island County Park
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Great Egret   Cattus Island County Park
Great Blue Heron   Whitesbog
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
Black Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Turkey Vulture   Allen Sod Farms
Osprey   Shelter Cove Park
Cooper's Hawk   Sandy Hook
Northern Harrier   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Bald Eagle   Island Beach SP
Red-tailed Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher   Cattus Island County Park
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Cattus Island County Park
Downy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Pileated Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
American Kestrel   Colliers Mills WMA
Merlin   Cedar Bonnet Island
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Say's Phoebe   Sandy Hook
Great Crested Flycatcher   Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo   Double Trouble SP
Warbling Vireo   Lake Carasaljo
Red-eyed Vireo   Double Trouble SP
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Wawa South Toms River
Common Raven   Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse   Whitesbog
Horned Lark   Reed Sod Farm
Tree Swallow   Double Trouble SP
Barn Swallow   Whitesbog
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Island Beach SP
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Double Trouble SP
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog
Northern House Wren   Cranberry Bogs
Marsh Wren   Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren   Whitesbog
European Starling   Shelter Cove Park
Gray Catbird   Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher   Island Beach SP-
Northern Mockingbird   Whitesbog
Eastern Bluebird   Lighthouse Center
American Robin   Cattus Island County Park
Cedar Waxwing   Island Beach SP
House Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow   Whitesbog
Field Sparrow   Sandy Hook
White-throated Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Seaside Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Nelson's Sparrow   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Brig
Savannah Sparrow   Brig
Song Sparrow   Whitesbog
Lincoln's Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Swamp Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog
Bobolink   Cedar Bonnet Island
Baltimore Oriole   Island Beach SP
Red-winged Blackbird   Cranberry Bogs
Brown-headed Cowbird   Sandy Hook
Common Grackle   Double Trouble SP
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Lighthouse Center
Black-and-white Warbler   Assunpink WMA
Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog
American Redstart   Cedar Bonnet Island
Cape May Warbler   Island Beach SP
Magnolia Warbler   Island Beach SP
Bay-breasted Warbler   Island Beach SP
Yellow Warbler   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Blackpoll Warbler   Island Beach SP
Black-throated Blue Warbler   Island Beach SP
Palm Warbler   Whitesbog
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Prairie Warbler   Island Beach SP
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd
Indigo Bunting   Assunpink WMA

Great Bay Blvd 9/29--Nelson's Sparrow

 I went down to the inlet beach at Great Bay Blvd specifically to look for Nelson's Sparrows, a tricky bird to both find and identify. I didn't think I'd find one in the jaws of a German Shorthaired Pointer. 

The dog, which belonged to a fisherman, was running around on the beach and through the marsh grass. There was a time, when I lived in the city, that I was frightened of dogs off leash, but now, aside from German Shepherds which I associate with the Gestapo, I don't mind them. In fact, I was a bit pleased to see the dog rushing through the reeds. Maybe it would flush up a Nelson's, birds that are notorious for running on the ground through the vegetation instead of flying. The tide was hight so there was too much water in the marsh for me to walk through but the dog didn't care. When I was just on the borderline of the Rutgers property, the dog came running by me. I saw a sparrow on the beach running toward the phrags, but the dog blocked its way. It tried to fly back to the beach and the dog maneuvered around and snatched at it with its teeth. The bird headed back to the phrags and then the dog caught it in its mouth. I have never seen a dog catch a bird. Cats yes. But never a dog.

I yelled NO NO, to the dog, but it paid no attention. It ran away with the bird in its mouth. I chased after it at the same I was yelling at its owner that it had just killed a bird. The owner came over and started to explain nature to me. There is no profit in arguing with idiots, so I just let him prattle on, even when he said the dog was supposed to point, no catch. Obviously, he wasn't much of a dog trainer. The dog, by this time, had dropped the sparrow. I pushed its muzzle out of the way and looked at the bird, which was still breathing. Blurry stripes and an orange wash on its mangled breast--a Nelson's. A hell of way to see it. And I confess, my shameful thought was, "It's still alive, I can count it." 

Then the dog picked up the sparrow and ran off with it, dropped it in the mud and then rolled on its back, crushing whatever was left of the bird. It then ran off into the marsh and flushed another sparrow, which flew into the high reeds away from the dog's reach, but not before I was able to glimpse its orange breast--my second Nelson's. 

The gory scene put me in a bad mood. I wasn't much in the mood for birding right then. There was a small group of birders on the beach who happened to be from Chicago--what were they doing there. It seems that their plan had been to go to Brig, but it was inexplicably closed--something about spraying, so they had pivoted to Tuckerton, hoping that the Forsythe site would update and say that the Wildlife Drive was again open. In the meantime, they and I saw a Saltmarsh Sparrow, some pelicans and lots of terns. The shorebirds they were hoping for were not around. The only shorebird I recorded today was a flock of Greater Yellowlegs on a mud bank off the first wooden bridge.  

Immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Driving back up the road I stopped at one of the cedar stands by the first wooden bridge and found both flavors of night-heron, and out in the marsh a single. But as I said, after the murder, my heart really wasn't in it anymore. 

22 species
Mute Swan  1
Mourning Dove  1
Clapper Rail  1
Greater Yellowlegs  41
Laughing Gull  25
American Herring Gull  20
Forster's Tern  50
Double-crested Cormorant  30
White Ibis  14
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  1
Tricolored Heron  1
Snowy Egret  55
Great Egret  100
Great Blue Heron  3
Brown Pelican  7
Tree Swallow  20
European Starling  10
Nelson's Sparrow  2     
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  20

Brig 2/26--Eared Grebe

I met Bob Auster down at Brig this morning to see what the tail end of migration might turn up. Aside from the expected sandpipers and waders, there were two birds that were rarities that we were interested in.  Before Bob got there I met the local guru of birding on the road to the Gull Pond and asked him about the Curlew Sandpiper that has been recorded there for a week or more, though I hadn't seen any listing for yesterday. I had seen one at Bombay Hook last month, but Bob still needed it for the year and besides it would go on my state list for 2025. The guru told me it was still there, at the famous dogleg, though it was hard to tell which side of the cedar tree it would be on. He also let me know that it wouldn't be as easy an i.d. as the one in Delaware, since this was a juvenile, lacking the red wash on the head and breast--in good light you could see a little bit of buff coloring, but nothing dramatic. 

American Avocets (5 breaks the eBird filter)

Bob also got the same intel when he arrived as I was walking in the woods. We met up and started down at the Gull Pond where there was a big flock of Wood Ducks, always a happy sight, and a few Caspian Terns flying around. Once we got onto the Wildlife Drive proper, we saw dozens of egrets--both great and snowy--and the first Glossy Ibises I'd seen this month. Our first big flock of shorebirds, up around GM 4, was mostly Semipalmated Sandpiper with a few White-rumped Sandpipers and a Pectoral Sandpiper. We didn't linger there too long--I suppose if we had, a Western Sandpiper might have been found. 

We continued on, with the number of egrets reaching ridiculous territory, until we got the dogleg and began in earnest to look for the Curlew Sandpiper. It actually didn't take Bob long to find it, while I was scanning ducks (I like ducks), but it was pretty far away. The scopes showed it to be our target, but we couldn't 100% rule out a Dunlin at the that distance. Fortunately, on the other side of the cedar, much closer to the road, the flock that was on the distant sandbar upped and flew over to join some other shorebirds in the cut, and among them was the Curlew Sandpiper, with the buff wash evident and the right curve to the bill. 

Tricolored Heron

I hadn't been paying as much attention to the rare bird reports as Bob, so I was surprised to hear that the grebes I had seen vaguely described, had turned out to be Eared Grebes, a rarity any time in NJ and really early in September. I was also surprised to hear that they weren't in the bay but in the Northwest Pool, where the phalaropes had been frolicking this year. We drove over there and started scoping a huge flock of ducks (I like ducks), mostly Northern Shovelers, with Ruddy Ducks mixed in. Bob found a grebe and then it dove and Bob found another grebe and then it dove and I was lucky, I saw one grebe, with a black cap and white cheek and then it dove and this game of Whack-a-Grebe went on for about a half hour. Had I not known that those grebes were Eared Grebes, I wouldn't have been able to tell you with certainty that they weren't Horned Grebes, but since Horned Grebes had not been reported then by default, they became Eared Grebes. Not very satisfying but then an Eared Grebe, in basic plumage, is only interesting because it isn't supposed to be here. Had it been a life bird I'd be reluctant to list it (though I probably still would have), or even had it been a state bird, or even a county bird, but it wasn't and so it's on the list for the year. 

For the day we had 59 species, not terrible, not great. Not a single warbler did we find and not an Osprey in sight. 

Our list:

Canada Goose  60
Mute Swan  35
Wood Duck  30
Northern Shoveler  50     50+
Mallard  40
American Black Duck  10
Green-winged Teal  40
Ruddy Duck  4     Dogleg and NW pool. 4+
Clapper Rail  2
American Avocet  5     Exact count
Black-bellied Plover  1
Semipalmated Plover  5
Lesser Yellowlegs  10
Greater Yellowlegs  5
Curlew Sandpiper  1     
Dunlin  2
White-rumped Sandpiper  10
Least Sandpiper  2
Pectoral Sandpiper  3
Semipalmated Sandpiper  350
Laughing Gull  200
American Herring Gull  100
Caspian Tern  6
Forster's Tern  30
Eared Grebe  2     
Double-crested Cormorant  100
White Ibis  4     Immature
Glossy Ibis  4
Tricolored Heron  1
Snowy Egret  75
Great Egret  200
Great Blue Heron  7
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay  8
American Crow  3
Common Raven  1     Croaking
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  250
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Marsh Wren  1
Carolina Wren  3
European Starling  4
Gray Catbird  4
American Robin  1
American Goldfinch  5
Chipping Sparrow  10
Seaside Sparrow  1
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  2
Bobolink  2
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Boat-tailed Grackle  5

Political Problem

When I first saw this sticker on the back window of a truck at Wells Mills Park, I chuckled. Then I felt uneasy because I couldn't tell whether it was ironic or sincere.

(For the uninitiated, a Piney is a resident of the Pine Barrens, sort of New Jersey's version of a hillbilly.)