Manahawkin WMA 5/4--White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis, fifth from left

 A hard bird to distinguish, I was lucky today to be with two good birders while surveying a flock of about 175 Glossy Ibis in the first impoundment at Manahawkin. The ibises were very skittish, flying in and out of the pool, going over the road to the Forsythe property where they would bury themselves in the reeds. Eventually though, and fairly close in, D. found a White-faced Ibis, one of the two that had been reported there yesterday. And unlike most White-faced Ibis, this one was obvious, with red legs, a big red eyeball, and significant white around the face. Last year, when there were four of these birds in the same impoundment, I spent a couple of hours with J. (who was also there), looking through the ibis flock up against the reeds on the opposite shore and finally was able to convince myself that one of them was a White-faced Ibis. Today I had no qualms. It is a pretty amazing turnabout that now, White-faced Ibis is rarer in New Jersey than White Ibis. Years ago, I found one White Ibis at Manahawkin and the birders came a-running. Today, they'd just shrug and say, "Yeah, I saw 15 of them at Spizzle Creek." 

Enlarged & cropped

It was a blustery March day on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth etc.), cloudy, windy, cold, and then, after I started to walk up to Hilliard, it started to rain, so I had to turn around before I could complete my route. Thus, a short list. But the "one cool bird a day" requirement was fulfilled. 

29 species
Mute Swan  2
Mallard  3
Green-winged Teal  2     Back impoundment
Solitary Sandpiper  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  30     Close estimate. Most in back impoundment
Willet  2
Greater Yellowlegs  5
Least Sandpiper  10
American Herring Gull  5
Forster's Tern  10
Glossy Ibis  175
White-faced Ibis  1     
Little Blue Heron  1
Tricolored Heron  4
Snowy Egret  5
Great Egret  10
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  1
Gray Catbird  1
American Robin  1
Seaside Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  3
Orchard Oriole  2
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Common Yellowthroat  3

Yellow Warbler  2