Barnegat Lighthouse SP 6/18--Roseate Tern

Roseate Tern

The weather didn't look promising this morning, but I'd already decided to go to Barnegat Lighthouse SP where some interesting terns have been reported the last few days. The park can be a little difficult to bird once it has been cordoned off for the nesting birds (skimmers, oystercatchers, Piping Plovers, Least Terns) because the pool beyond the strings is only visible through breaks in the dunes. Walking the narrow corridor between the jetty and dunes I did see the Piping Plovers scurrying around and the oystercatchers running along the beach, but the pool itself didn't seem to hold much beyond gulls. 

Brants

I did find a rarity though--2 summering Brants were loafing near the jetty. As someone who doesn't like to travel, my sympathy was with them. I can just imagine one saying to the other, "Do you really want to fly all the way up to the Arctic, stay a few weeks, and then come all the way back here? For what? The hell with propagating our genes, let's stay here and eat eelgrass." 

Meanwhile, the air was getting milkier as I got closer to the ocean. I'd already given up on finding the rare terns and was just hoping that I'd see a pelican before the air got too tense. Using my scope, I could barely make out a big flock of Black Scoters beyond the old 8th Street jetty--a few Black Scoters in summer is not unusual, but this big a flock broke, around 25, broke the eBird filter. Turning around, I saw some gulls sitting on the beach and just beyond them the first stationary terns of the day--lots had been flying around, including some aggressive Least Terns. Turning my scope to them I immediately saw the tern I'd come for--a Roseate Tern with 6 or 7 Common Terns and a couple of Least Terns. Roseate Tern is a hard bird for me to find--this is only my third sighting. I've probably overlooked them lots of times, since they're so similar to Common Terns--their roseate blush is subtle to say the least. In my photos I can see a hint of it, but through the scope it didn't show. What alerted me to the possibility was an unfamiliar tern call. I played the call and thought that it might match what I'd heard from a bird flying overhead, but I certainly wasn't about to list a bird on that basis. There have been as many as 7 Roseate Terns reported there the last couple of days, and in the now dense fog, I thought I might have seen a second, but I dast not approach any closer, less I flush them. As it was, after a few minutes and a few photos through the scrim, they flew off toward the ocean. Which I could no longer see. Nor could I see the jetty from where I stood, nor could I see more than about 50 feet south of me. I looked at my scope and just laughed. 

Black Skimmer

Fortunately, as I walked away from the water, visibility improved. I never did see a pelican but logged 39 species in the gloaming. 

Brant  2     
Mallard  2
Black Scoter  25     
Mourning Dove  3
American Oystercatcher  7
Piping Plover  5
Willet  3
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1     Stringed off area
Laughing Gull  30
American Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Black Skimmer  2
Least Tern  7
Common Tern  25
Roseate Tern  1     
Double-crested Cormorant  11
Glossy Ibis  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  1
Snowy Egret  1
Osprey  1
Willow Flycatcher  1     Heard dunes
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  1     Heard parking lot
Fish Crow  3
Carolina Chickadee  1     Heard parking lot
Barn Swallow  2
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  15
House Finch  4
Song Sparrow  5
Eastern Towhee  1
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Boat-tailed Grackle  4
Common Yellowthroat  2
Yellow Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  3

Bermuda 6/11-6/13--Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Common Gallinule, WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD, Great Kiskadee

WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRDS

 Given that

            I hate airports and airplanes

And given that

           Shari wants to go on vacation

We took a cruise to Bermuda that left out of Bayonne. I had a friend whose theory was that anyplace can be interesting for three days, and that's how many days we had on Bermuda. I knew going in that it wasn't a very birdy island--my brother told me that Bermuda has a "depauperate flora and fauna"--but there was one life bird in the offing, and it seemed we were going at the right season to see it. (The endemic Bermuda Petrel [Cahow], of which there are only about 500, is mainly crepuscular and nocturnal and is rarely seen from land.) We did, however, arrange one day of birding with a local guide. 

I was hoping that during the days at sea I might see shearwaters, petrels, and the like, but the two days on the North Atlantic Ocean going out were devoid of any avian activity. It was the longest time since I've been paying attention that I've gone without seeing a bird and quite possibly the longest time since I was an infant. 

There isn't a lot for me to do on a ship--the weather was fine yet windy and chilly so I wasn't inclined to sunbathe or use the pool--but our balcony (the company called it a "verandah") was protected from the wind and there was a certain mesmerizing quality to just sitting there staring at the "wide, wide sea," which was the name of the book I read on the trip, a history of Captain Cook's third and fatal voyage. 

My parents used to take a lot of cruises and now I can see why my father always came back 20 pounds heavier. Food is everywhere and constant ("Anyone for Midnight Pizza?") and looking at my fellow passengers I can see why GLP-1 drugs are such a thing now. I would estimate the avoirdupois of the 3000 paying customers equaled the tonnage of the ship itself.  

On Wednesday morning, as we were entering the old Royal Dockyard, I went up on deck and scanned the sky for birds and the first ones I saw had long streamer tails and just like that I had my life bird, the WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD. I texted Shari down in the stateroom and she saw them from a different vantage point. They weren't hard to find. During the three days we were there they were a constant presence overhead anytime you were near water, and since Bermuda is, at its widest point, a mile and a half across, we were always near water.

Great Kiskadee, Spittal Pond

We disembarked and headed directly to the old English fort, hewn from limestone. As we were walking there, we heard call we were familiar with from Texas and Mexico. There on one of the ramparts of the fort was a Great Kiskadee. Kiskadees are not native to the island. They were brought there to control the three types of anoles that were brought to Bermuda, two by accident, one deliberately to control the fruit fly population but then became a pest, like the other two lizards. The kiskadees were successful in their efforts but now have turned their attention to the endemic Bermuda Skink, which they are also successfully eradicating. You'd think that the lesson would be learned. You'd think that, but you'd be wrong.

We stopped into the museum inside the fort and got a general overview of Bermuda's history--it had no indigenous population before it was colonized in 1609 after it was discovered by shipwrecked sailors who thought there was plenty to eat there, if you like Cahows. And now you know why the Bermuda Petrel's population is either the second or third smallest avian population. 

Walking up a ramp we could walk around the top of the walls of the fort and looking down into the crevices between the huge limestone blocks we saw a tropicbird enter a nest. There are, according to a plaque, 20 nests in those walls. Also atop the wall were Killdeer. They were the only shorebird species we were to see there and of course they are shorebirds in name only. What we didn't know about Bermuda is that Red Junglefowl (chickens) run loose everywhere. Unfortunately, unlike Key West where eBird lists them as "provisional" they are not countable in Bermuda. But they are amusing. 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

That evening we took a ferry across the harbor to Hamilton where there was a street festival going on featuring a troupe of gombeys, traditional Bermuda dancers and drummers. Skulking along the edge of the harbor wall was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron which was not in the least intimidated by the crowds, the noise, or the flashing lights. In fact, when we got back on the boat, the heron was standing on the roof, eating popcorn that was thrown up to it. 

Common Gallinule, Spittal Pond

The next day was our birding day. We met our guide and 9 AM and she took us a 40 minute drive to what is probably the main and best birding spot on the island, Spittal Pond, which is a brackish pond near the ocean on the south side of the island. It encompasses five of the six Bermudian habitats, with only "beach" being absent. In the pond we saw Snowy Egrets, Green Heron, Mallards (another "naturalized" bird) and our first Common Gallinules of the year. Climbing up a rather steep path through the woods we came out to limestone cliffs overlooking the ocean, an area called "the checkerboard" because of the deep, straight horizontal and vertical fissures in the rocks that have been carved by eons of waves washing over them. Here again we were treated to 20 or 25 tropicbirds whizzing by and visiting their nests in the openings between the rocks. They make a screech reminiscent of the Common Tern. 

We drove around to the northern end of the island to the airport where there is a retention pond that reminded Shari of Marshall's Pond in Toms River. It was a little smaller and not full of bottles and effluvia, but the comparison was apt. Here we added American Coot and Great Egret to our Bermuda list. 

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Our guide, Lynn, is friendly with the manager of the Port Royal Golf Club, which is one of eight on the island and the only public one. We drove there because for the last week or so a rarity was being seen, on and off. She called her friend after we gave a cursory look and he said he'd take a drive down to let her know. When we got to the parking lot above the 17th hole, he drove up in his golf cart and confirmed that 9 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were in the pond there. He offered us a ride, which Shari, having climbed up and over rocks and cliffs during the day took him up on, while Lynn & I walked, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. I can't ever remember birding a golf course--they have a reputation for being bird-free zones due to their manicuring and heavy pesticide use, but this golf club seemed to be a bit more natural than others I have seen. The grass in places was scraggly, the grounds were rolling hills, and there were big stands of trees all around. The 17th hole pond, as promised did have the 9 goofy whistling ducks, as well as about 50 Mallards, a chicken, a Yellow-crowned Night-heron, and, the only gull we saw in Bermuda, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, standing on the green. According to Lynn, they don't see very many gulls, the water there being relatively nutrient free, which is why it is so clear, thus nothing for smaller prey to eat, thus nothing for gulls to eat. The ban on fast food franchises also limits the dietary choices of gulls. 

The third day we didn't do any birding, though White-tailed Tropicbirds were a constant. Instead, we took a 5-hour tour of the island, top to bottom. For our little sojourn, we had only 21 species, but a lifer and whistling ducks were certainly worth the trip. 

Species    First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck    Port Royal GC #17 Pond
Mallard    Spittal Pond NR
Rock Pigeon    Dockyard
Mourning Dove    Dockyard
Common Gallinule    Spittal Pond NR
American Coot    Airport Pond
Killdeer    Dockyard
Lesser Black-backed Gull    Port Royal GC #17 Pond
WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD    Dockyard
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Front Street, Hamilton 
Snowy Egret    Spittal Pond NR
Green Heron    Spittal Pond NR
Great Egret    Spittal Pond NR
Great Kiskadee    Dockyard
White-eyed Vireo    Spittal Pond NR
American Crow    Spittal Pond NR
Barn Swallow    Spittal Pond NR
European Starling    Dockyard
Gray Catbird    Spittal Pond NR
House Sparrow    Dockyard
Northern Cardinal    Spittal Pond NR

Brig 6/5--Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Perhaps if I paid more attention to the rare bird alerts that pour into my inbox, I would have gone to Brig yesterday and seen the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that was putting on a show in the field across from Jen's Trail. But I only heard about yesterday when I was walking in Double Trouble and ran into a birder I know who'd gone to see it the previous day. Because today, despite checking the field 5 times, I came up empty. June tends to be a dull month, so I was willing to drive down there for the diversion, and, as it happens, Jen's Trail is my turnaround point when I do my early morning walk there from the Gull Pond, so it was all fitting together, except for the not finding the bird. (And then, of course, when I got home this afternoon, I saw two reports from people who did see the bird today, but both were scope looks of the flycatcher flying along the distant tree line and that didn't seem very satisfactory.) 

After the third check of the field, my attention then turned to finding something, anything, new for the year. There were easily a thousand Semipalmated Sandpipers spread out on the flats and had I patience enough, I'm certain I could have scoped them and picked out a White-rumped Sandpiper or 5, but that resembles work, so I looked for something easier. At Goose Marker 5 there is usually a sandbar that attracts terns and skimmers and today there were a few on it but nothing to add to the year list. I walked over the inlet side and checked out the Ruddy Turnstones and when I went back to the car, gave another look at the sandbar and saw that in the last 2 minutes, a Gull-billed Tern had miraculously risen out of the sand and was posing for me. 

And that was it. I found two more Gull-billed Terns at the northeast corner, where the Common Terns hang out, and nothing new. I check out the Scissor-tail field driving around and then again on my second loop. It was full of birds--Killdeer, Eastern Kingbird, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, even a displaying Wild Turkey tom, but not the bird I wanted. It was far out along the tree line and I never thought to scope.

63 species
Canada Goose  75
Mute Swan  2
Mallard  4
Ruddy Duck  21     Exact count GM 6
Wild Turkey  1     
Mourning Dove  4
Clapper Rail  3
Killdeer  2
Semipalmated Plover  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  4
Willet  25
Ruddy Turnstone  15
Least Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1000
Laughing Gull  150
American Herring Gull  10
Great Black-backed Gull  4
Black Skimmer  11
Least Tern  8
Gull-billed Tern  3     
Forster's Tern  10
Common Tern  1
Double-crested Cormorant  12
Glossy Ibis  10
Snowy Egret  4
Great Egret  8
Great Blue Heron  3
Osprey  10
Bald Eagle  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Willow Flycatcher  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  4
Eastern Kingbird  5
White-eyed Vireo  3
American Crow  5
Fish Crow  1
Common Raven  1     Upland. Seen & heard
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  5
Purple Martin  30
Barn Swallow  1
Northern House Wren  2
Marsh Wren  3
Carolina Wren  2
Gray Catbird  12
American Robin  5
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  2
Seaside Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  6
Eastern Towhee  2
Orchard Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  75
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Ovenbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  7
Yellow Warbler  2
Northern Cardinal  2
Blue Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  5