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