Pemberton Lake | PPA | BC Fairgrounds 2/15--Wood Duck, Northern Pintail, American Kestrel, White-crowned Sparrow

American Kestrel
BC Fairgrounds

A Sunday morning in Burlco. I very often spend Sunday mornings at Reeve's Bogs, but since the great freeze over of 2026, that place is pretty much inaccessible, so I decided to try some Burlco spots that were yielding interesting reports. 

I started off at Pemberton Lake. No surprise that it was 75% frozen, but there was open water in the back and with my scope I was able to find a few ducks among the 100 or so Canada Geese. The first year bird for the day was a drake Wood Duck--it had been so long since I had seen one and it was so distant, that it took a moment for me to realize what I had in the scope. Next in view was a gorgeous drake Redhead, rare in county, and then the expected Mallards and a couple of Ring-necked Ducks. I ended my sweep when I got to a Bald Eagle on the ice, chowing down on a goose carcass. Swinging back, I came across a couple of Northern Pintails dabbling and a hen Lesser Scaup, fairly unusual for that spot. 

Then I drove over to the PPA--technically now the Pinelands Alliance Headquarters since they recently changed the name of the organization--where the walking was a little difficult, but where I found what I was looking for--a White-crowned Sparrow right in the brush where I parked the car. I tried for pictures, but the camera focused on the twigs the bird was behind. I also enjoyed a huge flock of Snow Geese that flew overhead--at least 150. 

Then it was on to the BC Fairgrounds. After not finding a Rough-legged Hawk 3 times in Ocean County, I thought maybe I would bump into the one reported there yesterday. But if not, I was fairly confident that I would see an American Kestrel there and I was right--after parking the car, I plunked down the scope, focused on the weather station at the back of the field, and there midway up the tower was the kestrel. That's a lot easier than cruising the roads of New Egypt, looking for one, which is what I spent part of yesterday morning doing. 

I scanned every stand of trees in the field and could not come up with the desired buteo. I took a long walk around the grounds, found one Northern Harrier and some usual land birds and when I returned to the car, about 45 minutes later, I saw a small bird in one of the trees. I thought the kestrel had moved. I got out the scope again and the small bird had turned into a large hawk. Could this be the rough-legged? It was really distant and the light was murky (as you can see from the picture of the kestrel) and I went back and forth on the identification, leaving it open until I got home where I could blow up the crappy photos I took.  I have been fooled more than once by a Red-tailed Hawk there when I wanted a rough-legged and today was the same story. And the small bird? My photos revealed that it had been a Norther Flicker that had to make way for the red-tail when the hawk decided that of all the branches in those woods, the branch the flicker was on was the one it wanted.

29 Species for the day.

Species           Location

Snow Goose    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Canada Goose    Pemberton Lake WMA

Wood Duck    Pemberton Lake WMA

Mallard    Pemberton Lake WMA

Northern Pintail    Pemberton Lake WMA

Redhead    Pemberton Lake WMA

Ring-necked Duck    Pemberton Lake WMA

Lesser Scaup    Pemberton Lake WMA

Mourning Dove    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Ring-billed Gull    BC Fairgrounds

Turkey Vulture    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Northern Harrier    BC Fairgrounds

Bald Eagle    Pemberton Lake WMA

Red-tailed Hawk    BC Fairgrounds

Red-bellied Woodpecker    Pemberton Lake WMA

Northern Flicker    BC Fairgrounds

American Kestrel    BC Fairgrounds

Blue Jay    Pemberton Lake WMA

American Crow    Pemberton Lake WMA

Tufted Titmouse    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

European Starling    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Eastern Bluebird    BC Fairgrounds

American Robin    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

House Sparrow    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Dark-eyed Junco    BC Fairgrounds

White-crowned Sparrow    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

White-throated Sparrow    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Song Sparrow    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters

Common Grackle    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters