Cedar Bonnet Island | Barnegat Lighthouse SP 5/11--Least Tern, Cedar Waxwing

Least Tern

I returned this morning to Cedar Bonnet Island despite the blustery weather. It's days like this, cool, windy, wet, that make the cliche about going directly from winter to summer without a spring inevitable. I didn't think much would be around and I was right, but I did, finally, break a 4-month 10-day streak of not seeing a Cedar Waxwing. A half dozen flew overhead and this time low enough for me to count them. Not the ideal look for what is my favorite bird, but after 130 days, I'll take it. 

A portion of the flock roosting on the beach

Cedar Bonnet was just a quick walk on the way to Barnegat Lighthouse SP. This time of year the pool area is stringed off for breeding Piping Plovers and Least Terns and I wanted to see the terns. Fortunately, the wind died down and so the supposed real feel of 41 degrees didn't seem too onerous. As I walked along the dunes down to the beach, I could hear the terns, but none of them seemed to be around until suddenly, about halfway down, they started making an appearance, first as one or two but by the time I reached the ocean, dozens upon dozens were roosting on the beach, their back turned toward the wind. I saw a count of 66 yesterday, and I thought, when I saw a flock take off from the beach, that there must be at least 100, but the eBird filter balks at more than fifty. This looks like it is going to be a major breeding colony, much larger than the one up by the Shark River inlet in Belmar. It's an impressive sight and a hopeful sign. I also saw a couple of the Piping Plovers and a half dozen American Oystercatchers which also take advantage of the protected area. Surprisingly, I only saw one Forster's Tern and no Common Terns, which I was also hoping for. Purple Sandpipers, a park specialty, are still hanging in; Harlequin Ducks long gone. 

The Barnegat Lighthouse list:

36 species
Brant  85
Mallard  2
American Black Duck  2     Pool
Black Scoter  20
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
American Oystercatcher  6
Semipalmated Plover  1
Piping Plover  2
Willet  1
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Ruddy Turnstone  6
Sanderling  25
Purple Sandpiper  20
Laughing Gull  10
American Herring Gull  15
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1
Least Tern  50     50+
Forster's Tern  1
Common Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  20
Great Egret  1
Osprey  2
Fish Crow  1
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  3
House Sparrow  4
House Finch  1
Song Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
Common Yellowthroat  3
Northern Cardinal  1

Great Egret in full breeding plumage