Stafford Forge WMA 12/26--Trumpeter Swan

A few days ago, Trumpeter Swan popped up on my Rare Bird Alerts for Ocean County. With no photos attached and an unhelpful "This is a Trumpeter Swan" in the details box, my reaction was "Yeah, right."  The site, Stafford Forge WMA, often has Tundra Swans in the lake and since there has never been a Trumpeter Swan in Ocean (in fact, the only accepted records in NJ for Trumpeters that I know of were the birds at Assunpink that showed up for about 10 consecutive years, though not this year), I assumed it was a misidentification. It happens all the time. Last year someone swore he had 20 Trumpeters in Burlington County. They were Tundras. There have been reports of a Trumpeter at Whitesbog. I've gone to look--Tundra. 

But yesterday some pictures showed up on the alerts from birders I respect and the bird, an immature one, looked pretty good for Trumpeter. This morning, I drove down there and almost immediately found the bird in question, near 4 Mute Swans. Everything about the swan looked good for Trumpeter--a triangular, canvasback-like bill, a V at the base of the bill where it meets the head, pink at the base, black at the tip, a thick neck --save for the fact that it looked small. Trumpeter Swans are about the same size at Mute Swans. Tundra Swans are smaller. Compared to the Mute Swans this swan was, if anything, intermediate between them and a Tundra Swan. I was hoping that this wasn't an Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds situation, where everybody sees what they want to see. If I’d encountered this bird with no expectations, I probably would have assumed Tundra because it appeared on the smaller side. After checking references at home, I learned that Trumpeter cygnets don’t attain adult proportions until their second summer. Understanding that explained the apparent discrepancy, and I felt comfortable identifying it as a Trumpeter—a year bird and, even better, a life county bird.

Cranberry Bogs 6/21--Yellow-breasted Chat

Unexpected rarity, unexpected year bird.  On summer weekends, I misanthropically try to go to places where there aren't dog walkers, fishermen, beach lollers, children, strollers, hikers, runners...places like the cranberry bogs in South Toms River where only the occasional moron on an ATV or dirt bike can be found (and that's late in the morning since they're lazy bums too), where I can see and hear the birds undisturbed. As I got out of the car, I heard a Blue Grosbeak singing, so I had the notion it might be a good morning. When I got over the hill, I could hear it singing loud and I determined that I wanted to track it down. It took about 5 minutes, and I had to descend into the borrow pit, but I eventually found it atop a pine tree. 

Then, as I usually do, I walked over to the site where buildings stood until a year ago when they were torn down. It was a cacophony of bird song--House Wren, cardinal, Blue Jay, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Mourning Doves cooing, but in that mélange of sound I heard a discordant "Blatt, blatt, blatt!" I opened up Merlin to check if I was hearing right, but I didn't really need to, because those noises were followed by more churrs, chips, and shrieks, and Merlin "confirmed" that there was a Yellow-breasted Chat in the vicinity. Chats are notorious skulkers. Usually, you're satisfied if you hear one and perhaps catch a glimpse of it buried deep in a bush. I didn't have much hope for locating it, but I did have the recording for proof. Still, I looked around in the low foliage and didn't find it. Looking up, though, in a dead tree, there it was, against type, calling (you can't really say "singing") from a branch. Amazingly, it stayed in one place so I could take photographs. More astounding, it stayed in one place long enough for me to walk around to the other side of the tree to get it at a better angle. 

Finding this bird made disproportionately happy in relation to its rarity. I remember many walks around the FAA Beacon field at Assunpink trying to track one down. It has usually been a bird I go searching for, stopping along the road at the upland portion of Brig to hear one, or walking through the Sandy Restoration site at Double Trouble where they have been off and on. To stumble upon one...that's a gift from the birding gods. 

I continued out to the bogs and then, following the trail that runs along the large reservoir, out to the power line cut. There I came across a guy walking with a three-pronged stick. I had no idea what he was doing. He haled me and said we'd met before, asking me how the birds were. I asked him what he was doing, and when he told me a herpetological survey, I recognized him as a guy I hadn't seen in years. And his three-pronged stick made sense. We talked about some people we knew in common and I told him what reptiles and amphibians I'd seen (painted turtle, snapping turtle, Fowler's toad,) and we went back to our surveys. I'd walked 2 1/2 miles out there before I saw another person. As we were parting, he told me to enjoy every day. It seemed like good advice. It seemed like a blessing. 

My Cranberry Bogs day list:

36 species
Wood Duck  5     Bogs + drake on large reservoir. 4 in Basic plumage
Mourning Dove  9
Green Heron  1     Bogs
Great Egret  6
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  2
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tree Swallow  8
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Northern House Wren  2
Gray Catbird  2
Brown Thrasher  1
American Robin  4
Cedar Waxwing  1
House Finch  6
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  3
Eastern Towhee  3
Yellow-breasted Chat  1     
Orchard Oriole  2
Baltimore Oriole  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Common Grackle  5
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  5
Pine Warbler  2
Prairie Warbler  5
Northern Cardinal  2
Blue Grosbeak  1

Election Day at Assunpink

 A weird nostalgia brought me to Assunpink this morning because I remembered being there on an Election Day 10 years ago. It wasn't that I expected to find anything special there, and I hadn't 10 years ago either, according to my eBird report, but when I ponder the absolute mess we're in, I think back to a conversation I had with a young guy there while I was scoping the lake. He was off from work or school because of the "holiday" and was just hanging out "in nature." Curious as to what I was looking at, he started talking to me and I must have been in a decent mood because I answered his questions about the ducks and geese on the water. I wish I recalled how, but the conversation veered to evolution, and I gave him the quick, canned version of "birds are the last of the dinosaurs." 

"Dinosaurs," he said, "that was before Christ, wasn't it?" 

"Quite a while before," I affirmed, while thinking to myself:

And yet, you're allowed to vote.

The Rest of the Month

Greater White-front Goose (center) with Canada Geese, Mercer Corporate Park

After our Iberian sojourn, I spent the last half of October birding my favorite, close-by spots, knowing that I'd missed most of migration. The first day back I went to Whitesbog to find that almost every drop of water had been drained from the bogs--there were very few shorebirds there, but raptors big (Bald Eagle) and small (kestrel) were easy to find.  I returned to Whitesbog quite often the last two weeks, but finally had to admit I was getting diminishing returns.

Solitary Sandpiper, Colliers Mills

Mostly I went to old cranberry bogs and looked for what wasn't supposed to be there and most of the time I only found what was supposed to be there. A walk around Colliers Mills though, did make me happy, when I was able to find my old friend the Red-headed Woodpecker without having to look hard, a big flock of Rusty Blackbirds in a dried-up pond, and a very late, not supposed to be there, Solitary Sandpiper in yet another body of non-water.  

Everywhere I went, whether it was the cranberry bogs in South Toms River, Double Trouble, Cloverdale Farm, or even the Manasquan Reservoir, water was either low or pretending to be mud--obviously we're in a severe drought that will seemingly take a month of heavy rain to alleviate. 

Today, the last day of the month, I found my latest year bird, a Greater White-fronted Goose in the Mercer Corporate Park. I'd spent the morning at Assunpink (again, nothing out of the ordinary) and then swung by the MCP. This used to be a great place to stop off and look for rarities, but a couple of years ago the owners put up No Trespassing signs and the hot spot fell off the rarity radar, so I was surprised to see this bird show up on one of the alerts. I've seen Greater White-fronted there in the past, so it wasn't that unusual. I pulled into the driveway and stopped just before the Keep Out signs and scanned the first pond, which had about 500 Canada Geese in it. That's always discouraging, but the Greater White-fronted's pink/orange bill popped out of the surrounding geese and I was able to get one mediocre photo before a security guard pulled up and politely told me to scram. 

With the Eurasian Wigeon and the Nelson's Sparrow found earlier, that made 3 year-birds for the 17 days of NJ birding. After wandering around Spain and Portugal for two weeks, I couldn't work up a lot of interest in local rarities.

For the rest of the month, I found 106 species spread out over Atlantic, Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties. 

Species                         First Sighting
Greater White-fronted Goose   Mercer Corporate Park
Canada Goose   Whitesbog
Mute Swan   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Wood Duck   Cranberry Bogs
Northern Shoveler   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Gadwall   Holly Lake
Eurasian Wigeon   Marshall's Pond
American Wigeon   Marshall's Pond
Mallard   Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Northern Pintail   Brig
Green-winged Teal   Whitesbog
Ring-necked Duck   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Bufflehead   Browns Woods
Hooded Merganser   Brig
Ruddy Duck   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Rock Pigeon   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Mourning Dove   Cranberry Bogs
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
American Coot   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Black-bellied Plover   Great Bay Blvd
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover   Whitesbog
Wilson's Snipe   Cranberry Bogs
Solitary Sandpiper   Colliers Mills WMA
Lesser Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone   Great Bay Blvd
Dunlin   Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig
Laughing Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock
Ring-billed Gull   Brig
American Herring Gull   Whitesbog
Forster's Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Royal Tern   Barnegat Municipal Dock
Pied-billed Grebe   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Double-crested Cormorant   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Tricolored Heron   Manahawkin WMA
Snowy Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Great Egret   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Great Blue Heron   Whitesbog
Black Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Whitesbog
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Whitesbog
Cooper's Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Northern Harrier   Double Trouble SP
Bald Eagle   Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Double Trouble SP
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Cranberry Bogs
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
American Kestrel   Whitesbog
Merlin   Cranberry Bogs
Peregrine Falcon   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Blue-headed Vireo   Great Bay Blvd
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Brig
Common Raven   Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog
Winter Wren   Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Whitesbog
Gray Catbird   Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog
Hermit Thrush   Great Bay Blvd
American Robin   Whitesbog
House Sparrow   Assunpink WMA
House Finch   Whitesbog
American Goldfinch   Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Dark-eyed Junco   Cranberry Bogs
White-throated Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Seaside Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Nelson's Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Savannah Sparrow   Whitesbog
Song Sparrow   Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog
Eastern Meadowlark   Brig
Baltimore Oriole   35 Sunset Rd
Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog
Rusty Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Grackle   Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd
Blackpoll Warbler   Cattus Island County Park
Palm Warbler   Whitesbog
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal   Whitesbog

Peregrine Falcon, Brig

Assunpink 1/5--Trumpeter Swan

Trumpeter Swans

After failing on two rarities on Tuesday and then not finding the Townsend's Warbler at Eno's Pond yesterday (I was hoping for a rollover rarity), I decided to get a "gimme" today and drove up to Assunpink, where the presumably returning (for 10+ years) Trumpeter Swans can be found. Easily. They seem, this year, to hanging out at the east end of the lake, not making their annoying forays to nearby Stone Tavern Lake. All you have to do is find a couple of big swans and then wait for them to lift their heads out of the water so that you can see their all black, Canvasback-like sloping beaks. It took me all of 5 minutes to put them on '24 list. Which was fine, because I didn't feel like standing in the sub-freezing temperatures looking for them. When you can see clouds of vapor coming from the swan's mouth, it's cold. 

But once you get moving, it's fine, so I walked from the east end of the lake all the way around to the sluice on the north side and then back to where I parked, at the model airplane field. Not a lot of variety of ducks today--Ruddy Ducks were in big numbers, but all the other waterfowl was sparse. Even the geese only totaled about 100. However, I added Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, & Green-winged Teal along with the Ruddy Ducks to the year list. 

I haven't been to Conines Millpond (incorrectly listed at Corrines on eBird) for a couple of years, but seeing that a Black-headed Gull had been seen there the last couple of days, I drove down there--it's more or less on the way back home. My streak of 1 ended, because I couldn't find the gull--only two Ring-bill Gulls among the approximately 1000 geese. There once was a birder in NJ who used to post on Jerseybirds all the birds she chased and missed. I once kept a database for a month on what she didn't see. I don't want this blog to emulate her, so enough with the swings and misses. 

Again, the numbers of ducks there were small--a few of both mergansers, 5 or 6 Buffleheads, a black duck, some Mallards. I did, however, see my first Bald Eagle of the year. 

I also inadvertently started a Mercer County list. CR 539 is the dividing line between Mercer and Monmouth. On the way south, down to Allentown I saw a Northern Harrier hunting over one of the Reeds Sods Farms and listed it. Since it was on my right, it was in Mercer. So, my Mercer County list stands at 1. 

The Assunpink List:

30 species
Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  2
Trumpeter Swan  2     
Mallard  13
Green-winged Teal  5
Hooded Merganser  2
Common Merganser  4
Ruddy Duck  185
Great Blue Heron  4
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  6
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Blue Jay  2
Carolina Chickadee  6
Tufted Titmouse  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Winter Wren  2
Carolina Wren  2
Hermit Thrush  2
American Robin  2
American Goldfinch  2
White-throated Sparrow  17
Song Sparrow  8
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
Northern Cardinal  1

Manasquan Reservoir 12/8--White-faced Ibis (Monmouth County Bird)

Yesterday, the Mayor of Assunpink asked me if I "had" White-faced Ibis for the year, because there was one at Manasquan Reservoir that had originally been identified as a Glossy Ibis. A Glossy Ibis this late would be very unusual, but a White-faced Ibis, in Monmouth County, in December, is just weird. I told him that actually, I did have the species this year, at Meadowedge Park in Barnegat. Birding is sort of like collecting baseball cards--Do you have a Willie Mays? How about a Pete Rose? 

But then I got to thinking that I didn't have a White-faced Ibis in Monmouth County. In fact, practically no one did, because this was only the second report of the species in that county, and the first one was inaccessible, it being on a private golf course. So, this morning, with the forecast for cold but calm weather (hate the wind off the water), I went up the reservoir. 

I had an idea of where the bird was but when I looked there, I had no luck. Oh well, I'll just walk the perimeter, five miles around, and find what I find. I like all the ducks, coots, and grebes there. Coming back to my car to put away my scope I ran into another birder who was also on the quest. He told me the bird had been reported recently, so I doubled back with him. Still, no luck, until another guy, looking for the bird, read a text from some alert app that the bird was near the Chestnut Point parking lot. Not far, but not where we were. So, since my new acquaintance didn't know where that was and I did, we walked up there together. We were approaching the causeway when suddenly the bird flew up and around us and landed in the little cove in front of us. The light was bad but an ibis has a distinct silhouette so there was the bird. If you had asked me what it was, I'd have said glossy because that's the default species, and it's hard enough to tell a White-faced Ibis from a Glossy when the light is good. I took some photos, which would prove nothing, but this was an "if you say so" bird anyway. 

Happy that he'd gotten his bird, my new friend and I shook hands--he went back to work, and I started the loop around the reservoir. By the time I got almost all the way around, I ticked off more than 30 species. I was back to where I originally had started when I saw my friends Bob & Bruce peering into the low water. "You're in the wrong place," I told them and they said, "No, it's right there." Sure enough, the bird had move yet again, and this time was in decent light. I still wouldn't have called it a White-faced Ibis--I guess, looking at my photos, I could convince myself that the eye is red and that legs are faintly pink, but again, if you say so. 

After a while we had our fill of the bird and started walking back to the parking lot. It was time, I thought, for me to get home, but then we saw Scott coming down the path. Scott had originally looked at the pictures of the bird and determined that it wasn't a glossy and now he was there to get the bird in person and onto his list. Except the directions, as they almost always are, were confusing. Good thing we were there to show him the way. We found the bird again and Scott...said so. 

Lots of out of place birds this season...Limpkin, White-faced Ibis, the common rarity of the Trumpeter Swans at Assunpink, and of course, the Red-flanked Bluetail which persists 1 mile from here and has attracted birds from near and far--Maine, Michigan, Maryland...hundreds of birders walking the winding streets of Internment Camp #5 to the bemusement of fellow villagers. 

My list for Manasquan Reservoir today:

33 species
Canada Goose  140
Mute Swan  5
Northern Shoveler  5
American Wigeon  2
Mallard  105
American Black Duck  100
Lesser Scaup  3
Bufflehead  15
Hooded Merganser  30
Common Merganser  1
Ruddy Duck  60
Pied-billed Grebe  5
Rock Pigeon  55
American Coot  100
Ring-billed Gull  10
Great Blue Heron  1
White-faced Ibis  1     
Belted Kingfisher  3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1     Heard Wetlands #2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  5
Downy Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Merlin  1     Cove trail
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  5
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Carolina Wren  5
American Goldfinch  1
White-throated Sparrow  25
Song Sparrow  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2

Laurel Run Park 6/3--Grasshopper Sparrow

I can't hear you.

The award for Most Frustrating Bird of the Year (so far) goes to...Grasshopper Sparrow. Time was when I could simply walk Success Road at Colliers Mills and come up with a couple of these shy, elusive sparrows but they've disappeared from there, one theory (mine) being that the constant dog training in the fields has pushed them out. You can still get them at the Lakehurst base (I see that 29 were reported today) but getting on the base is not easy now that the former naturalist there has retired. A trip to Assunpink in May didn't turn up any. So that leaves Laurel Run Park in Delran, Burlington County, as the one place you're most likely to find the species. 

It was frustrating just getting in there this morning. First Rt 38 was closed for unknown reasons, so I had to improvise to get there, and when I arrived, the gates were closed because they don't open until 8 AM. I saw also that the name of the park has been changed to Rainbow Meadows which sounds like the name of a children's book that is sure to be banned by right-wing mommies. Fortunately, Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area is only a mile away, so I turned the car around and went there--the gates were open despite it also supposedly opening at 8. My time there was not unfruitful for my Burlco year list--Marsh Wren, Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, but I was just killing time. 

Knowing that gatekeepers can be lackadaisical, I didn't go back to Laurel Run/Rainbow Meadows until about 8:30 and the gates were indeed open. In the past, I've always found the Groppers on the west side of the mile long loop, so that's where I headed. The field was high with grass and small pushes and one very attractive purple flowering plant which turned out to be Hairy Vetch. Grasshopper Sparrows have a very soft song that is just on the cusp of my auditory capabilities. I thought I heard one call. I opened up the Merlin app and it too heard one, so I knew I was in the right place. But I didn't come all that way just to hear a whispered "pfft." Looking at the taller stems in the field I found one sitting, waving back and forth in the gentle breeze. I took a long-distance picture which more or less showed the bird--a doc shot. 

I circled the field and found pretty much what I'd expect (though not as much as I would hope) and started a second go-round. Again, I heard the little call, but no song. It sounded comparatively loud, and two steps into the field, the sparrow flushed. It teed up on a stem and then to my left, I saw another land on an old traffic cone that is used when the trail is muddy or wet. Okay, that was fine, and really, you only need one, but after my second circuit I still wasn't satisfied so I started loop #3. Same place, maybe same bird(s). This time, though, one of them decided to cooperate and sat on a stem singing. I know it was singing, because I have pictures of the bird with its mouth open, but, even though I was fairly close, I couldn't actually hear the song. I heard one "note." Maybe the birds had been singing all along and what I took for a call was the one part of the song I could hear. It is an eerie feeling to see a bird as if it were mouthing its song. 

I dog walker stopped me and asked what I was looking for and I told him though Grasshopper Sparrow meant nothing to him. As we were talking, another flew from the field behind us to the field where I'd been looking, so for the day, I counted 3. 

Three times around that field pretty much exhausted the entertainment possibilities of the park. I left unfrustrated...for the day, anyway. 

29 species
Canada Goose  1
Mallard  1
Mourning Dove  2
Chimney Swift  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1     
Willow Flycatcher  1
Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Purple Martin  18
Tree Swallow  2
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  50
Northern Mockingbird  2
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  5
House Finch  1
Grasshopper Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  2
Yellow Warbler  2
Prairie Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  1

Hancock Field 2/23--Harris's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow (digiscope)

I usually feel that looking for a little bird in a big field is a mug's game, so I wasn't too eager to go up into Mercer County to chase the reported Harris's Sparrow. But, when I read the descriptions, they all said it was feeding with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows. Since I haven't been able to find White-crowns in my two spots--a driveway outside of Assunpink and strip of hedges in New Egypt, I figured they would be my consolation prize when I probably didn't find the rarity.

I drove up to East Windsor to the newly named hotspot of Hancock Field (Please stay on the road), missing the turn onto the gravel road in the murk of the morning. When I got there, I parked my car near the brush pile landmark, and immediately 20 juncos flew out of it. Not what I wanted. I plunked down my scope and soon a few White-crowned Sparrows emerged from the brush, feeding probably not more than 5 feet away from it. I like White-crowns and I scanned around from adult to immature birds. Then, because I wasn't expecting it, the Harris's Sparrow popped up in my eyepiece. I had a choice: watch the bird or try to take a picture of the bird--distant and enshrouded in fog. I watched the bird, getting all the field marks for a first year bird--it looked fine in my scope, invisible in my binoculars. One other guy was there, scoping from a 90 degree from where I stood. He walked over and we compared notes. 

Some other birders started coming up, but from what I can tell from the rare bird alerts, the bird didn't reappear until late this afternoon. This is only my second Harris's Sparrow. (By the way, I hate the orthography of "Harris's." I prefer the ownership apostrophe on the terminal "s" in these cases.) The first one (which I saw 3 times) was a few years ago, also in Mercer County, just a tad inland from where Washington crossed the Delaware. It was just this time of year, too. I remember seeing the original report during the Great Backyard Bird Count, so dismissed it, as birds are routinely misidentified during that 4 day period--"Brewer's Blackbird is common at my feeder," "We have Common Ground Dove year round." That sort of thing, but in this case, the stopped clock was right and the bird hung around for more than a week on a residential street. 

When the HASP disappeared (presumably back into the brush), I started fooling around with digiscoping with my phone. I did surprisingly well with the White-crowned Sparrows, which were aesthetically much more pleasing than the blotchy Harris's Sparrow. 

January Wrap-up--126 Species

Red-shouldered Hawk, New Egypt

 It's the usual drill: Run around to all the hot spots and pick up the common rarities and the winter birds (mostly ducks), because you "need" all these birds for the year. Why you need them is best left unquestioned. 

So, Barnegat Light, for the King Eider, Assunpink for the Trumpeter Swans. Luckily, Marshall's Pond had a Eurasian Wigeon, so I didn't have to go all the way up to the Shark River. The Barnegat CBC on the 2nd got me a couple of cool birds (in addition to my owl fix) like Virginia Rail and Sedge Wren. There was a Dovekie incursion earlier in the month and I was able to spot one (while others were making my teeth grind with multiple sightings). 

Greater White-fronted Goose, Jackson

The big chase was the Greater White-fronted Goose that decided to plunk itself down on a high school foot
ball field in Jackson. I went back a week later (to "get" Green-winged Teal in the retention pond) and it was still there along with the always entertaining, eBird filter-busting flock of Horned Larks. 

I have left a few birds that I got last January for the upcoming month, which might have been inadvertently smart, since February is such a dreary month, especially if the ponds freeze, that it will be good to have some targets to keep me interested. 

The winter months can be a slog as the excitement of the new year wears off. With birders the conversation always comes around to the dearth of birds lately, both ducks and land birds. The ducks are understandable, since they don't migrate unless they have to, and with the warmer weather up north becoming the norm, they don't have to. The land birds, I think, are analogous to the frog in a pot of water brought slowly to a boil. Their numbers have been declining for years (remember the 3 billion birds missing articles from a couple of years ago?) and it is only now that we realize the frog has been cooked. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species   First Sighting

Snow Goose   Holgate

Greater White-fronted Goose   Jackson Liberty HS

Brant   Sandy Hook

Canada Goose   Seven Presidents Park

Mute Swan   Bridge to Nowhere

Trumpeter Swan   Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan   Whitesbog

Northern Shoveler   Marshall's Pond

Gadwall   Ocean Acres Pond

Eurasian Wigeon   Marshall's Pond

American Wigeon   Marshall's Pond

Mallard   Sandy Hook

American Black Duck   Sandy Hook

Northern Pintail   Brig

Green-winged Teal   Brig

Canvasback   Brig

Ring-necked Duck   Manahawkin Lake

Greater Scaup   East Bay Av

Lesser Scaup   Lake of the Lilies

King Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Common Eider   Sandy Hook

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter   Sandy Hook

White-winged Scoter   Sandy Hook

Black Scoter   Island Beach SP

Long-tailed Duck   Sandy Hook

Bufflehead   Sandy Hook

Common Goldeneye   Sandy Hook

Hooded Merganser   Bridge to Nowhere

Common Merganser   Assunpink WMA

Red-breasted Merganser   Sandy Hook

Ruddy Duck   East Bay Av

Ring-necked Pheasant   Assunpink WMA

Pied-billed Grebe   Lake Shenandoah County Park

Horned Grebe   Sandy Hook

Rock Pigeon   Wawa South Toms River

Mourning Dove  Cedar Bridge Rd

Virginia Rail   Beach Av

American Coot   Lake of the Lilies

American Oystercatcher   Holgate

Black-bellied Plover   Sandy Hook

Killdeer   Lake Barnegat

Marbled Godwit   Holgate

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Sanderling   Sandy Hook

Dunlin   Holgate

Purple Sandpiper   Manasquan Inlet

Least Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-billed Dowitcher   Lake Barnegat

American Woodcock   Budd’s Bogs

Greater Yellowlegs   Bridge to Nowhere

Dovekie   Island Beach SP

Razorbill   Sandy Hook

Bonaparte's Gull   Sandy Hook

Ring-billed Gull   Wawa South Toms River

Herring Gull   Sandy Hook

Great Black-backed Gull   Sandy Hook

Red-throated Loon   Sandy Hook

Common Loon   Sandy Hook

Northern Gannet   Sandy Hook

Great Cormorant   Island Beach SP

Double-crested Cormorant   East Bay Av

Great Blue Heron   Beach Av

Great Egret   Bridge to Nowhere

Black Vulture   Crestwood Village

Turkey Vulture   Sandy Hook

Northern Harrier   Bridge to Nowhere

Sharp-shinned Hawk   Cattus Island County Park

Cooper's Hawk   Ridge Av

Bald Eagle   Beach Av

Red-shouldered Hawk   Bridge to Nowhere

Red-tailed Hawk   Bridge to Nowhere

Eastern Screech-Owl   Beach Av

Great Horned Owl   Beach Av

Barred Owl   Beach Av

Long-eared Owl   Undisclosed Location

Belted Kingfisher   Bridge to Nowhere

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Levi's Rd

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Bridge to Nowhere

Downy Woodpecker   Bridge to Nowhere

Hairy Woodpecker   Bridge to Nowhere

Northern Flicker   Manahawkin WMA

American Kestrel   Budd’s Bogs

Merlin   Budd’s Bogs

Peregrine Falcon   Manasquan Inlet

Blue Jay   Wawa South Toms River

American Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Common Raven   Whitesbog

Carolina Chickadee   Bridge to Nowhere

Tufted Titmouse   Bridge to Nowhere

Horned Lark   Sandy Hook

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Sandy Hook

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Bridge to Nowhere

White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper   Budd’s Bogs

Winter Wren   Bridge to Nowhere

Sedge Wren   Beach Av

Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd

European Starling   Wawa South Toms River

Gray Catbird   Manahawkin WMA

Northern Mockingbird   Wawa South Toms River

Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog

Hermit Thrush   Bridge to Nowhere

American Robin   Sandy Hook

House Sparrow   Wawa South Toms River

House Finch   Bridge to Nowhere

American Goldfinch   Levi's Rd

Lapland Longspur   Sandy Hook

Field Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

American Tree Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere

Fox Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA

Dark-eyed Junco   Levi's Rd

White-throated Sparrow   Levi's Rd

Savannah Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Swamp Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere

Eastern Towhee   Budd’s Bogs

Eastern Meadowlark   Budd’s Bogs

Red-winged Blackbird   Bridge to Nowhere

Brown-headed Cowbird   Ridge Av

Rusty Blackbird   Budd’s Bogs

Common Grackle   Bridge to Nowhere

Boat-tailed Grackle   Bridge to Nowhere

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Sandy Hook

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd