March Review--Lion/Lamb Edition

Bald Eagle atop cell tower "disguised" as pine tree,
Bay Head

I have a birding friend who is quite a bit older than me. Exactly how old I don't know because my mother taught me it was impolite to talk about age or weight, but for the sake of this story, let's say he is around 10 years my senior, maybe a little more. When I first met him--well, it was hard not to meet him because he was everywhere, especially where a rare bird was reported. He is in pictures we have from the day in New Egypt when we found the lapwings--this was before I knew him.  He consistently led the state in species seen every year. The joke with we birders who were then clinging to the notion that we were still middle-aged was, "I want to be like D when I grow up." 

I remember once down at the Bridge to Nowhere, about a year after the lapwing sighting so it was January, we ran into each other and were chatting--down the road I saw a small falcon--"There's a Merlin," I said.

"I need Merlin for the year," D said, jumped in his car and raced down the road. 

I caught up to him a few minutes later and said to him, "D, you're gonna see a Merlin this year."

"You know, at my age, maybe not," he replied. 

Having had a significant birthday this month (remember it is impolite to discuss age), I was thinking that I was at least D's age now as he was then. So I asked myself, "Now that I'm grown up, am I like D?" 

Well, in terms of doggedness, in that I bird every day that I won't get soaked, yes, but only in that regard. It's an amusing habit.  I can't get so excited about a common bird that I'm going to race down a bumpy road to see it. My chasing circle gets smaller each year. I want the birds to be where I feel like being. Meanwhile, D is still leading the league in sightings. My wonder knows no bounds. 

For the month, which started off windy and snow-covered and ended in the 70's, I tallied 103 species, 14 of them year birds. That's a pretty low number for March, for me, according to my records, but I didn't get north of Manasquan Inlet nor south of Tuckerton this month--I stuck to Ocean and Burlington. I still haven't come across a catbird, a waxwing, a gnatcatcher, a thrasher--and you know, at my age...

Species   First Sighting
Brant   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Canada Goose   Holly Lake
Mute Swan   Holly Lake
Tundra Swan   Cranberry Bogs
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
American Wigeon   Holly Lake
Mallard   Holly Lake
American Black Duck   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Pintail   Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal   Holly Lake
Redhead   Holly Lake
Ring-necked Duck   Holly Lake
Greater Scaup   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Lesser Scaup   Double Trouble SP
Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Long-tailed Duck   Island Beach SP
Bufflehead   Holly Lake
Common Goldeneye   Cranberry Bogs
Hooded Merganser   Holly Lake
Common Merganser   Lake Carasaljo
Red-breasted Merganser   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   West Creek Dock Rd.
Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd
American Coot   Bunker Hill Bogs
American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Killdeer   Cranberry Bogs
Piping Plover   Island Beach SP
American Woodcock   Manahawkin WMA
Wilson's Snipe   Cranberry Bogs
Greater Yellowlegs   Manahawkin WMA
Laughing Gull   Horicon Lake
Ring-billed Gull   Lake Carasaljo
American Herring Gull   Holly Lake
Great Black-backed Gull   Holly Lake
Pied-billed Grebe   Double Trouble SP
Horned Grebe   Whitesbog
Common Loon   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP
Great Cormorant   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Lake Carasaljo
Black-crowned Night Heron   Bayview Ave Park
Little Blue Heron   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Tricolored Heron   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret   Waretown
Great Egret   Double Trouble SP
Great Blue Heron   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black Vulture   Bamber Lake
Turkey Vulture   West Creek Dock Rd.
Osprey   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Cooper's Hawk   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Harrier   West Creek Dock Rd.
Bald Eagle   Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker   Manahawkin WMA
Hairy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
American Kestrel   Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Phoebe   Cranberry Bogs
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   West Creek Dock Rd.
Common Raven   35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Tree Swallow   Cranberry Bogs
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Cranberry Bogs
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Bunker Hill Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Cranberry Bogs
Brown Creeper   Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Wren   Bamber Lake
European Starling   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Mockingbird   Crestwood Village
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Hermit Thrush   Bunker Hill Bogs
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow   West Creek Dock Rd.
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Field Sparrow   Whitesbog
Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd
White-throated Sparrow   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Savannah Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird   Holly Lake
Brown-headed Cowbird   Double Trouble SP
Common Grackle   Holly Lake
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Common Goldeneye hen with drake Ring-necked Duck, Cranberry Bogs

Ocean Acres Lake Park | Stafford Forge WMA 1/4--Greater White-fronted Goose, Trumpeter Swan

Greater White-fronted Geese, Ocean Acres Lake Park

The day started at 5 AM down on Beach Avenue in Manahawkin, where I met Mike to start our annual survey for the Barnegat Christmas Bird Count. Obviously, in winter, in the dark, the only birds one expects are owls. We had one Eastern Screech-Owl and one Great Horned Owl call from different parts of the woods along the road and after about 40 minutes we moved over to Stafford Avenue where we heard 3 more Screech Owls and another Great Horned.  We hope for other more exotic owls--we've had them in the past, but we were happy with these two species, especially the individuals that were calling loudly and seemed like they were just off the road. 

We moved down the road just before sunrise and parked at the Bridge to Nowhere. We were hoping for Short-eared Owls hunting the marsh, but we struck out, the second time in a couple of weeks where I've been unlucky in the morning. For some reason, they get reported at sundown. They should still be active before the sun comes up, but apparently they don't know that. We did get a Northern Harrier starting the day shift, as well a Bald Eagle and little flock of Great Blue Herons, but we didn't linger, since we have a fair amount of territory to cover. 

We parked my car in the Manahawkin WMA lot on Hilliard and took a walk in the woods and fields there--best birds were a Rusty Blackbird in with a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, both kinglets and a Belted Kingfisher. 

After a Wawa coffee run, we looked around the fields near MATES, and had some Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. We also had our first huge flock of Canada Geese--about 400--on an athletic field. We scanned them for Cackling Geese, but there weren't any in there. Driving around the residential area nearby we didn't find much beyond the expected tweety birds. 

We hit our other spots--the bay from East Bay Avenue, a drive through Mud City and then we drove over to Manahawkin Lake where there was another huge flock of Canada Geese, but they were too far to pick out anything unusual. We did get about 20 Ring-necked Ducks there. 

Then it was up Rt 72 to Ocean Acres where we like to check out the retention pond just off the highway. About half the water was stiff, but among the big flock of Mallards we managed to add Green-winged Teal to our day list. Deeper in the community there is a big park with a lake but for the last few years it hasn't produced very much, and Mike suggested skipping it, but since it was still early we figured what the heck and drove over. Again, most of the water was frozen, but standing on the ice was our third big flock of Canada Geese. These were close enough to scan with a scope and while Mike was hoping for a Cackling, for some reason I got it into my head that finding something more exotic would be cool. Again, out of the 300 or so geese there, nothing looked like a candidate for the RBA. We did get a couple of Killdeer and had our first bluebirds of the day. We got in the car and were driving through the parking lot to turn around when we saw more geese feeding the in the grass. "Wait a minute, I said, one of those isn't a Canada Goose." Mike stopped and we looked and I said, "Greater White-Fronted Goose!" Mike, looking through the flock, said, "They're all white-fronted geese."

"No, there must be 15 of them." (It turned out to be 17 in the flock when we carefully counted.) Finding one GWFG is a noteworthy. Finding a flock of them is an event. Last year, Steve found about 24 GWFG at Shelter Cove, which I think is the record for the NJ. The Sixth Law of Birding is "You only need one." But 17 is pretty impressive. Since neither Mike nor I am on any social media or rare bird alerts we couldn't get the word out directly, but Mike texted one of our friends who runs the local RBA and she put out the message. Not that it mattered. No sooner did we get back in the car than the grass was empty of geese. Mike said they flew back into the lake, but we couldn't find them. Word reached me later in the day that someone had gone to look for them and they weren't there, so there, as in so much of birding was luck for us with that flock's life line briefly intersecting our life lines and adding a bird to the Barnegat CBC. 

Trumpeter Swan,
Stafford Forge WMA

We putzed around some more after lunch, but I was getting fatigued and we both had another rarity on our agenda--the continuing juvenile Trumpeter Swan at Stafford Forge.  So around 2 o'clock we wrapped our end of the CBC and drove down the parkway about 6 miles. I'd gone there yesterday--twice-- when the entire lake was frozen and dipped. I was especially outrage when I saw someone report the swan sleeping on the ice because I scoped that lump and it was either ice-caked vegetation or a dead swan. But later in the day the real swan reappeared--there must be hidden, inaccessible areas of the lake where it can hang out unseen--so I was determined to add it to my year list for the state and county. It took us all of about 2 minutes to find the bird this time--it was the only swan on the lake--in fact, aside from 3 Mallards, it was the only waterfowl there. We looked, we snapped some pictures, we headed home. 

For the day we had 53 species for our contribution to the 101st (!) Barnegat CBC, plus the Trumpeter Swan. 

Barnegat Lighthouse SP 11/25

Eastern Meadowlark

 In an early Peterson guide I used to have, long since fallen to pieces and discarded, I remember being struck by a phrase in his introduction, discussing habitat and the kinds of birds one should expect to find in them: "A meadowlark needs a meadow." It seemed axiomatic at the time, but even Homer nods, as, over the years I have compiled a little list in my head of all the spots I have seen meadowlarks that were not meadows, including the marsh at the Bridge to Nowhere, Rome Pond at Whitesbog, an airport runway, and today, in the big sandy area next to the concrete walkway at Barnegat Lighthouse SP. I was walking back toward the lighthouse when I saw to my left a large bird fly off into a little bit of scrub. It's outer white tail feathers immediately told me what it was, but I was certainly surprised, not having that bird on my expected list for the day. Yet, there it was, picking at the little bush it had flown to. I suppose with no bugs around whatever seeds or berries it could find in that wasteland would have to suffice for a diet. It wasn't particularly shy, so I was able to get some decent pictures of it. 

Blue-headed Vireo

It was a day of little discoveries. Earlier I stopped off at Cedar Bonnet Island, only because the traffic on the bridge to LBI was at a standstill, so I figured I'd walk around the refuge and let it ease up. I'm glad I did, because though the birdage wasn't heavy, as I was walking out on the entrance path I came across what I mistook for a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which would be "infrequent" according to eBird, but instead it turned out to be a Blue-headed Vireo, which, for this time of year, is "rare." The spectacles fooled me initially, but I was able to get one quick photo and my suspicion that the bird was too big and too inactive for a kinglet was confirmed. 

Back at Barnegat Lighthouse, I climbed the hill to overlook the pool and saw a big flock of American Oystercatchers and, just like at Holgate, where there are a lot of oystercatchers in winter there is a good

Marbled Godwit

chance of finding a Marbled Godwit mixed in among them. This was a much better look than I had at Holgate last month, the birds being only about a hundred yards away instead of half a mile. Also within that big scooped out area was a large flock of Snow Buntings swirling around. I looked in vain for a Lapland Longspur. Snow Buntings are a restless species, seemingly constantly in motion, but at one point, while I was scanning the ocean at the beach, the flock landed behind me and was stationery long enough for me to count up to 73. 

What I really wanted from the ocean was White-winged Scoter, which I hadn't seen January and hadn't seen in the county yet this year.  I was hopeful that the ocean would be calm, since the inlet seem lake-like, but the seas were rough, and it made finding the ducks a challenge, though I did tally Common Eiders and Harlequin Ducks around the old, submerged jetty, but the scoters I was hoping for were not swimming. Instead, there were big flocks of Black Scoters flying along the horizon and finally, after my patience was just about spend, a couple of big ducks with white wings shot past me going south, followed a few minutes later by another 9 more. So, I had my target and few more goodies and trudged back to the parking lot, stopping along the jetty until I got a couple of Ipswich Savannah Sparrows to round out the list. Oh yes, one Purple Sandpiper on the north jetty, viewed with the scope, so I got all the Barney specialties.

Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)

My Barnegat Light list: 

31 species (+1 other taxa)
Brant  75
Canada Goose  4
Mallard  15
American Black Duck  10
Common Eider  7
Harlequin Duck  6
White-winged Scoter  11
Black Scoter  130
scoter sp.  25
American Oystercatcher  33
Black-bellied Plover  1
Marbled Godwit  1
Ruddy Turnstone  10
Dunlin  5
Purple Sandpiper  1
Bonaparte's Gull  2
American Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  30
Horned Grebe  1
Red-throated Loon  25
Common Loon  4
Northern Gannet  50
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Northern Flicker  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
Common Raven  2     Two large croaking corvids over the pool
Carolina Wren  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
House Sparrow  5
Snow Bunting  73
Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)  2
Eastern Meadowlark  1

Manahawkin 1/29--American Bittern

American Bittern

Stafford Avenue in Manahawkin divides two birding areas--the Manahawkin WMA and the Bridge to Nowhere section of Forsythe.  If you are walking southeast, then the Bridge to Nowhere marsh is to your left and Manahawkin is to the right and if you are interested in keeping assiduous eBird lists then down that potholed road lies madness because you would have to keep two concurrent lists as you walked along, noting the birds to the east and noting the birds to the west and then keeping track of which birds flew across the road and in which direction, not to mention the birds that are on the road and not in either of the marshes, so you would conceivably want to start a third list for Stafford Avenue itself or you could do what I do which is start the list with either one depending upon where you begin and throw everything onto that list since eBird protocol is that the list is a survey of where your feet are when you see or hear the bird and not where the bird actually is, anyway.

I bring up this "inside baseball" topic because this morning I started from the Manahawkin WMA's parking lot off Hilliard, walked through the woods and out onto the impoundments came out on Stafford and walked down to the Bridge to Nowhere. From the little hill there I saw off in the marsh something that didn't look like phragmites. Short-eared Owls are known to winter here, but since it was well past sunrise, I didn't think I'd be that lucky, and I wasn't. Instead, it was an American Bittern, craning its neck in the reeds. Always a great find and always amusing as the bittern merges in and out of the background, sometimes completely hidden and sometimes in plain sight and seemingly not knowing the difference. 

Technically, though, the bittern was in the Forsythe section. What a quandary, especially since I don't have bittern on my Bridge to Nowhere patch list, while I have it a number of times in Manahawkin. Tempting to finagle the data or in this case to untangle the data and make a separate list but in the end, I decided to let one more flaw in the database sit there undisturbed. (By the way, most of the 68 Hooded Mergansers I counted were also in Forsythe as well as half the Great Blue Herons. The Northern Harrier flew from one side to the other.  Shh. Don't tell anyone.)

25 species
Canada Goose  14
Mallard  2
American Black Duck  26
Hooded Merganser  68
Killdeer  2
Greater Yellowlegs  17
Ring-billed Gull  30
American Herring Gull  1
American Bittern  1
Great Blue Heron  6
Turkey Vulture  3
Northern Harrier  1
Belted Kingfisher  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  4
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  5
Northern Mockingbird  1
Hermit Thrush  1
American Robin  2
House Finch  10
Swamp Sparrow  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1

Greater Yellowlegs

Barnegat CBC 1/5/2025--16 Year Birds

First bird, best bird. I met Mike yesterday morning at 5 A.M down on Beach Avenue in Manahawkin, where we have started our section of the Barnegat Christmas Bird Count ever since the days when Pete Bacinksi was still with us. Owling is the goal and we're happy if we hear a few Great Horned Owls or Eastern Screech-Owls. But nothing was calling down at the end of the road, so we drove about a quarter mile up the broken asphalt. As soon as we both got out of our cars we said, simultaneously, "Did you hear that?!"  What we had heard, as if it was right next to us, was a harsh hoot, which we were pretty certain was a Long-eared Owl. Playing the call on my phone confirmed it. We heard it again, but this time much farther away in the woods to the north. Still, Long-eared Owl, a "sensitive" species, is a great bird for the year. It is the second time I've heard one there. The first time was with the aforementioned Pete on the CBC of 2016.  

Mike heard a screech-owl on Beach, but I missed it, so it wasn't until we moved over to Stafford Avenue which runs between the state's Manahawkin WMA and Forsythe's Bridge to Nowhere section (which is crazy-making when you're trying to keep accurate lists), that I heard one, along with a couple of Great Horneds. 

As it was just about dawn, we moved down Stafford to its end where the actual Bridge to Nowhere sits. Once, on a previous CBC, Mike and I saw hundreds, if not a thousand, Boat-tailed Grackles levitate from the marsh at sun-up. We didn't get that show yesterday, but we did have a big flock fly across. Because all the water on either side of Stafford was stiff, ducks were at a premium, but we did have a few mergansers, both hooded and red-breasted. Mike spotted a Peregrine Falcon, and that, along with a Red-tailed Hawk I saw in Mud City, stands as the only two possible year-birds we both didn't see during the day. 

Our section includes a part of Barnegat Bay, but viewing it is a problem since our original lookout spot is now posted as private, with warnings about security cameras and dire consequences for trespassers. But, from a couple of spots we were able to see Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, a Greater Scaup, and the usual Mallards. However, we didn't find any cormorants sitting on a concrete structure in the bay, where they usually are. 

Because we were trying to hit as many spots as possible, and because the weather was impossibly cold and windy, we tended to do a lot of birding by car. The only real walking we did was in the Manahawkin WMA. There we found a Gray Catbird, one of those half-hearty species that sometimes winter in the area. Given the weather conditions, I'd say this bird was 3/4 hearty. Trying hard, we scanned a big flock of House Finches hoping for a Purple Finch, but they were all the same. Not even one we could ponder. 

Manahawkin Lake was surprisingly open and, as has been its history lately, unsurprisingly devoid of interesting birds. Gulls and geese were all we saw on the water, but, luckily, they have warm facilities, and as we about to make use of them I heard a Killdeer, and Mike found it, along with two others on the beach. Amusingly, we had just discussed how we used to see Killdeer there in the parking lot. We also padded our list with Rock Pigeons. 

Before lunch we stopped at a spot, Levi's Road, in Stafford, that is usually good for passerines, but it too was full of private property notices, so we didn't find much there aside from our first juncos of the day. 

After lunch we drove down Beach Avenue in the daylight and added Fox Sparrow and Eastern Bluebirds to the list. We then drove up 72 to the edge of our territory, a little pond behind a medical facility where there are always ducks. We were hoping the water wasn't frozen, and aside from the edges, it was open and there we added Green-winged Teal and Gadwall. I had an interesting looking duck that I thought might be a Eurasian Wigeon, but the light was horrible and then the flock it was in flew away to the far corner of the pond and I had to let it go. Mike was pretty sure that I was just seeing a teal in bad light. 

We returned for one more run down Stafford Avenue, checking both sides, but by then were getting diminishing returns. I was hoping for a Short-eared Owl early in the morning there, which we didn't see, and I wasn't inclined to hang out until dusk for a second chance. When I got home, I saw that on Beach Avenue at dawn, another birder, not part of the count, had heard a Sedge Wren in the spot we have had them in the past. That annoyed me, but, as the Firesign Theatre sang, "How can you be two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?"

For the day we listed 54 species for the Barnegat Count; I had 51. Surprisingly, I heard from the compiler, our Long-eared Owl was not the only one for the day. Someone else had one at a, naturally, undisclosed location. 

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose   Mud City
Mute Swan   Manahawkin Lake
Gadwall   Ocean Acres Pond
Mallard   1355 E Bay Ave, Manahawkin
American Black Duck   Mud City
Green-winged Teal   Ocean Acres Pond
Greater Scaup   1355 E Bay Ave, Manahawkin
Bufflehead   1355 E Bay Ave, Manahawkin
Hooded Merganser   Bridge to Nowhere
Red-breasted Merganser   1355 E Bay Ave, Manahawkin
Ruddy Duck   East Bay Av, Stafford Township
Rock Pigeon   Manahawkin Lake
Mourning Dove   Bridge to Nowhere
Killdeer   Manahawkin Lake
Greater Yellowlegs   Bridge to Nowhere
Ring-billed Gull   Manahawkin Lake
American Herring Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Blue Heron   Bridge to Nowhere
Turkey Vulture   Manahawkin Lake
Northern Harrier   Bridge to Nowhere
Bald Eagle   Manahawkin WMA
Red-tailed Hawk   Mud City
Eastern Screech-Owl   Stafford Avenue
Great Horned Owl   Beach Ave
Long-eared Owl   Beach Ave
Belted Kingfisher   Manahawkin WMA
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Bridge to Nowhere
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Manahawkin WMA
Downy Woodpecker   Bridge to Nowhere
Blue Jay   Bridge to Nowhere
American Crow   Manahawkin Lake
Carolina Chickadee   Bridge to Nowhere
Tufted Titmouse   Bridge to Nowhere
White-breasted Nuthatch   Bridge to Nowhere
Carolina Wren   Manahawkin WMA
European Starling   Manahawkin WMA
Gray Catbird   Manahawkin WMA
Northern Mockingbird   1355 E Bay Ave, Manahawkin
Eastern Bluebird   Beach Ave
Hermit Thrush   Manahawkin WMA
American Robin   Bridge to Nowhere
House Finch   Manahawkin WMA
American Goldfinch   Manahawkin WMA
Fox Sparrow   Beach Ave
Dark-eyed Junco   Levi's Rd--Stafford
White-throated Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA
Song Sparrow   Mud City
Red-winged Blackbird   Bridge to Nowhere
Boat-tailed Grackle   Bridge to Nowhere
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Manahawkin WMA
Northern Cardinal   Manahawkin WMA

June Recap--Rarities & Other Desiderata

The bird of the month, for me, was not one of the rarities I chased, nor was it one of the birds I deliberately sought out in Burlco, like the Grasshopper Sparrow or Pileated Woodpecker.  I was at Whitesbog in the middle of the month, walking on the Ocean County side. I hadn't seen anything of note that morning, though the list was respectable. I was heading back to the car and decided to take a "shortcut" through a wooded path that connects two of the sand roads. From one of the trees a large bird flew out--I knew immediately it was a raptor but had no idea what it was. I walked on and it flushed again and flew out of sight. Cooper's Hawk? Red-shouldered Hawk? No idea. I stood still and peered around. Again, it flew, but this time I caught sight of it as it landed on the branch of a pitch pine. It wasn't a hawk, but it was a raptor--a Great Horned Owl, staring at me with a look that said, "There's nothing more I'd like to do than to rip your face it off, but it's too much bother."  Of course, I hear owls whenever I do pre-dawn birding, but I very rarely get to see one in plain sight like that one. That certainly fulfilled the "one cool bird a day" goal. 

A bird I got tired of waiting around for was Common Nighthawk, so one late afternoon I drove over to Whitesbog and stood on the borderline between Ocean & Burlington and ticked it off for both counties. In August, they'll be flying over our house, but August seems a long way away. A bird I wasn't expected I heard on Scout Island at Cattus Island CP--a Virginia Rail, which I could hear clearly but couldn't find--it was probably under the boardwalk--I've flushed them from under boardwalks there in the past. And one day early in the month I made a concerted effort to find a Saltmarsh Sparrow, after not finding any in various marshes--I was finally successful at the Bridge to Nowhere. Subsequently, I got much better looks at Cattus Island where they can be found on the marshy peninsula that juts out into Barnegat Bay. 

In all the month produced 130 species, only10 of them year birds. It's June, it's slow. July will probably be slower--an article on eBird says that the least lists are posted in July of any month. It doesn't say that the most deer flies, greenhead flies, mosquitos, ticks, and chiggers can be found in July--I suspect an inverse correlation there. 

My month list:

Species                                         First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Canada Goose   Bridge to Nowhere
Mute Swan   Bridge to Nowhere
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Mallard   Bridge to Nowhere
American Black Duck   Whitesbog
Red-breasted Merganser   Island Beach SP
Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey   Whiting
Rock Pigeon   Lake of the Lilies
Mourning Dove   Beach Ave
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   South Park Rd
Common Nighthawk   Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Laurel Run Park
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Bridge to Nowhere
Virginia Rail   Cattus Island County Park
American Oystercatcher   Waretown
Black-bellied Plover   Island Beach SP
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Piping Plover   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Wilson's Phalarope   Brig
Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig
Willet   Beach Ave
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin   Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Herring Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Black-backed Gull   Waretown
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer   Island Beach SP
Least Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Caspian Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Bridge to Nowhere
Common Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Brown Booby   Manasquan Reservoir IBA
Double-crested Cormorant   Waretown
Black-crowned Night Heron   Island Beach SP
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron   Bridge to Nowhere
Snowy Egret   Bridge to Nowhere
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Great Egret   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Blue Heron   Bridge to Nowhere
White Ibis   Waretown
Glossy Ibis   Bridge to Nowhere
Black Vulture   New Egypt
Turkey Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Osprey   Eno’s Pond
Cooper's Hawk   South Park Rd
Bald Eagle   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Red-shouldered Hawk   Bunker Hill Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk   Waretown
Great Horned Owl   Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher   Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker   South Park Rd
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Beach Ave
Downy Woodpecker   Meadowview Lane
Hairy Woodpecker   Huber Preserve
Pileated Woodpecker   Meadowview Lane
Northern Flicker   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Beach Ave
Willow Flycatcher   Beach Ave
Eastern Phoebe   Bamber Lake
Great Crested Flycatcher   Beach Ave
Eastern Kingbird   Eno's Pond
White-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog
Warbling Vireo   Laurel Run Park
Red-eyed Vireo   Beach Ave
Blue Jay   Beach Ave
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Bridge to Nowhere
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   Beach Ave
Tree Swallow   Bridge to Nowhere
Purple Martin   Bamber Lake
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Laurel Run Park
Barn Swallow   Waretown
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Beach Ave
House Wren   Bamber Lake
Marsh Wren   Bridge to Nowhere
Carolina Wren   Beach Ave
European Starling   35 Sunset Rd
Gray Catbird   Beach Ave
Brown Thrasher   Bamber Lake
Northern Mockingbird   Waretown
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Veery   Beach Ave
Wood Thrush   Beach Ave
American Robin   Beach Ave
Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog
House Sparrow   Waretown
House Finch   Beach Ave
American Goldfinch   Beach Ave
Grasshopper Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Seaside Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Song Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Swamp Sparrow   Reeves Bogs
Eastern Towhee   35 Sunset Rd
Orchard Oriole   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Red-winged Blackbird   Beach Ave
Brown-headed Cowbird   Eno's Pond Park
Common Grackle   Waretown
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Beach Ave
Louisiana Waterthrush   Evert Trail
Blue-winged Warbler   Huber Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler   Bamber Lake
Prothonotary Warbler   Beach Ave
Common Yellowthroat   Beach Ave
Hooded Warbler   Bamber Lake
American Redstart   Beach Ave
Yellow Warbler   Beach Ave
Pine Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Summer Tanager   Meadowview Lane
Scarlet Tanager   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   Beach Ave
Blue Grosbeak   South Park Rd
Indigo Bunting   Laurel Run Park

First Pickup Truck/Eagle Conversation of the Year

Locale: Stafford Avenue between Manahawkin WMA and Bridge to Nowhere.

Vehicle: Gray Chevy Silverado

(Truck slows down approaching me as I think, "Oh please don't stop." Truck stops.)

Dialog:

Pickup truck driver: Birdwatching?

Me: Yes

PTD: Are there eagles here?

Me: Yes

PTD: (pointing to Manahawkin side) In the marsh? 

Me: (pointing north) Over there

PTD: In the woods. Ever see them?

Me: All the time.

PTD drives off. 

Barnegat CBC 1/2--Virginia Rail, Sedge Wren, Owls

Mike & I, joined by Joanne, did our usual section of Manahawkin for the Barnegat CBC. We three met long before dawn on Beach Avenue in Manahawkin, and it was there that all the truly interesting birding for the day was accomplished. We had at least 5 Eastern Screech Owls whinnying along the road, 3 Great Horned Owls hooting noisily, two of which we actually saw sitting on the wires that run out to the old AT&T, and one Barred Owl, which we'd never heard before on the count. The owls along would have made the day a success (tempting to just go home and go to sleep), but along with them we heard two Virginia Rails calling from the marsh and, after an absence of several years, we again heard a Sedge Wren clicking away in the reeds in the very spot we'd come to expect it in the past. 

Then the sun came up and birding seemed more like census-taking than discovery. Some slightly unusual birds we found were 

A Great Egret in the marsh of the Bridge to Nowhere

Two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in a weedy corner of Stafford

A few Gadwalls on the pond in Ocean Acres

A couple of Ruddy Ducks in Barnegat Bay.

Ring-billed Gulls, Manahawkin Lake

The bay had a great raft of Greater Scaup too, along with Buffleheads and 10 Great Blue Herons roosting on a little island, Unfortunately, that vantage point is now closed off to us. I always thought it was a little sketchy, our being there, but today there were PRIVATE PROPERTY signs posted in abundance, and it was made quite clear to us by a homeowner that he wasn't interested in the CBC or how long we'd been viewing the bay from his property, or the property of the wedding mill next door. It wasn't like he was carrying a shotgun or anything, but we K-turned around and left. Too bad, that's always been a good spot. 

We also found that the little retention pond on Cedar Bridge Road that we used to drive around is now closed to vehicular traffic. That wasn't a tragedy as we could walk it in about 15 minutes. And we noticed that a little section behind it has been taken over by Forsythe, which seems to determined to gather any little undeveloped section it can find from Galloway to Brick and put in the portfolio of preserved land, which is great by us, except a lot of it also closed to the people who'd like to bird it. 

Another anomaly today was hunters. Usually, we do the count on a Sunday, so hunters aren't a consideration, but since yesterday was New Year's Day, the count was bumped to a Monday. Still a holiday, but legal for hunting, and with a lot of people off, a lot of guns were being toted through the fields of Manahawkin. No conflicts between birders and hunters, but the occasional gunshot tends to keep the birds in hiding and there were next to no ducks in the impoundments, for obvious reasons. 

I missed a couple of unimportant species that Mike had--House Sparrow, House Finch, maybe something else. They're on the count's records, just not on my list, which totaled 61for the day. 

Species               First Sighting Canada Goose  Beach Av Mute Swan  Bridge to Nowhere Gadwall  Ocean Acres Pond Mallard  Manahawkin Lake American Black Duck  Bridge to Nowhere Ring-necked Duck  Manahawkin Lake Greater Scaup  East Bay Av Bufflehead  Bridge to Nowhere Hooded Merganser  Bridge to Nowhere Ruddy Duck  East Bay Av Rock Pigeon  Bridge to Nowhere Mourning Dove  93 Cedar Bridge Rd Virginia Rail  Beach Av Greater Yellowlegs  Bridge to Nowhere Ring-billed Gull  Manahawkin Lake Herring Gull  Bridge to Nowhere Great Black-backed Gull  Bridge to Nowhere Double-crested Cormorant  East Bay Av Great Blue Heron  Beach Av Great Egret  Bridge to Nowhere Turkey Vulture  Levi’s Rd Northern Harrier  Bridge to Nowhere 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 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 Blue Jay  Bridge to Nowhere Carolina Chickadee  Bridge to Nowhere Tufted Titmouse  Bridge to Nowhere Golden-crowned Kinglet  Pond off Cedar Bridge Rd Red-breasted Nuthatch  Bridge to Nowhere White-breasted Nuthatch  Bridge to Nowhere Winter Wren  Bridge to Nowhere Sedge Wren  Beach Av Carolina Wren  Levi’s Rd European Starling  Ridge Av Hermit Thrush  Bridge to Nowhere American Robin  Beach Av House Finch  Bridge to Nowhere American Goldfinch  Levi’s Rd American Tree Sparrow  Bridge to Nowhere Fox Sparrow  Manahawkin WMA Dark-eyed Junco  Levi’s Rd White-throated Sparrow  Levi’s Rd Song Sparrow  Bridge to Nowhere Swamp Sparrow  Bridge to Nowhere Red-winged Blackbird  Bridge to Nowhere Brown-headed Cowbird  Ridge Av Common Grackle  Bridge to Nowhere Boat-tailed Grackle  Bridge to Nowhere Yellow-rumped Warbler  Beach Av Northern Cardinal  Pond off Cedar Bridge Rd

Barnegat CBC 1/2--Virginia Rail

Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Ocean Acres Pond

Mike & I once again participated in the Barnegat CBC, birding the Manahawkin section, which seems to have been handed down to us from a long line of great birders; we used to do it with Pete Bacinski, and yesterday we were still able to point out a tree where Pete had found a flock of Purple Finches, and we laughed about how he would have been in a furor at a car zipping up and down Stafford Avenue (The Bridge to Nowhere) for no goddam reason at all. 

Because of the Gordon Lightfoot conditions (early morning rain) we started later than usual figuring there was no sense owling, so it was a nice surprise when we got to the end of the Beach Avenue at 6:30 to hear 3 Great Horned Owls calling back and forth; perhaps a duetting pair and an interloper? We listened to screech owls but they were not whinnying. 

We ran our usual route: from Beach we went over to Stafford which runs between the Forsythe property of The Bridge to Nowhere and the Manahawkin WMA. Placing birds can be a real nuisance. If one really wanted to be accurate you'd have a lot of birds in both spots as they fly over the road. Interesting birds there were Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Pintail, Northern Harrier, a distant Peregrine Falcon on the hacking tower, and couple of Redtail Hawks. 

Ring-billed Gull, Manahawkin Lake

From there we went to parking lot off Hilliard and walked the Manahawkin WMA trail for a while, picking up the expected tweety birds. While a flock of robins is not particularly interesting to us, it is just one more brick in the wall of data of 80+ years of counting birds in that area of NJ. Manahawkin lake was our next stop where we ran into another participant. He did our work for us, pointing out the two somewhat unusual birds: a Pied-bill Grebe and a Ring-necked Duck. It was there that we saw our first pigeons of the year (yay) and also, loafing on the beach, the first readily identifiable Ring-billed Gulls, which, of the big three (Herring and Great Black-backed being the other two), is my favorite as it seems prettier and gentler than the other two brutes. Of course, if one saw a bag of French fries in your hand it would turn into a monster. 

After a Wawa stop (House Sparrow), we drove around the Southern Regional School District area (for want of a better name) where again, we picked up a lot of common birds to add to the list including Black Vulture. No rare geese in the field where Pete and Mike once found a Cackling Goose. 

Our section includes a little slice just west of the Parkway. There is a little pond just off 72 that often productive and yesterday was one of those days. We had Gadwalls and Green-winged Teals (the latter listed on eBird as "infrequent") along with the usual ducks.

A quick lunch, then it was back to Beach Avenue to walk the old AT&T property which is restricted access but we had permission for the CBC. Nothing of real note there among the Song Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers except for a couple of American Tree Sparrows. We had heard one at Manahawkin, but these were the first we'd seen. Two adult Bald Eagles were roosting in trees at the edge of the marsh and we added one more Northern Harrier. 

Our final stop was back at Stafford Avenue where we again ran into the other birder covering the area. At the end of the road we finally got our Boat-tailed Grackles for the day and year. From his vantage point he could see the eagles we'd listed over on Beach. The last bird of our day was arguably the best; certainly the only somewhat rare one for the day and we owe to our buddy who told us where to listen for Virginia Rail. We got it just after dodging the speeding maniac who would have had Pete cursing. 

For the day we added 61 species and 1681 individuals to the database. 

Species      First Sighting
Brant   East Bay Av
Canada Goose   Bridge to Nowhere
Mute Swan   Bridge to Nowhere
Wood Duck   Bridge to Nowhere
Gadwall   Ocean Acres Pond
Mallard   Bridge to Nowhere
American Black Duck   Bridge to Nowhere
Northern Pintail   Bridge to Nowhere
Green-winged Teal   Ocean Acres Pond
Ring-necked Duck   Manahawkin Lake
Greater Scaup   East Bay Av
Bufflehead   Bridge to Nowhere
Hooded Merganser   Bridge to Nowhere
Red-breasted Merganser   East Bay Av
Pied-billed Grebe   Manahawkin Lake
Rock Pigeon   Manahawkin Lake
Mourning Dove   Manahawkin WMA
Virginia Rail   Bridge to Nowhere
Greater Yellowlegs   Bridge to Nowhere
Ring-billed Gull   Manahawkin Lake
Herring Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Black-backed Gull   Bridge to Nowhere
Double-crested Cormorant   East Bay Av
Great Blue Heron   Beach Av
Black Vulture   Southern Regional HS
Turkey Vulture   Bridge to Nowhere
Northern Harrier   Bridge to Nowhere
Bald Eagle   Beach Av
Red-tailed Hawk   Bridge to Nowhere
Great Horned Owl   Beach Av
Belted Kingfisher   Bridge to Nowhere
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Bridge to Nowhere
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Manahawkin WMA
Downy Woodpecker   Bridge to Nowhere
Northern Flicker   Manahawkin WMA
Peregrine Falcon   Bridge to Nowhere
Blue Jay   Manahawkin Lake
Carolina Chickadee   Manahawkin WMA
Tufted Titmouse   Beach Av
Golden-crowned Kinglet    Popper St
White-breasted Nuthatch   Popper St
Carolina Wren   Beach Av
European Starling   East Bay Av
Gray Catbird   Manahawkin WMA
Northern Mockingbird   MATES
Eastern Bluebird   Manahawkin WMA
Hermit Thrush   Bridge to Nowhere
American Robin   Beach Av
House Sparrow   Hilliard & Route 9
House Finch   Manahawkin WMA
American Goldfinch   Bridge to Nowhere
American Tree Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA
Fox Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA
Dark-eyed Junco   Beach Av
White-throated Sparrow   Beach Av
Song Sparrow   Bridge to Nowhere
Swamp Sparrow   Beach Av
Red-winged Blackbird   Bridge to Nowhere
Boat-tailed Grackle   Bridge to Nowhere
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Bridge to Nowhere
Northern Cardinal   Manahawkin WMA

Great Bay Blvd 2/23--Palm Warbler

By the time I got down to the beach at Great Bay Blvd, the birding had been so dull that I'd forgotten I was looking for new birds. This may be a corollary to Rule #2--you won't find the bird until you've truly give up. Or forgotten all about it. I was on my way back to the little path through the grove when I saw on the beach a little bird in the wrack line. It was brown. It was pumping its tail. When it flew, I could see small white corners on the tail feathers. It was a Palm Warbler, one of the birds I was hoping to see (the other was Great Egret) today. I watched it fly back to the mud flats and followed it there, catching a glimpse of it again but a picture was impossible. In among the flattened reeds were 4 or 5 Yellow-rumped Warblers with which it was "associating."

There really wasn't much of interest along the road--lots of ducks, as you would expect, but land birds were scarce. Again, February is the slowest month. But here is

A Heartwarming Tale

 I was coming back to my car at the monitoring station to get my scope, because I had seen 3 Greater Yellowlegs out in the marsh when a woman stopped her car and waved frantically at me. I didn't recognize her at first, but remembered her when she said that I had shown her the eagles. 6 or 7 months ago, when I was in one of my rare good moods, she had stopped to talk to me about photographing birds. She was looking for hawks, so I told her where to go to find the two eagles that nest at the end of the road. Later, when I saw that she was having a had time finding them, I set up my scope and showed her the birds. 

"I've been looking for you," she said. "I was really depressed that day, I was going through some bad times and you showed me where the eagles were and it changed my life!" She had, in the last few months, become fascinated with eagles and had educated herself on how to tell the males from the females, how long the female's talons were, incubation periods, nesting habits, mating rituals. More than I know off the top of my head about eagles--she had inhaled a reference book on eagles and all because one day I'd taken the time to show her a couple birds in a telescope. She showed me videos she'd made of eagles with their chicks, she told me where to find other nests, she showed me lots of pictures of eagles and, by the way, they were excellent photos and videos. But she wouldn't stop thanking me; it was embarrassing. I had no idea, at the time, that she was in a deep funk. I wasn't trying to rescue anyone. I was just showing a stranger a couple of cool birds that lead lives parallel to ours. When I came home and told Shari about my encounter, she said, "See, see what can happen when you're nice!" 

"Yeah," I replied, grumpily. Meanwhile, I never did get to check out the yellowlegs in the scope; I heard them fly away when I was talking to her. They flew away right after she & I spotted a Peregrine Falcon taking off from the top of a utility pole. 

Stafford Avenue with repairs

Afterwards I drove up to Manahawkin WMA and walked my usual route from the Hilliard Avenue entrance out to Stafford Avenue which leads to the Bridge to Nowhere. I've been taking this route of late because Stafford Avenue was impassable with huge craters all along its one and half miles, perfect traps to rip out the bottom of your car. Because it literally goes to nowhere, and runs between a WMA and Forsythe property, I figured  no one had any incentive to ever fix it, so I was flabbergasted to see that long stretches had been smoothed over and filled in with gravel. 

Peggy tells me that the Bridge to Nowhere is a well-known spot for shall we say assignations. Guys apparently cruise the road looking for prostitutes. I'm down there often and I've never seen a prostitute, but she tells me that a woman birder alone in her car will get propositioned by guys mistaking her for a sex worker. 

Look at the photo. Do you see any prostitutes? Maybe it's a Never on Sunday thing. Or maybe, as Peggy proposed, they're all hiding in the marsh. Or maybe they just couldn't get their vehicles down the road and now that it is no longer an obstacle course, business will pick up. 

                   

Cedar Run Dock Road 6/28--Black-bellied Whistling Duck

High on my wish list for both year and county bird is Black-bellied Whistling Duck. Just look at them! And the name alone makes them worth chasing. Today, (actually yesterday, but the report didn't show up on eBird until the wee hours) a pair showed up on Cedar Run Dock Road, more known as a winter birding spot than a summer one. These are the first birds recorded in Ocean County. BBWD is a regular visitor to NJ, sometimes at Brig, but more recently in Cape May, where there have been a number reported in a couple of spots this last month or so. Whether these are a couple of wanderers wandering away from those wanderers is impossible to know.


When I saw the report very early this morning I was tempted to run down there, but as Cedar Run Dock Road is long and there was no specific site cited, I instead kept to my original plan of running down to Brig to search for the Black-necked Stilt (another favorite) that has been seen at the dogleg for the last couple of days. Then I planned to drive down CRDR, searching for the ducks.

I should have gone to Brig yesterday, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with the greenhead flies. Instead, I was content to explore one of the more obscure corner of Burlington County for the 2nd time this week. But I thought, last night, that if I got to Brig early enough, before the heat set in, the greenies wouldn't be too bad. A good thought, but there were just enough of them at 7 AM to still be damn annoying. More annoying was the half hour spent looking for and not find the stilt.

Then the alert came in that the BBWD were still there--with an address. Abandoning the idea of the stilt I drove the half of the wildlife drive before me without looking at anymore birds, scooted up the Parkway, miraculously avoided the LBI traffic on 72, and was on Cedar Run Dock Road before you could say "Black-bellied Whistling Duck." I got the address and didn't see any ducks, but looking behind me, to a house up on pilings, I immediately saw the pair mixed in with a few molting Mallards.

I admired them for a few minutes, took a lot of photos, and just as I was about to leave, another birder I know pulled up. They were lifers for her and we spent more time looking at the goofy birds as they rested and preened.

Mike texted me and said he was on the way. By then I was pretty much satiated with BBWD, but again, just as I was about to take off, I saw his car coming down the road, so I hung around for a few minutes. Finally, after almost an hour there, I left, handing the bird off to yet another Ocean County birder--again, a lifer listing for him too.

June has been an outstanding month in Ocean County. Two great rarities (the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was the first) and two county lifers for me. Very hard for me to get county lifers now, since I don't do pelagics, so, after a long walk up and down Stafford Avenue (the Bridge to Nowhere at its terminus), it was happy drive home.

March Wrap-up

Eastern Bluebird, Cloverdale Farm

It was a good month, with 14 out of the 118 species I recorded being year birds. But it was also a frustrating month as I missed--or "dipped" as the birders say--on some desirable birds, including American Woodcock and King Eider. It wasn't for a lack of trying, as I made numerous trips looking for both birds. Granted, I could have gone to other spots for the woodcock, but if I couldn't find it in what is practically my backyard, I didn't want to chase around looking for one in more distant, out of the way spots. In the dark.

My birding M.O. this years seems to have developed into Ocean County birding during the week and on the weekends going outside the county to locales like Brig, Sandy Hook, or even farther afield like the rarely visited Salem County. I've also been investigating less birded areas in my home county in the hopes of finding the off-beat. So far that hasn't been a particularly successful strategy, but it has been interesting going to places I seldom, if ever, visit.

I'd say the highlights of the months were:

• Flushing snipes at Shelter Cove Park
• Seeing the stunning drake Tufted Duck at Sandy Hook
• And the 4th nor'easter of the year which brought us both our first Pine Warbler of the year (after searching every available, likely habitat with no luck) as well as an army of Wild Turkeys

April should be an interesting month with migration activity getting into full swing. It means getting up earlier, since the warblers and other migrants don't keep banker's hours like the waterfowl. As to this month's list, it is presented below with the year birds thusly marked. The rarities (real and just flagged by eBird) are underlined.

Counties birded:

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Monmouth, Salem

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia

Species             First Sighting

Snow Goose   Brig

Brant   Brig

Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA

Mute Swan   Brig

Tundra Swan   Whitesbog

Wood Duck   Whitesbog

Blue-winged Teal   Mannington Marsh

Northern Shoveler   Brig

Gadwall   Brig

Mallard   Colliers Mills WMA

American Black Duck   Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Pintail   Brig

Green-winged Teal   Brig

Redhead   Lake of the Lilies

Ring-necked Duck   Colliers Mills WMA

Tufted Duck   Sandy Hook

Greater Scaup   Great Bay Blvd

Lesser Scaup   Lake of the Lilies

Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter   Shark River Inlet

White-winged Scoter   Sandy Hook

Black Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Long-tailed Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Bufflehead   Brig

Hooded Merganser   Brig

Common Merganser   Sylvan Lake

Red-breasted Merganser   Brig

Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies

Wild Turkey   Crestwood Village

Red-throated Loon   Great Bay Blvd

Common Loon   Great Bay Blvd

Pied-billed Grebe   Stanley H. 'Tip' Seaman County Park

Horned Grebe   Brig

Red-necked Grebe   Manasquan Inlet

Northern Gannet   Allenhurst

Great Cormorant   Spring Lake

Double-crested Cormorant   Lake of the Lilies

Great Blue Heron   Brig

Great Egret   Cattus Island County Park

Snowy Egret   Brig

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Shark River

Black Vulture   New Egypt

Turkey Vulture   Colliers Mills WMA

Osprey   Sandy Hook

Northern Harrier   Amasa Landing Rd.

Cooper's Hawk   Whitesbog

Bald Eagle   Brig

Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog

Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA

American Coot   Lake of the Lilies

Sandhill Crane   Salem River WMA

American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Blvd

Black-bellied Plover   Sandy Hook

Piping Plover   Sandy Hook

Killdeer   New Egypt

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Sanderling   Spring Lake

Dunlin   Great Bay Blvd

Purple Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Wilson's Snipe   Shelter Cove Park

Greater Yellowlegs   Bridge to Nowhere

Ring-billed Gull   Brig

Herring Gull   Brig

Lesser Black-backed Gull   Manasquan Inlet

Glaucous Gull   Long Branch.

Great Black-backed Gull   Brig

Rock Pigeon   New Egypt

Mourning Dove   Colliers Mills WMA

Snowy Owl   Brig

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Downy Woodpecker   Bridge to Nowhere

Northern Flicker   Manahawkin WMA

American Kestrel   Sunset Dr, Salem

Merlin   Allenhurst

Peregrine Falcon   Brig

Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog

Blue Jay   Colliers Mills WMA

American Crow   New Egypt

Fish Crow   Colliers Mills WMA

Horned Lark   Mannington Marsh

Tree Swallow   Whitesbog

Carolina Chickadee   Colliers Mills WMA

Tufted Titmouse   Colliers Mills WMA

White-breasted Nuthatch   Colliers Mills WMA

Brown Creeper   Cloverdale Farm

Carolina Wren   Colliers Mills WMA

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Horicon Lake

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Bluebird   Colliers Mills WMA

American Robin   Colliers Mills WMA

Gray Catbird   Brig

Northern Mockingbird   New Egypt

European Starling   Colliers Mills WMA

Cedar Waxwing   Sandy Hook

Pine Warbler   35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-rumped Warbler   35 Sunset Rd

Prairie Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA

American Tree Sparrow   Brig

Chipping Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park

Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA

Fox Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Dark-eyed Junco   Colliers Mills WMA

White-crowned Sparrow   New Egypt

White-throated Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA

Savannah Sparrow   Brig

Song Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA

Swamp Sparrow   Meadowedge Park

Eastern Towhee   Supawna NWR

Northern Cardinal   New Egypt

Eastern Meadowlark   Bridge to Nowhere

Red-winged Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird   Stafford Forge WMA

Common Grackle   New Egypt

Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd

House Finch   35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

House Sparrow   New Egypt

White-crowned Sparrow, New Egypt