Lake Barnegat 1/3--Long-billed Dowitchers

About a month ago, one of my "stumble-upon" birds was a flock of Long-billed Dowitchers in the mudflats of partially drained Lake Barnegat in Lacey. They can now be described as the "long-staying" Long-billed Dowitchers, because they are still there. Out of all the rarities that are popping up on my alerts, they seemed like the easiest ones to get for the year and besides, I have a sort of proprietary interest in them. I even got a text New Year's Day from a birder who lives nearby there to tell me that "my" dowitchers were still present. 

So, after a couple of very long days of birding, I figured I'd take it easy and just hit a few spots in that area and see what I could add. I started out at Bamber Lake because that's a reliable spot for Tundra Swans--except for today when the lake was completely devoid of any waterfowl. An inauspicious start to the day.  Deer Head Lake, a bit west of Lake Barnegat, had lots of Canada Geese and I'm not that obsessive that I felt I had to make a list or count them. 

Finally, at Lake Barnegat a quick scan of the mud turned up the flock of dowitchers, mixed in with an eBird filter-busting number of Greater Yellowlegs and one Killdeer, the other new species for the year. I scoped from 3 different vantage points on the lake, but no matter where I stood, the dowitchers were still distant. One lousy digiscope was all I could manage. 

I made a couple of other stops: Bay Parkway in Waretown, where I added a few birds to the Ocean County list, and Eno's Pond where this winter's dearth of passerines continues. But one cool species for the day was enough for me and then it started to rain. 

Deer Head Lake 1/10--Long-billed Dowitcher

The pleasures and frustrations of chasing all in one moment. This morning I finally got around to going to Deer Head Lake in Lacey, where since late December a quartet of Long-billed Dowitchers have been feeding on the mud flats (the lake is drawn down in winter).  LB Dowitchers are always a good bird in NJ and especially in Ocean County. And winter dowitchers eliminates the angst over whether they're the Short-billed on Long-billed species. Short-bills just aren't around after summer. 

Usually, I bird from the west side of the lake where there's a big culvert platform to stand on, but today, driving there I noticed an opening on the east side of the lake and saw a big flock of geese there, so I parked, found a path, and set up the scope on the edge of the mud. Immediately I found a couple of Killdeer (new for the year) and then was slightly surprised to see a Greater Yellowlegs fly by. Promising. I scanned the flats near me, then started on the flats across the lake. More Killdeer, and lots of Green-winged Teal and Hooded Mergansers mixed in with the geese, but no target species. From my angle I was blocked from the northwest part of the lake, so I packed up the scope and drove the 3/4 of a mile to the other side. There I set up again and scanned. More yellowlegs flew in from who knows where and the flock was up to 8. I shifted my perspective and looked more northerly, but still no dowitchers. After another look through the exposed stumps and shallow puddles I was ready to give up. It was cold. I had the scope on my shoulder when I saw some movement on a little island. I said to myself, "One more look," and I was trying to remember if "One more look" ever worked when I saw three shorebirds fly to my right with big white streaks up their backs. So apparently "One more look" does work. (If you find what you're looking for it will be in the last place you looked.) 

The birds landed right on the edge of the shore moving in and out between the much larger geese. And where were they? Right where I had been, on the east side of the lake. So, no possibility of getting photos. I thought about driving back to the east side, but I could already see the dowitchers getting up and flying off as I approached so I didn't let a win turn into a loss. Looking through the subsequent eBird reports for the day, only the trio has been reported. Where did #4 go? 

Deer Head Lake is one of those spots that is under-birded. A few years ago, I went there for the first time only because a birder I know who works nearby would find good birds on her lunch hour. Almost the first bird I saw that day was a Ross's Goose! Cackling Goose has been there a few times if one is inclined to sort through the hundreds of geese that frequent the lake. And now the dowitchers. Fortunately, a few good birders live nearby and give it regular coverage. 

Eastern Bluebird, Dark-eyed Junco, Meadowedge Park

I'd started the day at Bamber Lake (another under-birded spot) and came away with my first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the year. After Deer Head, I drove over to Bay Parkway in Waretown then down to Barnegat. Meadowedge Park didn't have anything unusual, but it did have some pretty bluebirds. I made my last stop Cloverdale Farm; again, nothing exciting. All that wandering around produced 38 species for the day, with the dowitchers and nuthatch being the highlights.

Northern Mockingbird, Cloverdale Park

Conine's Millpond | Lenape Trail 1/12--Cackling Goose, Lark Sparrow

Lark Sparrow, Lenape Trail, Plainsboro

The day started to get a little out of control toward the middle of the afternoon. Scott & Linda had an Assunpink trip this morning and we birded the hell out of the place without much to show for our efforts, besides the continuing Trumpeter Swans. I did get my year Field Sparrow over at Stone Tavern Lake, but that's not exactly a momentous find. The lake at Assunpink was virtually empty of ducks and geese, and Stone Tavern was worse with only two Mute Swans floating around. The weather was warm, which was great, but the weather is probably warm(ish) up north, so ducks and geese don't feel compelled to head south.

Scott suggested we try nearby Mercer Corporate Park and Conine's Millpond. There were a smattering of geese at the Corporate Park, so we didn't bother to check them out, but on the millpond we found out where all the geese in the area were. We figured 2500 of them honking their hearts out. Among them were a 4 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Mallards, and 2 Common Mergansers, but best of all, and finally, a Cackling Goose which Scott was able to tease out of the flock. It's a talent that I do not possess, the ability to look at every goose thoroughly but quickly and find the one or two that are different.  In a flock of that many geese, Scott figures the odds are with you to find a cackler, but in flock that size they all quickly blur into "goose" to me.

A Cackling Goose and a new sparrow would have been good enough for me for one day and as I was just about to leave for home one of our group received a text that there was a Barnacle Goose and 3 hybrids at Thompson Park. I had no idea where Thompson Park was. When I Googled it, I came up with a park in Monmouth County which I remembered going by a few years ago. However, there is another Thompson Park, in Middlesex County, which is where the geese were. I was reluctant to head north so late in the day, but Barnacle Goose isn't exactly a gimmee in the state, so off I went with the correct GPS coordinates in my phone. It was about a half hour drive. The park itself seemed like nothing but a big lake, full of Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese. We located a couple of birders we knew, got on the geese and, disappointingly, the geese in question turned out to be four hybrids of, presumably, Barnacle Goose and Cackling Goose. Some people find hybrids fascinating. Some people like teasing out the various genetic strains. I'm not one of those people. I have a hard enough time identifying full species, I don't want to spend my energy figuring out if this goose is the product of a coupling of Barnacle Goose with Canada Goose or Cackling Goose, or what sub-species of either of those geese. I just spent close to an hour with a Cackling Goose and it wasn't until the end of the 50 minutes we were there that I was able to really convince myself that I had seen enough of the goose to say it was really a Cackling Goose. So, I felt like I'd been enticed to Middlesex County until false pretenses. I wasn't angry, exactly, but I wasn't happy. I suppose if there had really been a Barnacle Goose up there and I'd missed it, I'd be unhappy, but as it was a phantom goose, I was...just ready to quit for the day.

But wait, as they used to say in the infomercials, there's more! Wherever the hell we were in Middlesex County, nearby in Plainsboro, which was, according to who you were talking to was either 10 or 20 minutes away, there was a Lark Sparrow that was very cooperative. Lark Sparrow is bird that you don't get too often and as I was up there anyway and the whole gang was going for it, I followed them to the Lenape Trail in Plainsboro near a shopping center and power line cut. It was getting late and we were in danger of losing the light, but, as advertised, the bird was very cooperative. It took me a bit longer than everyone else to find on the construction planking next to the trail, but when I finally go the right angle I saw it well. They are neat little birds, with a harlequin facial pattern and a big dot in the middle of the breast. The photo below shows the unlikely habitat it has found to its liking for the last two weeks.

If a Cackling Goose hadn't been found at Deerhead Lake in Ocean County I would have counted the day a complete success. But, as the Third Rule of Birding states Wherever you are, you should be somewhere else. However, I understand there were approximately 500 geese on Deerhead Lake. My chances of finding the Cackler?

November in Review--3 Year Birds, 1 Lifer

Bell's Vireo, Sandy Hook

Again, for the 2nd month in a row, only 3 year birds added to the list, but what birds! All rarities, all vagrants, and seeing them ran the gamut of how to find birds.

The first rarity, the Bell's Vireo at Sandy Hook, was the most fun because it was both unexpected and easy--we happened to be with a group a few hundred feet away from the where the bird had just been reported; we walked over, looked around for a few a minutes and there it was and everyone was surprised and happy. No chasing involved.

The 2nd year bird of the month was more of an expedition--a chase for multiple birds with only one success but it was our life bird LECONTE'S SPARROW. Shari, Mike, and I traveled down to Cape May to the "magic field" where all sorts of interesting birds were (and still are) being reported, but it took us almost all the day to finally stumble upon the LeConte's. It was bad enough that we couldn't also find the Golden-crowned Sparrow that was down there which would also have been a year bird, but when we decided to search for the Wood Stork a birder nearby turned around and said, "It's dead." That put a damper on the quest.

Finally, today was the kind of birding I dislike the most--traveling, for a 2nd time, to search a small area for a small bird. At least in the "magic field" we got to walk around a large area. Searching for the Pacific-slope Flycatcher today I walked almost 2 miles back and forth on what might have been an eighth of a mile stretch of trails.

As for the rest of the month, I spent most of it walking in my favorite spots--Assunpink, Manasquan Reservoir, Whitesbog, Manahawkin, Island Beach--plus I added a new favorite place in the extension of the Union Transportation Trail into Ocean County. While I haven't found anything new there, yet, it is only because it late in the year. I feel confident that this barely mowed power line cut will produce many warblers, sparrows, and other passerines in the new year. Plus, the hardwoods along the trail look very inviting for a Pileated Woodpecker.

Prairie Warbler,
Barnegat Light SP

Other interesting birds for the month, rare but not new, were the returning Trumpeter Swans to Stone Tavern Lake, a Cackling Goose for the county on Deerhead Lake, and a very late Prairie Warbler in the dunes of Barnegat Light.

I'm up to 293 NJ birds for the year, more than I've seen in the state any other year. If I'd been willing to chase more, or go on a pelagic, or was just a better birder, I could conceivable have 300 species which is the bogie for the state. With good weather and little less shilly-shallying, I could probably still make 300. But the weather looks lousy for the first couple days of the month and Cape May is an awful long way away.

For the month I had 136 species, all in the state, from Cape May to Sandy Hook.
Counties Birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Monmouth, Ocean.

Species              First Sighting

Snow Goose   Manasquan Reservoir

Brant   Sandy Hook

Cackling Goose   Deer Head Lake

Canada Goose   Manasquan Reservoir

Mute Swan   Manasquan Reservoir

Trumpeter Swan   Stone Tavern Lake

Tundra Swan   Bamber Lake

Wood Duck   Sandy Hook

Northern Shoveler   Manasquan Reservoir

Gadwall   Assunpink WMA

American Wigeon   Assunpink WMA

Mallard   Manasquan Reservoir

American Black Duck   Manasquan Reservoir

Northern Pintail   Brig

Green-winged Teal   Brig

Ring-necked Duck   Manasquan Reservoir

Greater Scaup   Brig

Lesser Scaup   Assunpink WMA

Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter   Sandy Hook

White-winged Scoter   Sandy Hook

Black Scoter   Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal

Long-tailed Duck   Island Beach SP

Bufflehead   Manasquan Reservoir

Common Goldeneye   Assunpink WMA

Hooded Merganser   Holly Lake

Red-breasted Merganser   Sandy Hook

Ruddy Duck   Manasquan Reservoir

Wild Turkey   Brig

Pied-billed Grebe   Manasquan Reservoir

Horned Grebe   Brig

Red-necked Grebe   Brig

Rock Pigeon   Manasquan Reservoir

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

American Coot   Manasquan Reservoir

American Avocet   Brig

American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP

Black-bellied Plover   Sandy Hook

Killdeer   Brig

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Sanderling   Sandy Hook

Dunlin   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Purple Sandpiper   Island Beach SP

Western Sandpiper   Brig

Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig

Greater Yellowlegs   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig

Laughing Gull   Manasquan Reservoir

Ring-billed Gull   Manasquan Reservoir

Herring Gull   Sandy Hook

Iceland Gull   Island Beach SP

Lesser Black-backed Gull   Sandy Hook

Great Black-backed Gull   Sandy Hook

Royal Tern   Sandy Hook

Red-throated Loon   Manasquan Reservoir

Common Loon   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Northern Gannet   Sandy Hook

Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Double-crested Cormorant   Manasquan Reservoir

Great Blue Heron   Manasquan Reservoir

Great Egret   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Snowy Egret   Brig

Little Blue Heron   Brig

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

Black Vulture   Sandy Hook

Turkey Vulture   35 Sunset Rd

Osprey   Sandy Hook

Golden Eagle   The Beanery

Northern Harrier   Sandy Hook

Sharp-shinned Hawk   Sandy Hook

Cooper's Hawk   Sandy Hook

Bald Eagle   Sandy Hook

Red-shouldered Hawk   Sandy Hook

Red-tailed Hawk   Sandy Hook

Great Horned Owl   Brig

Barred Owl   The Beanery

Belted Kingfisher   Manasquan Reservoir

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   35 Sunset Rd

Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Pileated Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Northern Flicker   Manasquan Reservoir

Merlin   Sandy Hook

Peregrine Falcon   Sandy Hook

Pacific-slope Flycatcher   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Eastern Phoebe   Sandy Hook

Bell's Vireo   Sandy Hook

Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd

American Crow   Manasquan Reservoir

Fish Crow   Assunpink WMA

Common Raven   Berkeley

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd

Golden-crowned Kinglet   35 Sunset Rd

Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Sandy Hook

White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper   Sandy Hook

House Wren   The Beanery

Winter Wren   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Marsh Wren   Brig

Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd

European Starling   Manasquan Reservoir

Gray Catbird   Manasquan Reservoir

Brown Thrasher   Assunpink WMA

Northern Mockingbird   Manasquan Reservoir

Eastern Bluebird   Union Transportation Trail

Hermit Thrush   Sandy Hook

American Robin   Manasquan Reservoir

Cedar Waxwing   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

House Sparrow   Holly Lake

House Finch   35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

Snow Bunting   Island Beach SP

Chipping Sparrow   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Field Sparrow   Union Transportation Trail

Fox Sparrow   Manasquan Reservoir

Dark-eyed Junco   Sandy Hook

White-crowned Sparrow   Sandy Hook

White-throated Sparrow   Manasquan Reservoir

LECONTE'S SPARROW   The Beanery

Nelson's Sparrow   Brig

Savannah Sparrow   Sandy Hook

Song Sparrow   Manasquan Reservoir

Lincoln's Sparrow   Brig

Swamp Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

Eastern Towhee   Brig

Eastern Meadowlark   The Beanery

Red-winged Blackbird   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Common Grackle   Assunpink WMA

Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Palm Warbler   Sandy Hook

Pine Warbler   Whiting

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Manasquan Reservoir

Prairie Warbler   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd Boat-tailed Grackle, Barnegat Light SP Great Black-backed Gull, Barnegat Light SP

Deer Head Lake 1/11--Ross's Goose

Ross's Goose

The last month or so I haven't really been in the mood to chase all over hell and gone looking for rare waterfowl. Just the idea of going to some out of the way field and sorting through hundreds of Canada Geese looking for the one rare bird fills me with ennui and my fingers cold numb with cold just thinking about it. So I was delighted to find a Ross's Goose today all by myself, in Ocean County, at a new spot for me.  And the weather was warm.

I strung together a number of places this morning in the Lacey/Forked River/Ocean Township area, starting at Bamber Lake where I found 64 Tundra Swans, apparently a high number according to eBird but I counted every one. I got most of my walking in at Eno's Pond where I found my first Belted Kingfisher of the year (2 of them actually), then knocked around Sands Point scoping the bay and one of the forks of the Forked River for waterfowl, coming up with a few new county birds.

My final stop was at Deer Head Lake in Lacey Township. I've seen it listed a few times on eBird but never saw anything outstanding that would make me want to run down there. However, I know Becky birds it as a lunchtime spot and since I'm still in the gathering phase for Ocean County I thought maybe there would be something I hadn't already seen in the county. And there was. I stopped at the little parking area at the head of the lake and scoped about 500 Canada Geese. I immediately saw a white bird tucked in with them and my first impression was a Great Black-backed Gull but that quickly gave way to white goose. "Well, good," I thought, "I haven't had Snow Goose yet for the year, anywhere." I looked again and couldn't find the goose. It was so small that it could hide behind a Canada. That was interesting. I saw that there was a beach I could walk to, about 3 blocks away, so I just picked up the scope and walked over there. I quickly re-found the goose. However, this is the look it gave me:
Not very helpful. I waited and waited and the goose seemed very comfortable. I shifted my position a little and maybe that got its attention because it picked up its head and walked into the water. Yes, a Ross's with a stubby bill, no "grin patch" and blue/gray caruncles on the base of the bill. I love the word "caruncles." There are some words you only get to use with birds, like "rufous" or "fulvous" and this is another. It means fleshy growths and ROGOs have them while SNGOs don't.

I put out an alert once I was 99% per cent certain of my i.d. Becky showed up first since she works nearby and the bird cooperated with her so that she could see the bill also. Then more familiar faces showed up and the bird got very comfortable again, head tucked in, standing on the edge of the ice. After being there for more than an hour I decided that I'd exhausted the entertainment value of this bird and left. Eventually, those who stayed or showed up later also got a look-see at the bill to confirm the identification. The last report was that it flew to the northwest with some Canadas.

Moral: It is much more satisfying to find the bird than to chase the bird.

My day list:
Spots birded: Bamber Lake; Deer Head Lake; Eno's Pond; Poplar St Boat Launch; Sands Point Park; Sands Point--Dock Ave

Ross's Goose   1

Canada Goose   500

Tundra Swan   64

American Black Duck   2

Mallard   30

Northern Shoveler   2

Ring-necked Duck   15

Bufflehead   6

Hooded Merganser   20

Red-breasted Merganser   2

Ruddy Duck   2

Double-crested Cormorant   1

Turkey Vulture   3

Cooper's Hawk   1

Ring-billed Gull   5

Belted Kingfisher   2

Red-bellied Woodpecker   2

Downy Woodpecker   1

Blue Jay   2

American Crow   4

Carolina Chickadee   9

Tufted Titmouse   8

Red-breasted Nuthatch   1

White-breasted Nuthatch   3

Carolina Wren   1

American Robin   3

Northern Mockingbird   1

European Starling   2

White-throated Sparrow   1

Northern Cardinal   1

House Sparrow   5