August Review--One (Count 'em) One Year Bird

Pied-billed Grebe, Whitesbog

 The Third Law of Birding states that "Wherever you are, you should be somewhere else." But what if you don't feel like being somewhere else?  Then you get my August. 

Places like Cedar Bonnet Island, Barnegat Lighthouse, Sandy Hook, Island Beach, were the places where the interesting birds of summer were to be found, but the triple threats of insects, people, and traffic kept me away. 

Purple Martins, Franklin Parker Preserve

Instead, I cycled through my favorite places: Whitesbog, Colliers Mills, the cranberry bogs on Dover Road, Franklin Parker Preserve and hoped that the birds would be where I wanted to be.  Aside from the White Ibis at Whitesbog, the birds I found this month were predictable species. The Purple Martin show at Franklin Parker was spectacular--every dead tree in the reservoir had a couple of hundred martins perched on it, and the Red-headed Woodpeckers at Colliers Mills are always worth looking
for. 

Red-headed Woodpecker, Colliers Mills

I got a little jolt mid-month at Whitesbog when I saw that the Fenwick Bogs (the working bogs that haven't been worked for the past couple of years) had barriers put up.  Since they haven't been growing cranberries there it didn't make sense to put them off-limits but then the explanation came out that the water in the bogs was going to be used in the harvest and that they wanted to keep the dogwalkers out so the dog feces wouldn't contaminate water. Which made sense, on the face of it. And then I thought: and every time an egret takes flight, it ejects a stream of guano into the water, and of course, the deer know enough to wander outside the bogs to do their business, as do the bunny rabbits, the groundhogs, the raccoons, and squirrels. Still, on my last couple of walks there, my trespassing has been discreet--I go in on a trail with no barrier and thus have plausible deniability. One morning I found myself away well before dawn and drove over there just in time to see the Common Nighthawks flying around in the east. It was bittersweet, because back in the days when the bogs would be drawn down, that was just the appetizer for a long day's banquet of shorebirds and waders. 

I made one trip to Brig, where I got my only year bird for the month--the American Avocets, and they made up for the missed birds there. The flies at Brig weren't too bad, though they didn't encourage one to stand in the road and endlessly scope for rare sandpipers 1000 yards away.  I made a couple of trips down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton--early in the month it was a doable walk; last week, the flies drove me away. 

Caspian Tern, Franklin Parker Preserve

For the month 112 species, the last two this morning at Double Trouble--Chimney Swifts and a calling Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a very unusual bird for this time of year. 

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose    Costco parking lot, Brick
Mute Swan    Holly Lake
Wood Duck    Cranberry Bogs
Northern Shoveler    Brig
Mallard    Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Wild Turkey    South Park Rd
Rock Pigeon    South Toms River
Mourning Dove    Cranberry Bogs
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Colliers Mills WMA
Common Nighthawk    Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Double Trouble SP
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Cranberry Bogs
Clapper Rail    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Avocet    Brig
American Oystercatcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-bellied Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Killdeer    Franklin Parker Preserve
Semipalmated Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Hudsonian Whimbrel    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Short-billed Dowitcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Spotted Sandpiper    Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper    Franklin Parker Preserve
Lesser Yellowlegs    Franklin Parker Preserve
Greater Yellowlegs    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ruddy Turnstone    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Sandpiper    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Brig
Laughing Gull    Cranberry Bogs
American Herring Gull    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Great Black-backed Gull    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black Skimmer    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Gull-billed Tern    Whitesbog
Caspian Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Royal Tern    Waretown
Pied-billed Grebe    Whitesbog
Double-crested Cormorant    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
White Ibis    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Glossy Ibis    Brig
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Green Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Great Blue Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Turkey Vulture    South Park Rd
Osprey    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Cooper's Hawk    Brig
Bald Eagle    Cranberry Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk    Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher    Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    South Park Rd
Downy Woodpecker    Cranberry Bogs
Hairy Woodpecker    Cattus Island County Park
Northern Flicker    Whitesbog
American Kestrel    Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Cranberry Bogs
Willow Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Phoebe    Colliers Mills WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird    Cranberry Bogs
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Lake Shenandoah County Park
Red-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Blue Jay    Cranberry Bogs
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee    Cranberry Bogs
Tufted Titmouse    South Park Rd
Tree Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
Purple Martin    Cranberry Bogs
Barn Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    South Park Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Cranberry Bogs
Northern House Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Marsh Wren    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Carolina Wren    Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters
Gray Catbird    Cranberry Bogs
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Bluebird    Cranberry Bogs
American Robin    Cranberry Bogs
Cedar Waxwing    Cranberry Bogs
House Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
House Finch    Cranberry Bogs
American Goldfinch    Cranberry Bogs
Chipping Sparrow    Cranberry Bogs
Field Sparrow    Cranberry Bogs
Seaside Sparrow    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Towhee    Cranberry Bogs
Baltimore Oriole    35 Sunset Rd
Red-winged Blackbird    Cranberry Bogs
Common Grackle    Franklin Parker Preserve
Boat-tailed Grackle    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler    Cranberry Bogs
Common Yellowthroat    Cranberry Bogs
Pine Warbler    Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal    Cranberry Bogs
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    Double Trouble SP
Blue Grosbeak    South Park Rd
Indigo Bunting    Brig

Franklin Parker Preserve 1/13--Northern Shrike

Northern Shrike

With the heavy rains and gusting winds of late causing coastal flood warnings all over, I knew my best strategy was to go inland. I drove down to Franklin Parker Preserve in the heart of the Pine Barrens for the second time this month. Even there, in old cranberry bogs that are reverting to wetlands, the water was high, making the trails impassable in some places. I bumped into a couple of Burlco birding buddies who were looking for an out-of-season Grasshopper Sparrow that had been photographed there a couple of days ago. My goal was a little less esoteric and they pointed me the way to go for the Northern Shrike that has, presumably, returned for the 3rd year in a row to the preserve, albeit on the on the west side of 563 this time. I climbed up the observation platform and after a few minutes found the bird in a tree with a lot of dead branches in the line of sight. Then it jumped up to the top of the tree and I managed some very distant doc shots, and I was happy. It seems that most of my shrike sightings are like this, a gray/white/black blob in the distance where I can barely make out the mask. I tried walking down a breached dam to get a better angle on the bird but couldn't it find in the mess of bare branches in front of me.

Walking south along the Bald Eagle Reservoir, I came to one of those impassable spots and turned left on a much less used trail. And there before me, sitting in a tree, was the shrike. It flew into the reservoir on the right and perched for a moment on a stick, flew, came back to the stick, and let me get a decent look at it and some very lousy photographs which I won't show you. 

Eastern Meadowlark

I continued walking down the dam.  I had no idea if it was breached or not. There wasn't much activity, the winds had kicked up and I suspected that was keeping the birds hunkered down, aside from a flock of robins. I got as far as I could reasonably go without bushwhacking and turned around. A bird flew down into the grass from a pine. I my first impression was that must have been a dove. I knew I'd flush the bird on the way back and when I did, I saw that it wasn't a dove. Eastern Meadowlark?

One of the sentences from Roger Tory Peterson's field guides that has always stuck with me was his discussion of habitat and birds. He wrote something to the effect, "A meadowlark needs a meadow." I have found this to be only generally true. I have seen meadowlarks in the marshes along Stafford Avenue, on the barren strip behind the firing range at Colliers Mills, among other non-meadow spots. The overgrown dam at Franklin Parker certainly doesn't qualify as a meadow, yet there was the bird, roosting now in a dead pine. I still wasn't entirely certain until it flew across the water, and I saw the white outer tail feathers spread in flight. It landed in another dead tree with its back to me and was very hard to find. But when it turned around, it was like a yellow light in all the brown and gray across the water. It actually pleased me more to find the meadowlark than the shrike. My philosophy is I only need one cool bird a day. The meadowlark made it two. 

BC Fairground 1/3--Rough-legged Hawk

 A .333 batting average is great in the Major Leagues. Chasing birds, not so much. I started the morning at Franklin Parker Preserve. A Northern Shrike has been there since late December, but I figured I'd wait for the new year to go look for it. A shrike has been spotted there for the last 3 years, though this is the first time it has been around the reservoir. FPP is vast (at one time I believe it was the largest cranberry bog in NJ), but the shrike has been reported in a specific, easy to find area, around the observation deck. I spent, off and on, about an hour on the deck, and the rest of the time wandering around the reservoir. No Lucky Shrike for me today. 

Then I saw that the Ross's Goose that has been in the Mt Laurel vicinity was spotted again this morning. It was something like 25 miles away from FPP, but I figured I give it a shot. I should have looked at the map more closely. I thought I'd be looking at flock of Canada Geese on a farm field, which is where it was originally reported, but today the pin was dropped at the entrance to a housing development where there are a couple of small retention ponds on the main road. NO TRESPASSING signs everywhere. And only about 50 geese. No Ross's among them. 

I had one more idea for a rarity today. Another half-hour drive up the BC Fairgrounds to look for the continuing, semi-reliable Rough-legged Hawk. When I got there a couple of birders I know were also setting up scopes. They had seen the Ross's, just a bit beyond where I was, in a field behind a barn. If I knew my way around that part of Burlco, I probably would have felt comfortable exploring a bit more, but I don't. We thought we had the Rough-legged, but the light was terrible--hazy & shimmering. While I was reasonably sure the hawk I scoped on the radio tower and then saw flying was the target, it was such a lousy look that I was debating if I wanted to list it. 

Another guy I know came up. He also had just seen the Ross's in a slightly different section of that field. He also had the shrike yesterday. So, as I'm gnashing my teeth, we looked for the Rough-legged. A woman drove up and told us she'd just seen the hawk west of where we were standing, so we drove a quarter of a mile and set up again joined by another searcher. Still nothing. It was well past my lunch time by then, so I got in the car and was pulling out when the guy held up his hand. The bird was in the field, hunkered down. I cut the engine and got out again.  I couldn't see it but then it flew up and around the field giving great views, unmistakable, as they say. It hover-hunted over the field, like a gigantic kestrel. No pics, as you can see. But at least I felt I could legitimately list it for the year. 

Other new birds there were a Black Vulture and Eastern Meadowlarks, a very handsome bird that I don't get to see all that much. The year's count is 70. Not a lot for all the driving I've done. 

June Wrap-up: COVID Curtailed Edition

Yellow Warbler, Boundary Creek

 A month that started out just ducky, with a Garganey on its first day, lost a lot of its momentum when, after more than two years, COVID finally made its way into the Zirlin household. And it came in just as I always suspected it would: Shari caught it in New York (as best as we can figure) and infected me. Ironically, she was in New York to visit the last doctor she has there. We're quadrupled vaccinated, so the symptoms were mild yet lingering and annoying, like having a cold you can never shake. And while I tried to get out in the field as soon as I could, there was a stretch of days where I had no energy. Unfortunately, for me, that stretch included the days that Roseate Terns were showing up in numbers on Island Beach but there was just no way I could drag myself out there to chase them. 

I spent a lot of time at my favorite cranberry bogs, Whitesbog and Jumping Brook, both before, during, and after (hopefully, I'm in the after stage), and they produced Least Bittern, Common Nighthawk, and Black-billed Cuckoo, all new for the year.  While I was sitting in the house, bored, I got to thinking about how many cranberry bogs I traipse around and, as you can do in eBird, built a "patch list" of all of them to see what my total number of birds was. Impressive at 212 species. And since I like lists, they are:

Bunker Hills Bogs

Budd's Bogs

Cloverdale Farm

Cranberry Bogs on Dover Road

Double Trouble SP

Franklin Parker Preserve

Jumping Brook Preserve

Reeves Bogs and of course

Whitesbog.

I can't guess the total acreage but that's a lot of ground to have covered. 

Only 9 new species for the month, but 138 species in total which is pretty good for a doldrums month.

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose  National Guard Training Ctr
Mute Swan  Sylvan Lake
Wood Duck  Whitesbog
Garganey  National Guard Training Ctr
Mallard  National Guard Training Ctr
American Black Duck  Whitesbog
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon  Shark River Inlet
Mourning Dove  35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  35 Sunset Rd
Black-billed Cuckoo  Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk  Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will  35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift  Jumping Brook Preserve
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail  Great Bay Blvd
Sora  Brig
Black-necked Stilt  Manahawkin WMA
American Avocet  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Oystercatcher  Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover  Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Plover  Island Beach SP
Piping Plover  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Killdeer  National Guard Training Ctr
Ruddy Turnstone  Island Beach SP
Ruff  Brig
Sanderling  Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper  Jumping Brook Preserve
White-rumped Sandpiper  Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Island Beach SP
Short-billed Dowitcher  Island Beach SP
Spotted Sandpiper  Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs  National Guard Training Ctr
Willet  Great Bay Blvd
Lesser Yellowlegs  National Guard Training Ctr
Laughing Gull  Island Beach SP
Ring-billed Gull   Belmar
Herring Gull  Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull  Island Beach SP
Least Tern  Great Bay Blvd
Gull-billed Tern  Brig
Common Tern  Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern  Island Beach SP
Royal Tern  Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer  Great Bay Blvd
Double-crested Cormorant  Island Beach SP
Brown Pelican  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Bittern  Jumping Brook Preserve
Great Blue Heron  Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret  Cranberry Bogs
Snowy Egret  Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron  Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron  Island Beach SP
Green Heron  Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd
White Ibis  Great Bay Blvd
Glossy Ibis  Island Beach SP
Black Vulture  Rt. 70 Pemberton Twp
Turkey Vulture  Cranberry Bogs
Osprey  Island Beach SP
Cooper's Hawk  Reeves Bogs
Bald Eagle  Brig
Red-tailed Hawk  Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher  Island Beach SP
Red-headed Woodpecker  South Park Rd
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Burrs Mill Brook
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Evert Trail
Northern Flicker  Cranberry Bogs
Peregrine Falcon  Cedar Bonnet Island
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Island Beach SP
Acadian Flycatcher  Double Trouble SP
Willow Flycatcher  Island Beach SP
Eastern Phoebe  Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher  35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird  Island Beach SP
White-eyed Vireo  Island Beach SP
Yellow-throated Vireo  Reeves Bogs
Warbling Vireo  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo  Jumping Brook Preserve
Blue Jay  35 Sunset Rd
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  Shark River Inlet
Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Wesley Lake
Purple Martin  Laurel Run Park
Tree Swallow  Island Beach SP
Bank Swallow  Burrs Mill Brook
Barn Swallow  Island Beach SP
Cliff Swallow  Wesley Lake
White-breasted Nuthatch  Burrs Mill Brook
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Whitesbog
House Wren  35 Sunset Rd
Marsh Wren  Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren  Island Beach SP
European Starling  Island Beach SP
Gray Catbird  Island Beach SP
Brown Thrasher  Island Beach SP
Northern Mockingbird  Island Beach SP
Eastern Bluebird  Cranberry Bogs
Veery  Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Thrush  Jumping Brook Preserve
American Robin  Island Beach SP
Cedar Waxwing  Whitesbog
House Sparrow  Island Beach SP
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  35 Sunset Rd
Grasshopper Sparrow  Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow  Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Saltmarsh Sparrow  Brig
Savannah Sparrow  Jumping Brook Preserve
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee  Island Beach SP
Yellow-breasted Chat  Brig
Orchard Oriole  Jumping Brook Preserve
Baltimore Oriole  Burrs Mill Brook
Red-winged Blackbird  Island Beach SP
Brown-headed Cowbird  Whitesbog
Common Grackle  National Guard Training Ctr
Boat-tailed Grackle  Island Beach SP
Ovenbird  Whitesbog
Worm-eating Warbler  Evert Trail
Louisiana Waterthrush  Evert Trail
Black-and-white Warbler  Whitesbog
Prothonotary Warbler  Evert Trail
Common Yellowthroat  Island Beach SP
Hooded Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
American Redstart  Island Beach SP
Yellow Warbler  Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler  35 Sunset Rd
Prairie Warbler  Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal  Island Beach SP
Blue Grosbeak  Laurel Run Park
Indigo Bunting  Colliers Mills WMA

Baby Barn Swallows, Boundary Creek

Assunpink 5/14--Arctic Tern

The silver lining in the seemingly constant stormy, cloudy weather of late was an irruption yesterday of Arctic Terns on inland lakes and reservoirs.  When I saw the first report at Spruce Run Reservoir in Hunterdon, I said to myself that I'm not going there. Then another came in from DeKorte, in Bergen, even farther north. No way. But when I got an alert late in the afternoon that one was found at Franklin Parker Preserve in Burlco, I planned to go there early this morning. But when I got up and looked at my phone, I was stunned to see more reports, from all over the state, including Assunpink. I know Assunpink better than I do FPP and I figured it would be easier to determine yay or nay on the terns from the boat launch than at Parker. Besides, Assunpink probably offers a bigger variety of birds in case the terns were a one-day wonder.

The weather, no surprise, was foggy when I got to the lake. The dim silhouettes of lingering Ruddy Ducks were all I could make out with my scope. I decided to walk the road along the lake, hoping that the terns would be hunting either along the narrow stretch or at the east end. Along the way, I came across another birder who asked if I'd seen the terns. When I answered in the negative, he said he had seen one, with his scope, on the far shore of the lake by the dam. I was torn. Should I go back to the parking lot and try again based on a report from a birder I didn't know, or should I keep to my plan? I opted for the plan, which, of course, turned up no terns, but did get me a good look at a beautiful Scarlet Tanager. Indigo Buntings abounded.

I retraced my steps and got back to the boat launch. Before hauling out my scope, I scanned the lake with my binoculars. The fog had lifted, and it was just overcast. Suddenly I saw, in the distance, a tern. It flew about halfway across the lake and I could tell it was very gray and I could see the long streamers on its tail. Couldn't get anything on the beak. Another guy I know pulled up and we looked at the bird for a minute or so, fairly certain we had the bird. Then another one, out of nowhere, appeared. They both seemed to be going back to the north side of the lake, and when I scoped that side, I saw, on the berm, a host of birders. Then I knew we had the birds and knew where I was going next. 

Mr. Oblivious
Photo © Alex Bernzweig

A short drive and short walk brought me to the dam overlooking the outflow structure upon which one of the terns was roosting. Now I could get truly good looks at the bird and tick off all the field marks, including its short legs. Honestly, it is easier to tell an Arctic Tern from a Common Tern, than it is a Common Tern from a Forster's. I knew most of the people congregating on the dam. One of them, a good photographer, showed me a picture he'd just taken of the bird flying unnoticed right in front of oblivious me as I was walking along the shore.

Arctic Tern is a state bird for me. Why did I chase this state bird and not the recent Western Meadowlark at Brig? For one thing, I thought the odds of finding the tern were better than the meadowlark, which was hunkered down in an expanse of grass in one of Brig's impoundments and for another, if I saw an Arctic Tern, I would be pretty certain of its identity while the meadowlark, which looks almost identical to its eastern counterpart, would be an "if you say so" bird. In summary: Find tern, a good birding experience. Find meadowlark, not so much. 

We left the dam when the radar said a storm was approaching but after a brief shower, I decided to walk the fields of the Navigation Beacon in the vague hopes of coming across a chat. That field used to be a reliable spot for them, and Grasshopper Sparrows as well. The fields look cut down and recently burnt. I did come across some Brown Thrashers and an Orchard Oriole, so the walk wasn't completely unproductive. 

50 species for the day; aside from the senior moment I had in which I confused one birder with another (both, interestingly, followers of this blog), it was a good day, one that makes up for all those walks through bird-free zones.

Canada Goose  37
Mute Swan  1
Wood Duck  1
Mallard  2
Ruddy Duck  5     Main part of lake
Mourning Dove  2
Chimney Swift  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1     Flyover

Laughing Gull  10
Arctic Tern  2     
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Green Heron  1     Flyover lake
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4

Northern Flicker 2
Merlin  1     Flyover berm
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  9
Warbling Vireo  1     Heard
Blue Jay  4  Heard
Carolina Chickadee  1     Heard
Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
House Wren  5
Carolina Wren  7     Heard
European Starling  1
Gray Catbird  30

Brown Thrasher  3

Northern Mockingbird  2
Eastern Bluebird  1     Heard
Wood Thrush  2     Heard
American Robin  13

House Sparrow  2
House Finch  1     Heard
Chipping Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  8    
Song Sparrow  4
Eastern Towhee  7

Orchard Oriole   1
Red-winged Blackbird  80
Brown-headed Cowbird  6
Common Yellowthroat  24
Northern Parula  4     Heard
Yellow Warbler  3
Scarlet Tanager  1
Northern Cardinal 7
Indigo Bunting  10

Franklin Parker Preserve 1/13--Northern Shrike

That little gray & white pimple at the top of the tree is the Northern Shrike

The Year of Lousy Looks continues. This time, laziness was a factor. No matter where I stood as I circled the old cranberry bog where the long-staying and presumably returning Northern Shrike has been for the last couple of months, the shrike was always too far away to get a good look at it with binoculars. Had I lugged my scope out there I probably would have been able to see it more clearly. But that's a long haul on a cold morning. Fortunately, after I spotted a gray and white bird perched on a dead tree in the middle of the bog, it turned its head a few times letting me see its black mask, so I was able to rule out mockingbird. But again, had this been a life bird, it would have been a disappointing sighting. As it was, I was pleased that I found it on my own. Last time, 3 circuits of the bog were fruitless until a friend walked out there with me and spotted it right away. 

There were two species that actually were more interesting to me this morning than the shrike; one was the adult Bald Eagle with a ton of sticks in its talons, indicating a nearby nest and the other were the two Wilson's Snipes that flushed out of the frozen bog as I made my way around. Non-shore shorebirds are always a treat. 

Of course, lousy looks are better than no looks, which is how the rest of my day went. After lunch I had decided to go over to Toms River to see if I could spot the Canvasbacks there but just as I got in the car I received a text that a Common Gallinule had been spotted in Holly Lake in Tuckerton, so I drove down there first. 45 minutes later I was looking at a single American Coot diving beneath a dock, the only open water on the pond. I'm sure the gallinule was somewhere in the vicinity, hard up against the shore where I couldn't get an angle on it. A wise birder once told me you should stay in a place at least as long as it took you get there, but after 45 minutes I still only had the coot along with ducks, swans, and gulls...and a muskrat. 

So, back to plan A, a drive up to Toms River but by the time I got there, what with the fishermen on a sandy spit and paddleboarder making his way around the ice floes, the ducks on the water didn't seem happy and none of the unhappy ducks were Canvasbacks. Had you traced my path at both Mathis and Riverfront you would have thought I was executing a problem in trigonometry as I set up the scope at various points in both places. Big birds, hard to miss, but I missed them. Wonder where they went? 

November Wrap-up--One Bogus Year Bird

Cattle Egrets across the road from Colliers Mills

So, not a good month. 

I was constrained in my birding because life got in the way. I birded every day, but couldn't necessarily get to the places I would have liked to be because there wasn't enough time to get there. 

Thus, when a Western Kingbird was reported at Tip Seaman Park in Tuckerton, I was on Island Beach, participating in an Ocean County rarity round up but the best rarity was too far away for me to run after that day. And Western Kingbirds have a reputation not of sticking around in the county so the next day I didn't bother to chase. This one stuck around (actually 2 just to grind by teeth a little more) but it wasn't until 5 days later I was able to run down there. They turned out to be a Doctor John birds. I was either at the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time. Despite multiple sightings flooding my phone whenever I was not there, three trips to the park (two on the same day) yielded bupkis. 

The only year bird I added in November is essentially bogus. Running across Stafford Avenue in Manahawkin I saw a Ring-necked Pheasant, but they're released in huge numbers in the WMA there. I really shouldn't count it, but Mo-om, everybody else does! Of course it gets harder to add as the year lengthens, one of the reasons my interest flags when December rolls around. I feel like I'm 100 points behind in Scrabble with only a few letters left in the bag. But still, 30 days with only a glimpse of a pheasant? Discouraging.

And my camera broke. 

So, not a good month. 

November was not without its slight rewards: The Northern Shrike at Franklin Parker was a winner for the day. Three Cattle Egrets at Colliers Mills were amusing and new for that patch. And the ole reliable Trumpeter Swans are back at Assunpink for something like the 8th year in a row. When I was there on Thanksgiving I found them with a couple of Mute Swans mid-lake and then got the triad when 2 Tundra Swans (ironically, more rare in Monmouth County than the Trumpeters) flew in. Made for a good comparison of the 3 species if I ever want to teach a swan class. I would like it on my permanent record that I did not count the pheasant I saw there flying away from 4 hapless hunters who ineffectually sprayed the sky with buckshot as it disappeared behind a tree. 

Trumpeter and Tundra Swans, Assunpink Lake

The rarity round up was an interesting exercise, sort of like a Christmas Count without the bitter weather. I enjoyed combing Island Beach, but the only rarity any of us came up with was an oxymoronic hen King Eider and really, of late, King Eiders are only theoretically rare in Ocean County. 4 spent the summer hanging out in the back of Barnegat Inlet. 

King Eider (hen), IBSP

For the month I stumbled upon 121 species. But oh that Western Kingbird is like a knife in my ribs. 

Species            First Sighting
Mute Swan  Tip Seaman CP
Trumpeter Swan  Assunpink WMA
Tundra Swan  Whitesbog
Wood Duck  Whitesbog
Gadwall  Tip Seaman CP
American Wigeon  Island Beach SP
Mallard  Tip Seaman CP
American Black Duck  Great Bay Blvd
Green-winged Teal  Whitesbog
Ring-necked Duck  Tip Seaman CP
Greater Scaup  Island Beach SP
Lesser Scaup  Assunpink WMA
King Eider  Island Beach SP
Common Eider  Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter  Island Beach SP
White-winged Scoter  Island Beach SP
Black Scoter  Island Beach SP
Long-tailed Duck  Island Beach SP
Bufflehead  Double Trouble State Park
Hooded Merganser  Whitesbog
Common Merganser  Whitesbog
Red-breasted Merganser  Island Beach SP
Ruddy Duck  Assunpink WMA
Ring-necked Pheasant  Manahawkin WMA
Pied-billed Grebe  Assunpink WMA
Horned Grebe  Island Beach SP
Rock Pigeon  Holly Lake
Mourning Dove  35 Sunset Rd
Virginia Rail  Island Beach SP
American Oystercatcher  Great Bay Blvd
Black-bellied Plover  Great Bay Blvd
Killdeer  Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone  Island Beach SP
Sanderling  Great Bay Blvd
Dunlin  Great Bay Blvd
Purple Sandpiper  Island Beach SP
American Woodcock  Double Trouble State Park
Wilson's Snipe  Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs  Great Bay Blvd
Bonaparte's Gull  Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull  Island Beach SP
Ring-billed Gull  Island Beach SP
Herring Gull  Parker Run Dock St
Lesser Black-backed Gull  Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull  Parker Run Dock St
Forster's Tern  Island Beach SP
Royal Tern  Island Beach SP
Red-throated Loon  Island Beach SP
Common Loon  Great Bay Blvd
Northern Gannet  Island Beach SP
Great Cormorant  Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant  Holly Lake
Brown Pelican  Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron  Parker Run Dock St
Great Egret  Great Bay Blvd
Snowy Egret  Manahawkin WMA
Little Blue Heron  Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron  Island Beach SP
Cattle Egret  Colliers Mills WMA
Black Vulture   Lanoka Harbor
Turkey Vulture  Great Bay Blvd
Osprey  Great Bay Blvd
Northern Harrier  Island Beach SP
Sharp-shinned Hawk  Tip Seaman CP
Cooper's Hawk  Prospertown Lake
Bald Eagle  Great Bay Blvd
Red-shouldered Hawk  Tip Seaman CP
Red-tailed Hawk  Franklin Parker Preserve
Eastern Screech-Owl  Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher  Tip Seaman CP
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  Island Beach SP
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Holly Lake
Downy Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Hairy Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker  Colliers Mills WMA
American Kestrel  BC Fairgrounds
Merlin  Island Beach SP
Peregrine Falcon  Island Beach SP
Northern Shrike  Franklin Parker Preserve
Blue Jay  Tip Seaman CP
American Crow  Parker Run Dock St
Fish Crow  Double Trouble State Park
Common Raven  Island Beach SP
Carolina Chickadee  Holly Lake
Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd
Tree Swallow  Parker Run Dock St
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  Island Beach SP
Golden-crowned Kinglet  Great Bay Blvd
Red-breasted Nuthatch  Double Trouble State Park
White-breasted Nuthatch  35 Sunset Rd
Brown Creeper  Island Beach SP
Winter Wren  Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren  Great Bay Blvd
European Starling  Parker Run Dock St
Gray Catbird  Island Beach SP
Northern Mockingbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird  Tip Seaman CP
Hermit Thrush  Colliers Mills WMA
American Robin  Parker Run Dock St
Cedar Waxwing  Colliers Mills WMA
House Sparrow  Wawa Rt 70
House Finch  Holly Lake
American Goldfinch  Tip Seaman CP
Chipping Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Fox Sparrow  Whitesbog
Dark-eyed Junco  Colliers Mills WMA
White-throated Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Savannah Sparrow  Franklin Parker Preserve
Song Sparrow  Parker Run Dock St
Swamp Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Meadowlark  Colliers Mills WMA
Baltimore Oriole  Tip Seaman CP
Red-winged Blackbird  Holly Lake
Brown-headed Cowbird  Tip Seaman CP
Rusty Blackbird  Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle  Parker Run Dock St
Pine Warbler  Franklin Parker Preserve
Yellow-rumped Warbler  Tip Seaman CP
Northern Cardinal  Colliers Mills WMA

Franklin Parker Preserve 11/8--Northern Shrike

Back in January I was patting myself on the back while simultaneously slapping myself upside the head because I had found, fairly quickly, a Northern Shrike at Franklin Parker Preserve while at the same time was having no success with much larger birds around the state. That shrike hung around a good long while although on a second visit there last winter it proved elusive. A few days ago, that shrike, or one very much like it, returned to the same spot in the vast preserve and this morning I drove down hoping to get a better look at it than I did at the beginning of the year. The old bog that it has been frequenting is large with lots of trees for it to perch upon and lots of brush for it to dive down into and hide. Normally, when I look for a rarity, I don't give it a lot of time--it's either there or it ain't as far as I'm concerned, but today, just to see, I scoured that bog. I walked 3/4 of the way around it until it the path started to go back into the woods, then retraced my steps the opposite way and didn't find the bird. Saw lots of flickers, with which it has been known to associate, but no shrike. 

I crossed the street and walked up to the Bald Eagle Reservoir and there wasn't an eagle, duck, swan, goose, or kingfisher to be seen there. Hard to believe that much water could be that empty. So I decided to go back to the east side of the road and walk all the way around the bog, this time in a clockwise direction. Just before I got back to the gate I ran into a Burlco birder who had already seen the shrike and few days ago and was there to do some botanizing. She wished me luck and I started back. This time in the wooded area, I came across half a dozen Pine Warblers, and saw that both the goose and Mallard flocks had built up substantially in the hour or so I was gone, but still, no shrike. 

I was pretty close to the exit when I saw Kay coming up the path. I gave her thumbs down and she seemed surprised. "I just saw Matt and he said he saw the bird pop up in the bog just a little while ago," she told me. Up to that point, I hadn't really been frustrated. I figured either the bird was hidden, eating or digesting whatever small rodent it had killed, or else it just wasn't there. But to hear that it had just been sighted really kicked me into aggravation mode. 

I turned around. Kay very cheerfully said, "I'll help you." We got out to the bog and hadn't gone 50 feet when she put up her bins and said, "I see it." And there, in a dead oak tree, was the bird, fairly distant and with its back to us, but clearly identifiable as a shrike. And then it turned around and removed any lingering doubt. I took some non-award winning photos, but, as I said to Kay, I didn't know whether to be happy or mad--obviously I was glad to see the bird, but that I either missed it three times or that it favored Kay over me was irritating. It was success and failure at the same time. "Be happy," Kay said, "it's easier." 

So I am.