Great Bay Blvd 6/16--Caspian Tern

Caspian Terns

To paraphrase Pete Seeger: 

                There is a season tern tern tern. 

Because migration is over and most of the shorebirds are up north, I have spent an inordinate amount of time the last couple of weeks looking for terns missing from the year list, without, until today, much luck. Everybody and his uncle have managed to find Roseate Tern except for me and I there has even been a Sandwich Tern reported but despite walks on the beaches of Barnegat Light and Island Beach, the best I've come up with is a large number of Royal Terns. (This is starting to remind me of a former Jersey birder who used to catalog in her Listserv missives the birds she didn't see--I once kept a spreadsheet of her misses--it was impressive. So, onto what I did see.) 

I went down to Great Bay Blvd this morning. There is a spot about 1/2 mile north of the first bridge, that looks out onto Tuckerton Cove. I've been able to find Caspian Terns there for the past few years--and my luck held this morning. As soon as I crossed the road and put up my bins, I saw two loafing at the edge of the water. Scope views confirmed them not to be Royal Terns, and so the day had taken a tern for the better. 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

It's June so I didn't expect much from the rest of the Boulevard. The only shorebirds present were many vocal Willets. In one of cedar groves both flavors of night-herons were roosting (or were until they sensed my presence). Yellow-crowned Night-Heron can be a difficult bird to find but there were at least four of them in the grove today--3 immature and a very handsome adult. 

There were lots of fishermen on the beach, so that put the kibosh on any activity there aside from the many buzzing Seaside Sparrows. Walking and driving for 4+ miles of road and beach I managed 28 species for the day--not bad for a "shoulder month." 

Mourning Dove  8
Clapper Rail  1
Willet  14
Laughing Gull  70
American Herring Gull  10
Caspian Tern  2     
Forster's Tern  6
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  4
Black-crowned Night Heron  8
Tricolored Heron  1
Snowy Egret  10
Great Egret  18
Osprey  2
Willow Flycatcher  3
Eastern Kingbird  1     Beginning of road
Fish Crow  1
Tree Swallow  2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1     Roadside
Barn Swallow  25
Marsh Wren  2
Gray Catbird  4
Seaside Sparrow  12
Song Sparrow  6
Red-winged Blackbird  35
Boat-tailed Grackle  15
Common Yellowthroat  5
Northern Yellow Warbler  1

May Wrap-up--Migration in Fits

Black-necked Stilt, Manahawkin WMA

May never quite felt like May this year. Cold mornings, wrong winds, rain, and the usual complaints from birders about migration. I don’t know if migration was good or bad this year—seeing reports of 1 million birds over Ocean County would lead me to believe “good” but I’ve been doing this close to fifty years and I still haven’t heard anyone say, “What a great migration.” It’s always too something: too cold, too windy, too rainy. Meanwhile the real reasons for fewer birds — habitat loss, pesticides, building lights, wind turbines — are too depressing to contemplate

Still, the list grew. It always does. Sandy Hook and Island Beach carried most of the weight. Inland, Colliers Mills was its usual reliable mix of sand, gunfire, and birds, with the occasional surprise —Grasshopper Sparrow, Veery, Worm‑eating Warbler. Manahawkin WMA produced the flycatchers and and yet another Black-necked Stilt! The Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve had the expected warblers and vireos, and remains one of the few places in the area where you can stand on a trail deep in the preserve and not hear any noise from civilization save the occasional airplane.

Shari & I went on our annual date: dinner then down to Collinstown Road for Chuck-will’s-widow. Warblers came in fits and starts: Magnolia, Bay‑breasted, Blackpoll, Chestnut‑sided, Northern Parula on the good days; not much of anything on the others.

By the end of the month the list stretched from Brant to Indigo Bunting, a respectable range for a month that never quite got going. Nothing dramatic, but still May, and still worth being out.

June, with migration over, tends to be a dull month or so they say. I say, go out and see what’s around.

For the month, 168 species in Ocean and Burlington Counties.

Species    First Sighting
Brant    Sandy Hook
Canada Goose    Sandy Hook
Mute Swan    Manahawkin WMA
Wood Duck    Reeves Bogs
Mallard    Island Beach SP
American Black Duck    Sandy Hook
Green-winged Teal    Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter    Island Beach SP
White-winged Scoter    Island Beach SP
Black Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead    Island Beach SP
Red-breasted Merganser    Sandy Hook
Wild Turkey    Crestwood Village
Rock Pigeon    South Toms River
Mourning Dove    Sandy Hook
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Black-billed Cuckoo    Cranberry Bogs
Chuck-will's-widow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Sandy Hook
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail    Island Beach SP
Black-necked Stilt    Double Trouble SP
American Oystercatcher    Sandy Hook
Black-bellied Plover    Sandy Hook
Killdeer    Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Piping Plover    Island Beach SP
Hudsonian Whimbrel    Cedar Bonnet Island
Short-billed Dowitcher    Island Beach SP
Wilson's Phalarope    Forsythe-Barnegat
Spotted Sandpiper    Horicon Lake
Solitary Sandpiper    Cranberry Bogs
Lesser Yellowlegs    Sandy Hook
Willet    Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs    Island Beach SP
Ruddy Turnstone    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Red Knot    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Stilt Sandpiper    Forsythe-Barnegat
Sanderling    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin    Island Beach SP
Purple Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Sandpiper    Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Laughing Gull    Sandy Hook
Ring-billed Gull    Horicon Lake
American Herring Gull    Sandy Hook
Great Black-backed Gull    Sandy Hook
Lesser Black-backed Gull    Sandy Hook
Black Skimmer    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Gull-billed Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Sandy Hook
Common Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Royal Tern    Island Beach SP
Red-throated Loon    Island Beach SP
Common Loon    Sandy Hook
Northern Gannet    Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Sandy Hook
White Ibis    Island Beach SP
Glossy Ibis    Island Beach SP
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron    Island Beach SP
Snowy Egret    Sandy Hook
Green Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret    Sandy Hook
Great Blue Heron    Sandy Hook
Black Vulture    Sandy Hook
Turkey Vulture    Sandy Hook
Osprey    Sandy Hook
Sharp-shinned Hawk    Sandy Hook
Cooper's Hawk    Sandy Hook
Northern Harrier    Sandy Hook
Bald Eagle    Sandy Hook
Red-tailed Hawk    Sandy Hook
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Sandy Hook
Downy Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Northern Flicker    Sandy Hook
Merlin    Sandy Hook
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Colliers Mills WMA
Acadian Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Willow Flycatcher    Manahawkin WMA
Eastern Phoebe    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Kingbird    Sandy Hook
White-eyed Vireo    Island Beach SP
Yellow-throated Vireo    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Blue-headed Vireo    Island Beach SP
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Blue Jay    Sandy Hook
American Crow    Colliers Mills WMA
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Sandy Hook
Carolina Chickadee    Island Beach SP
Tufted Titmouse    Reeves Bogs
Bank Swallow    Sandy Hook
Tree Swallow    Sandy Hook
Purple Martin    Cranberry Bogs
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Sandy Hook
Barn Swallow    Sandy Hook
Cliff Swallow    Cedar Bridge Tavern County Park
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    Sandy Hook
White-breasted Nuthatch    Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch    Island Beach SP
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Reeves Bogs
Northern House Wren    Sandy Hook
Marsh Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Carolina Wren    Horicon Lake
European Starling    Sandy Hook
Gray Catbird    Sandy Hook
Brown Thrasher    Sandy Hook
Northern Mockingbird    Sandy Hook
Eastern Bluebird    35 Sunset Rd
Veery    Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Thrush    Colliers Mills WMA
American Robin    Sandy Hook
Cedar Waxwing    Cedar Bonnet Island
House Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
House Finch    35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch    Sandy Hook
Grasshopper Sparrow    Colliers Mills WMA
Chipping Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow    Whiting WMA
White-throated Sparrow    Sandy Hook
Seaside Sparrow    Sandy Hook
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Savannah Sparrow    Sandy Hook
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Towhee    Sandy Hook
Orchard Oriole    Manahawkin WMA
Baltimore Oriole    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird    Sandy Hook
Brown-headed Cowbird    35 Sunset Rd
Common Grackle    Sandy Hook
Boat-tailed Grackle    Sandy Hook
Ovenbird    Sandy Hook
Worm-eating Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Waterthrush    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue-winged Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prothonotary Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Nashville Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Common Yellowthroat    Sandy Hook
Hooded Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
American Redstart    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Northern Parula    Island Beach SP
Magnolia Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Bay-breasted Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Yellow Warbler    Sandy Hook
Chestnut-sided Warbler    Island Beach SP
Blackpoll Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Black-throated Blue Warbler    Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler    35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prairie Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Black-throated Green Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Summer Tanager    Manasquan River WMA
Scarlet Tanager    Island Beach SP
Northern Cardinal    35 Sunset Rd
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak    Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting    Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Double Trouble SP 5/19--Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilts, Double Trouble

After spending the weekend walking back and forth, up and down a couple of migrant hot spots rubbing shoulders with many birders and photographers, a Garboesque feeling came over me on Monday--I want to be alone. The best idea I had for that notion yesterday was the Huber Preserve--another hot spot teeming with birders in pursuit of its warbler specialties, pretty much empty on a weekday. Besides, there were a few bird possibilities that I was hoping for. But hope is a thing without feathers. 

Prothonotary Warbler, Huber

I started off pretty well there with a very loud and insistent Yellow-throated Vireo singing. I eventually tracked it down to the very top of tree close to the entrance. Huber is a reliable spot for them and the entrance or Sooy Place Road is where you'll find them. But that was it for year birds there. Despite being assured that Barred Owl starts hooting around the bridge area mid-morning, there were no hoots for me. And Summer Tanager, a long-shot I know, but last year I had two birds in the area, was also a no-show. Still, a morning with Prothonotary, Hooded, and Blue-winged Warblers is not a bust.  

As I've mentioned before, I have found that if I don't feel like going to a certain spot, it's usually a good idea to override that feeling and go. Yesterday, after I'd done my walk at Huber I was considering driving down the road about 3/4 of a mile to where Burrs Mill Brook goes under Sooy Place Road and opens up to a swamp. Nah, I'm tired. Yeah, go, it's only 3 minutes away and there's no more walking involved. 

Red-headed Woodpecker,
Sooy Place Rd.

As I got out of the car, I was glad the positive birding angel on my shoulder was persuasive, because immediately I heard the loud, very loud, "Queer!" calls of a Red-headed Woodpecker. I can find Red-headed Woodpeckers anytime I want at Colliers Mills, but in Burlco, despite there being more places they frequent than in Ocean County, they are flagged as rare. Despite sounding like the bird was right on top of me, it took me a while before I located it high up the trunk of a very dead tree, banging away and then screaming. 

This morning, despite the BirdCast count of close to a million birds flying across Ocean County during the night, I was not tempted to go to Reed's Road or Cedar Bonnet Island. Instead, a long walk around Double Trouble SP suited my mood. As I almost always do, I started the walk from the parking lot west to Mill Pond. I was thinking that I have found some weird birds for the area there--Black Skimmer and Caspian Term immediately come to mind--and when I saw mud flats instead of open water I thought the potential for an oddity was high. As soon as I approached the spillway I saw 3 or 4 shorebirds in the back. "I don't know, those don't look like yellowlegs," I said to myself and putting up my binoculars it was obvious that I'd stumbled upon 4 Black-necked Stilts, rare for the area, rare for New Jersey, and just weird so far inland. They were half-way across the pond but I was able to get documentary photos. I texted the one person who I know birds Double Trouble as much as I do and lives nearby, but she couldn't get there this morning. I told her that they might hang around and no sooner had I sent the text than the birds upped and flew--perhaps to the back of the pond, perhaps to some inaccessible marsh. Talk about your lifeline intersecting with a bird's lifeline!

Today is our anniversary (19 blissful years) and we often go to Delaware to celebrate. We didn't this year, but Black-necked Stilts (one of the few shorebirds we target when we're there) are an appropriate find for the day. 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Double Trouble

Walking around back to the Sweetwater Bogs, I was happy to see another oddity, though this one has been there at least a week--a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in the middle bog. Yellow-crowned Night-Herons had not been reported in the park until last week, but with the stilts today, that means it has had its bird list up by two in the last week or so. 

For my walk around Double Trouble, alone, I had 41 species.

Mallard  4
Mourning Dove  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Black-necked Stilt  4     
Killdeer  1     Mill Pond
Greater Yellowlegs  1     Mill Pond
Least Sandpiper  3     Mill Pond
Laughing Gull  2
Glossy Ibis  3
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Great Egret  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  2
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Gray Catbird  10
Veery  1
American Robin  2
Cedar Waxwing  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  5
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  1
Ovenbird  12
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  5
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  9

Island Beach SP 5/16--Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

According to Cornell's BirdCast site, 753,100 (the "100" is amusing) birds passed over Ocean County last night into dawn.  I don't usually pay much heed to BirdCast because I don't care what's passing over, I want to know what's landing, but with three-quarters of a million birds in flight, I figured some of them had to flutter down to spend a day in the county, so with that in mind, I was at Reed's Road as early as I was allowed into Island Beach SP. 

The trees weren't exactly dripping with birds, but there was enough action to keep me walking slowly. The two most interesting birds I saw on the quarter-mile trail to the bay were a Veery (usually just hear them) sitting on a fence rail and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which only the other day I heard but did not see at Whitesbog. Cuckoos too are more often heard than seen, and even this bird was well hidden, such that I could see it's yellow bill and its brown tail, the middle of the bird was leaves. 

I walked north along the bay to the "bowl," and it was there that I notched my three year bird for the day. An oak tree was active with birds and one of them was a beauty of Black-throated Blue Warbler. Parulas, Ovenbirds, Yellow Warblers, and of course, Common Yellowthroats were scattered around. On a second circuit of the area I saw a brilliant red bird in a pin oak and that was my FOY Scarlet Tanager. A female was close by. As I was admiring the pair, out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird flitting in a low-hanging branch above my heard--a Chestnut-sided Warbler I could have picked with my hand. 

Since I almost always manage to hit Reed's Road on a slow day, I was pretty happy with my results. Walks along the trails of Spizzle Creek (where I heard in the parking lot my first New Jersey/Ocean County Royal Tern, first seen this year in Mexico) and Johnny Allen's Cove added a lot of waders and shorebirds to the day list, bringing it up to 61 which is a fair number for a morning on half the bayside trails. 

Brant    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Canada Goose    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Mallard    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Mourning Dove    Reed's Road
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Reed's Road
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Reed’s Road
Clapper Rail    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
American Oystercatcher    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Black-bellied Plover    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Short-billed Dowitcher    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Spotted Sandpiper    Reed's Road
Willet    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Greater Yellowlegs    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Ruddy Turnstone    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Dunlin    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Least Sandpiper    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Laughing Gull    Reed's Road
American Herring Gull    Reed's Road
Least Tern    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Forster's Tern    Reed's Road
Royal Tern    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Double-crested Cormorant    Reed's Road
White Ibis    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Glossy Ibis    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Little Blue Heron    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Tricolored Heron    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Snowy Egret    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Great Egret    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Turkey Vulture    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Osprey    Reed's Road
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reed's Road
White-eyed Vireo    Reed's Road
Blue-headed Vireo    Reed's Road
Red-eyed Vireo    Reed's Road
American Crow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Carolina Chickadee    Reed's Road
Barn Swallow    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Marsh Wren    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Carolina Wren    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Gray Catbird    Reed's Road
Northern Mockingbird    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Veery    Reed's Road
American Robin    Reed's Road
American Goldfinch    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Seaside Sparrow    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Song Sparrow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Eastern Towhee    Reed's Road
Red-winged Blackbird    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Boat-tailed Grackle    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Ovenbird    Reed's Road
Black-and-white Warbler    Reed's Road
Common Yellowthroat    Reed's Road
American Redstart    Reed's Road
Northern Parula    Reed's Road
Magnolia Warbler    Reed's Road
Northern Yellow Warbler    Reed's Road
Chestnut-sided Warbler    Reed's Road
Black-throated Blue Warbler    Reed's Road
Scarlet Tanager    Reed's Road
Northern Cardinal    Reed's Road

Island Beach SP 4/4--Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Spizzle Creek

I knew it was just a tad too early for warblers along Reed's Road at Island Beach, but I went anyway. There are still so many "easy" birds not on my list that I felt it was inevitable that I'd run into one there. I didn't and judging from the other lists I've seen from the day, no one there saw anything I haven't. 

The "inevitable" didn't happen until my second stop, walking out from Spizzle Creek, about 8 miles down the road. There too it had been disappointing with very few birds around and nothing surprising. It was a beautiful morning, very little wind, in the mid-60's, sunny and warm enough to get the insects going which should get the birds going. But the birds have got to be there to get going. As I was leaving, I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and the bird I saw was very small, so I was pretty certain it wasn't a warbler. Maybe a kinglet? It was flitting from branch to branch as kinglets will but once I saw the long tail I knew that I had a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and about time! As has been the routine this spring, the bird was persistently behind budding twigs (no doubt gleaning gnats), but I did manage one semi-clear shot. 

I made a few more stops going north. At Johnnie Allen Cove I saw a large flock of birds in the distance coming my way. I thought at first cormorants, then maybe Brant, but as they got closer I could see it was a flock of abut 40 Glossy Ibises.  That made up for the one distant bird I saw the other day at the Lighthouse Center. And it put me in mind of a funny incident quite a few years back when I was the end of Reed's Road with another birder. A large flock of glossies flew by and he, with his big machine gun-like camera, rattled off 50 shots. "Find the White-faced Ibis, in there," I joked. He went home, blew up his photos, and, wouldn't you know it, there was a White-faced Ibis flying with the glossies. This brought up the existential question of whether you could count a bird you saw but didn't know you were seeing. For me, the answer was I couldn't count it, but he could. And I think he did. 

Glossy Ibis, Johnnie Allen Cove

For the 5 stops, I made, all on the bayside, I managed 36 species. Meh. 

Brant
Mallard
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Mourning Dove
Greater Yellowlegs
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Horned Grebe
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Glossy Ibis
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Osprey
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Common Raven
Carolina Chickadee
Tree Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Island Beach SP 3/20--Piping Plover, Northern Gannet

Because I didn't really feel like walking the beach at the southern end of Island Beach SP, I made a deal with myself: as soon as I saw the birds I was looking for, I would turn around. If I saw them after 50 feet, turn around. But if I had to walk all the way to jetty, I would. Of course, I could slog through the mile or so of sand down to the jetty and still not see my birds, but that's what makes it fun, right? 

The sea was rough and the water was coming up almost to the dunes, so in some places it was hard going and in some places the sand was like cement--the problem being that the soft stuff and hard stuff were almost indistinguishable. There wasn't much bird activity along the way--even the gulls were scarce.  I'd seen a few Long-tailed Ducks in the surf and a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls on the beach after about a 3/4 of a mile when in front of me, in a tire track, I saw two little sand-colored shorebirds scurrying away from me. "Please don't be Sanderlings," I said, and put my scope on them. Yes, what I'd come for, Piping Plovers. Steve thinks they're harbingers of spring and since today is the equinox, maybe they are. 

It seems to me that only recently have Piping Plovers made their way north over the inlet to Island Beach--Barnegat Light was the spot you had to go to find them, walking along the stringed off alley that the beach wardens would create to protest their nests. Now they seem to have discovered Island Beach, much to the chagrin of fishermen because at Island Beach they close off an entire section to protect the nesting birds. 

I also thought it was interesting that there were no bands that I could see on these two birds. They're so threatened that I thought every bird was tracked but these two rogues escaped surveillance, so far. 

I was good to my word to myself, even though I was pretty close to the jetty. Instead, I stood there for a while and scanned the ocean, getting a bonus species when 3 Northern Gannets flew north, low over the water. One of my favorite bird activities to watch is gannets plunge diving into the ocean, but these birds weren't hunting, they were traveling. 

I spent the rest of the morning at various spots in the park, looking to fill the lacunae in my list with land birds I have missed so far and didn't find a one. I knew from looking at list the few days that there weren't many birds being found, but still, when you can't find them, you can't help but feel you're doing something wrong. 

February Wrap-up--Blizzard Edition

Tundra Swans walking on the ice of Union Pond, Whitesbog

The icy aftermath of the storm at the end of the January and the Blizzard of 2026 at the end of this month served to put a kibosh on a lot of my birding--I spent an inordinate amount of time staring out our windows at our feeders.  At least I was rewarded with our first backyard Orange-crowned Warbler.  

I did manage to get around in the two weeks between the ice melting and the blizzard. Some year birds weren't recounted here because they eluded photography.  Two of the birds this month were "hard," (for me at least) --a Purple Finch that I heard at the Manahawkin WMA and a Glaucous Gull at Island Beach, whose presence I was alert to by Steve the previous day. I made the long trek out to the north jetty not really expecting to find the bird when a large white-winged light-gray mantled gull flew in from Barnegat Light, came in low over my head, then made a U-turn back to the south. In almost every other county of New Jersey, Glaucous Gull is considered rare but not in Ocean, inexplicably.  Believe it--they're rare. I also, on my trek along the south end of IBSP came across my first Lesser Black-backed Gull. I was about to photograph it when it was flushed by the only other person I saw walking on the beach that day--typical. 

The final year bird of the month was a rarity, but only because of time of year--a Blue-winged Teal at Lake of the Lilies that I spotted the day before the blizzard hit. I was about to give up on finding it when a birding group came along and one of the leaders got it in his scope--on the far shore weaving in and out of the phragmites. Not the greatest looks, but the facial crescent was clearly seen. That was a beautifully warm winter day--it was hard to imagine that a gigantic snowstorm was on its way. But just because you can't imagine doesn't mean it won't happen. 30 inches of snow and we weren't plowed out until late Tuesday night. Fortunately, for the birds, I had filled up our feeders the day before--fortunately for me too because otherwise I'd have been looking at a blank expanse of snow for most of the week. 

Backyard birding: Mourning Dove

Eastern Bluebird

103 species for the month, which was actually quite a bit better than last year when I couldn't even break the century mark.

Species           First Sighting
Snow Goose   Manasquan Inlet
Brant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose   35 Sunset Rd
Mute Swan   Manahawkin Lake
Tundra Swan   Bamber Lake
Wood Duck   Pemberton Lake WMA
Blue-winged Teal   Lake of the Lilies
American Wigeon   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Mallard   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Black Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Northern Pintail   Pemberton Lake WMA
Canvasback   Lake of the Lilies
Redhead   Holly Lake
Ring-necked Duck   Holly Lake
Greater Scaup   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Lesser Scaup   Lake of the Lilies
Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Surf Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-winged Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Long-tailed Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Goldeneye   Sloop & Potter Creek Marshes
Hooded Merganser   Bay Pkwy
Common Merganser   Holly Lake
Red-breasted Merganser   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Rock Pigeon   New Egypt
Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd
American Coot   Lake of the Lilies
American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-bellied Plover   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Greater Yellowlegs   Manahawkin WMA
Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Purple Sandpiper   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Razorbill   Manasquan Inlet
Ring-billed Gull   Jakes Branch County Park
American Herring Gull   Jakes Branch County Park
Great Black-backed Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Glaucous Gull   Island Beach SP
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Horned Grebe   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Red-necked Grebe   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red-throated Loon   Manasquan Inlet
Common Loon   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Blue Heron   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Vulture   Whiting
Turkey Vulture   235 Brynmore Rd, New Egypt
Sharp-shinned Hawk   New Egypt
Northern Harrier   West Creek Dock Rd.
Bald Eagle   New Egypt
Red-shouldered Hawk   West Creek Dock Rd.
Red-tailed Hawk   BC Fairgrounds
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   35 Sunset Rd
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
American Kestrel   BC Fairgrounds
Merlin   Double Trouble SP
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   New Egypt
Fish Crow   Sands Point Park
Common Raven   New Egypt
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Horned Lark   New Egypt
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Lake Carasaljo
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Brown Creeper   Colliers Mills WMA
Carolina Wren   New Egypt
European Starling   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Mockingbird   New Egypt
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Hermit Thrush   Whitesbog
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow   New Egypt
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
Purple Finch   Manahawkin WMA
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Snow Bunting   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Chipping Sparrow   Whitesbog
Field Sparrow   Whitesbog
American Tree Sparrow   Shelter Cove Park
Fox Sparrow   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd
White-crowned Sparrow   Pinelands Alliance Headquarters
White-throated Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Savannah Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow   New Egypt
Red-winged Blackbird   Lake of the Lilies
Brown-headed Cowbird   New Egypt
Common Grackle   Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Orange-crowned Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Lighthouse Center 1/23--Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron

Little Blue Heron

 I had never been to the Lighthouse Center in the winter, but since I was in the neighborhood this morning, I swung by there. I know from the Barnegat CBC that it can be a productive spot and with the two over-wintering rarities that I found there, it turned out to be so. 

Tricolored Herons are turning up more frequently in winter and in more places in the county than in previous years. It used to be that you'd be able to find one on LBI in the marshes off Bayview Avenue, but this year there are confirmed reports from Island Beach SP, Manahawkin, and the Lighthouse Center as well as LBI. Today, the tide was very low, so I was able to walk around a point and up a little creek that empties into the bay. About 100 yards into the marsh, I saw four Great Egrets and with them, two Tricolored Herons. Great Egrets do hang around in small numbers, but four, to eBird is apparently not a small number. I tried to very surreptitiously creep up a little closer, getting behind a stand of phragmites while I dug my camera out of my bag, but I wasn't sneaky enough since all six birds flew off. As I stood on the bank of the creek cursing, I saw one more white heron way out in the marsh. I took a couple of shots of what I though was one of the egrets since I already had my camera out. However, when I looked at the bird blown up in the viewfinder, I saw that it had a gray/blue beak and realized that it was an immature Little Blue Heron hunkered down in the reeds. It's a crappy shot, but it's all I got. 

I walked around some and then returned to the creek, hoping that the birds would have returned. I looked out in the marsh where I had previously seen them and they weren't there. But much closer, standing in the creek, was one of the Tricoloreds, which promptly flew away as soon as I reached for my camera. More cursing. 

In a few months, these two herons won't be rare. It hasn't been an especially warm winter, but the marshes freeze at a little lower temperature than the freshwater ponds, so there has been food for them to find. With the oncoming storm and absolutely frigid temperatures for the next few days, it will be interesting to see if they stick around. 

27 species
Brant  40
Canada Goose  7
Mute Swan  8
American Black Duck  7
Greater Scaup  20
Long-tailed Duck  2
Bufflehead  50
Red-breasted Merganser  8
Mourning Dove  3
Killdeer  4
American Herring Gull  5
Common Loon  1
Little Blue Heron  1     
Tricolored Heron  2     
Great Egret  4     
Great Blue Heron  1
Northern Harrier  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Northern Flicker  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Tufted Titmouse  1
American Robin  50
House Finch  1
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  3

October Wrap-up--An Uneventful Month

You, if you're paying attention to these notes, could probably figure out that not much birding-wise was going on for me in October. It wasn't until Scott's Island Beach trip at the end of the month that I added any year birds to the list and they weren't exactly crippling looks--a flyover American Pipit at Johnnie Allen's Cove and a couple of distant Parasitic Jaegers chasing gulls out over the ocean during a sea watch--the kinds of sightings I'll only get on a trip with better eyes ears and more patience than I have. 

Even the county birds for the month were merely check marks--I finally found a previously reported Common Gallinule in the county at Tip Seaman Park in Tuckerton after traipsing up to Lake Unpronounceable 3 or 4 times in the summer without success, and scanning a huge flock of American Oystercatchers at Holgate I came upon a Marbled Godwit I was sure would be there since there always seems to be a Marbled Godwit in the oystercatcher flock in the fall at Holgate, but it was  identifiable only because it wasn't an oystercatcher. 

And that was it for the month. I actually got more armchair birds from eBird splits this month than I did from wandering around beaches and cranberry bogs--Western Warbling Vireo from our various trips out west (eBird assigns our first sighting to Florida Canyon-Lower in Arizona), Little Heron which was split from Striated Heron which was split previously from Green Heron and which we've seen in both South Africa and Australia, and Eurasian Whimbrel which was split from what is now called Hudsonian Whimbrel and which we first sighted on the Cairns Esplanade in Australia and have subsequently seen in Portugal and Spain. There is one other species, apparently, since eBird upped my total by 4, but damned if I can figure out which one it is. Had I been paying attention to sub-species in Puerto Rico and Mexico, I might have added Mangrove Yellow Warbler--actually had I know there was a sub-species I might have made the distinction, but now it simply goes down as a slash Northern Yellow Warbler/Mangrove Yellow Warbler. 

I did take some decent pictures though:

Immature White-Crowned Sparrow, Spizzle Creek

Immature White Ibis & Little Blue Heron, Lighthouse Center

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Island Beach

Eastern Bluebird, Colliers Mills

For the month 127 species restricted to Burlington and Ocean Counties:

Species      First Sighting
Brant   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Canada Goose   Whiting WMA
Mute Swan   Bridge to Nowhere
Wood Duck   Cranberry Bogs
Gadwall   Stanley H. 'Tip' Seaman County Park
Mallard   Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck   Forsythe--Barnegat
Green-winged Teal   Reeves Bogs
Ring-necked Duck   Riverfront Landing
Common Eider   Island Beach SP
Surf Scoter   Holgate
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   Manasquan Inlet
Mourning Dove   Whiting WMA
Common Gallinule   Stanley H. 'Tip' Seaman County Park
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Island Beach SP
Killdeer   Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated Plover   Island Beach SP
Marbled Godwit   Holgate
Short-billed Dowitcher   Island Beach SP
Spotted Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Willet   Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs   Forsythe--Barnegat
Sanderling   Holgate
Dunlin   Cattus Island County Park
White-rumped Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Parasitic Jaeger   Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Ring-billed Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock
American Herring Gull   Manasquan Inlet
Great Black-backed Gull   Manasquan Inlet
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Manasquan Inlet
Pied-billed Grebe   Whitesbog
Horned Grebe   Island Beach SP
Red-throated Loon   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Manasquan Inlet
White Ibis   Lighthouse Center
American Bittern   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron   Forsythe--Barnegat
Tricolored Heron   Forsythe--Barnegat
Snowy Egret   Forsythe--Barnegat
Great Egret   Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
Black Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Turkey Vulture   35 Sunset Rd
Osprey   Island Beach SP
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Island Beach SP
Cooper's Hawk   Crestwood Village
Northern Harrier   Island Beach SP
Bald Eagle   Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whiting WMA
Red-tailed Hawk   Manasquan River WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whiting WMA
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Cattus Island County Park
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whiting WMA
Downy Woodpecker   Whiting WMA
Hairy Woodpecker   Reeves Bogs
Northern Flicker   Whiting WMA
Merlin   Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Whiting WMA
White-eyed Vireo   Manasquan River WMA
Blue-headed Vireo   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Blue Jay   Whiting WMA
American Crow   Whiting WMA
Fish Crow   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Common Raven   35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee   Whiting WMA
Tufted Titmouse   Whiting WMA
Tree Swallow   Cedar Bonnet Island
Barn Swallow   Island Beach SP
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Bridge to Nowhere
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Manasquan River WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Whiting WMA
Brown Creeper   Island Beach SP
Northern House Wren   Manasquan River WMA
Winter Wren   Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Lakewood
Gray Catbird   Manasquan River WMA
Brown Thrasher   Reeves Bogs
Northern Mockingbird   Lakewood
Eastern Bluebird   Whiting WMA
Hermit Thrush   Island Beach SP
American Robin   Whiting WMA
Cedar Waxwing   Bridge to Nowhere
House Sparrow   Crestwood Village
American Pipit   Island Beach SP
House Finch   Whiting WMA
American Goldfinch   Whiting WMA
Chipping Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Field Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Dark-eyed Junco   Bridge to Nowhere
White-crowned Sparrow   Island Beach SP
White-throated Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Nelson's Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Savannah Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Song Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Lincoln's Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Swamp Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Eastern Towhee   Whiting WMA
Eastern Meadowlark   Island Beach SP
Red-winged Blackbird   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Common Grackle   Lighthouse Center
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-and-white Warbler   Lake Shenandoah County Park
Common Yellowthroat   Manasquan River WMA
American Redstart   Cranberry Bogs
Northern Parula   Cranberry Bogs
Palm Warbler   Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler   Whiting WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Whiting WMA
Black-throated Green Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd