Manasquan Inlet | Lake Como 2/19--Eared Grebe, Iceland Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull

Iceland Gull, Lake Como

With a wind advisory in effect--gusts up to 50 mph predicted--I was dreading today's NJA field trip to the inlets and ponds of the north shore. But the with the hopes of some rarities, I steeled myself for an ordeal. Since I stink at finding the most sought-after gulls, my best chance to find them is to go out with some good birders. I used to think I stunk at picking out rare gulls from the usual ones because my eyesight was poor, but since my cataract surgery I can't use that excuse. I stink at it because to study gulls you have stand out on a jetty or beach and go through huge flocks of ever shifting birds while the winter wind brings tears to your eyes and your hands freeze on the scope focus ring and as soon as I try to do that the "fun" question occurs to me and since it is decidedly not fun, I quickly give up. 

Better I should pay twenty bucks and let someone with the search image firmly in mind find one. Or as it turned out today, two. 

But the magnificent find was not a gull and was wholly unexpected. And the weather, while rough, wasn't as bad as I was expecting. 

We started the morning on the jetty at Manasquan Inlet. Bundled against the wind, 18 intrepid birders set up thousands of dollars of optical equipment to scan the churning sea, only to find loons, mergansers, and Long-tailed Ducks. The beach was barren of gulls. I left the scope in Shari's hands (literally, or else it would blow over) and started walking down the jetty, hoping to scare up a Purple Sandpiper or two and to move around. Of course, when I was far down the jetty everyone started yelling my name. I ran back to hear "Eared Grebe!" 

There was an Eared Grebe for a few days last month off Holgate that I missed. Eared Grebes being pretty rare in NJ I was chagrined, especially since I had never seen one in Ocean County. Manasquan Inlet, at least the part we were standing on, is in Ocean County. If I missed this bird, the day was ruined and all because I can't stand still. But luckily, happily, Shari had it in the scope as did a couple of other folks and I got a good look at the bird, though it dove a couple of times. No shot of getting a picture and then, as fast as it had appeared, it disappeared. Speculation was that it was keeping tight to the jetty where we couldn't see it, or that it had drifted north. But after everyone in the group, I believe, got on it, it was not seen again. 

Black-headed Gull, Manasquan Inlet

Just before everyone was frozen to the core, we made our way back to the parking lot and drove a few hundred yards to the back of the inlet where we saw our first rare gull of the day, the long-staying celebrity, a Black-headed Gull. Not a year bird for me, but I was happy Shari got to see it since it has been a few years (or possibly longer) since she's had one on her year list. 

We then began hopscotching various bodies of water starting with Lake of the Lilies (Killdeer, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shovelers) to Wreck Pond and the Spring Lake boardwalk, then up to Lake Como where we defied the no parking signs and scoped the pond. The first interesting gull was an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull that was pretty obvious once someone else pointed it out, but before I could get the camera to try for a pic, the caravan moved on to the other end of the lake because there was a small flock of Redheads to view, and Redheads are always worth the look. 

Just as I was about to get the Redheads in the scope an "interesting" gull flew into the pond. It was all white with a black-tipped bill. Remember: I stink at gulls. So, when it was identified as a Glaucous Gull, I just accepted that, as did everyone else in the group. Ever read the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds? Sometimes, that title pops into my mind when I'm birding in a group. In this instance, I was able to get a few pictures of the grayish bird in gray water under gray skies. Not great pictures, but good enough to have the bird's i.d. corrected almost immediately by the Monmouth County reviewer once I posted the photos on my eBird list. It was an immature Iceland Gull. Iceland/Glaucous, Glaucous/Iceland...I'll take either one. Gulls. This is why I didn't even consider going into Central Park in NYC to find the Slaty-backed Gull. My chances would be slim. 

We made a quick stop at the Shark River Inlet where the pickings were so poor that I didn't even bother with a list, then ended the day at MacLearie Park on the Shark River, where, reliably, there has been a Eurasian Wigeon this year, last year, the year before...and there it was, waddling on a sandbar with a few hundred Brant. 

The day accumulated 43 species the hard way with 3 year birds for me and 3 rarities on the list. 

Species  First Sighting

Brant  Manasquan Inlet

Canada Goose  Manasquan Inlet

Mute Swan  Lake of the Lilies

Northern Shoveler  Lake of the Lilies

Gadwall  MacLearie Park

Eurasian Wigeon  MacLearie Park

American Wigeon  MacLearie Park

Mallard  Lake Como

American Black Duck  MacLearie Park

Redhead  Lake Como

Ring-necked Duck  Lake Como

Lesser Scaup  Lake of the Lilies

Long-tailed Duck  Manasquan Inlet

Bufflehead  Little Silver Lake

Hooded Merganser  Lake of the Lilies

Red-breasted Merganser  Manasquan Inlet

Ruddy Duck  Lake of the Lilies

Horned Grebe  Manasquan Inlet

Eared Grebe  Manasquan Inlet

American Coot  Lake of the Lilies

Killdeer  Lake of the Lilies

Black-headed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Ring-billed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Herring Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Iceland Gull  Lake Como

Lesser Black-backed Gull  Lake Como

Great Black-backed Gull  Manasquan Inlet

Red-throated Loon  Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon  Manasquan Inlet

Great Cormorant  Spring Lake

Double-crested Cormorant  Lake Como

Great Blue Heron  Lake Como

Turkey Vulture  Little Silver Lake

Bald Eagle  MacLearie Park

Red-tailed Hawk  Lake of the Lilies

Blue Jay  Wreck Pond

European Starling  Manasquan Inlet

American Robin  Lake of the Lilies

House Sparrow  Lake of the Lilies

Snow Bunting  Manasquan Inlet

Song Sparrow  Wreck Pond

Boat-tailed Grackle  Manasquan Inlet

Northern Cardinal  Wreck Pond

Red-throated Loon, Manasquan Inlet

Silver Lake1/16--Eurasian Wigeon

Every year a Eurasian Wigeon makes an appearance in Belmar and every year I go up there to find it. The last few years it (though who knows if it is the same bird every year) it has been a little difficult to get a look at since you either had to set up a scope in the parking lot of a gas station and look into a cove in the river, or else find just the right angle in MacLearie Park and stand on one foot and tilt you head your head just so to find the bird.

This year was supposedly easier, as the bird was being seen in Silver Lake one of the artificial ponds that dot the North Shore from Long Branch down to Point Pleasant Beach. But late in December I missed it and last week when I went up there the water was "stiff," and today when I got there I didn't see many birds on the water either. What I did see were hundreds of geese, both Canada and Brant, feeding on the grass around the lake. Wigeons are one of the few ducks that will also graze a lawn so I walked toward a big flock of geese, swerving into the street so as not to scare them all away. Not that they seemed to care that much, they're all pretty use to humans walking around. And after a bit, a few geese moved and there, almost at my feet was the drake Eurasian Wigeon, along with a few American cousins. It is such a pretty duck that it's worth the trip and the effort to find it.

I have a long history of unsuccessful attempts to find a Eurasian Wigeon before actually getting one. Our life EUWI was at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge when we lived in Brooklyn. I don't know how many trips we made there seeking one out after seeing it reported on the rare bird listserv (which shows how long ago this was) that we subscribed to. 

Jamaica Bay, being one of the most famous refuges in the country and being in NYC, attracts birders from all over the world. I remember that Patrick O'Brian, the author of the Aubrey/Maturin series of naval thrillers set during the Napoleonic Wars and also an enthusiastic British birder, said that JBWR was one of his favorite places to have birded.  

One day when Shari & I had gone again to find the wigeon, a birder from Australia stopped me and asked me if I could confirm an ID of a Little Blue Heron. Sort of in a rush and sort of feeling snotty, I looked in his scope, saw the bird and said, "Well, it's little, it's blue, it's a heron...it's a Little Blue Heron." 

He didn't care how snarky I was, it was a life bird for him. Then I told him I had to rush because there was a Eurasian Wigeon on the other side of the pond and it was my "White Whale." 

He replied (and imagine a thick 'stralian accent), "You mean, your Moby Duck." 

Touché

(We got the bird that day.) 

North Coast Ponds & Inlets 2/1--Laughing Gull, Merlin

Laughing Gull, Manasquan Inlet

I drove up to Point Pleasant Beach for Carole's NJ Audubon trip to the ponds and inlets on what you might call the "Southern North Coast," which ends at PPB and starts at the Shark River, though we do the trip in the reverse. Because I was early, I made my first stop Lake of the Lilies. In the large scaup flock (stipulated: there are both greater and lesser in the flock) I was hoping for a Redhead to slip in but, as was the case on Wednesday, no. However, a bird I wasn't expecting zipped right by me--a Merlin on a mission flying low and fast over the pond and behind a house.

There was no construction going on at the Manasquan Inlet so we were able to access the jetty. The attraction there was the very cooperative Razorbill that was bobbing at the mouth of the inlet. The looks were fairly close, which was very satisfying since it was a lifer for one of the members of our group. After a trip back to Lake of the Lilies and a lesson on scaup identification (all of which I know but most of the time cannot apply), we returned to the inlet, birding the western part along the parking lot. There, right in front of where I parked my car, was an immature Laughing Gull, which I didn't notice until Carole pointed it out. This is probably the same gull I didn't find on Wednesday. A LAGU in mid-winter is very unusual in these parts but the weather has been warm which must be part of the explanation.

It is certainly the explanation for the dearth of ducks on the ponds and inlets. In the autumn ducks get physiologically ready to migrate but they don't actually move until they have to--a propensity I have to say I share with them. So, not only is warm down here, but it is warm up there and that's where, I'll wager, all the ducks are. Of course, warm for a duck and warm for me are two different climates--I could use another 30 degrees tacked on to today's high. Wreck Pond had very little on it, aside from a hefty flock of Gadwalls, Lake Como and Silver Lake had geese and gulls, the Shark River inlet had a few loons, and the Shark River Marina had the usual stupendous numbers of Mute Swans and Brants, along with the expected Buffleheads & Red-breasted Mergansers.

Eurasian Wigeon with American Black Duck (digiscope)

My final stop (I had to cut out a little early to go up to Iselin) was Maclearie Park where we hoped to find the ever-present Eurasian Wigeon. I plunked down my scope and before I could even begin a scan of the American Wigeon flock, Carole announced that she had the bird. It was sleeping on a little patch of beach in front of a concrete block encasing culverts. That was easy. This must be the same drake returning for the 3rd or 4th year or else there is something mysteriously attractive about this stretch of the water along Rt 35 between the park and the Shell station to Eurasian Wigeons.

My last bird of the day was a Northern Mockingbird up at the family homestead in Iselin.
44 species to start the month.

Species   First Sighting

Brant   Manasquan Inlet

Canada Goose   Lake of the Lilies

Mute Swan   Wreck Pond

Northern Shoveler   Wreck Pond

Gadwall   Wreck Pond

Eurasian Wigeon   MacLearie Park

American Wigeon   MacLearie Park

Mallard   Lake of the Lilies

American Black Duck   Manasquan Inlet

Greater Scaup   Lake of the Lilies

Lesser Scaup   Lake of the Lilies

Surf Scoter   Spring Lake

White-winged Scoter   Manasquan Inlet

Black Scoter   Manasquan Inlet

Long-tailed Duck   Manasquan Inlet

Bufflehead   Manasquan Inlet

Hooded Merganser   Lake of the Lilies

Red-breasted Merganser   Manasquan Inlet

Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies

Mourning Dove   Lake of the Lilies

American Coot   Lake of the Lilies

Purple Sandpiper   Manasquan Inlet North Side

Razorbill   Manasquan Inlet

Laughing Gull   Manasquan Inlet

Ring-billed Gull   Lake of the Lilies

Herring Gull   Lake of the Lilies

Great Black-backed Gull   Lake of the Lilies

Red-throated Loon   Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon   Manasquan Inlet

Double-crested Cormorant   Lake of the Lilies

Great Blue Heron   Lake of the Lilies

Bald Eagle   MacLearie Park

Red-tailed Hawk   MacLearie Park

Merlin   Lake of the Lilies

Fish Crow   Manasquan Inlet North Side

Carolina Wren   Wreck Pond

Northern Mockingbird   18 Aberdeen Avenue

House Sparrow   Lake of the Lilies

Song Sparrow   Lake Como

Common Grackle   Wreck Pond

Boat-tailed Grackle   Manasquan Inlet

Northern Cardinal   Lake Como

Field Next To Lakewood Wawa 1/13--Killdeer

Killdeer

After a long, cold North Shore NJ Audubon field trip on which I added 4 year birds (Green-winged Teal, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, & Snow Bunting), I needed both coffee and gas. To Wawa, naturally, but instead of going home the faster route and stopping at the one in South Toms River, I chose to go the slightly longer route and stop off at the store on Route 70 in Lakewood. There is a field adjacent to the parking lot there that is a reliable spot for Killdeer, which I still needed for the year. I scanned from the car and just before I thought "nope" I came upon a lump far in the back of the field which I thought might be a bird with its back to me and upon bringing out the scope it proved to be so. Happily, it turned around so I could take its distant portrait.

Over the years this field has not only had breeding Killdeer in it (I have pictures of a Killdeer chick to prove it),  but also Red-tailed Hawks, kingbirds, mockingbirds--the field is always worth a look. But, like almost every other private empty space in Lakewood it up for sale and development and the fact that the Killdeer will lose their breeding ground will not be an argument against another strip mall or condominiums. So I'm going to enjoy this field for as long as it lasts.

Like most Jersey birders, I spend way too much time and money in Wawas. Unlike most Jersey birders, I also spend way too much time documenting my stops. I also keep, thanks to the magic of eBird's database, a list of birds I've seen at the 94 (and counting) Wawa's I have visited. So far the list is up to 34 species, which seems remarkable to me considering we're talking about an acre of asphalt here. Of course, a lot of these are flyovers, but Mike did once take a picture of a Red-tailed Hawk siting atop the Wawa in Galloway. By far the most interesting bird I've seen at a Wawa was down in Cape Coral, Florida, where Muscovy Ducks (countable in Florida) were just hanging out along the fence line of the parking lot. But aside from the House Sparrows, pigeons, and starlings you'd expect to see in any parking lot, the list has on it some birds you would't expect to find when stopping for a bathroom break and then a bladder refill of coffee. This seems like an apt time to show my Wawa Patch List:

Species                Location

Canada Goose   Wawa South Toms River

Muscovy Duck   Wawa Cape Coral, FL

Mallard   Wawa County Line Rd

Rock Pigeon   Wawa South Toms River

Mourning Dove   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Killdeer   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Laughing Gull   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Herring Gull   Wawa County Line Rd

Double-crested Cormorant   Wawa County Line Rd

Great Blue Heron   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530

Great Egret   Wawa South Toms River

Black Vulture   Wawa Rt 130

Turkey Vulture   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Bald Eagle   Wawa Woodstown

Red-tailed Hawk   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Eastern Wood-Pewee   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530

Eastern Kingbird   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Blue Jay   Wawa 179 Route 37 E

American Crow   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Fish Crow   Wawa-Jackson-1120 E Veterans Hwy

Common Raven   Wawa County Line Rd

Carolina Chickadee   Wawa Galloway

White-breasted Nuthatch   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530

Carolina Wren   Wawa 179 Route 37 E

American Robin   Wawa County Line Rd

Gray Catbird   Wawa County Line Rd

Northern Mockingbird   Wawa County Line Rd

European Starling   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530

House Finch   Wawa County Line Rd

Field Sparrow   Wawa South Toms River

Song Sparrow   Wawa County Line Rd

Common Grackle   Wawa Parsippany

Yellow Warbler   Wawa County Line Rd

Northern Cardinal   Wawa 179 Route 37 E House Sparrow   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530

Red-tailed Hawk, Wawa Galloway
Photo: Mike Mandracchia

Warinanco Park 2/17--Pink-footed Goose

Pink-footed Goose (the one with the pink feet) with Canada Geese, Warinanco Park

Even though I have only birded Warinanco Park in Linden twice, I have a great fondness for it. Firstly, because Linden is my father's hometown; secondly, because when I was a child, he used to take me for rowboat rides in the lake. So I am told. Like most memories, I only remember remembering this. Finally, because 9 years ago, Shari & I got our our life Cackling Geese in this park, an extraordinary flock of 6. It was then that I remarked to her that it was the first time I had been in that park in 50 years.

Mike's friend Paul from Illinois is spending the long weekend in Jersey birding, and today the three of us started at Warinanco Park to get one of the rare geese that have been in the state. A good opportunity for me because I haven't felt like chasing them on my own. We arrived at the park around 8 o'clock and even though I was the only one who had been there, I had no memory of the park's layout from 9 years ago. I did know that it wasn't very big, so we just started out looking for water. We found the lake (which, I remember remembering was much larger when I was a little boy) and though there was a large flock of geese on it, all of them were standard issue. We knew reports had it also on a baseball field, so we drove around until we found another flock of geese grazing on the grass. Another birder, whom we'd met first at the lake was there with his scope set up and he signaled to us that he had the bird we had come for, a Pink-footed Goose. Always good to have it pointed out, as it saves time and frustration, but we'd have found this one on our own as it wasn't tucked in with the other geese, as so often happens, but was right out in the middle, pink feet obvious. Year bird for Mike and me, life bird for Paul!

Today was dedicated to getting Paul lifers, so our next stop was down in Wall to look for the Barnacle Goose that hadn't been reported in a while (one was reported, late in the day, about 18 miles from where we were looking) and then down to Wreck Pond to look for the Tufted Duck that also seems to have disappeared. We then drove up to Sandy Hook to get easier birds that Paul needed, like 5 Great Cormorants hanging roosting on a tower in the shipping channel. We didn't spend a lot of time at the Hook; instead we made a tour of the north shore ponds. Paul thought he had Lesser Black-backed Gull on his life list, but upon examination, couldn't find it listed. We found one on the shore of Sylvan Lake, where they are often easy to find. Good pictures for Paul too.

Purple Sandpiper, Manasquan Inlet

Stubbornness brought us back to Wreck Pond. Stubbornness still didn't get us a Tufted Duck. We had plans to go to Barnegat Light tomorrow where we would pick up a couple of lifers for Paul, but just in case, we stopped at Manasquan Inlet. This year there are more Purple Sandpipers there than at Barnegat. I found a couple flying in the inlet and one landed across the way on the north jetty. Paul was focusing on that one when a flock of 50 appeared, winging back and forth between the jetties. Fortunately, quite a few landed close to us on our side and Paul had good shots of this lifer too. I took one "for-the-hell-of-it" shot because I like the facial expression these sandpipers have--somewhere between quizzical and Weltschmerz. Do I anthropomorphize? Very well then, I anthropomorphize.

So, 4 lifers for Paul, one year bird for Mike & me, made for a very good day. Not a huge number of species (39 that I listed) but pretty good for hit-and-run birding.

Locations birded:
Garden State Parkway,  Lake Takanassee; Lake of the Lilies; Manasquan Inlet; Mathis Veteran's Memorial Park; Marshall's Pond, Sandy Hook; Shark River; Silver Lake; Sylvan Lake; Warinanco Park; Wreck Pond

Snow Goose   3

Pink-footed Goose   1

Brant   580

Canada Goose   613

Mute Swan   101

Northern Shoveler   2

Gadwall   13

American Wigeon   8

Mallard   27

American Black Duck   9

Canvasback   20

Redhead   40

Ring-necked Duck  5

Greater Scaup   75

Lesser Scaup   13

Long-tailed Duck   1

Bufflehead   67

Hooded Merganser   12

Red-breasted Merganser   3

Ruddy Duck   9

Common Loon   1

Horned Grebe   1

Great Cormorant   5

Great Blue Heron   2

Turkey Vulture   1

Bald Eagle   1

American Coot   27

Purple Sandpiper   50

Ring-billed Gull   118

Herring Gull   31

Lesser Black-backed Gull   1

Great Black-backed Gull   21

Rock Pigeon   1

Blue Jay   1

American Robin   200

Northern Mockingbird   1

European Starling   100

Cedar Waxwing   2

Song Sparrow   3

North Shore Ponds & Inlets 1/28--Eurasian Wigeon, Redhead, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Manasquan Inlet

I awoke fifteen minutes before my alarm from a dream of someone blowing into the handlebars of a bicycle, making a hollow, bassoon-like tone. When I still heard the "hoo-hoo" of the dream with my eyes open, I realized that it had been induced by 2 Great Horned Owls calling to each other from the woods behind the house. They must have been fairly close, or very loud, in order to wake me up through the closed windows.  (The idea itself of bicycle as musical instrument was left over in my brain from seeing a YouTube video of Frank Zappa "playing" a bike on the old Steve Allen show, long before he was famous.)

Had to get up early so we could get to Mike's house and then drive with him to Point Pleasant Beach, the starting point of Carol Hughes' geographically challenged southern North Shore trip, in which we wended our way from Manasquan Inlet up to the Shark River, stopping a various ponds and look out spots along the way. Starting on the Ocean County side of the inlet we found, thanks to a tip from  fellow birder, a very nice looking Lesser Black-backed Gull, though, because it seemed a little larger than normal, or its head shape wasn't quite right, created some controversy before we settled on that species and not something more exotic and exciting. I never thought otherwise, using Occam's Razor of the simplest explanation usually being the right explanation.

While the weather was sunny, at first, and in the low 40's, the wind made it seem much colder, and it was on the Monmouth County side of the inlet where the cold began to seep into my bones. The only real bird of interest on that side was a Greater Scaup at the very tip of the jetty.

We stopped at Wreck Pond with nothing out of the ordinary, then moved on to Spring Lake with similar results, though on the ocean side where the outlet pipe juts into the water about a hundred feet we came upon a mixed flock of shorebirds with some Purple Sandpipers in it, a county bird for me.

Every beach town from Manasquan to Long Branch seems to have its own "lake" and after a while they all seem to blend into one, so it's good to have eBird keep track of where you are for you. The next town up, Lake Como, we birded the eponymous lake where someone's sharp eye espied a Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile perched at the bottom of a conifer.

Redhead

The next lake, Silver Lake, in Belmar, produced a fairly difficult NJ duck--a drake Redhead. These lake are all hit and miss. Sometimes they have nothing, sometimes they're loaded and there don't seem to be any reasonable explanations as to why one lake a mile down the road is empty water and another, like this one, is full of shovelers, wigeons, Gadwalls, and even one American Coot.

We made a stop at the Shark River inlet, which didn't have anything we hadn't seen before, then took a turn around Sylvan Lake in Avon-by-the Sea (pronounced, pretentiously, "Ahvon," not like the cosmetics company) where we saw our 2nd Lesser Black-backed Gull of the day. I can go a year without seeing one of these species and today I get two, in two different counties. That's what makes it all interesting. This bird, we agreed, was a third cycle bird, meaning it was not quite mature. It certainly wasn't as handsome as the first one this morning.

Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3rd cycle

Our final stop was the Shark River estuary. It was very low tide and geese and ducks abounded, but Carol had only bird in mind which we had to wind around the roads bordering the river to get to the proper viewing point, but it was worth the drive, because in with about 200 American Wigeons was an oxymoronic common rarity, a drake Eurasian Wigeon, a bird that has been "continuing" there since late last year. It was much too far out to take a picture of it, but the scope views were excellent.

With that the trip ended on a high note. For the day I had 41 species, not counting the wake-up owls.
1): Manasquan Inlet
(2): Manasquan Inlet North Side
(3): Wreck Pond
(4): Spring Lake-9-13 Brown Ave - 40.1392x-74.0271
(5): Spring Lake Park
(6): Lake Como
(7 & 8): Silver Lake and Ferruggiaro Park
(9): Shark River Inlet
(10): Sylvan Lake
(11): Shark River

403 Brant -- (2),(9),(11)
220 Canada Goose -- (5),(6),(10),(11)
100 Mute Swan -- (11)
27 Gadwall -- (8),(11)
1 Eurasian Wigeon -- (11)
221 American Wigeon -- (7),(8),(10),(11)
105 American Black Duck -- (2),(7),(11)
13 Mallard -- (5),(7)
40 Northern Shoveler -- (8)
1 Northern Pintail -- (11)
1 Redhead -- (8)
1 Greater Scaup -- (2)
4 Black Scoter -- (2)
12 Long-tailed Duck -- (1),(2),(9)
34 Bufflehead -- (2),(3),(4),(11)
23 Hooded Merganser -- (6),(7),(8),(11)
17 Red-breasted Merganser -- (2),(3),(6),(11)
4 Ruddy Duck -- (7),(11)
1 Red-throated Loon -- (1)
30 Common Loon -- (1),(2),(4),(9),(11)
1 Northern Gannet -- (1)
1 Double-crested Cormorant -- (5)
4 Great Blue Heron -- (3),(8),(11)
1 Black-crowned Night-Heron -- (6)
1 Bald Eagle -- (11)
1 Red-shouldered Hawk -- (6)
1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (11)
1 American Coot -- (8)
14 Sanderling -- (2),(4),(9)
20 Dunlin -- (4)
5 Purple Sandpiper -- (4)
44 Ring-billed Gull -- (1),(3),(6),(7),(10),(11)
1467 Herring Gull -- (1),(2),(4),(5),(6),(9),(10),(11)
2 Lesser Black-backed Gull -- (1),(10)
102 Great Black-backed Gull -- (1),(2),(3),(9),(10),(11)
7 American Crow -- (3),(6),(8),(11)
1 American Robin -- (4)
50 European Starling -- (3)
1 Song Sparrow -- (9)
1 Red-winged Blackbird -- (4)
11 House Sparrow -- (6),(8)