Barnegat Lighthouse SP 3/25--Piping Plover

Piping Plover, with Brant

Why do I keep returning to Barnegat Light? Because, to paraphrase Willie Sutton, that's where the birds are. Potentially, at least. Of the birds on my shopping list this morning, I only found one, Piping Plovers in the mud around the pond, but that was the priority bird, since I don't much enjoy Barnegat Light in the summer when much of it is inaccessible. The other birds I was hoping for--Lesser Black-backed Gull and White-winged Scoter--were not in evidence and it looks like I'm going to have to wait for winter to roll around again (and maybe cadge a ride down the beach at IBSP) in order to put them on the county list. Last week, up at Point Pleasant Beach, I was finally able to see a small flock of Northern Gannets at Manasquan Inlet and 5 Laughing Gulls at Baltimore Avenue. I remember when Pete Bacinski ran an informal contest to see who could see the first Laughing Gull of the year, since he considered it a harbinger of summer. Nowadays, with climate change, you might be able to win the contest on New Year's Day. As it was, the first sighting in NJ this year was March 1. 

American Wigeon

Other notable birds there today were the continuing out-of-place American Wigeons (what are they finding to eat in sandy-bottomed pond?), noisy American Oystercatchers chasing one another around in disputes having to do with either territory or mating--or both, and a very sharp looking Savannah Sparrow of the Ipswich persuasion. 

Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)

In a reversal from last week when there were 100+ Purple Sandpipers and only 1 Dunlin that I could find among them, today, there was a lone Purple Sandpiper picking at the rocks near the concrete walk and about 35 Dunlins roosting at the end of the jetty. Interesting, in a non-interesting way. 

The day list is similar to last week's:

34 Species:
Brant  150
American Wigeon  2     
Mallard  4
American Black Duck  7
Harlequin Duck  1
Surf Scoter  2
Black Scoter  40
Long-tailed Duck  15
Bufflehead  1
Red-breasted Merganser  10
Mourning Dove  1
American Oystercatcher  7
Piping Plover  3
Dunlin  35
Purple Sandpiper  1
Laughing Gull  1
American Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  30
Red-throated Loon  4
Great Cormorant  10
Blue Jay  1     Heard
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     Parking lot
Northern Mockingbird  3
House Sparrow  2
House Finch  5
Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)  1
Song Sparrow  3
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Common Grackle  15
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  4

November Kneecap I Mean Recap

American Bittern, Great Bay Blvd

For the second year in a row, Shari had knee surgery in November which limited my birding for more than half of the month, as she needed my assistance during her recovery, which is going all right now, thank you, but has been much rougher (read "painful") than last year's knee. Even when I felt it was safe enough to leave her for a while, I didn't go very far (Whitesbog, the Cranberry Bogs on Dover Rd, Colliers Mills) as I wanted to be fairly close in case of an emergency. 

I only added one year bird this month, a surprising female Purple Finch at our bird bath one morning. There have been a couple of very cool species along the shore this month--Cave Swallows in Point Pleasant and a Pomarine Jaeger flying back and forth between Barnegat Light & Island Beach, but I couldn't make the trips. It may be sour grapes, but often when I hear about a rarity and consider chasing, I think, "That's not birding, that's driving." It also helps to have a spotty memory. The last day of our October trip to Portugal and Spain there was a great rarity reported at Whitesbog that absolutely had me crippled with despair; the other day I couldn't even remember what the bird was, I had to look it up (Sage Thrasher). 

But I did have two happy sightings early in the month before Shari had to go under the knife (what an expression!). The day before the surgery I was down on Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton having a relatively uneventful yet pleasant morning when, as I was walking back to my car I glanced to my left, and there, across a little stream, was an American Bittern in classic beak-up pose, trying unsuccessfully to blend in with the reeds. It wasn't my first bittern of the year, but it was definitely the one I saw best and the only one I was able to photograph. 

The day after the election, I was moping around Whitesbog when I ran into my informant. We commiserated for a while then got back to the much more interesting topic of what we'd seen that day. He mentioned that in one of the old blueberry fields, which was now an empty reservoir, he'd seen an interesting sandpiper along with the Killdeer, snipe, and yellowlegs feeding there, but as he didn't have a scope, he couldn't make an ID. Since that field was only a few minutes from where I was parked, I drove up to it, set up my scope and found a very late White-rumped Sandpiper among the now-exposed blueberry bush stumps. It was the only "rarity" I listed this month, but satisfying as I (sort of) found it by myself. 

The bogs and reservoirs at Whitesbog remain drained for the most part but this morning as I passed the Lower Bog which does have some water in it, I saw my first Tundra Swans of the season. Normally, this time of year, with water in Union Pond and the other 3 bogs, you might find 20 or 30 of them. This year does not look promising for them. I almost felt bad for the 7 swans I later saw flying over the Ocean County side, looking for water and not finding it.

For the month 102 species--a very low count for November but sometimes the serious gets in the way of the silly. 

Counties birded: Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species            First Sighting
Brant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose   Jumping Brook Preserve
Mute Swan   Assunpink WMA
Tundra Swan   Whitesbog
Wood Duck   Jumping Brook Preserve
Gadwall   Lake Carasaljo
Mallard   Jumping Brook Preserve
American Black Duck   Reeves Bogs
Green-winged Teal   Jumping Brook Preserve
Ring-necked Duck   Lake Carasaljo
Lesser Scaup   Lake Carasaljo
Surf Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-winged Scoter   Great Bay Bvld
Black Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Long-tailed Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Bufflehead   Cedar Bonnet Island
Hooded Merganser   Lake Carasaljo
Ruddy Duck   Assunpink WMA
Mourning Dove   Whiting WMA
American Coot   Lake Carasaljo
American Oystercatcher   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black-bellied Plover   Great Bay Bvld
Killdeer   Reeves Bogs
Wilson's Snipe   Reeves Bogs
Lesser Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Sanderling   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin   Great Bay Bvld
White-rumped Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Laughing Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Ring-billed Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Herring Gull   Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Black-backed Gull   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Forster's Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Royal Tern   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Pied-billed Grebe   Jumping Brook Preserve
Horned Grebe   Great Bay Bvld
Common Loon   Great Bay Bvld
Double-crested Cormorant   Assunpink WMA
American Bittern   Great Bay Bvld
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Bvld
Great Egret   Great Bay Bvld
Great Blue Heron   Whiting WMA
Black Vulture   Jumping Brook Preserve
Turkey Vulture   Whiting WMA
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Cedar Bonnet Island
Cooper's Hawk   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Harrier   Reeves Bogs
Bald Eagle   Jumping Brook Preserve
Red-shouldered Hawk   Reeves Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk   Assunpink WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whiting WMA
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Pine Park
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whiting WMA
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Flicker   Reeves Bogs
American Kestrel   Cranberry Bogs
Merlin   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Jumping Brook Preserve
Blue Jay   Whiting WMA
American Crow   Whiting WMA
Fish Crow   Bayview Ave Marina
Common Raven   Whiting WMA
Carolina Chickadee   Whiting WMA
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whiting WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Brown Creeper   Lake Carasaljo
Winter Wren   Jumping Brook Preserve
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   New Egypt
Gray Catbird   Assunpink WMA
Northern Mockingbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Bluebird   Whiting WMA
Hermit Thrush   Whiting WMA
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
House Finch   Whiting WMA
Purple Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Jumping Brook Preserve
Snow Bunting   Great Bay Bvld
Chipping Sparrow   Whitesbog
Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Fox Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd
White-throated Sparrow   Jumping Brook Preserve
Savannah Sparrow   Assunpink WMA
Song Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Swamp Sparrow   Jumping Brook Preserve
Red-winged Blackbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Brown-headed Cowbird   Lake Carasaljo
Rusty Blackbird   Reeves Bogs
Common Grackle   Lake Carasaljo
Boat-tailed Grackle   Bayview Ave Marina
Palm Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Cardinal   Jumping Brook Preserve

Baltimore Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach7/26--Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Terns in the middle and on the piling, along with Royal Tern, Common Terns, etc.

I got a bad case of the "can't stand it-s" today. For the last week or so, Sandwich Terns have been reported up in Pt Pleasant, first at the inlet, and lately, at Baltimore Avenue which overlooks the Manasquan River just before it empties into the inlet itself. I've always wanted to find my first New Jersey (and it follows Ocean County) Sandwich Tern along a beach, like IBSP or Barnegat Light, somewhere I'd naturally be in the summer. But by mid-afternoon today, after more reports kept rolling in, I decided I had to make the long drive up Route 70 to see if I could find these birds--one an adult, the other supposedly a juvenile. 

It took me 45 minutes to get there. I set up my scope and started sorting through the gulls and terns roosting on the abandoned pier. They were far away and there was glare. The Royal Terns were easily recognizable, the Common Terns were too. I saw a couple of birds that looked like small Royal Terns (the tonsure "haircut" is a field mark), but from the distance I wasn't sure if their bills were black or orange. I didn't want to identify a Royal Tern as a Sandwich--size can be hard to judge from a quarter mile away. Finally, one of the terns turned sideways and I could see that its bill was black and that its tip was yellow--the classic "nose dipped in mustard" mark. There were two, though they didn't seem to associate as closely as others had seen. I was satisfied with the one I was absolutely sure of, because you only need one. 

It's been a slow month. This was only my second year-bird of the July, but it was my 375th NJ Bird, and my 327th in the county.