Barnegat Light SP 9/19--Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

I went to Barnegat Light SP this morning determined to add Brown Pelican to my year list--it's damn embarrassing for that big a bird to be absent this late. I'd seen a couple of days ago that large numbers had been recorded--I figured at least one would stay around. As it happens, many more than one were present--I found a few across the inlet on the Island Beach side on my first scope view and, as I continued along the walkway, more and more kept popping up, either resting on the sand bar or else gliding by like, looking, I don't know why this image comes to mind, like the old Pan Am flying boats of the 30's. Pterodactyls are the more usual simile--they look like that too.

Royal Terns (Juvenile begging from adult)

I also wanted to finally add Royal Tern to my Ocean County list. Again, there was an abundance of birds on the beach, many of them juveniles still begging food from the adults. They're great looking birds with their tonsures and huge beaks, just slightly small than Caspian Terns, which, as every field leader will tell you, is the largest tern in the world.

Another interesting sight this morning was the huge flock of Tree Swallows I at first saw swirling over the dunes. Later, as I made my way to the beach, I found most of the flock sitting on the beach. The picture below gives you an idea of how many were on the sand--you'd have to extend the picture both left and right to get a true grasp of the numbers. I listed the number at 1000, but doing a quick & dirty count on this photo alone gives me that number.

Tree Swallows on the beach

With the Brown Pelican added to the list, I'm up to 195 species for Ocean County--I have a good chance to make 200 if I can find some more warblers, and/or add a couple of ducks before the year is out. The Royal Terns brought my county life list up to 219--good enough for #4 in Ocean County. I'll never get to #1 here unless I give up my fear of pelagic trips. But you know, it's not a competition (unless I'm winning).

For the day I had 22 species at Barnegat Light, plus a Forster's Tern and a couple of Belted Kingfishers on the bay side after I left the park.
Double-crested Cormorant  100
Brown Pelican  30
Great Egret  2    Across inlet
American Oystercatcher  4
Ruddy Turnstone  5
Sanderling  40
Laughing Gull  20
Herring Gull  200
Great Black-backed Gull  20
Royal Tern  45
Mourning Dove  2
Merlin  1
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  5
Tree Swallow  1000    
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
Gray Catbird  2    Heard
European Starling  2
Northern Cardinal  1    Parking lot
Common Grackle  1
House Finch  2
House Sparrow  7

Brigantine 9/14-Change of the Seasons

Another of what seems like my weekly trip to Brigantine didn't add anything new for the year but there were some very cool birds like the very quick look at a Sora that skittered across the dike at the Gull Pond. It was only seen for two seconds by me & one other person on the trip. Soras are notoriously shy, so although Pete tried calling it out, it remained a no show. Not a very satisfying sighting, but it counts.

The "big" bird of the day was the American Avocet we spotted on both trips around the dikes. The first time was in Turtle Cove, rather distant but decent looks at the bird in its high contrast b/w version of itself. The 2nd trip around the impoundments it had moved to the north dike, where we were able to get much closer views. We car pool at Brig and for one of my passengers the avocet was a life bird and I was happy to see her excitement when she got great looks at this rather exotic bird.




























At the dogleg we again found grasspipers. I have to say that I have never in my life seen as many American Golden-Plovers as I have these last few weeks. They're almost becoming a "ho-hum" bird. Also present were both Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers again this week.

Not much in the way of passerines. Some early birders saw some warblers in the woods around the parking lot, but I didn't get there until about 8:30--too late.

You could really feel the change of the seasons today--it felt more like fall than summer on the road with a stiff breeze and the most abundant shorebird was Black-bellied Plover, a bird it won't be surprising to find in mid-winter. Two Marbled Godwits, another species that is no stranger in winter were also in the NW corner of the refuge. The warblers are moving through, the ducks are moving in, the shorebirds are moving out--summer's over gang.

61 species for our 2 circuits.
Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  2
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  10
Blue-winged Teal  100
Northern Shoveler  2
Northern Pintail  2
Green-winged Teal  2
Pied-billed Grebe  1    Gull Pond
Double-crested Cormorant  25
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  100
Snowy Egret  20
Little Blue Heron  5
Glossy Ibis  1
Osprey  3
Northern Harrier  2
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Clapper Rail  1
Sora  1    Gull Pond dike. 
American Avocet  1
Black-bellied Plover  700
American Golden-Plover  3    
Semipalmated Plover  10
Greater Yellowlegs  100
Lesser Yellowlegs  10
Whimbrel  4
Marbled Godwit  2
Dunlin  10
Baird's Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper  5
White-rumped Sandpiper  1
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  500
Western Sandpiper  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  25
Laughing Gull  100
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Caspian Tern  3
Forster's Tern  100
Royal Tern  2
Mourning Dove  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard
Peregrine Falcon  1
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  2
Tree Swallow  200
Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard, entrance road
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard, parking lot
White-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard, Lily Lake
Carolina Wren  1    Heard, picnic tables
Gray Catbird  1    Heard, exit ponds
European Starling  500
Chipping Sparrow  2    Parking lot
Northern Cardinal  1    Picnic tables
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Boat-tailed Grackle  4
American Goldfinch  3    Visitor Ctr feeder, south dike, & parking lot

Here's something I've never seen before

I was at Whitesbog this morning and saw an Osprey, which is unusual in itself. The hawk hovered over Union Pond, as they do, but then, instead of plunging down for a fish, it just sat its ass down in the water. I have never seen an Osprey cool its butt like this. The photo is a blurry digiscope, but you can clearly see that this bird is half in the water.

Raptors were the most interesting birds I saw on my 4 mile walk around the bogs--in addition to the Osprey, there was good looking female Northern Harrier flying over the bogs (perhaps explaining the dearth of shorebirds), and way back in the bogs I saw a Merlin zip by and through a small flock of Tree Swallows.

21 species
Mallard  2
Great Blue Heron  8
Great Egret  2
Green Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey  1
Northern Harrier  1
Semipalmated Plover  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1    Heard
Mourning Dove  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Merlin  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1    Heard
Blue Jay  1    Heard
American Crow  11
Tree Swallow  15
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
Gray Catbird  5    Heard
Common Yellowthroat  1
Pine Warbler  1    Heard
Eastern Towhee  2    Heard 

Brigantine 9/7--Baird's Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Western Sandpipers
Photos: Shari Zirlin

We had what Scott Barnes called "a peep sweep" at Brigantine today; 4 of the hard to get (in NJ) shorebirds, as well as most of the more common sandpipers. We had 17 species of shorebirds--we missed a couple that others in the group had, but we got all the "good" ones: American Golden Plover, Western Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, and Buff-breasted Sandpiper. The last two were FOY for us. The Baird's was especially satisfying since we kept missing the reported ones closer to home--it's a tough bird to identify anyway, but the two we saw today were pretty obvious in their russet plumage which looked as if they were wearing hoodies. When we first arrived at the dogleg and everyone was calling out both the Baird's and Buff-breasted, I felt slightly overwhelmed--which to look for first. I found the Baird's fairly close in and then in the same scope view, the Buff-breasted came into the field. Someone else had the same look and proclaimed, "You're not going to see that too often!" Damn straight! In fact, we hadn't seen a Baird's in years, not since the East Pond at Jamaica Bay and this was only the second time we'd seen Buff-breasted--both times with Scott and Linda. Unfortunately, "close in" is relative--close in for the scope, but not close enough for even Shari's long lens to get decent photos.

We were fortunate today in that we car-pooled with Pete Bacinski and Mike Mandracchia--great birders who don't miss much while at the same time keeping up a steady banter of good and bad puns. My favorite of the day was Pete's description of the Marsh Wren's song as a "wrendition." Shari countered that Pete had "wrendered her speechless." We had a rollicking good time with them.

Another favorite bird that we were happy to see today was Bobolink, one on the first trip around the drive and then a small flock on our second go-round.  Even out of their "reverse tuxedo" breeding plumage these are handsome birds, a warm gold that seems appropriately autumnal.

Bobolink

They, along with the Baird's and Buff-breasted are on their way to the pampas of Argentina. It's a hell of a life being a bird.

Our day list was 66 species-- the group list was 91--aside from the Whimbrels we missed, I'm happy with our total.
Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  1
American Black Duck  X
Mallard  X
Blue-winged Teal  10
Northern Pintail  1    North Dike
Double-crested Cormorant  25
Great Blue Heron  5
Great Egret  100
Snowy Egret  50
Little Blue Heron  5    Beginning of drive
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Glossy Ibis  5
Turkey Vulture  2
Osprey  10
Northern Harrier  2
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Black-bellied Plover  100
American Golden-Plover  3
Semipalmated Plover  50
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  25
Lesser Yellowlegs  20
Ruddy Turnstone  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  500
Western Sandpiper  5
Least Sandpiper  25
White-rumped Sandpiper  3
Baird's Sandpiper  2    At dogleg, one closer in, one farther out in flock of gulls.
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Dunlin  2
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  2
Short-billed Dowitcher  50
Long-billed Dowitcher  5
Laughing Gull  10
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Gull-billed Tern  1
Caspian Tern  25
Forster's Tern  100
Black Skimmer  2
Mourning Dove  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1    Heard, parking lot
Merlin  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1    Heard, picnic tables
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard, upland section
Blue Jay  1    Heard
American Crow  1
crow sp.  5
Tree Swallow  50
Bank Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  10
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard, upland section
Marsh Wren  1    Heard, north dike
Carolina Wren  2    Heard
Gray Catbird  2    Heard, upland section
European Starling  50
American Redstart  1    Picnic tables
Pine Warbler  1    Picnic tables
Saltmarsh Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  1    Picnic tables
Bobolink  5
Red-winged Blackbird  200
Boat-tailed Grackle  4

Forsythe-Holgate 9/5--Lesser Black-backed Gull

The Holgate Unite of Forsythe NWR at the southern tip of Long Beach Island is closed from April through August to protect the nesting plovers, terns, oystercatchers, and skimmers. It is one of  the last (if not the last) untouched beaches in New Jersey, stretching at least 3 miles. I walked about 2/3 of the way today, looking for new birds for the year and county. In this I was partially successful.

My year bird was Lesser Black-backed Gull and it was almost one of the first birds I saw as I entered on the north end of the refuge, but as I had my sights set on pelicans, I didn't even think to dig out the camera to record the sighting. The gull was as well a county bird, obviously for the year but also for the Ocean County life list. It was pretty obvious, a little smaller than a Great Black-backed, the mantle charcoal instead of black and the real give-away--yellow, not pink legs.

The beach seemed pretty empty after the first few hundred yards and while there were marshes on the bay side, they are not accessible, so scoping was all I could do. I did find a couple of oystercatchers on that side, and a few Semipalmated Plovers along the beach, but I was thinking that this was going to be more exercise than birding when I met Michelle B striding along the beach. Michelle is very familiar with Holgate as she gives tours there during the summer, so she knew where some of the hot spots would be. A colony of Least Terns had bred late there, she said, so late that there had been talk of delaying the Sept 1 opening of the beach. The terns weren't in the place she'd seen them but about 1/2 mile farther south. There we counted at least 8 of them, with parents feeding the demanding offspring. 8 Least Terns is what eBird calls an "unusual count" for the time and place, but 8 might be conservative. We only counted the birds we could see in one field of vision, so there may have been more flying in and out of our reference frame.

I was wearing shorts today and hadn't reckoned on biting flies being a problem, but they were--swarms of them whenever you stopped and looked down. If it hadn't been for them I probably would have walked the entire length of the beach. (You'll excuse as I stop to scratch my ankles.) As it was I turned around at marker 12, which I think meant 12000 meters, or about 2 1/4 miles. It wasn't until I turned around that I started to see significant numbers of shorebirds, especially the little wind-up toy-like Sanderlings, as well as my first Ocean County Red Knots (which at this point are mostly gray shorebirds, some with just a wash of red), along with 3 Piping Plovers and ever more Semipalmated Plovers.

I never did see pelicans, much to my frustration--if I don't find them soon I may have to wait until December in Florida to see them. I was also hoping for Royal Terns, which didn't show up either, though I did find on a bayside sandbar 2 Caspian Terns, which I was surprised to find were also missing, until today, from my county list.

So I can't complain, except for the vicious flies, about my day. There is a cold front moving in tonight; I was hoping to go to a migrant hot spot tomorrow and check for warblers but unfortunately we discovered this afternoon that one of our brake lights isn't working, so I have to take the car to garage tomorrow instead. That I can complain about.

21 species (+1 other taxa)
Double-crested Cormorant  25
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  2
Osprey  2
Semipalmated Plover  35
Piping Plover  3
American Oystercatcher  9
Ruddy Turnstone  3
Red Knot  25
Sanderling  150
Laughing Gull  2
Ring-billed Gull  5
Herring Gull  500
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1
Great Black-backed Gull  250    .
Least Tern  8    @ Marker 6.
Caspian Tern  2
Common Tern  4
Sterna sp.  15
Rock Pigeon  4
Merlin  1    @ North end, in marshy area.
American Crow  4

Sanderlings

August List

August started out with me birding the grounds of Staten Island University Hospital, which, while surprisingly birdy, I'll  be happy if I never do again, and ended on the dredge spoils of National Park in Gloucester County, a new spot for us, where we managed to pick out (with the help of our birding friends Joe and Elizabeth) a couple of rarities for that spot--Western Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. The highlight of the month was, of course

Photo: Shari Zirlin

the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Shari & I found at Whitesbog on August 4.  This bird created quite a stir among the Jersey birders (and some from farther afield) and surprisingly hung around for almost 2 weeks. These birds have a reputation for being "one day wonders." Most rewarding for me was that we were able to show it to interested friends, including our neighbor Jerry who, while not an avid birder, has a great interest in nature and found this bird spectacular and also our friend from Brooklyn Peter Dorosh, who happened to be in the "neighborhood" at the right time.

We birded Brig a few times on NJ Audubon trips, getting great birds and good lessons on i.d. I also did a circuit with Peter one Sunday morning and we were rewarded with 2 American Avocets. Of course, our trip to Bombay Hook yielded Avocets by the hundreds, a lot of them already in basic plumage (all black & white) which I find very attractive, as if they're high contrast versions of themselves. I guess the only disappointment of the month was that there were no Black-necked Stilts to be found in Delaware while we were there. Oh yes, one more: Baird's Sandpiper remained elusive.

For the month I had 137 species with 6 FOY added, pretty good for the beginning of migration.
Counties Birded:
Delaware: Kent, Sussex
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean
New York: Kings, Richmond

Species     First Sighting

Brant     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Canada Goose     Staten Island University Hosp

Mute Swan     Brigantine

Tundra Swan     Bombay Hook NWR

Wood Duck     Colliers Mills WMA

Gadwall     Bombay Hook NWR

American Black Duck     Whitesbog

Mallard     Whitesbog

Blue-winged Teal     Brigantine

Green-winged Teal     Brigantine

Northern Bobwhite     Colliers Mills WMA

Wild Turkey     35 Sunset Rd

Double-crested Cormorant     Colliers Mills WMA

Great Blue Heron     Colliers Mills WMA

Great Egret     Staten Island University Hosp

Snowy Egret     Brigantine

Little Blue Heron     Cattus Island County Park

Tricolored Heron     Cattus Island County Park

Cattle Egret     Brigantine

Green Heron     Double Trouble State Park

Black-crowned Night-Heron     Brigantine

Glossy Ibis     Staten Island University Hosp

Black Vulture     Brigantine

Turkey Vulture     Colliers Mills WMA

Osprey     Cattus Island County Park

Northern Harrier     Brigantine

Cooper's Hawk     Brigantine

Bald Eagle     Whitesbog

Red-tailed Hawk     Colliers Mills WMA

Clapper Rail     Brigantine

Black-bellied Plover     Brigantine

American Golden-Plover     Bombay Hook NWR

Semipalmated Plover     Whitesbog

Killdeer     Staten Island University Hosp

American Oystercatcher     Brigantine

American Avocet     Brigantine

Spotted Sandpiper     Whitesbog

Solitary Sandpiper     Staten Island University Hosp

Greater Yellowlegs     Whitesbog

Willet     Brigantine

Lesser Yellowlegs     Whitesbog

Whimbrel     Brigantine

Hudsonian Godwit     Bombay Hook NWR

Marbled Godwit     Bombay Hook NWR

Ruddy Turnstone     Brigantine

Red Knot     Brigantine

Sanderling     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Semipalmated Sandpiper     Whitesbog

Western Sandpiper     Brigantine

Least Sandpiper     Staten Island University Hosp

White-rumped Sandpiper     Brigantine

Pectoral Sandpiper     Whitesbog

Dunlin     Brigantine

Stilt Sandpiper     Brigantine

Short-billed Dowitcher     Brigantine

Long-billed Dowitcher     Brigantine

Wilson's Snipe     Whitesbog

Wilson's Phalarope     Brigantine

Laughing Gull     Toms River

Ring-billed Gull     Brigantine

Herring Gull     Staten Island University Hosp

Great Black-backed Gull     Brigantine

Least Tern     Cattus Island County Park

Gull-billed Tern     Whitesbog

Caspian Tern     Brigantine

Common Tern     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Forster's Tern     Brigantine

Royal Tern     Brigantine

Black Skimmer     Brigantine

Rock Pigeon     Staten Island University Hosp

Mourning Dove     Staten Island University Hosp

Yellow-billed Cuckoo     Colliers Mills WMA

Black-billed Cuckoo     Colliers Mills WMA

Common Nighthawk     35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Whip-poor-will     35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift     Staten Island University Hosp

Ruby-throated Hummingbird     35 Sunset Rd

Belted Kingfisher     Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker     Colliers Mills WMA

Downy Woodpecker     Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Flicker     Colliers Mills WMA

Peregrine Falcon     Brigantine

Eastern Wood-Pewee     Colliers Mills WMA

Willow Flycatcher     Whitesbog

Eastern Phoebe     Colliers Mills WMA

Great Crested Flycatcher     Colliers Mills WMA

Eastern Kingbird     Colliers Mills WMA

êScissor-tailed Flycatcher     Whitesbog

White-eyed Vireo     Whitesbog

Red-eyed Vireo     Rising Sun Lake

Blue Jay     Crestwood Village

American Crow     Staten Island University Hosp

Fish Crow     Crestwood Village

Horned Lark     Whitehall Crossroads - Leipsic

Northern Rough-winged Swallow     Whitesbog

Purple Martin     Colliers Mills WMA

Tree Swallow     Colliers Mills WMA

Bank Swallow     Whitesbog

Barn Swallow     Colliers Mills WMA

Carolina Chickadee     Crestwood Village

Tufted Titmouse     35 Sunset Rd

White-breasted Nuthatch     Crestwood Village

House Wren     35 Sunset Rd

Marsh Wren     Bombay Hook NWR

Carolina Wren     35 Sunset Rd

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     Colliers Mills WMA

Eastern Bluebird     Whitesbog

American Robin     Staten Island University Hosp

Gray Catbird     Crestwood Village

Northern Mockingbird     Staten Island University Hosp

Brown Thrasher     Whitesbog

European Starling     Staten Island University Hosp

Cedar Waxwing     Brigantine

Ovenbird     Double Trouble State Park

Northern Waterthrush     Cattus Island County Park

Black-and-white Warbler     Whitesbog

Common Yellowthroat     Whitesbog

American Redstart     Edwin B. Forsythe NWR--Lily Lake

Yellow Warbler     Brigantine

Pine Warbler     Colliers Mills WMA

Eastern Towhee     35 Sunset Rd

Chipping Sparrow     35 Sunset Rd

Field Sparrow     Colliers Mills WMA

Saltmarsh Sparrow     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Seaside Sparrow     Brigantine

Song Sparrow     Staten Island University Hosp

Northern Cardinal     35 Sunset Rd

Blue Grosbeak     Brigantine

Indigo Bunting     Colliers Mills WMA

Bobolink     Bombay Hook NWR

Red-winged Blackbird     Whitesbog

Common Grackle     Colliers Mills WMA

Boat-tailed Grackle     Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird     35 Sunset Rd

House Finch     35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch     Crestwood Village

House Sparrow     Crestwood Village