January Wrap-up

Pine Siskin, outside Duluth
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Any month in which you can get seven life birds has to get SUCCESS rubber stamped in big letters across the calendar page. The trip to Minnesota we took mid-month accounted for all those lifers and is well-documented in previous posts. The rest of the month found us birding mostly in Ocean and Monmouth counties, where we managed to encounter a few rarities (underlined in the list below), like the Ross's Goose and Cackling Goose that were at Marshall's Pond on New Year's Day, as unprepossessing a spot as you can imagine--a retention pond on the side of a shopping center in front of Marshall's Department Store, though it has attracted rarities before--Pink-footed Goose a couple of years ago.

Because it was colder in New Jersey for most of the month than it was while we were in Duluth, I did a lot of backyard birding. We have two birds considered winter rarities turning up at our feeders regularly--a Chipping Sparrow and a Pine Warbler. We also had our first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of the year during the recent snow. In all, we tallied 24 different species in the backyard (or overhead in the case of geese, gulls, and vultures), enough variety to keep me constantly checking what's going on outside.

Big misses this month were King Eider (try again tomorrow at Barnegat Light) and American Oystercatcher (they stick around we just haven't been where they are). In all I had 127 species this month beating last year's January total by 14 species--all of which could be attributed to Minnesota.

The complete month list:
Counties birded:
New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Monmouth, Ocean
New York: New York
Minnesota: Lake, St. Louis
Wisconsin: Douglas

Species               First Sighting

Snow Goose     Harry Wright Lake

Ross's Goose     Marshall's Pond

Brant     Sandy Hook

Cackling Goose     Marshall's Pond

Canada Goose     Crestwood Village

Mute Swan     Sandy Hook

Trumpeter Swan     Assunpink WMA

Tundra Swan     Cape May Point SP

Gadwall     Marshall's Pond

American Wigeon     Cape May Point SP

American Black Duck     Sandy Hook

Mallard     Lake Takanassee

Northern Shoveler     Cape May Point SP

Northern Pintail     Cape May Point SP

Green-winged Teal     Marshall's Pond

Canvasback     Riverfront Landing

Redhead     Cape May Meadows

Ring-necked Duck     Cape May Point SP

Greater Scaup     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Lesser Scaup     Riverfront Landing

Common Eider     Sunset Beach

Harlequin Duck     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Surf Scoter     Monmouth Beach

Black Scoter     Sandy Hook

Long-tailed Duck     Sandy Hook

Bufflehead     Cape May Point SP

Common Goldeneye     Duluth--Canal Park

Hooded Merganser     Lake Takanassee

Common Merganser     Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Red-breasted Merganser     Sandy Hook

Ruddy Duck     Cape May Point SP

Ruffed Grouse     Highway 7, St Louis County

Red-throated Loon     Sandy Hook

Common Loon     Sandy Hook

Pied-billed Grebe     Lake Takanassee

Horned Grebe     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Red-necked Grebe     Sandy Hook

Northern Gannet     Sandy Hook

Double-crested Cormorant     Lake Takanassee

Great Cormorant     Sandy Hook

Great Blue Heron     Crestwood Village

Great Egret     Lake of the Lilies

Black-crowned Night-Heron     Forsythe--Brigantine Unit

Black Vulture     Dover Road, Berkeley

Turkey Vulture     Sandy Hook

Osprey     Coral & Yale, Cape May

Northern Harrier     Forsythe--Brigantine Unit

Sharp-shinned Hawk     Marshall's Pond

Cooper's Hawk     Cape May Point SP

Bald Eagle     Sandy Hook

Red-tailed Hawk     Sandy Hook

Rough-legged Hawk     Sax-Zim Bog

American Coot     Lake Takanassee

Black-bellied Plover     Manasquan Inlet

Ruddy Turnstone     Cape May Meadows

Sanderling     Sandy Hook

Dunlin     Maclearie Park

Purple Sandpiper     Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Razorbill     Manasquan Inlet

Bonaparte's Gull     Seven Presidents Park

Ring-billed Gull     Sandy Hook

Herring Gull     Sandy Hook

THAYER'S GULL     Duluth--Canal Park

Iceland Gull     Duluth--Canal Park

Glaucous Gull     Duluth--Canal Park

Great Black-backed Gull     Sandy Hook

Rock Pigeon     GSP Exit 0

White-winged Dove     Coral & Yale, Cape May

Mourning Dove     35 Sunset Rd

Snowy Owl     Forsythe--Brigantine Unit

NORTHERN HAWK OWL     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd

GREAT GRAY OWL     Sax-Zim Bog

Belted Kingfisher     Cape May Point SP

Red-bellied Woodpecker     Cape May Point SP

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker     35 Sunset Rd

Downy Woodpecker     35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker     Sax-Zim Bog

Northern Flicker     Assunpink WMA

Pileated Woodpecker     Old Vermillion Trail

Merlin     Great Bay Bvld WMA

Peregrine Falcon     Seven Presidents Park

Northern Shrike     Sax-Zim Bog

GRAY JAY     Sax-Zim Bog

Blue Jay     Crestwood Village

Black-billed Magpie     Sax-Zim Bog

American Crow     Sandy Hook

Common Raven     Sandy Hook

Tree Swallow     Sandy Hook

Carolina Chickadee     35 Sunset Rd

Black-capped Chickadee     Old Vermillion Trail

BOREAL CHICKADEE     Sax-Zim Bog

Tufted Titmouse     35 Sunset Rd

Red-breasted Nuthatch     Old Vermillion Trail

White-breasted Nuthatch     35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper     Manasquan Reservoir IBA

Carolina Wren     Cape May Point SP

Golden-crowned Kinglet     Double Trouble State Park

Ruby-crowned Kinglet     Cape May Point SP

Eastern Bluebird     Double Trouble State Park

Hermit Thrush     Manahawkin WMA--Beach Ave

American Robin     Cape May Point SP

Northern Mockingbird     Sandy Hook

European Starling     Cape May Point SP

Bohemian Waxwing     1740 W Knife River Rd

Snow Bunting     Highway 7, St Louis County

Pine Warbler     35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-rumped Warbler     Cape May Point SP

American Tree Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Chipping Sparrow     35 Sunset Rd

Savannah Sparrow     Forsythe--Brigantine Unit

Song Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

White-throated Sparrow     Cape May Point SP

White-crowned Sparrow     Assunpink WMA

Dark-eyed Junco     35 Sunset Rd

Northern Cardinal     35 Sunset Rd

Red-winged Blackbird     Forsythe--Brigantine Unit

Common Grackle     Assunpink WMA

Boat-tailed Grackle     Bridge to Nowhere

PINE GROSBEAK     Sax-Zim Bog

House Finch     Sandy Hook

Purple Finch     Sax-Zim Bog

Common Redpoll     Old Vermillion Trail

HOARY REDPOLL     1740 W Knife River Rd

Pine Siskin     Old Vermillion Trail

American Goldfinch     35 Sunset Rd

Evening Grosbeak     Sax-Zim Bog

House Sparrow     Coral & Yale, Cape May

Great Bay Blvd 1/30--Merlin

Birding is just like life: Every day you go out hoping something great will happen. It hardly ever does but there's always the possibility that keeps you going. If something great doesn't occur, then perhaps, at the least, something interesting appear. That's slightly more likely, because "interesting" takes in a wide swath (remember the apocryphal Chinese curse).

All this leads up to the last bird I saw on Great Bay Blvd this morning. It was just over the freezing line but very windy, so I suspect a lot of birds were hunkering down. I saw 5 species of ducks, but nothing that I'd get excited about--exasperated, yes, in the case of the scaup flock that sat just far enough off shore to make identification a real chore, especially with the scope vibrating in the wind.

After checking the inlet twice and finding nothing new for the year or even the county, I was driving back north up the road when I glanced to my left and saw, sitting on a post, a Merlin. Not great, but interesting, especially since it didn't seem to mind me staring it, although as soon as I rolled down the window to take a picture, it disappeared.  Exasperated again!

Merlin in flight

At least I got out and took a decent walk today. It was the most pleasant day of the week. For my 2 hours on the Boulevard of Broken Asphalt I managed 17 species, a decent winter count.

Brant  90
Canada Goose  20
American Black Duck  18
Greater Scaup  200
Lesser Scaup  2
Bufflehead  55
Red-breasted Merganser  6
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  1
Ring-billed Gull  5
Herring Gull  15
Great Black-backed Gull  5
Merlin  1
European Starling  150
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Boat-tailed Grackle  225     Huge numbers of Boat-tailed Grackles are not uncommon here. Had a flock of about 100 at first bridge (new bulkhead), a 2nd large flock near first wooden bridge, then about 25 on the beach of the inlet. Many starlings were mixed in, but I accounted for them.

Backyard 1/28--Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

The inevitable question I get when I tell a non-birder about my "hobby" is, "Have you ever seen a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker?" When I tell them of course I have they are either amazed that such a bird really exists, or else suspicious that I'm kidding them back. Often I follow up with, "And there a lot of birds with funnier names than that." My current favorite, which we saw in the Camargue in France is the Zitting Cisticola, which sounds like a kind of suppurating wound to me but is really a plain little brown bird of the marshes that "zits" when it sings.

Since Monday, the beginning of the "historic" blizzard that avoided New Jersey but still managed to dump about 8 inches of snow around here, I've been backyard birding with the help of my cat, who will leap onto the desk whenever she sees something of interest outside (and it is all interesting to a cat).

My & Peeve's view the last few days

While the bird life has been lively and has included our semi-rarities (Pine Warblers & Chipping Sparrow), there hasn't been anything new until this morning when I spotted the aforementioned sapsucker climbing on the low part of a pine tree. No good angle or time for a photo. Coincidentally, it was after last year's first big snowfall that I saw my first sapsucker of 2014. The snow is good for something, I suppose.

For the 3 days I've listed 22 species in the backyard or flying over the house--not bad for a forced mid-winter "Big Sit" but I'm hoping to actually get outside tomorrow to find something that isn't attracted to a feeder.

Manasquan Reservoir 1/25--Common Merganser, Brown Creeper

I was very surprised--and disappointed--to find about 90% of Manasquan Reservoir iced over. I didn't think it had been cold enough to keep this deep body of water frozen. There were a few pockets of open water, the largest one, that we could see, was from the walkway along Georgia Tavern Road. There we found a large flock of coots, some Ruddy Ducks, a few Pied-billed Grebes, a duo of drake Buffleheads and my target bird for the day, a decent flock of Common Mergansers. I've seen literally thousands of these big ducks from that vantage point when the water was open; Shari first found a few landing in with the Ruddy Ducks, then farther out, well over 30 more. Bald Eagles were on the ice, one eating a bloody lunch of what looked like gull.

We took a walk through the woods and (very) wetlands along the Cove Trail, finding decent numbers of the usual birds, the highlight being our first Brown Creepers of the year. At the feeders we had one female Purple Finch, not a year bird but a good one for the state list.

In all we managed 29 species on this relatively warm winter day. Now we await the blizzard.
Canada Goose  100
Bufflehead  2     
Common Merganser  36
Ruddy Duck  20
Pied-billed Grebe  4
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Bald Eagle  4     
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Coot  71
Ring-billed Gull  5
Rock Pigeon   20
Mourning Dove  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  5
Downy Woodpecker  4
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  10
Carolina Chickadee  10
Tufted Titmouse  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  5
Brown Creeper  2
Carolina Wren  2     Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
Song Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  5
Dark-eyed Junco  10
House Finch  10
Purple Finch  1     
American Goldfinch  10

Manasquan Inlet 1/23--Black-bellied Plover, Razorbill

"You can't ask for better weather," I  heard one fisherman say to another at the Manasquan Inlet. "Not strictly true," I said to myself. I could always ask for better weather in winter, but with temperatures just above freezing and, more importantly, no wind, at least the conditions didn't bother me. I drove up to Point Pleasant with the hopes of snagging a couple of new birds for the year, but when I got there it didn't look promising. From the boardwalk, all I could see on the ocean were Common Loons. More loons in the inlet itself, along with one Red-breasted Merganser.  Where Common Redpolls had been reported on Wednesday there were construction vehicles, so that squelched that idea.

Then I saw a small flock of shorebirds whip around the end of the  jetty--they could have been any of about 3 or 4 winter species--on the wing, at a distance, I'm not that good--so I walked back to the beach entrance and started off toward the jetty. About half-way there I practically walked into this little flock of Black-bellied Plovers and Dunlins  They appeared perfectly comfortable and didn't flinch when I shifted position to get the light better for photos.

Black-bellied Plovers and Dunlins

Razorbill

With no wind to make ocean view difficult I climbed up on to the jetty and walked to the end, a pleasure compared to Barnegat Light, as the top of this jetty is like a concrete sidewalk. I had a great of view of an empty, calm ocean. Just a few loons spotted about. I saw one bird that didn't look loon-like; or gull-like; or duck-like. It was an alcid, my first Razorbill of the year and a bird I managed to miss all of last year. Manasquan Inlet is an excellent location to spot these birds (I've seen them there in the past) but I'd forgotten about this possibility of sighting one, so I had an unexpected bird for the day--the best kind. It isn't much of a digiscoped picture (it was much clearer in my scope) but you can see the general shape of the bird and its beak. 

I spent about 40 minutes on the jetty and with nothing else showing up except 30 or so flyover Brant, I decided to walk tot he western end of the inlet where ducks often hang out. Before I left I saw another intriguing flock of shorebirds fly to the back side of the jetty on the Monmouth County side to the north--they looked like Purple Sandpipers to me, but after a decent wait they never came back and I left. 

Down at the west end of the inlet channelthere were some Bufflehead and Red-breasted Mergansers and a large flock of Brant. There was also a single drake Black Scoter mixed in with the mergansers. This struck me as unusual as scoters are always seen in the ocean, never, in my experience, this close to shore near a beach. I wonder if the bird is ill which would explain why it was so close in? 

What started out as an unpromising trip ended up with two "good" birds (I only need one "good" bird a day). Still wish those redpolls had been around, though.

16 species

Brant  350
Black Scoter  1    
Bufflehead  6    
Red-breasted Merganser  8
Common Loon  9
Black-bellied Plover  6     

Dunlin  11
Razorbill  1

Ring-billed Gull  2

Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  1
American Crow  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  15
House Sparrow  2

Double Trouble SP 1/21--Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird

Back to local birding. I drove over to Double Trouble about noon to get a walk in before the snow began. I figured with Whitesbog frozen over, the Tundra Swans had to go somewhere and the biggest body of open water nearby would be the reservoir at the park. I was right; there were 53 swans there by my "exact" count. eBird's filter flags that as a high count. I don't know when these filters were written, but Tundra Swans are not rare in this area and 50 swans is not a particularly large flock.

24 swans right here, by my count

& a few more:

The weather was holding so I took my usual walk around the bogs, reversing my usual route to stave off boredom. It seemed pretty quiet there and I wasn't expecting much of anything else to turn up. Walking back on the other side of Cedar Creek I heard a high-pitched call note. I stopped, pished, and a single Golden-crowned Kinglet popped up on a cedar branch. I walked a couple of hundred feet along the trail before I realized that was an FOY bird. 

Along the dikes of the back bogs, on Sweetwater Lane to be specific, I heard what I thought was a bluebird. It, to my ear, is a mournful little sigh, almost like wind sloughing. I should, by now, have more confidence in my ear, but I don't like to "count" calls in any event. It didn't matter, because, just before I put my bins up to look at four sparrows on the road, a beautiful male Eastern Bluebird flew from one side of the bog to the other. Later, I saw two males flying back the other way. Both birds seemed to me surprisingly bright blue with deep red breasts. The sky was very gray by then, so it wasn't sunlight playing tricks on me. Both birds were too far and too fast to even attempt a photo. 

Two more birds for the years, 3 more for the county and I got back before the snow started to fall.

10 species
Tundra Swan  53     
Ring-billed Gull  21     f/o
Carolina Chickadee  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
Eastern Bluebird  2     
American Robin  1     Heard
Song Sparrow  5
Dark-eyed Junco  12
American Goldfinch  1

Minnesota in Winter

Great Gray Owl
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Mike Mandracchia organized a group of Jersey and Philly birders to take a trip to what turned out to be only the semi-frozen north of Duluth, Minnesota, led by his friend Kim Risen of Naturescape Tours.

Since I hate traveling, hate winter, hate the cold and hate the wind, I had more than a few qualms about taking this trip, but the prospect of 11 potential life birds, a couple of which I knew I had absolutely no chance of scoring in the east, overrode my trepidation.

Whatever you're worrying about usually doesn't happen, so since I was worried about everything, it all worked out fine. The weather, while cold, wasn't any colder than it can get in NJ and the winds, for the most part were mild. The coldest day we had started out at about 5 degrees and warmed up all the way to 20. The other days started in the 20's and warmed up past the freezing mark.

If my coat is open, it can't be that cold. 

You can't rack up huge numbers of species in Northern Minnesota--St Louis County, for the year, has recorded about 65 species so far. Contrast that to Ocean County where I already have 79 species and the total number of species in the county is well over 100. But, we weren't going for quantity; we wanted birds that you just don't see in the mid-Atlantic region like Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, and the owls. I was hoping for two species of woodpeckers but got shut out on those. Two species of grouse were also no-shows. But of the 11 target birds we got 7 and I think that's a pretty good percentage.

We made a couple of brief forays into Wisconsin, spent some time looking at gulls on the Duluth waterfront, ran up to Superior National Forest for half a day, but spent most of time birding the legendary Sax-Zim Bog.

Individual reports can be found here:
Duluth--Canal Park 1/15--Common Goldeneye, THAYER'S GULL, Glaucous Gull
Jean Duluth Road 1/16--NORTHERN HAWK OWL
Sax-Zim Bog 1/16--GRAY JAY, BOREAL CHICKADEE, PINE...
Sax-Zim Bog 1/17--Purple Finch, Evening Grosbeak
Duluth--Canal Park 1/17--Iceland Gull
W Knife River Rd 1/18--Bohemian Waxwing, HOARY RED...
Sax-Zim Bog 1/18--GREAT GRAY OWL

Our complete list for the trip: Underline=Rare; Bold Italics=FOY; ALL CAPS BOLD=Life Bird

Species                                    First Sighting

American Black Duck     Duluth--Canal Park   

Mallard     Duluth--Canal Park   

Northern Pintail     Duluth--Canal Park   

Common Eider     Duluth--Canal Park   

Common Goldeneye     Duluth--Canal Park   

Ruffed Grouse     Highway 7, St Louis County   

Bald Eagle     Hwy 53, MM14   

Rough-legged Hawk     Sax-Zim Bog   

Herring Gull     Duluth--Canal Park   

THAYER'S GULL     Duluth--Canal Park   

Iceland Gull     Duluth--Canal Park   

Glaucous Gull     Duluth--Canal Park   

Rock Pigeon     East Duluth   

Snowy Owl    Richard Bong Airport

NORTHERN HAWK OWL     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd   

GREAT GRAY OWL     Sax-Zim Bog   

Downy Woodpecker     Sax-Zim Bog   

Hairy Woodpecker     Sax-Zim Bog   

Pileated Woodpecker     Old Vermillion Trail   

Northern Shrike     Sax-Zim Bog   

GRAY JAY     Sax-Zim Bog   

Blue Jay     Highway 7, St Louis County   

Black-billed Magpie     Sax-Zim Bog   

American Crow     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd   

Common Raven     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd   

Black-capped Chickadee     Old Vermillion Trail   

BOREAL CHICKADEE     Sax-Zim Bog   

Red-breasted Nuthatch     Old Vermillion Trail   

White-breasted Nuthatch     Highway 7, St Louis County   

Bohemian Waxwing     1740 W Knife River Road   

Snow Bunting     Highway 7, St Louis County   

PINE GROSBEAK     Sax-Zim Bog   

Purple Finch     Sax-Zim Bog   

Common Redpoll     Old Vermillion Trail   

HOARY REDPOLL     1740 W Knife River Road   

Pine Siskin     Old Vermillion Trail   

Evening Grosbeak     Sax-Zim Bog