Finderne Wetlands, NJ

My first time at Finderne Wetlands in Bridgewater NJ on a cool and sunny morning corresponded to a decent movement of sparrows, but the best birds of the day were two Merlins which were chasing each other and an American Kestrel over the fields.  This might have been one reason why I couldn't locate the Vesper Sparrows reported the previous day, but they're just as likely to have moved on.  The Merlins were a particularly pleasant surprise since I'd seen only one other this year (in AZ).  Belted Kingfisher, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Green-winged Teal and Gadwall were in the ponds and a lot more concerned about me than the Merlins.

Otherwise, the main occupants of the weedy fields were an abundance of Savannah Sparrows.  Song Sparrows came in a distant second, but I did find a handful of the more elusive species (Field and Swamp), while missing White-crowned Sparrow that I might have expected here.

With the wind rapidly rising, I didn't find much at the nearby Duke Farms except a Palm Warbler, as everything started to keep its head down.

Before Finderne I'd stopped at Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve and found my preferred area around the parking lot devoid of any sort of sparrows - it had been a hotspot for them in previous years and often in pretty good light in the early morning.  Recent mowing activity probably had much to do with that.  Suspicion was that there were sparrows and Palm Warblers to be had elsewhere at Griggstown, but it takes longer for the sun to reach those other areas and I went to Finderne instead.

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin (2)
Belted Kingfisher
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch

Chimney Rock Hawk Watch - Sept 15th

After a morning in CPK I went to Chimney Rock in the afternoon, and was surprised at a full parking lot and a lot of people at the designated hawk watch area.  This might have had much to do with the good raptor migration weather with a cool wind out of the north at the time.  Chimney Rock lies on the Watchung Ridge, the most easterly ridge before you drop into the NJ coastal plain.  It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the raptors that pass through Manhattan connect with this ridge in the vicinity of the Montclair Hawk Watch further to the north east.  Hawks here have to traverse a bit of flat terrain before they hit the next ridge, somewhere in or around the Sourlands (Neshanic, Wertzville area).

In the three hours I was there I had multiple Bald Eagles, about 100 Broad-winged Hawks, American Kestrel, Merlin and Peregrine and Red-tailed Hawk.  Half the Broad-winged came by in a single kettle spiralling in the updraft.  The Red-tailed was probably local, and the Turkey and Black Vultures certainly were.  Sharp-shinned and one or two Cooper's came by, and one particularly large Accipiter that I wondered about being a Goshawk (but the hint of red on the underparts indicated just a large female Cooper's).  Nearly all the hawks were pretty high, although later in the day (~5pm) some of them passed by a little lower.

A nice paved path from the parking lot would make this not a bad place to look for actual migrating Goshawk later in the season.

Sandy Hook (fail), Pole Farm on Nov 5th

In search of a Harris's Sparrow at Sandy Hook on Saturday I did encounter a whole lot of birders, but only commoner sparrows (White-throated, Song, Dark-eyed Junco), an Indigo Bunting, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, fly-over Horned Larks and a Northern Harrier. No Harris's seen by anyone all day and since there wasn't even a good hawk flight I departed after a few hours. The bay and Atlantic shore only held minimal numbers of diving ducks.

A sunset visit to Pole Farm (Lawrenceville) to check the prospect for owls revealed no Northern Harriers and no pre-dark Short-eared Owls which suggests that this location will be a bust in the 2011/2012 winter. A consolation prize was a Merlin perched at the parking lot, which somewhat agitated a local American Kestrel - at one point both were perched in the same tree looking at each other. I also heard a distant Belted Kingfisher.

Stamford, Bronx, Long Island, Jamaica Bay

One of my period dark-dark trips with long road miles, I started off at the Fork-tailed Flycatcher spot in Stamford, CT just after dawn and while the bird took a little while to turn up it did pose very nicely indeed for photographs. There were also a few roosting Wild Turkeys and a couple of Monk Parakeets. The Fork-tailed (FTFL) was at this site Nov 17th-Dec 4th.

I had chosen to look at the FTFL because it was fairly close to my main interest for the day - a banded Barnacle Goose of known wild origin in Pelham Bay Park at Orchard Beach. So after heading back into NYC from Stamford I spent two hours combing the local area for it, including some grassy areas slightly further afield. I was sadly unsuccessful. I later learned that some photographers had got far too close the previous day and scared it off. That's a lot of people hours wasted as a result of selfishness. Update: this Barnacle Goose turned up again on Dec 4th in Stratford CT, roughly 45 miles to the west, again associated with a Canada Goose flock.

After some frustration at Pelham Bay I went south to Jones Beach West End and spent a little time looking at the somewhat distant Northern Loggerhead Shrike and chatting with other birders - the shrike in particular is a little small and a little dark but otherwise seems a decent match for Northern over the rather similar Loggerhead (see discussion of this both above and below). Shai Mitra pulled out a distant Kittiwake over the ocean with his scope, but the Northern Gannets were rather more obvious. A Merlin was hunting the swallows (presumed Tree, but Cave is possible) and later on the pigeons at the Coast Guard Station. At the Coast Guard Station there was a big flock of Brant and shorebirds (Dunlin, American Oystercatcher, Black-bellied Plover and a few Red Knot) and a dispersed flock of Bonaparte's Gulls in the bay. Since there wasn't that much of interest at Jones I went around to Point Lookout which used to be a big spot for Bonaparte's several years ago, and there were some off the park. However they were not especially concentrated, being spread out all over the inlet, bay (and probably the beach). This flock holds multiple Little Gulls and at least one Black-headed Gull but unless they concentrate in one place finding them will be a challenge. A small flock of Common Eider flew in and out of the inlet while I was there.

Finally I spent the late afternoon at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, photographing ducks flying in and out of the West Pond. All the usual suspects were there, with the exception of Canvasback which seemed to be curiously absent. The Snow Goose count was a grand total of 5 birds seen in flight as I was exiting the refuge. The list from Jamaica Bay is:

Snow Goose
Brant
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Dunlin

Raptors, raptors everywhere

Saturday was a bad day for prey in Lawrenceville. Despite the overcast I did a last minute wander to Pole Farm. At 4:30pm a Peregrine with prey flew up to the top of a pole along Federal City Rd near the small shopping center. At Pole Farm the Short-eared Owls were already up in the air at 4:30 with dark overcast conditions with little wind. At least four Northern Harriers were around, one or two Red-tailed Hawks) and finally on exiting Pole Farm I saw a Merlin perched in a tree near the entrance.

(I also saw Red-shouldered Hawk there earlier in the week).