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

Yet another trans-continental chase (Blue-footed Booby etc) - USA #700, USA 2013 #500

Ask me how I managed to miss all the ex-Oporornis warblers in Central Park this year ?  Apart from bad luck (missing a Connecticut by 30 seconds) - it was that I did 7 birding trips.  Originally the plan was for 6, but I ended up doing yet another California trip in October.

In the face of a legendary invasion of Blue-footed Booby into CA from mid September into early October - somewhat galling in that they started turning up just after I came back from my CA pelagic trip -  I cashed in the last of my United frequent flier miles and flew to LAX.  I found Blue-footed Booby immediately the next morning at Playa Del Rey less than 5 miles from LAX, Black-vented Shearwater the following morning in a massive feeding flock off the Pacific Palisades, and Island Scrub-Jay in the afternoon at the usual location at Prisoner's Harbor on Santa Cruz Island.  Island Scrub-Jay was USA #700, but sadly not immortalized in photos since they were not cooperative.  I managed one whole day without another life bird, although that was the day when I saw TWELVE Blue-footed Boobies down in the Salton Sea, and then saw the recently added exotic Nutmeg Mannikin (USA #701) which turned out by coincidence to be USA 2013 #500.  This significantly exceeds my previous best for 464 for year, but 2013 was a psychotic traveling year.  On the boat to Santa Cruz Island I met a gentleman who was doing a Big Year and was in the 680's, so 500 isn't that big a deal by comparison.

Central Park, Sept 14th and 15th (total 19 warbler sp + chat, BB Cuckoo)

I think the whole radar migration prediction thing is over-hyped as a useful tool for local birding, so I tend to use the standard method of wind direction and temperature.  So after arriving back in NJ from CA to 94 degree afternoon heat, the alarm bells went off when the highs over the weekend were in the low 70's, backed by a north-west wind.  More-or-less ideal conditions.

Bit of a shock, therefore, when I entered Strawberry Fields and there was barely any chipping.  30 minutes later and it was alive with migrants and in a hour I accumulated what is a very good day's warbler list (16 sp.) including Tennessee, Bay-breasted and Blackburnian.  Black-billed Cuckoo, two Olive-sided Flycatchers and a Chat in the Maintenance Field made for a pretty good day.  However I missed the Connecticut Warbler by scant seconds, and someone didn't look up enough and missed the expected large Broad-winged Hawk flight.

Sunday was quieter, but still many good birds in Strawberry Fields including Bay-breasted Warbler foraging in the grass right in front of me (along with Black-throated Greens).  A change in the mix of warbler species indicated that the second flight was new birds arriving.

Overall I netted 19 warbler species in two mornings, some decent birds (Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was a year bird), and finally saw some Broad-winged Hawk migration on the Sunday.  Conspicuously missing were any Kinglets or any sparrows (excl House), it's still ramping up.

Broad-winged Hawk (Sun)

Osprey (Sun)

Black-billed Cuckoo (Sat, Maint)

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (several both days)

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Olive-sided Flycatcher (two in Maint on Sat)

Least Flycatcher (Sat, poss Sun)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Sun in SF)

Great Crested Flycatcher

Blue-headed Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

House Wren

Carolina Wren

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Swainson's Thrush

Veery (Sat)

Wood Thrush (Sat)

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher (Sun)

Cedar Waxwing (large flocks both days)

Ovenbird (only 1, both days)

Black-and-white Warbler

Tennessee Warbler (3+, both days)

Nashville Warbler (1, Sun, SF)

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Cape May Warbler (1, Maint, both days)

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler (both days, very cooperative in SF on Sunday)

Blackburnian Warbler (SF, Sat)

Yellow Warbler (SF, Sat)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (Sat)

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Pine Warbler (3+ in SF on Sat)

Black-throated Green Warbler

Canada Warbler (SF)

Wilson's Warbler (SF on Sat)

Yellow-breasted Chat (elusive, Maint on Sat)

California Pelagics

The California trip - arranged at the last minute - was the last "scheduled" one of six trips in 2013 designed to push my USA list toward 700.  The other five were: TX, AZ, FL, NC, AZ and netted one to four life birds on each trip.  However pelagics have always been a weakness of mine - not unrelated to a propensity for seasickness - so the largest gaps on my list have been shearwaters, storm-petrels and alcids.

I reserved a pair of California pelagics - 9/8 out of Half Moon Bay and 9/10 out of Monterey - and ended up with five pelagic life birds.  The weather was good, with light winds, so the boat trips weren't as challenging as, say, the NC pelagic trip.  In addition I saw the newly minted Bell's Sparrow of the canescens race (the "intermediate" race) at the end of its range where it abuts the belli race of Bell's Sparrow.  A hunch is that canescens is a cline between A.belli and A.nevadensis (Sagebrush Sparrow), but seeing them close to A.b.belli's coastal ranges makes me a little more comfortable counting it.  The first life bird for the trip was Scripps's Murrelet (#692) and the last was Bell's Sparrow (#697).

The Half Moon Bay pelagic was longer and deeper water, with the Monterey Bay pelagic only having a subset of the first species but pelagics are notoriously variable.  However the Monterey pelagic also had Blue Whale and a remarkable number of Humpback Whales (50++) feeding in the bay, including breaching Humpbacks, which made for a memorable end to the wildlife for the trip.  Although land birding was limited I did complete the trasher grand slam for the year with California Thrasher, and saw other species I hadn't seen in over a decade.

Pelagic species:

Sooty Shearwater              
Great Shearwater              (California rarity)
Pink-footed Shearwater        
Flesh-footed Shearwater   (#696)     
Buller's Shearwater   (#693) 
Black-footed Albatross        
Ashy Storm-Petrel   (#694)
Black Storm-Petrel  (#695)            
Red Phalarope                  (last seen 2001)
Red-necked Phalarope          
Sanderling                    
Pomarine Jaeger              
Parasitic Jaeger              
Long-tailed Jaeger            
Rhinoceros Auklet              
Cassin's Auklet              
Scripps's Murrelet   (#692)             
Common Murre                  
Pigeon Guillemot

Notable terrestrial species:
Black Turnstone                
Surfbird                               (new for Lower 48, second+ one ever)
Prairie Falcon                
Yellow-billed Magpie          

Wrentit                                (last seen 2001)

California Thrasher             (last seen 2001)

California Towhee              (last seen 2001)
Bell's Sparrow (canescens)      (#697)

Brigantine/Forsythe NWR, September 1st and Allentown NJ shorebirds Sept 2nd

With Jamaica Bay being uninspiring I've been spending some time at Forsythe/Brigantine NWR although even here the shorebird diversity is starting to drop.  Semipalmated Sandpipers dominated the scene, but Eastern Willets and Whimbrels have left.  I was lucky to find two Stilt Sandpipers, which have become scarce.  What was nice to watch was a mixed flock of Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers - mostly Long-billed - giving good options to compare the structure of the two.  While individual birds remain tricky the side-by-side comparisons offer up the expected overall trend of the bulkier body of the Long-billed.  Brig and the rest of southern NJ is a pretty good place for this, and Long-billed remain rather scarcer in NY.

Although in all sorts of messy molt, terns put on a decent showing.  I haven't seen a Common Tern here all year but Least and Gull-billed Terns have been regular in small numbers, the Caspian Terns were in the double digits and I also had a Royal Tern for a pretty good selection.  Forster's Terns and Double-crested Cormorants were feasting on localized schools of fish in the tidal brackish impoundment.


Although Brig is winding down for shorebirds, the area north of Allentown NJ along Sharon Station Road, Herbert and Gordon Roads has been pulling in a nice variety of shorebirds in lower numbers.  On Sept 2nd I finally got lucky with my quest for American Golden-Plover with one seen in a flooded field along Sharon Station Road.  Later on that same pond held Pectoral, Solitary and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Killdeer are everywhere, with a few Semipalmated Plovers joining them, plus a small flock of Least Sandpipers commuting between the Herbert Road field and the ephemeral pond along Gordon Road.  Although I've missed the relative rarities (Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Baird's Sandpiper) here it's fairly close to home and an interesting area to rummage around.


Brig:
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Clapper Rail
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Forster's Tern
Least Tern
Black Skimmer
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Saltmarsh Sparrow


Herbert/Sharon Station Rds
American Golden-Plover
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Horned Lark

Jamaica Bay, August 19th

On what has turned out to be my only trip to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge this year, I did a circumnavigation of the East Pond (northbound up the shoreline, southbound down the trail) which turned out to be ill-advised on a quite warm day, while wearing waders.  In common with the general trend this year the shorebird numbers were unimpressive, with relatively low diversity.

Hurricane Sandy did a little remodeling on the East Pond - there's a trench along the south side of the East Pond where the (now apparently trashed) home had cut back the phragmites, although it's traversable, and there's a filled cut on the east side parallel to the train tracks.  So the salinity has probably gone up somewhat in the pond in the short term.

Nevertheless Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers and Least Sandpipers were numerous here.  Both Semipalmateds were mostly adults, but I saw a lot of juvenile Least Sandpipers on the trek, as well as quite a few juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers.  Both Western Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitcher are uncommon to rare at Jamaica Bay, and commoner further south at Brigantine, and I didn't see either of those.  I did manage to snag a first-of-year White-rumped Sandpiper at the south end of the East Pond, wading in the cut with Dowitchers.  I saw a few more of them for a total of ~6.  Shorebirds were fairly nervous, with a juvenile Peregrine hunting the ponds periodically.  Up at the north end I saw American Avocet, Wilson's Phalarope, a Stilt Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone and a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers to flesh out the list.  The only two noteworthy ducks were Gadwall and a single Northern Pintail but otherwise it's a large number of Mute Swans, Mallards and American Black Ducks.

Gadwall
Northern Pintail
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Barn Swallow
Yellow Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Boat-tailed Grackle

Forsythe NWR (Brigantine), August 10th

My birding had gone through a lull after the 5 trips in the first half of 2013, so I was a little behind the curve on shorebirds when I went out to Brigantine on Saturday.  I had hopes of getting the more exotic triple of Pectoral-Stilt-White-rumped Sandpipers but came away with only one of those.  A couple of consolation prizes.

Dominant numbers were Semipalmated Sandpipers, all but one adults in worn breeding plumage.  Short-billed Dowitchers came in second (also one juvenile), with lesser numbers of Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, both Yellowlegs species.  What was a surprise were a large number of Stilt Sandpipers, particularly in the freshwater pool, where a ball-park estimate of 100 means that's more than I remember seeing in any single day.  Nice additions were American Avocet (my first in NJ), Wilson's Phalarope, two Western Sandpipers with residual rufous scapulars showing in plumage fairly well-advanced into basic/nonbreeding, and a few Whimbrels including four fly-overs.  I did not see any Willets, and the Eastern ssp is probably vacating its breeding grounds, to be supplanted by the Western ssp later in the fall.  Gull-billed Terns were first-of-year for me - I had around 10 including at least 3 juveniles, with a few Least and Caspians but no Commons this time around.   Clapper Rails were also first of year, and I had two venturing cautiously out onto the open mud.

Apart from a full complement of Ospreys (all platforms occupied - I wonder if Hurricane Sandy took down all the dead trees coastally), I had a single Northern Harrier and no Peregrines, although they may have been around since the shorebirds were more than a little skittish.

Cupsogue Red-necked Stint on July 4th

One of the better ways to spend a morning on a sultry July 4th was getting good looks at a rare Asiatic/Alaskan vagrant shorebird - a Red-necked Stint.  Red-necked breed in far eastern Asia and far western Alaska (Seward Peninsula and thereabouts).  They usually winter in south-east Asia and Australasia but very infrequently wander down the wrong side of the Pacific and the wrong side of the continent.  (They are fairly rare in California, also).  One had been recently seen north east of Boston.

Getting to Cupsogue County Park required a 2hr40 drive in the early morning via that least desirable of roads - the Belt Parkway in NYC.  Nevertheless at 5am on July 4th the traffic moves fairly well and I was one of the first birders at Cupsogue, although by no means the first person in the parking lot - the bay side is also popular with fishermen.   It was extremely foggy, so I left the camera in the car and just took the scope.  While waiting for the fog to clear I was watching Short-billed Dowitchers, Willets, a Spotted Sandpiper, Common (many) and Black (1) Terns, and a hybrid Dunlin.  This hybrid had been named as a White-rumped x Dunlin hybrid.  To me while one parent was definitively Dunlin the other could have been White-rumped or Western especially since the hybrid showed some arrow-shaped spots on the flanks.  Nevertheless that hybrid is not unprecedented.

Adult Red-necked Stint, NY, July 4th 2013

Either way, despite being a very interesting bird, it wasn't the target species.  The Black Tern was good because that was a FOY bird for me.  Once the fog cleared somewhat I followed another birder wading knee deep across the channel and onto an adjacent muddy island where fortuitously I found the Red-necked Stint within 5 minutes of scoping.  The other birder set off to photograph it, but actually staying put had the upside that the stint got closer and closer until I had excellent looks at all features from less than 50 yards.  Still a little far for good photos under crappy light, but I had good looks at the clean unstreaked red-rufous face and upper breast, the dark brown necklace of spots bordering the red coloration, the short bill, and the absence of obvious webbing on the toes.  Not that the latter is by any means obvious on the Semipalmated Sandpiper, which is named for that feature.  The good thing about July shorebird rarities is that they are invariably adults in some version of alternate plumage - this stint was in worn alternate.  The above picture is something I don't normally do - digiscope using my iPhone 4, and I've obviously got a lot of optimization to do on that front although by some miracle it's actually identifiable from that shot.

An excellent look at a rare shorebird that I'd only seen once before as an orange dot on the far side of the East Pond at Jamaica Bay WR the same day that I found the adult Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (August 3rd 2008).  Given that we've had the wettest June on record, Jamaica Bay itself is going to take a very long time to draw down - long enough to perhaps eliminate chances for Asian shorebird vagrants there this year.

This is an eBird data query of RN Stint sightings for July-Sept in the last decade.

Other birds of interest: first summer Arctic Tern; Roseate Terns; several basic-plumaged Red Knot; Dunlin; Least Sandpiper; Semipalmated Sandpiper; Semipalmated Plover; Black-bellied Plover; Black Skimmer.  The Arctic Tern is a NY state list bird for me.

Then all that was necessary was a 2hr45 drive home via the Verrazano Bridge ($15 toll these days).

AZ trip May 30th - June 8th

The fifth trip of a projected six for 2013 was an AZ early summer trip, best discussed at length in a separate trip report.  The five trips were: TX, AZ (winter), FL, NC, AZ (summer) with the west coast pelagic(s) still to come.  The highlights of this AZ trip were Spotted Owl (USA #688), Northern Pygmy-Owl (#689), Buff-collared Nightjar (#690) and Mexican Whip-poor-will (#691), made all the more unusual by getting three of those on the first day.  Both owls were at well-known nest sites, with views of the nestlings.  (Mexican) Spotted Owl is an endangered species, and Buff-collared Nightjar a rare one but I even had two Nightjars after I found a second one of my own.  The commonest species of the four - the Whip-poor-will - was if anything hardest to find and I enlisted the help of a guide who got me exceptional looks as well as lucking into a Mountain Lion in the drive up into the Patagonia Mtns.

Other good birds included: White-eared Hummingbird (Miller Cyn), Elegant Trogon (South Fork Cave Creek), Buff-breasted Flycatcher (Carr Cyn), Thick-billed Kingbird (Patagonia), Common Black-Hawk (Sunflower).  Many of the same species, in fact, as my "big western flycatcher trip" of 2006 which covered many of the same sites but two weeks earlier.  Slightly different mix of birds, with basically none of the migrants in 2013 that I found in 2006.

AZ was especially dry and arid with little water in the canyons and some fairly ferocious mid-afternoon heat down in the desert (100+ for most of the 10 days).  Few fires yet, by no small miracle, but those monsoon rains will be especially welcome.

Baldpate Mtn (Mercer Co NJ), May 26th

After a 500 mile drive back from Hatteras NC the previous day, I lacked a little enthusiasm for another 90+ minute drive pre-dawn to Stirling Forest and elected to bird locally at Baldpate Mountain.  It was fairly productive, with Blue-winged Warbler singing at the upper parking lot, House Wrens and Eastern Phoebes at the old farm house with about the only thing putting in a lower-than-typical showing were Indigo Buntings.  It was fairly windy and cool (low 50's at the start) which probably suppressed a few things.  Multiple Red-eyed Vireos and two Yellow-throated Vireos, but no Scarlet Tanagers or Great Crested Flycatchers and only the one Eastern Wood-Pewee.  Warblers put in a decent showing: three Blue-winged Warblers, a male and female Hooded (likely a pair but not together), several Ovenbirds, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroats, a female Canada, a female Blackpoll (these two likely migrants but the rest are local breeders).  What didn't show up or sound off was a Kentucky - rather notoriously difficult to find at Baldpate - although I may have heard a distant one singing.

Getting sea-sick in the Gulf Stream: Hatteras NC Pelagic

Black-capped Petrel in Gulf Stream off Hatteras

I originally scheduled two pelagic trips out of Hatteras NC for May 23rd and 25th with Brian Patteson.  Storms canceled the first one, I took the one on the following day (Friday) as a "make up" but elected to skip Saturday's pelagic because of higher winds.  That pelagic went, but at 25-30 knot winds I don't regret not putting myself through that sort of hell for 12 hours.  The return trip back to Hatteras on the Friday trip was quite enough rough water for one spring.

My targets for the trip were lifers Black-capped Petrel and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel.  I got both of those but struck out totally on the "extras" I was hoping for like Fea's Petrel and Bridled Tern.  There was a decent showing of other shearwaters: mostly Cory's but also Sooty, Great and Audubon's along with good numbers of Wilson's Storm-Petrel.  In fact the one pelagic I went on had the fewest life birds of any of the ones that went out in that period.  C'est la vie.  Given the travel expense, lodging expense, and the fact that the pelagics are not cheap themselves it's not practical to do this sort of "double" again - I'd have to consult the marine forecast and do last minute bookings.  At the moment a west coast (Monterey) pelagic is more practical since there are quite a lot more semi-reliable pelagic species to be had over there in late-Sept/early-Oct.

On the rainy/stormy Thursday I visited Alligator River NWR where there were an absurd number of singing Prothonotary Warblers (several seen), many Indigo Buntings, Prairie Warblers, some Blue Grosbeaks, Black-throated Green Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and a small handful of singing Hooded Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler (none of these seen).  The rain mostly negated photo ops.  I also visited Pea Island NWR on the way back down to Hatteras and notched up a few common sandpipers and plovers: Sanderling, Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, a few distant Red Knot.  Least Terns were fairly common here, Royal Terns less so, and I snagged my first Black Skimmer  for the year.  But the weather was still rather frustrating - I skipped out on attempting to find Chuck-will's-widow or Black Rail in local habitat because I wanted to get to sleep early ahead of the following morning's pelagic at 0515.

Nothing much of note on the 8.5 hour drive down, but on the return drive on Saturday I did see a Black Bear at Alligator River NWR and stopped at Bombay Hook NWR for a mis-timed visit at low tide that nevertheless did come up with a bunch of shorebirds (Short-billed Dowitcher still being a year bird at that point), Seaside Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak and Orchard Oriole.

Central Park Fri-Sat-Sun 17th-19th, 21 warbler species

With migration now moving along quickly I made what is likely to be my last spring migration CPK trip of 2013 as a Friday to Sunday triple.  Thursday was in fact the biggest migration day, but with birds left over on both Saturday and Sunday even if the weather on Sunday was quite wet.

Best birds: Olive-sided Flycatcher (Saturday), Black-billed Cuckoo (Friday), Tennessee Warblers (Sat, Sun: singing), a very late Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, late Prairie Warbler (Sat, Sun: singing).  The new first-of-year birds included me finally catching up with Cedar Waxwings.  I still maintained a perfect-miss record on Mourning and Kentucky, however.

On Monday morning, although a work day, migration was still humming along based on three warbler species (Blackpoll, Magnolia, Redstart) singing in my back yard, plus Red-eyed Vireo.




Double-crested Cormorant
Spotted Sandpiper (Sat)
Black-billed Cuckoo (Fri)
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Cedar Waxwing
Olive-sided Flycatcher (Sat)
Least Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Sat)
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush (Sun)
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Tennessee Warbler (Sat, Sun)
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler (Fri, Sat)
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler (Fri, Sat)
Prairie Warbler (Sat, Sun)
Bay-breasted Warbler (Fri, Sat)
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler (Sat)
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
White-crowned Sparrow (Fri)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Central Park Sat/Sun (11th/12th): 21 warbler species + flycatchers + thrushes

When delayed, spring migration has a predictable way to reassert itself.  In this case the even more compressed migration timeframe saw a noticeable transition in species mix on successive days, as numbers dropped after the big wave day on Friday.

Scarce to non-existant on Friday, Flycatchers and Thrushes turned up Saturday and Sunday.  It was unusual to get first-of-year Least Flycatcher and Eastern Wood-Pewee on the same day, but multiples of the former were seen both days along with Great Cresteds and Eastern Kingbirds (reports from elsewhere suggested a big flight of Eastern Kingbirds).   "Earlier" warbler species were supplemented by later spring species - I saw my first Blackpoll of the year on Friday, and had my first female Blackpoll on Sunday, as Yellow-rumped showed a rapid fall-off in numbers and I had 3 Wilson's on Sunday - they're rarely numerous in the park.

The stars of the show were a cooperative Blackburnian Warbler on Saturday morning, a male Prothonotary Warbler on Sunday afternoon, and I found a Marsh Wren while trying to reacquire the Prothonotary ahead of the storm front on Saturday.  The Prothonotary was seen on Turtle Pond on Sunday morning but then flew north - illustrating the act of faith of migrating warblers since it doesn't know the Reservoir or the Loch is ahead of it when it set off over the Great Lawn.

I came up with an aggregated total of 21 warblers for Sat-Sun and 23 for the Fri-Sun "triple".  Migration still remains, for example few Gray-cheeked Thrushes have been reported and the Eastern Wood-Pewees were silent and as singles, but the majority of the marked migration lag has been removed with the major push over the last few days.  Remains to be seen if we're going to pick up many sparrows this year, with no Lincoln's so far and a single Field and Swamp on Sunday.


Green Heron
Spotted Sandpiper
Chimney Swift
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-capped Chickadee
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Migration, finally - 18 warbler species + Summer Tanager

After an unprecedented contrarian weather system substantially shut down migration for the best part of the last two weeks, the trend reversed itself and Friday saw good numbers in the park.  Not legendary numbers, but the sort of migration that was in start contrast to all the previous days in May.

I saw, in the first 25 yards in Strawberry Fields, more warblers than I had seen in total during the last two weeks (i.e. since the last significant migration in late April).  While there were some underrepresented species (thrushes, flycatchers) it was strong day for FOY birds: Nashville, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Canada, Magnolia Warblers; Summer Tanager (a nice male); Red-eyed Vireo; Wood Thrush; (Swainson's Thrush also heard).  Other good birds included multiple Scarlet Tanagers, Worm-eating Warbler, two Cape May Warblers.  I conspired to miss any Blackburnian Warblers but there were significant numbers of most of the commoner warblers in the park for May.

There's also signs of delayed migration effects: multiple singing (i.e. male) Blue-headed Vireos - and while May 10th is certainly not my late date for them, the ratio of Blue-headed to Red-eyed was anomalous.  The absence of Veeries was conspicuous.  Still, with continuing favorable winds tomorrow (Saturday) may yet change the species mix.


Double-crested Cormorant
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-capped Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
American Goldfinch

Weekend: Delayed migration and Brigantine

In what was the quietest May 4th/5th in many years, I visited Bull's Island (NJ, Delaware River) to look for the Prothonotary Warbler and other summer breeding birds.   There were no Cliff Swallows nesting under the bridge, perhaps because of construction work there, although there were a number of Northern Rough-winged Swallows along the river.

The northern camping area of the island is closed currently, and you can't even walk in, so I was restricted to my preferred birding spots on the southern half of the island.  Activity seemed much lower than I usually associate with this place - not all the migrants had arrived and there was a single singing Ovenbird, two Northern Parulas and a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  I also heard a Prairie and a Great Crested Flycatcher.  No Acadian Flycatchers.  Of course the main reason for going there was a male Prothonotary Warbler which was singing nearly non-stop and periodically offering up decent views.  Not a regular breeder here, not least of all because this is a riverside location not a dense southern swamp.

On Sunday I went into Central Park, and got what I expected - almost nothing.  Best bird was a singing male Prairie Warbler.  The rest of the migrant count included: two Warbling Vireos, two Yellow Warblers, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, one or two Baltimore Orioles.

So in the late afternoon I went down to Brigantine NWR to try my luck on the Bar-tailed Godwit.  This had apparently made a permanent departure that morning (I'd seen them in AK last summer) but still present were flocks of shorebirds and in particularly at least one hundred Whimbrels.  Tern numbers were low with just a few Forster's, but the Ospreys were already starting to nest.  As expected the saltwater surge from Hurricane Sandy had devastated the freshwater vegetation in the pool, but I saw some signs of sprouting.  The brackish pool fared better, but much vegetation has been removed from the wildlife drive where multiple breaches were repaired and the drive re-graded.  Some of the lower elevation woodland had been killed but much of it remained intact.  What was noticeable was the apparent lowering of the saltmarsh, in that there was much more high tide flooding than I remembered.  Part of this could be the easterly wind pushing water into the bay, but it's probably also a hurricane-induced effect that may mitigate over time.  How this changes the Forster's Tern population (a saltmarsh breeder vs the Common Tern's beach breeding habits) remains to be seen.

List from Forsythe/Brigantine NWR:


Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Brant
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Whimbrel
Sandpiper sp. including probable Semipalmated and Least
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Forster's Tern
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Common Yellowthroat

Slow, slower, slowest

Princeton, Wednesday was slow but with two first-of-year birds for me (the vireos) and most of the species were singing:

House Wren
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Parula
Common Yellowthroat
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Princeton, Thursday was quieter but with more wandering around I actually did a little better than Wednesday, finding another two grosbeaks and a singing male Scarlet Tanager.

Wood Thrush (heard)

House Wren
Warbling Vireo
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Ovenbird (heard)
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Central Park, Friday, was glacially slow, just as it was reported to be on Thursday:

Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat (probable)
Eastern Towhee

and in fact the short species list above by no means gives an accurate picture of just how eerily silent the whole experience was, standing in the Ramble and not being able to hear a single warbler for much of the time.  ON MAY THIRD.

While much of the blame goes to the persistent weather system delivering easterlies to the NYC/NJ area, I was still assuming that at least some species would move out of sheer necessity and also because the weather remains reasonably warm.  Possibly the birds are moving past in the interior.

Central Park: April 27th/28th

Saturday was slow going with low numbers but a significant uptick in diversity compared to Thursday, the larger volume day.  Notable were first-of-year (for me) Black-throated Green Warbler and an Eastern Kingbird and an especially elusive Hooded Warbler that I finally caught up with at the Tupelo. In contrast to Thursday there were actually some thrushes around, all Hermits.  Nevertheless the going was relatively slow and I managed only 8 warbler species.  A roosting Red Bat was pointed out to me - the first time I've actually seen one roosting in the park although we sometimes encounter daytime bats (perhaps sick ones).

Sunday held the promise of better winds, and migration had a bit more volume but it didn't quite constitute a "good" day.  Highlights were new American Redstart, new Chestnut-sided Warbler, a Worm-eating Warbler and a Great Crested Flycatcher.  Notable by its absence was Kentucky Warbler - seen in Prospect Park and should be pretty much the perfect time for one.   Numbers were up but it manifested as much as more Black-and-whites or Ruby-crowned Kinglets and I netted only one more warbler species on the Sunday than the Saturday.

Saturday:

Gadwall
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Hooded Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow

Sunday:

Chimney Swift

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Great Crested Flycatcher

Blue-headed Vireo

Warbling Vireo (heard)

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Hermit Thrush

Wood Thrush (heard)

Gray Catbird

Northern Parula

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Worm-eating Warbler

Ovenbird

Eastern Towhee

Swamp Sparrow

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

4/25 Central Park: 11 warbler species

In what felt like a "right on time" migration day I managed to pick the weather right and chose the cooler of the two days to visit the park based on wind direction (Weds was 75 degrees but the previous night had northerlies).  I had 4 Chimney Swifts the night before over my house (c.NJ) and on the northbound train at dawn there were another four over Linden.

The initial impression from Strawberry Fields was that it was quiet, albeit quiet with a lot of Chipping Sparrows, a singing Yellow Warbler and a Northern Parula.  I encountered some Chipping Sparrow flocks in the Ramble and elsewhere that suggested a big day for them.  In contrast only the one lingering female Dark-eyed Junco.  Hernshead was rather more active with two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers.  A distant waterthrush seemed Northern-ish and there were one or two Northerns at the Upper Lobe.  I was reluctant to call the waterthrush at the Triplets Bridge a Louisiana at the time, but on my way out of the park caught up with Louisiana Waterthrush south of Hernshead.  That's my first one for the year.

In the Ramble there were a lot of Palm Warblers exploring the now more open areas where many trees came down in Hurricane Sandy: the swampy ex-Pin Oak area and the Summer House.  Many Eastern (yellow) Palms in that area, and overall I saw perhaps as many as 30 throughout the park - rather a contrast to the Palms I saw in Florida recently which were all of the drab Western subspecies.  Several Ruby-crowned Kinglets, more Gnatcatchers, a few Blue-headed Vireos, but only one Hermit Thrush and zero Phoebes.  The Black-and-white Warblers had as many females as males - a strange thing for their first big movement in the park.  However the best two warblers for the day were a male Prairie Warbler and a male Hooded Warbler, the latter covering ground rapidly near the Summer House and Swampy Pin Oak.

The final interesting birds for the day were a brief glimpse of Ovenbird near Azalea Pond and a male Baltimore Oriole at Maintenance Field.



Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Flicker
Blue-headed Vireo (3+)
Barn Swallow
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (5+)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5+)
Hermit Thrush
Northern Parula (1)
Yellow Warbler (2)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler (1 first spring female)
Prairie Warbler (1)
Palm Warbler (30+)
Black-and-white Warbler (5)
Ovenbird (1)
Northern Waterthrush (2)
Louisiana Waterthrush (1)
Hooded Warbler (1)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (1)
Baltimore Oriole

Spring migration April 20th/21st

On Saturday 20th I was in Central Park, although not too many migrants were there along with me.  Lingering Northern Shovelers on the Lake, plus three species of swallows (Barn, Northern Rough-winged, Tree) and later on joined by a Great Egret.  A single Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was overshadowed by the continuing pair of Hairy Woodpeckers (common elsewhere, very uncommon in the park) where the female is rather buffy in ways reminiscent of western Hairy subspecies.  They are quite vocal and one has to think that the prospects of nesting are fairly high.


There were a couple of first-of-year-for-park birds, with Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Northern Waterthrush, but the actual New World warbler count was only up to 3: Yellow-rumped (1) and Palm Warbler (2) adding to the list.  The Gnatcatcher is an Old World warbler.  The limited migration was rather expected from the colder temperatures and northern-trending winds, however.

On Sunday morning the overwintering female Red-breasted Nuthatch showed up at my feeders again, apparently also unimpressed with spring migration weather.   The previous day's Wilson's Phalarope did not "stick" at Negri-Nepote Preserve (Franklin Twp, Central NJ) so I was left with ~8 Greater Yellowlegs and single Killdeer.  The morning was redeemed by the ongoing American Bittern in the pond at Princeton's Institute Woods and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

On the 24th the overnight northerly winds nevertheless allowed some migration, judging from the appearance of a slightly early Gray Catbird on the suet in my back yard.  The overwintering sparrows seem to have left (Juncos first, then White-throated) being replaced by incoming Chipping Sparrows.

Strong migration for early April, Central Park

Rarely do I go into Central Park on a workday morning in April, much less on April NINTH, but the forecast for today was for a second day of unseasonable heat - into the high 70's and perhaps 80's, bringing with it hopes of a strong migration showing.

Early April means much lower diversity than early May, but there were about as many individuals of each of the migrant species as I remember seeing this early on in spring migration.  I had double digits of both Kinglets and Hermit Thrushes, Flickers were bordering on abundant, but the date being what it was I had only one warbler species - three Palm Warblers - having missed the Louisiana Waterthrush.  Best bird for the day was a single Rusty Blackbird in fully black plumage, spending time in the Upper Lobe with the Wood Duck pair.  Two Winter Wrens were also a decent find.  Fox Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Towhees and a singles of Swamp and Field Sparrow were the sparrow migrants of note, with also an uptick of Song Sparrows.

In a couple of weeks this sort of pro-migration weather would be expected to carpet the park with Yellow-rumped Warblers.


Wood Duck
Gadwall
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Palm Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Rusty Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch

Central Park and South Amboy, April 6th

A morning's visit to Central Park on Saturday did not turn up much of note, although some early spring migrants did put in an appearance: several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a couple of Eastern Phoebes and a Hermit Thrush.  A pair of Wood Ducks were hanging out on the Lake near the Point.

In the afternoon, on the South Amboy waterfront at Raritan Bay I was in search of "exotic" gulls.  The Little Gull from earlier in the week was not to be found, neither were the (increasingly common) Lesser Black-backed and the truly exotic Nelson's Gull (Glaucous x Herring).  However the immature Black-headed Gull was present, spending time with the Bonaparte's Flock.  Other birds in the bay included at least 50 Horned Grebes in a range of plumages from basic through full alternate, one breeding plumage Common Loon, several adult Gannets.

Black-headed Gull immature

Bonaparte's Gull immature (for comparison)

Sandpipers, Owls

A slightly surreal experience on Saturday morning: after finding six Rusty Blackbirds at Silver Lake Nature Center in Bristol PA (my go-to spot for these last two years), I ended up driving east to take in a pretty unusual shorebird combination in a muddy field in New Egypt: one Northern Lapwing, two Wilson's Snipe and six or seven Pectoral Sandpipers.  I rarely if ever see Pecs in spring migration, but then I don't spend much time checking muddy cattle fields in central Jersey.  (I'm a little blase about the Lapwing despite it being a big rarity, since I've seen lots in Britain and this is the 4th time I've seen the [same] birds in the USA in the last 6 months).  I usually experience shorebird migration down on the NJ Delaware Bay shore during may, where Heislerville WMA features tens of thousands of sandpipers feeding en masse prior to their push to Arctic breeding grounds.

Afterwards a little birding in Central Park on Sat and Sun included my main targets: Northern Saw-whet and Barred Owls, and a couple of unexpected spring birds: a female Eastern Towhee and a Brown Thrasher. While the Barred Owl has been impacting the rodent population of the entire winter, the thrasher and towhee are likely local overwintering birds that have wandered into the park.  It's pretty early for a female Towhee and fairly early for a Thrasher if these were longer-distance migrants and they are semi-hardy birds that often succeed in overwintering in milder years.  (It's not as remarkable as the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that turned up at a feeder in NJ over the weekend, either).

Fieldfare, MA

Fieldfare is a large Turdus thrush that's common in Europe and that I'm familiar with from winters in Britain.  However it's a great deal rarer in the USA, so when one turned up in MA and stuck around for a few days it was too tempting - only just within the radius drivable within one day, but just doable via a 4.5 hour pre-dawn trek, much like last fall's Little Egret on Cape Cod.

Despite a lot of nocturnal driving and a 2:40am departure, I still got there after it put in its first post-sunrise appearance, but the Fieldfare reappeared every 30-45 minutes to feed on a berry bush (barberry?) at the back of a local residence in Carlisle MA.  The homeowner was very amenable and let us birders view it from the back of their garage.  (It was busy on Friday - dread to think what it might have been like on Saturday).  Even with a scope the bird was frequently not all that cooperative - you could detect it flying in and out via the white wing linings but it spent most of its time feeding hidden in the bush.  The white underwings are actually an ID mark when the bird is seen well in flight.  Finally at 10:30-ish the bird popped up on a branch before flying north in the typical heavy lumbering style that is characteristic of Fieldfares (and the related Mistle Thrush) and quite different than American Robins.  Notwithstanding flight style they are quite accomplished long-distance migrants in Europe.

This bird was USA #681.  I was a little fortunate with this one - it was seen the previous weekend, and I saw it on the 22nd with the last sighting being the 23rd, disappointing at least a hundred birders on the Sunday.

Other birds at this location included: Eastern Bluebird, Carolina Wren, Black-capped Chickadee and Hairy Woodpecker.


On the way back into NJ I encountered predictably heavy traffic and then spent some time waiting out the worst of rush hour by watching a Red-necked Grebe fishing in a local park pond in Harrison NJ (right at the border with Kearny) - a little incongruous for an urban setting but the grebe was fishing successfully and this is fairly close to both the Meadowlands and the Passaic River (it's also pretty close to downtown Newark).

Barnegat

Since I worked Sunday I went down to Barnegat Inlet/Light on Monday morning to make a late season look for sea ducks etc.  I got there when the tide was still very high and waves crashing over the breakwater from a pretty significant swell, so I made most of the hike to the ocean along the beach.  I discovered a new saltwater channel leading from the breakwater towards the phragmites and evergreen area in the dunes, as a result of winter storms.  An Eastern Phoebe was hunting amongst the pines near the lighthouse and a male Boat-tailed Grackle was singing at the bait shop.  As is typical for March a lot of gulls have paired up and many adults are in near-breeding plumage.

As expected Long-tailed Ducks were the most numerous and vocal, with courtship in full swing although only a few showed signs of being paired.  Harlequin Ducks were also chasing each other around and with the strong current pushing in off the ocean toward the bay, they were easily found at the end of the concrete walkway - normally they're further out.  The Red-breasted Mergansers were far less interested in pairing up, at least at this juncture.  Many Common Loons were present, most showing some signs of pre-alternate molt, and one bird that was most of the way to full breeding plumage.  Only 3 Red-throated Loons were seen.  Great Cormorants were perched on the structure at the end of the north jetty with one hunting along the inlet but they tend to avoid people wherever possible - one look at me and it headed back up the inlet.  Despite being in the 50's it was still very much a late winter rather than early spring set of water birds.

The Eider flock was still at the beach off the south side of the jetty, but apart from inevitable Long-tailed Ducks other sea ducks were elusive.  In the fog and hazy sunshine some silhouetted Scoters came by offshore in ones and twos and threes, but at that range and lighting they were strictly probable Blacks and Surf Scoters and non-definitive.  A handful of Northern Gannets were the other notable birds out on the ocean.

Since I wasn't walking along the jetty because of crashing waves, I saw only a few shorebirds: a Dunlin and Black-bellied Plover on the beach and a Purple Sandpiper perched up on the jetty staying clear of the waves.

The best action of the day was when a panicked flock of Dunlin shot past the jetty, pursued by a Peregrine which I watched pick off one Dunlin in mid-air just by flying it down rather than stooping.  Immediately a slightly larger (presumed female) Peregrine grabbed the Dunlin out of the other's talons - the first Peregrine letting go just before it got too close to the surf.  Then a Great Black-backed Gull pursued the second Peregrine to try and steal the Dunlin from it, ultimately unsuccessfully but a motivated GBB can give a loaded Peregrine a run for its money in flat flight.


Before leaving the barrier island a stop at a bay overlook about a half mile north of the bridge produced a few Horned Grebes and a Scaup sp. flock in the far more sheltered waters of the bay.

Crossbills, Woodcock and futility

Actually the day was front-loaded with futility, since at one point I was 0 for 4 on chased birds.  First I missed Cackling Geese at a park in Parlin, then missed Barnacle Goose at a park in Jersey City, then missed Glaucous Gull at Budd Lake, and there were no sign of Snow Buntings (and also a dearth of snow) at Spruce Run Recreation Area in Clinton Twp.

Lincoln Park in Jersey City did hold a decent variety of waterfowl: lots of Canada Geese, Bufflehead, Red-breasted and Hooded Mergansers, Ruddy Duck, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Great Blue Heron and Black-crowned Night-Heron.  Of particular note were 15 Killdeer being even more nervous than normal as a Northern Harrier hunted the area.

Budd Lake had one Red-breasted Merganser amongst the many Common Mergs and gulls of little interest.

Spruce Run had several (10's of) Lesser Black-backed Gulls which allowed study of some immatures of various ages (at least 1st winter and 3rd winter).  No white-winged gulls here either.  A Red-shouldered Hawk was calling and seen briefly near the boat launch.

The day's consolation prize were some cooperative White-winged Crossbills on Princeton University campus, not more than 25 yards from my office, feeding on the ground on fallen sweet gum seeds that line Washington Ave.  These birds have been here since late Jan, although with warming temperatures you've got to wonder how much longer they'll be inclined to stay.  (I've ended up seeing them each day on the 8th-11th).

Final birds of the day was at least four displaying American Woodcock at my favorite local patch near Princeton.  Atypically I actually had decent views of up to four song flights, since it's usually so dark when they really get going that the whole thing is a blur.  The usual peenting, twittering, chirping and the "grumbling" calls were heard.

Gyrfalcon, Tufted Duck, Red-necked Grebe

Back when it was a life bird, I "chased" a Gyr out along Ocean Parkway on the south shore of Long Island a few years back.  Last year (2012) I finally snagged Gyr with three within two hours on a Nome, AK trip.  So of course another of these regionally rare falcons turns up the next winter, inevitably along the same barrier island east of Jones Beach.  Most of the views of this Gyr have been distant, and so it was with me where at 10:30am it was perched a very long way out on an Osprey platform, and then later in the same day (2:30pm) it was marginally closer on some sort of informal boat dock in better lighting.  In both cases it stretched and preened but resolutely refused to fly.  Others saw it closer at the start and end of the day.  Back on Feb 26th Doug Gochfeld got some pretty good in flight photos which suggests it looks paler than it actually does at a distance with its back to you.  The ones I saw in AK were whiter than this.  What clinches the ID is the relatively long tail projection past the wings and the sheer size of the thing relative to a Peregrine Falcon.

That's my first one in the lower 48.

Lesser and Greater Scaup, Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers, Bufflehead and American Bitterns were also evident at Gilgo Beach while waiting for the Gyr to do something.  One of the Bitterns was quite out in the open in the high tide conditions that morning.

Shortly afterwards the otherwise interesting Red-necked Grebe at Captree State Park seemed a little underwhelming by comparison, as it paddled around the boat docks, sleeping most of the time.

Then north to Huntington on the northern part of Long Island to look for the Tufted Duck.  This is unquestionably the same bird that I struck out on in January when it was in a coastal inlet at Halesite, just a little to the north.  This time around it was markedly more cooperative and was feeding off pond weed in the large pond at Heckscher Park in Huntington in the company of a few Ring-necked Ducks and one Lesser Scaup.  Quite an easy find for a bird that is relatively rare on the East coast, and which I had last seen in NJ in 2002 (my first USA one was also on Long Island in 1999).

Cackling and Barnacle Geese and hybrids (Feb 23rd)

Despite rainy conditions I decided to go goose-watching in Jamesburg at Thompson park just south of town.  I located a few large Canada Goose flocks and was digging the scope out of the car when a local birder drove up and point me in the direction of a Barnacle Goose at the far end of the field.  I'd seen a report of a Barnacle and three hybrids in the NJ RBA and so it turned out: what he couldn't pick out in his binoculars but was clearer in the scope was that the Barnacle Goose was accompanied by three Barnacle X Canada/Cackling Geese hybrids, which looked rather Cackling-like in stature, but were grayer on the back and flanks and with Brant-like dark breasts.  A small amount of white above the eye that was separated from the white cheek also indicated mixed parentage.  I snapped a couple of bad pictures in bad light and heavy drizzle.

On the way out of the field my eye caught something a couple of 'scope scans had not: a Cackling Goose in one of the Canada flocks.  This one had the square head and even a little white collar at the bottom of the black neck sock.

Barnacle x Canada hybrids are center and right in this photograph and the parental influence is most clearly shown in this photo with the feather coloration and the extra white in the face.  More pictures on Flickr.  Upon reflection the goose at left is a likely Cackling Goose but the head profile is not "classical" Richardson's - it's approaching that of Lesser Canada - but there's a fair amount of gray in the feathers, suggesting Cackling.

Rough-legged Hawks, Bedminster (Feb 16th)

Between being somewhat jaded (see: AZ trip) and bona fide tired, I did very little birding on this past weekend and went on one specific trip to look for Rough-legged Hawk in Bedminster.  I parked up at one end of Rattlesnake Bridge Rd adjacent to some grassy fields and there was a pretty good group of raptors almost immediately: American Kestrel, Northern Harriers, several Red-tailed Hawks and a distant Bald Eagle.  The conditions were pretty windy but I could sit in my car and get a good scan of two adjacent fields.

I saw one Rough-legged Hawk-ish bird hover briefly and skip down an adjacent hedge row.  While talking to some other birders that turned up it emerged that "the" Rough-legged in the area was a dark morph, and the RLHA-candidate that I saw was a light morph.  Odd.  Five minutes later a well-marked (likely immature) light morph Rough-legged came up over the tree line to prove my initial suspicions correct.  It gave decent albeit distant views and all the raptors were pointing away from the car since the wind was from the north.  Eventually a little patience was rewarded by the dark morph Rough-legged turning up over the same field.  There's been a good showing of inland Rough-legged this winter, not by any means unprecedented in NJ but probably also because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy killing a large chunk of the coastal rodent population.

I watched both birds to circuits for some time and left when a hunter turned up to walk the fields - they're owned by some hunting organization so assume this is legit, but wasn't aware that hunting was legal in NJ on Sundays.

A pass through the nearby Great Swamp NWR after this didn't net anything of note.

This little trip did make up for not having enough time to track down Rough-legged at the San Rafael Grasslands in AZ when I was there the previous week (and where Rough-legged are significantly rarer).

AZ trip (Feb 7-12th)

As I inch toward USA 700 I decided to do an AZ trip which seemed to offer the potential for a nice count of new birds, and some bird that I rarely see from year to year.  In real life, however, the birds didn't entirely play ball and I came away with three new ones (Le Conte's Thrasher, Western Screech-Owl, Rosy-faced Lovebird) and missed more interesting ones (Ruddy Ground-Dove, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Nutting's Flycatcher) which for the most part chose the previous weekend to become elusive.

Trip report here.  Photos to be added.

Better luck with Geese, Jan 26th

Although my main preoccupation was shoveling a little snow on Saturday morning, the report of two Barnacle Geese at Assunpink WMA had me head out there for about 10:30am - definitely a slacker start to the day.  The lake had been reduced to the size of a pond by the recent cold snap, with waterfowl clustered in and around it, and the two Barnacle Geese were sitting at the right hand side of the pond.  From time to time they would stand up and be seen well.  Bobbing around in the melee of mostly-Canadas were several Mute Swans, American Black Duck, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck and probably several other waterfowl that weren't easily picked out at a distance with a lot of geese in the way.  These Barnacles were certainly the duo that I had missed the previous week.

I could have pursued the local (and elusive) Northern Shrike that's been spending the winter at Assunpink but the snowy track and the hunters dampened enthusiasm for that, and instead I went out to  Tom's River to look for the Pink-footed Goose.  This is almost certainly the other goose that I missed last weekend, with it apparently getting bored of the Hightstown area and heading south-east.   It was, as reported, on a golf course adjacent to a busy road (corner of Bey Lea and Old Freehold Road, Tom's River) so not a peaceful wilderness viewing experience, but with the scope I was able to get good looks at the Pink-footed Goose in a large flock of Canadas.

As previously, no sign of Cacklings in either Canada flock.

I've seen Pink-footed Geese in three of the last six years, and Barnacle Goose four of the last six.  While still rarities they've dropped from being the really major rarities to just "good birds", presumably courtesy of population increases in Greenland (quite a few Greenland-originated Canada's winter in the North East).

While on the coast I wanted to make a little foray to Manasquan Inlet (Point Pleasant Beach) to look for sea ducks.  My first attempt, via Mantoloking, was blocked since only resident traffic was allowed northbound along the barrier island (plenty of Hurricane Sandy damage still visible in this location).  With some back-tracking I finally got to Point Pleasant beach which had lost its ocean-side boardwalk along the beach but was not entirely trashed.  From the (intact) breakwater along the inlet there was a very modest selection of ocean birds - most of them Common Loons which were putting in a pretty strong showing.  Otherwise: one Red-throated Loon; Greater and Lesser Scaup (the Lessers likely displaced from the frozen ponds); Long-tailed Duck; Bufflehead; Red-breasted Merganser; Brant.  Not a great variety, or numbers, but I haven't yet made my late winter trip to Barnegat Inlet which often produces better results - but not a place I visit on frigid days with the odds of ice after recent snowfall.

Northern Lapwings (again) but no exotic geese, Jan 20th

Although the Montauk pair of Lapwings I saw back in November have long since vanished, the invasion of them has apparently been so extensive that three (yes, three) were found near New Egypt in January.  That's close enough to my home base in central NJ to constitute a must-see.  So on the Saturday after my TX trip I went out to the grassy farm field to witness the somewhat surreal scene of three Northern Lapwings together, sitting in a cow pasture.  To add to the exotic feel a couple of Sandhill Cranes flew in - apparently there had been a persistent few Sandhills in this general area for many years but I've been mostly aware of the ones up in Somerset Co.  The Lapwings were at this location through at least Jan 26th.  God only knows how many of these there are littered around the north-east.

After that I struck out on the other targets for the day - both Barnacle and Pink-footed Geese that had been reported fairly regularly from the area of Assunpink Lake WMA and Etra Lake (Hightstown) and fields nearby while I was away in TX, but became elusive around the time I got back from that trip.  Despite looking at likely farm fields around Etra Lake and Hightstown I couldn't even find a big flock of Canada's.  Nor was  I successful with Cackling in the flock that remained at Lake Etra.

TX Trip January

In a triumph of lack of imagination I went on Yet Another Texas Trip January 11-17th.  This year was marked by worse-than-average weather and worse-than-average species diversity but as is often the nature of Texas trips there was one surprise: Flammulated Owl (USA #677) - not an obvious target bird for sea level in January; White-collared Seedeater - not a lifer but oft-missed on these TX trips and a perennial on by "better view desired" list.  The latter was a cooperative female.

Trip report here FWIW.

Year Listing - Long Island and PA

The year list attracts my attention in January, so I did some roaming around to find some of the more difficult winter birds, to limited success: no Tufted Duck on Long Island; no Barnacle Goose on Long Island - I picked the wrong Barnacle to chase since the Van Cortlandt Park bird is still there.

Nevertheless, on Jan 5th:

Huntington Harbor viewed from Halesite Park gave a nice mix of winter water birds but without the Tufted Duck I desired: Common and Red-throated Loons; American Black Duck; American Wigeon; Gadwall; Greater Scaup; Bufflehead; Red-breasted and Hooded Mergansers; Mute Swan; Brant.  One of the Red-throated Loons was especially dark (an immature), so dark that it almost had a chin strap.

I got to Belmont Lake State Park after the Barnacle Goose had flown out, but there were still: Common Merganser; Ring-necked Duck; Northern Flicker; Brown Creeper; Golden-crowned Kinglets.

A stop at Jones Beach State Park at Lot 6 revealed that the boardwalk had been damaged and the main building was closed.  Not a great deal visible over the ocean but a few distant Scoter sp, Nothern Gannet, Common Loon, Long-tailed Ducks and an alcid sp.  The alcid was almost certainly Razorbill but the surf was up and alcids stay down a while while feeding thus making viewing extremely difficult.  Three fly-by Sanderlings made for half the shorebird species for the day.

On to the Coast Guard station where Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser and Brant were in the dock area (here too the dock was ripped up due to Hurricane Sandy), American Oystercatcher and Bonaparte's Gull in the bay, and both species of Loons were numerous here taking advantage of calmer waters than the ocean.  Nothering much going on in West End 2 but at the Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center I had a fly-by Great Blue Heron (immature, hopefully headed south), three Horned Larks and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Notable by their absence were any type of raptor at Jones Beach - normally a reliable place for them but Sandy may well have killed off the small mammal populations.

Then I started to head back to NJ, first stopping at Tottenville Train Station where American Wigeon, the expected male Eurasian Wigeon and an adult Great Cormorant were easily found.  Back in NJ at Edison Boat Launch there was nothing beyond common gulls and Mallards but one Red-tailed Hawk was hovering in ways that suggested Rough-legged (alas, no, but the land-fills around that part of Edison/New Brunswick have attracted white-winged gulls and Rough-legged recently).

Finally, with an idea of adding more interesting gulls to the day's list I made my last stop at Falls Twp Community Park in PA where I found 3 Lesser-black-backed Gulls and one second winter Iceland Gull, although I had to wait for the latter and it was on the darker end of the Kumlein's Iceland scale with some duskiness in the primaries.  Not a viable Thayer's however.

On January 7th I added a Red-breasted Nuthatch at my back yard feeders and Bald Eagle at Mercer County Park lake.

All this rummaging around has propelled me to 62 for my year list, a number that is going to get larger once I make my annual TX trip at the end of the week.