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.

Labor Day weekend: Central Park and Brigantine

Saturday, at an obnoxious 92 degrees, kept me around the house doing yard work.

On Sunday I trekked into Central Park on a day with at best modest migration prospects.  I was lured in by the reports of Red Crossbills the previous two days - a very rare bird for the park in what might be a major irruption year for them.  The Crossbills bad obviously left, despite some time spent searching Hemlocks for them.  Migration was also less than spectacular, with very low numbers of migrants with the exception of one small active patch near the Gill: this yielded Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Worm-eating, Yellow and Northern Waterthrush.  That was my first Worm-eating Warbler in the park this year - I'd seen or heard others at Sterling Forest and Belleplain SP but as with Cape May Warbler I had struck out on it during spring migration.

On Labor Day itself I went down to Brig again and had a better birding day there than the previous weekend despite some pretty overcast weather.  Three Bobolinks at the start of the one-way section of the wildlife drive.  A Lark Sparrow (my first in NJ and fairly rare in the East) made itself obvious by lurking around the drive itself where the bulky side and white-tipped tail feathers drew my attention.  Several other birders drove right past it and flushed it from the driveway, so it wasn't apparently obvious to everyone.  Double-crested Cormorant numbers were quite high - already on the move with some flocks in the air, there were also a lot of them staging in the area and big flocks were feeding on fish schools along with similarly high numbers of Forster's Terns.  Since it was windy I did unusually poorly with passerines, i.e. no Seaside Sparrows, and the two Ammodramus sparrows that I did see where a nice bonus - Saltmarsh (Sharp-tailed) Sparrows.  While not the first time I've seen them there, they are not an every-trip bird.  Shorebirds were in modest numbers with the typical selection augmented by Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot (one adult, one juvenile) and three Pectoral Sandpipers.  There were also some interesting terns - a flock on a sandbar with shorebirds had many Royals and a few Caspians.  Later on I saw juvenile Caspians still begging from their parents.  And best of all a juvenile Gull-billed Tern was still being fed by parents that had already started their pre-basic molt and losing their black caps.  A Wild Turkey in the forested area capped off the trip and I did fairly well at avoiding the worst of the Labor Day traffic on the way back home.

Southern NJ - August 25th/26th

A non-birding trip to the Atlantic City area led me to (inevitably) add in some visits to the Brigantine Division of Forsythe NWR and a quick look around Cape May.

I started the 25th on the beach at Longport NJ, which is at the south end of the Atlantic City island and not a specific birding location.  Nevertheless there were good numbers of Sanderling on the beach and a few Semipalmated Plovers mixed in - not really the bird you associate with feeding at the surf line but a reminder that on migration these birds do get everywhere.  A local Peregrine Falcon and an Osprey kept the shorebirds moving around.

At Sunset Beach in Cape May (aka the Concrete Ship) there were no pelagics, but instead a handful of terns - Common, Forster's, Royal and with three Black Terns in the mix.  A few shorebirds on the beach were Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone and one Semipalmated Sandpiper.

At the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (the place that I always call South Cape May Meadows - its former name) had a few shorebirds on the ponds (Least/Semipalmated Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs) and quite a few flyby terns - mostly Forster's and one Gull-billed over the preserve and Royal Tern seen flying up the beach.  A juvenile Peregrine Falcon spent a little time scaring things on the pond (including Green-winged Teal) but there were few passerines in evidence.  Two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were seen migrating through.

At Brig over the two days I had basically the same birds on both visits: huge numbers of Tree Swallows (with some Barns) over the marsh, a typical assortment of shorebirds (Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstone, Dowitcher sp, Black-bellied Plover), Egrets, Herons and Ibis and the usual raptors: Osprey and Peregrines.  The first Northern Harrier for the colder months was over the marsh.  The tide was very high for the first visit which led me to see a Clapper Rail sprinting across an open channel between the flooded saltmarsh.

Nothing unusual or unseasonal on this trip, although the Black Terns were my first for the year.

Brig 7/23

Short birding trip (truncated by heat and Tour de France coverage). I went zero for everything on the rarity front at Brig despite checking Glossy Ibis facial skin color (for White-faced) and there being feeding frenzies at very low tide at a few of the sluices (Forster's Tern, Laughing Gull, Double-crested Cormorant).

Shorebird numbers were up, mainly Semipalmated Sandpiper (abundant, thousands) and Short-billed Dowitcher. My best birds were Whimbrel and Pectoral Sandpiper, both year birds, before heading for cover and air-conditioning.

Barnegat, Brigantine

Rolling the dice on a traditional NJ coastal route I started at Barnegat Inlet a little after sunup, although more accurately presented as sun-behind-overcast-rise. For a late Xmas present I request a weatherman voodoo doll.

The tide was so high that the breakwater (south side of the inlet, as usual) was surrounded by water on all sides beyond the concrete paved section. This also meant that there was some inundation further along. That didn't make a great deal of difference since with the tide so high not very much was perched on it. I saw fly-by Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin and Purple Sandpiper. On the walk back down the breakwater from half-way I added Black-bellied Plover. A (presumed) Savannah Sparrow was also hanging out, too far to ID with any certainty but also likely to be an Ipswich ssp.

Large numbers of ducks milled around the ocean side of the inlet - scoters and Eiders and the common Long-tailed Ducks. I got all 3 species of Scoter (Black, Surf, White-winged) and a small group of Eider flying down the inlet on the rising tide. Red-breasted Mergansers periodically flew by. There was a relatively small group of Harlequin Ducks next to the breakwater but the tide was really too high to induce them to perch up. Common and Red-throated Loon were in the inlet. So in fact despite the high tide and unfavorable conditions I managed to find a perfectly typical range of Barnegat species. I left when two duck hunting boats headed out into the inlet. This appears to be a new feature this year, and as far as I can tell not illegal, but rather screws birding here.

Down at the Brigantine division of Forsythe NWR I could also hear shots out in the saltmarsh, but not right next to the impoundments. There was a flock of Snow Geese near start of the drive - normally they are further south and east of this, but I didn't find a Ross's with them - the flock was rather dispersed. Much of the fresh water impoundment was frozen solid - 30+ Tundra Swans and other waterfowl were clustered around the open patch. The southerly salt-water impoundment was about 50% ice free. The tide here was also very high - perhaps as high as I have seen it and much of the saltmarsh was under water. The flocks of Dunlin were resting on ice mats still stuck to the marsh grasses out in the bay. Waterfowl numbers were decent, although mainly American Black Duck, Northern Pintail and Mallard. Hooded Mergansers and Bufflehead were present, as was a nice surprise in a single female Common Merganser near one of the sluices giving good photo ops. Common Mergansers are usually pushed down from the north after hard freezes and it has been a cold December. Passerines were limited to a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds and a few Eastern Meadowlarks

Raptors were not especially numerous but I did have Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Peregrine and a Bald Eagle. The eagle was an adult, but the Peregrine showed a small patch of brown on its otherwise slate-gray back, suggesting a first year bird.

I went back to Barnegat on the way back home and found nothing new, although I did watch a cooperative Common Loon hunting crabs near the end of the concrete paved section of the breakwater.

Barnegat, Brigantine

Saturday was sunny but breezy, and I headed out for a fairly traditional coastal route.

First, Barnegat Inlet (Barnegat Light) were at 7:44 the breakwater held a lot of people - mainly fishermen - out of all proportion to birding opportunities. The wind was already fresh, it was relatively cold, and there was a dearth of birds in the inlet itself so I went into quick scouting mode. Perhaps this was not totally unrelated to the extensive small boat traffic. Of interest was a fly-by immature Great Cormorant, and several small groups of Bonaparte's Gulls. Last winter there weren't many Bonaparte's Gulls around in general, so these were actually my year list ones. This winter there's a bonanza of them.

In search of more productive areas I went south to Brigantine (or if you want to be formal, the Brigantine Division of Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge). The wind had risen and was quite strong here, so there was little chance of finding a Cave Swallow. I did two tours around the impoundment and found decent numbers of ducks, a good flock of Tundra Swans (also a year bird) and Green-winged Teal and some shorebirds, a few of which were Western Sandpipers making for an implausible three year-bird day in late November. Northern Harriers were around in numbers, terrorizing the Teal again, but the Peregrines did not seem to be present or at least not hunting. A fuller list follows (Brigantine unless noted):


Snow Goose
Brant
Mute Swan
Tundra Swan (50-ish)
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Long-tailed Duck (Barnegat)
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Loon (Barnegat)
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Cormorant (Barnegat)
Great Blue Heron
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Western Sandpiper
Dunlin
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark

White-tailed Kite and Brigantine

I made three visits to various parts of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday. First and last were a visit to the Barnegat impoundment (Barnegat division of Forsythe NWR) where there was a persistent White-tailed Kite. The first time around, shortly after dawn, netted various ducks and herons but no kite. The second time around on the way back home the kite had settled on a dead tree in the far distance half-way across the bay, but was visible in scope views and flew briefly while I was there.

In the intervening time I went down to the Brigantine division, the more traditional area for birders visiting Forsythe NWR. En route I stopped at Barnegat Inlet, found the tide very high, a lot of chop in the inlet and very few birds milling around. A roving flock of Juncos and other fly-by passerines suggested migration movement off the north wind.

The tide was also very high at Brigantine, with much of the saltmarsh at least somewhat inundated. A lot of the ducks were coming in at middle altitude and settling into the north-east impoundment. Shorebirds were limited to several flocks of agitated Dunlin and a few Black-bellied Plovers. One of the reasons that they had good reason to be agitated were two Peregrines and several Northern Harriers, although those raptors were harassing a large flock of Green-winged Teal when I saw them. Blue-winged Teal was the best duck, and there was also Northern Pintail, Mallard, many American Black Duck, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser and Ruddy Duck. A small flock of Brant and a moderate-sized flock of Snow Geese were in the impoundments but windy conditions made for few photo ops. The most active part was on the south-east sluice where the influx of water and small fish made for a Double-crested Cormorant and Gull feeding frenzy. Given the wind the passerines kept their head down but I did see a few fly-by Savannah Sparrows.

I returned north via Barnegat impoundment for the White-tailed Kite and a brief visit to Well's Mills County Park where the feeders held only titmice, chickadees and Juncos. At Well's Mills they've also removed the trees to the east of the visitor center which provided some protection around the periodic drainage pond for small birds drinking there. Since it's not a spring-fed pond that patch was also dry - a shame since last winter it did attract some birds in that small area.