While I did not chase the Elegant Tern at Sandy Hook the previous weekend - when it was found - I decided to check it out a week later despite a somewhat dubious weather forecast for the Saturday. A birder friend came along on Saturday and did fairly well with two life birds. On the way out to the False Hook at Sandy Hook we took the wrong trail and ended up meandering down false trails south of the large salt pond. While being snacked on by mosquitos we did fairly well with warblers: Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler. Also Cedar Waxwing and Baltimore Oriole - this was a pretty good selection considering the wind was from the south and it did not epitomize a good fall migration day. Locating the correct trail and walking to the the beach we encountered a small flock of Palm Warblers - absolutely not what I'd consider typical for early September.
Birders told us that the Elegant Tern was seen earlier (we were they early, but not at dawn) but ultimately we were not successful finding it. Instead there were a lot of Common Terns, and Amy's first lifer was a Black Tern coming down the beach to join the Commons at the cut. Sanderlings, Semipalmated Plovers and Piping Plovers were on the beach and adjoining mudflat. In a fairly stiff breeze most of the Common/Black Terns and numerous Black Skimmers were in a small group in the roped off (shorebird nesting) area, and most of the birders there that morning had gathered to concentrate on that flock. It also gave a good view of the storm clouds marching up the NJ shore towards us. While failing to find an Elegant a nice bonus was three Buff-breasted Sandpipers feeding amongst the dunes - this was Amy's second lifer and a year bird for me.
Eventually an interesting larger tern did turn up back at the cut - I could pick it out in the air but this was reported as a Sandwich Tern by birders closer to the scene (also a year bird for me). As the storm clouds rolled in and we headed back towards the parking lot a Marbled Godwit flew down the beach and was literally the last bird we saw on the beach as the deluge opened up. Although we got totally soaked on the walk back to the car we did dodge the bullet on that weather system: twisters were reported from Queens and Breezy Point got hit - that's pretty close to Sandy Hook and that would have been the same storm system that hit us.
On Sunday I went back to Sandy Hook after birding Central Park. The weather was bright and sunny and not too warm, and although there were more people (mostly fishermen, some beachgoers) it was still possible to watch a decent flock of Common and Black Terns and Black Skimmers. After a little while the Elegant Tern put in an appearance and gave diagnostic views. Later on it vanished before returning later in the day before sunset when I was able to get decent photographs of it. Both days gave me pretty much my best views of Black Tern, also, so it was a pretty good birding day if a little exhausting by the time I got home.
Showing posts with label Sandy Hook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandy Hook. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sandy Hook
While waiting for real migration to arrive, I thought I'd try and pick off some late winter or very early spring species at Sandy Hook. I managed to find the only part of NJ that wasn't sunny and in the 60's this past Sunday - the wall of fog was literally staged at the Keyport bridge at the Sandy Hook ramp, so it was a cool 50's with limited visibility.
Chokeberry Lot: Long-tailed Duck, American Oystercatcher (First-of-year for me), Red-throated Loon and a single Surf Scoter (FOY). Thankfully an easy to ID male under those viewing conditions. Visibility into the ocean was very limited so I was only able to see ducks that were already closer to shore - a scope wasn't even that useful here since the visibility cut off before the birds got too small to ID via binoculars.
Sadly there was also a sick/injured Long-tailed Duck on the beach - it's too late in the year for a hunting injury but the bird could not fly, and if it had injured a wing it could not dive either. I told the Rangers about this and they seemed motivated to go take a look. These things happen, and Long-tailed Duck is a common species, but it's still a distressing thing to witness.
Visitor Center lot: Long-tailed Duck and some fly-by Red-breasted Mergansers. I didn't scan the bay side very much since it was contra light in this afternoon visit but I also saw Red-breasted Mergansers there.
North Beach: more American Oystercatcher pairs; more Long-tailed Ducks; two more Red-throated Loons; two more Surf Scoters; one Piping Plover (FOY).
Visitor Center Lot revisit: small group of Northern Gannets (adult) and three White-winged Scoters (FOY).
Brant were still in evidence but there were few to no American Black Ducks which have probably decamped for the saltmarshes now that it approaches breeding season. But the trip was good for Scoters - I have particular problem finding White-winged Scoters now that I don't visit Montauk Point (where you could find several thousand of each of the three species) and I hadn't seen Surf Scoter this year either. My alternate favorite location - Barnegat Inlet - isn't reliable for scoter species early in the year, although back in November I had all three species in the big diving duck flock.
Chokeberry Lot: Long-tailed Duck, American Oystercatcher (First-of-year for me), Red-throated Loon and a single Surf Scoter (FOY). Thankfully an easy to ID male under those viewing conditions. Visibility into the ocean was very limited so I was only able to see ducks that were already closer to shore - a scope wasn't even that useful here since the visibility cut off before the birds got too small to ID via binoculars.
Sadly there was also a sick/injured Long-tailed Duck on the beach - it's too late in the year for a hunting injury but the bird could not fly, and if it had injured a wing it could not dive either. I told the Rangers about this and they seemed motivated to go take a look. These things happen, and Long-tailed Duck is a common species, but it's still a distressing thing to witness.
Visitor Center lot: Long-tailed Duck and some fly-by Red-breasted Mergansers. I didn't scan the bay side very much since it was contra light in this afternoon visit but I also saw Red-breasted Mergansers there.
North Beach: more American Oystercatcher pairs; more Long-tailed Ducks; two more Red-throated Loons; two more Surf Scoters; one Piping Plover (FOY).
Visitor Center Lot revisit: small group of Northern Gannets (adult) and three White-winged Scoters (FOY).
Brant were still in evidence but there were few to no American Black Ducks which have probably decamped for the saltmarshes now that it approaches breeding season. But the trip was good for Scoters - I have particular problem finding White-winged Scoters now that I don't visit Montauk Point (where you could find several thousand of each of the three species) and I hadn't seen Surf Scoter this year either. My alternate favorite location - Barnegat Inlet - isn't reliable for scoter species early in the year, although back in November I had all three species in the big diving duck flock.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
A slow start to 2011
Otherwise busy on Jan 1st (upside: two Black Vultures while filling up with gas), I headed out to the northern NJ shore on Jan 2nd to kick start the year list.
I started out late because of intermittent rain and really dark conditions early. This put a crimp on the time I spent at Sandy Hook. Also a factor was the existing snow drifts at various places on the hook - coastal NJ had been hit hard by the storm of Dec 26th and it had by no means melted. Some of the roads still had significant snow plowed to one side of them, narrowing them from two lanes to one. En route to Sandy Hook there were no raptors or vultures in the air. I started off at D lot where I found Black Scoter, Common Loon, a few Horned Grebes, groups of gulls on the beach. But no shorebirds - I was expecting a Sanderling or two. One solitary Bonaparte's Gull was seen a little further out over the water. Just further north at the visitor center I added Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Finch and American Goldfinch.
Further up, just south of the bird observatory I took the boardwalk out to the bay side and heard a lot of Long-tailed Duck activity. I also saw Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Red-breasted Merganser and a mere two Common Goldeneye. Visibility was limited by heat haze (it was relatively mild) so the Goldeneye flock may have been more widely dispersed. Best bird for this site was a Belted Kingfisher which was noisily surveying the saltmarsh. American Black Duck and Brant were also in this area.
I stopped at B lot on my way out, and saw distant flocks of Sea Ducks but the haze was too much to ID them. Other species of scoter and Eider are perhaps likely candidates. If only they had been closer. The ducks that were close enough to ID were: more Black Scoters, and a mixed flock of Ruddy Duck and Greater Scaup. I almost convinced myself there were Lesser Scaup mixed in, but demurred since the viewing conditions were not great.
If I spent more time at Sandy Hook I might have added a few more species, judging by other reports, but I wanted to head south and check out a few ponds north of Point Pleasant - Lake Como, Sylvan Lake etc. I found these to be almost totally iced over with little or no open water, and the birds were mostly gulls. I added American Coot to the year list but otherwise that was largely a waste of time and I need to wait for the thaw.
Finally I decided to skip the Manasquan River inlet/Point Pleasant area since the interesting birds had departed, and instead I came back to a site near me - Pole Farm (aka Mercer County Park Northwest) where I saw Short-eared Owl before even getting the scope out of the car, and ultimately came across a total of three. What's interesting is the almost total absence of Northern Harrier from this site this year, and the SEO's must have been bored since they took to harassing a Red-tailed Hawk perched over in the far corner of the field. An American Kestrel was perched on the symbolic remaining pole in Pole Farm, and there was a flock of about a dozen Eastern Bluebirds to round out the day.
(Jan 3rd: added Turkey Vulture)
(Jan 4th: added Great Blue Heron)
I started out late because of intermittent rain and really dark conditions early. This put a crimp on the time I spent at Sandy Hook. Also a factor was the existing snow drifts at various places on the hook - coastal NJ had been hit hard by the storm of Dec 26th and it had by no means melted. Some of the roads still had significant snow plowed to one side of them, narrowing them from two lanes to one. En route to Sandy Hook there were no raptors or vultures in the air. I started off at D lot where I found Black Scoter, Common Loon, a few Horned Grebes, groups of gulls on the beach. But no shorebirds - I was expecting a Sanderling or two. One solitary Bonaparte's Gull was seen a little further out over the water. Just further north at the visitor center I added Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Finch and American Goldfinch.
Further up, just south of the bird observatory I took the boardwalk out to the bay side and heard a lot of Long-tailed Duck activity. I also saw Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Red-breasted Merganser and a mere two Common Goldeneye. Visibility was limited by heat haze (it was relatively mild) so the Goldeneye flock may have been more widely dispersed. Best bird for this site was a Belted Kingfisher which was noisily surveying the saltmarsh. American Black Duck and Brant were also in this area.
I stopped at B lot on my way out, and saw distant flocks of Sea Ducks but the haze was too much to ID them. Other species of scoter and Eider are perhaps likely candidates. If only they had been closer. The ducks that were close enough to ID were: more Black Scoters, and a mixed flock of Ruddy Duck and Greater Scaup. I almost convinced myself there were Lesser Scaup mixed in, but demurred since the viewing conditions were not great.
If I spent more time at Sandy Hook I might have added a few more species, judging by other reports, but I wanted to head south and check out a few ponds north of Point Pleasant - Lake Como, Sylvan Lake etc. I found these to be almost totally iced over with little or no open water, and the birds were mostly gulls. I added American Coot to the year list but otherwise that was largely a waste of time and I need to wait for the thaw.
Finally I decided to skip the Manasquan River inlet/Point Pleasant area since the interesting birds had departed, and instead I came back to a site near me - Pole Farm (aka Mercer County Park Northwest) where I saw Short-eared Owl before even getting the scope out of the car, and ultimately came across a total of three. What's interesting is the almost total absence of Northern Harrier from this site this year, and the SEO's must have been bored since they took to harassing a Red-tailed Hawk perched over in the far corner of the field. An American Kestrel was perched on the symbolic remaining pole in Pole Farm, and there was a flock of about a dozen Eastern Bluebirds to round out the day.
(Jan 3rd: added Turkey Vulture)
(Jan 4th: added Great Blue Heron)
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