Brigantine NWR, August 28th

Making a little of a lethargic start I opted to go check out shorebirds at Brigantine NWR, with high tide expected around the middle of the day. There was a large flock of Tree Swallows at the Gull Pond tower turn-around but the tower was under construction.

Recent rain seem to be reflected in the pools being relatively high on water, although the north-western pool looked like it had been drained down to provide more shorebird habitat. I came away with not too much diversity, at least in part because I went around prior to high tide and because the driest pool put the shorebirds deep into the heat haze. Best shorebirds were a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers, missing the Buff-breasted and Avocets seen later in the morning. Spotted Sandpiper, both Yellowlegs, Willet, Semipalmated Sandpiper (abundant), Least Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover and Ruddy Turnstone rounded out the total. Ospreys and two Peregrines were the raptors seen. At the "tern sluice" there were no Common Terns but a nice extra were two juvenile Least Terns and a molting adult - a species I see infrequently there. Other terns included abundant Forster's, a few Caspians, and Black Skimmer. Two Blue Grosbeaks at the dogleg and a fast moving Ruby-throated Hummingbird were two other notables.

Jamaica Bay, August 20th

This was a high tide mud-crawling exercise late in the day on a Friday, and as I walked out onto the north end of the East Pond a young Peregrine had scared all the shorebirds into the air - a large chunk of them settled down in front of me so I didn't move more than 50 yards in the next three hours. The diversity was modest because of that.

Best birds were good numbers of White-rumped Sandpipers - all adults, followed by a flock of 9 Stilt Sandpipers - also all adults. Juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers were relatively uncommon although the adults were by far the most numerous species present.

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
American Black Duck
Green-winged Teal
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Forster's Tern
Barn Swallow
Northern Waterthrush

Jamaica Bay, August 7th

My first foray into NYC for fall migration corresponded to a morning high tide at Jamaica Bay WR where I was interested mainly in shorebird photography and not pushing my luck with elevated temperatures.

The East Pond had moderate levels of exposed mud which were still quite wet and not all that green yet at the south end. Apparently at the north end it's still quite muddy, but the forecast looks generally dry so the odds are that it will draw down yet further.

Shorebird diversity was modest, but then again I didn't go even as far as the Raunt. Semipalmated Sandpiper (adults only) was the most numerous, Semipalmated Plover (adults), Least Sandpiper (adults+juveniles), Lesser Yellowlegs (juveniles) and Short-billed Dowitcher (adults+juveniles) were around. There was a good tern showing: Forster's, Common, Least and juvenile Black. There was also a good selection of herons: Great Blue Heron; Great Egret; Snowy Egret; Tricolored Heron; Green Heron; Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night Herons (Yellow-crowned being particularly numerous). Boat-tailed Grackles were in predictably heavy molt. The best bird was a distant look at the American White Pelican which has lingered here and remarkably not my first one at Jamaica Bay. Over on the West Pond nothing much was happening although I did add Spotted Sandpiper, American Oystercatcher and Greater Yellowlegs. Diversity should increase as the month draws on, although more widely-ranging birders had more luck than me with the less common shorebird species.

Swallows and Swifts

A nice find on returning home last night was a group of Chimney Swifts and swallows feeding over a (presumed) insect swarm across the road and doing passes over my property. A couple of large dragonflies were also hunting. At first I assumed it was just two or more Barn Swallows, but after fetching binoculars I saw two Northern Rough-winged Swallows perched on one of my Silver Maples. Northern Rough-winged is a new yard bird.

Six Mile Run, July 31st

To finish off a month after a couple of weeks idle due to surgery I visited Six Mile Run to see how the postbreeding situation was. I found that they'd mowed a portion of the main field to the north of the grassland path - this might be for habitat regeneration. Best bird was a juvenile Blue Grosbeak, flocking with Field Sparrows (juveniles here too) and a couple of very worn adult Song Sparrows. A few male Indigo Buntings were hanging around, and two were singing. I thought I heard a brief snippet of Grasshopper Sparrow song but didn't see any so I might have been mistaken. The habitat was still in flower, particularly with some thistle species, and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies were relatively numerous. Orchard Oriole, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Bluebird, House Wren and American Goldfinch were also around.

Contrast this with Griggstown which had no flowering plants within hundreds of yards of the parking lot, no butterflies, and virtually no birds. Franklin Township have really f*cked up the habitat maintenance at Griggstown and actually managed to degrade it substantially.

Fall migration begins (July 3rd)

Two successive weekend visits to Brigantine NWR turned up mostly the same species both times with minor variations and one embellishment: two small flocks of shorebirds on July 3rd. Forster's Terns were numerous, as were greenheads. On 6/28 two Common Terns were seen at the south-eastern sluice where I often observe them, with one Common Tern particularly cooperative for photos and video. Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows were also there, as were two or three pairs of territorial Willets apparently fighting over one small grassy island.

On 7/3 the Common Terns were absent at low tide. Further around there were Short-billed Dowitchers, peep sp (probably Least), a Caspian Tern and a Bald Eagle that flushed the lot of them. The shorebird flocks were the first evidence that fall migration - at least for shorebirds - was starting, although I had started to see small icterid flocks accumulating for their early fall migration and Bobolinks were reported at Cape May on 7/8, presumably also southbound.

Birds are still breeding, however, with juvenile-sounding noises coming from Chipping Sparrow and Northern Cardinal nests in my yard, and a House Wren apparently nesting there (second brood ?).

Cumulative species list from 6/28 and 7/3 Brigantine visits:
American Black Duck
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Marsh Wren
Common Yellowthroat
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch

Southern NJ again

Let's try this all again, shall we. In fact I did exactly the same trip, ostensibly with better light, although when I got out of the car at Jake's Landing and looked westward I let out a stream of expletives as I saw storm clouds approaching. Sunny day my ass.

Nevertheless it was photographically more productive and the combination of Jake's Landing, South Cape May Meadows and Brigantine/Forsythe NWR. Compared to last week Jake's Landing was much the same, SCMM was a little less productive but still decent (and sunnier!) and Brigantine had Bank Swallow, Bald Eagle and a lot more voracious Greenheads to add to the total.

Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Clapper Rail
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Gull-billed Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Least Tern
Eastern Kingbird
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Seaside Sparrow
Indigo Bunting

Southern NJ, June 12th

I headed out pre-dawn to try my luck with the weather and look for breeding birds in southern NJ. With rather mixed success. At 6:30am at Jake's Landing the typical birds were evident: Osprey with young, Seaside Sparrow, Marsh Wren, vocal Clapper Rails, Willets. I didn't find any Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows and the cloud cover was not especially conducive to photography since photo ops and sunny intervals were rather asynchronous.

Headed back through the woodland to the road I heard Pine Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, White-eyed Vireo and saw Brown Thrasher. I decided to try and wait out the variable cloud cover and went to the nearby Sunset Rd bridge at Belleplain State Forest. Despite being early in the day the amount of song was limited: Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, an emphatic Acadian Flycatcher were heard but there was no sign of Prothonotary Warbler or Louisiana Waterthrush. Or much else.

I went further down along the Delaware Bay shore and stopped at Kimball's Beach Rd at Cape May NWR to check out shorebirds - there in small numbers and to my eyes just Semipalmated Sandpipers, with no sign of their larger cousins (Dunlin, Sanderling, Turnstone, Knot).

From there I headed down to South Cape May Meadows (SCMM), the Nature Conservancy site near Cape May Point that is more correctly called "The Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge" these days. The weather was overcast so I went to the Concrete Ship and scanned the ocean, picking up a few Northern Gannets heading north. All immatures. At SCMM I left the camera in the car courtesy of unremitting cloud cover and walked around, seeing Piping Plovers getting agitated over every crow and Osprey. There were also Killdeer, American Oystercatcher, Black Skimmer, Least Tern and Foster's Tern. Best birds were the duo of singing Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak at the entrance. Activity was relatively low and the light was pretty bad so I started to work my way north, filling up with gas near the road for Wildwood. I was just turning onto the Garden State Parkway northbound when I caught sight of a clearing patch in my rear view mirror, so turned around at the next exit and headed back to SCMM in the hopes of better light.

At SCMM I had basically the same species, but at least a little sun as the overcast cleared out for a while, and a few birds including Least Terns were relatively cooperative fishing near the viewing platform along northernmost trail. A small number of Common Terns dropped in, and at one point full alternate plumage adults, a first summer Common Tern were on the same sandbar as adult Forster's Tern and first summer Laughing Gulls. An interesting mix of plumages but apart from the Common Terns nothing new was seen on my second go around SCMM. Least Terns were in an active colony on the beach, and American Oystercatcher and Piping Plover chicks were present along the roped off areas of the beach.

Finally I went north once again and visited Brigantine/Forsythe NWR to see if there were any residual migrating shorebirds. While I did get a view of two Clapper Rails bathing in the channel, the number of shorebirds (apart from the breeding Willet) was quite low and consisted of three Greater Yellowlegs and a small group of Semipalmated Sandpipers. Gull-billed Tern was also a new bird for the day. Greenheads were out, but not yet in truly ferocious numbers and the dearth of shorebirds let me keep my car windows up for most of the time. The main benefit of birding Brig on this day is that it delayed my arrival home so that I missed the first half of that rather dire 1-1 draw between the USA and England in the World Cup.

Stirling Forest, May 31st

I did the same loop as my May 22nd trip:
http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2010/05/stirling-forest-and-nw-nj-may-22nd.html
although perhaps with less success.

The trail along Long Meadow Road was quieter, although most of the same species were seen, and the powerline cut at Ironwood Road was productive in terms of singing birds including Golden-winged Warbler but most of them were less cooperative, either because of the heat of the day or because territories were more established. No Ravens this time, although I did have a singing Cerulean Warbler and a Green Heron.

Green Heron
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Great Crested Flycatcher
Black-capped Chickadee
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Indigo Bunting


After that I skipped Oil City Road/Wallkill NWR but headed out to High Point SP (Sawmill Rd), Stokes SF (Crigger Rd) and Layton. Sawmill Rd was as loud as before, with Redstart, Ovenbird, Yellow Warbler being the main species, and one Least Flycatcher that refused to show its face. In Stokes SF I didn't hear any Ceruleans but did hear a Yellow-throated Vireo. I found a single Acadian Flycatcher at it's normal space at the cool evergreen grove downstream along the Flatbrook River, heard what sounded an awful lot like a Blue-headed Vireo, and also a Black-throated Green in the same location, and there was a singing Chestnut-sided Warbler at the bridge.

Layton was quiet in the midday heat, there were no Alder Flycatchers, and a grassy/ticky walk down to the wet area didn't yield any singing ones either.