Lakehurst Survey 1

May 21

First survey of the season and by all accounts it was slow. Quiet, cold, and overcast. Still I was greeted at my first point by the resident pair of Ravens flying over the field with the rising sun in the back ground. And there at my first point I had my first Blue Grosbeak pair. I hope they nest in my circle. They popped up out of that little wet spot with the fragmites, which I found interesting.

But as I said it was quiet, and my BLGR numbers were down. I only had two pairs and two other males who certainly had mates nearby, but I didn't detect them. Compare that to last year when I had eight pairs, plus a few singles, all adults. These are not a target species, but I like to keep track. We'll see what happens as the season progresses.

Even though it was slow, I still had 20 Grasshopper Sparrows. More then most everyone else. My theory is that my route takes so much longer, and they started to sing more after it warmed up a bit. *I'll have to research this.

In total 42 species. The only target birds were GRSP and 2 E. Meadowlarks, plus a Horned Lark not in the count.

I was not able to check for Uppies because the Jump Circle was "in use", but I'm told they could be heard calling from over the fence. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Also of concern was the missing Kestrel pair. More on that later.

Keep in mind all of these numbers are from an official survey visit and not a day of birding. Survey protocol dictates my locations and the amount of time I spend there.

I've begun photographing plants in an effort to learn to ID them. It's such a unique biosphere on the base. So much to learn.

April Birding

Nothing to report, too much. Spring came and May is on the way. Warblers are here and the last Junco in my yard was a week ago. No hummingbirds yet as of this date (4/26). There's a Ruff in Delaware that I haven't been down to see, but I've hit Heislerville twice already. The first visit on 4/20 was pretty quiet, but I did see a family of American Woodcock crossing the road!!!

On my second visit, 4/23, all the shorebirds had arrived. I had gone down to meet with YK and HT. It was pouring raining, but we had a good time. Western SP, SB Dows, Dunlin, Least SP, Semipalmated Plover, BB Plover, Sanderling, both YLs, even a Semipalmated SP. One willet that I tried to turn into a Western. Not sure of the outcome on that! Finally saw Blue-winged Teal for the year. They had evaded me!

Heislerville should get its own blog post. It's one of my favorite places, and I even have written a poem about it.

I did my Lakehurst scouting day on 4/22. Horned Larks and Meadowlarks, singing Prairie, B &W, and C. Yellowthroat, Towhees. No GRSP or Uppies yet. Soon.

I would like to go out and see some warblers tomorrow!

I will update with sightings soon. Many foys.

Highlights
Glossy Ibis HT Marsh
Rusty BBs in the HT marsh and Canal Marsh
Wilson's Snipe at their usual place on DH Rd - though the road is now plowed.
Red-headed Woodpecker at Collier's Mill.

Good Luck Point

It's survey season and I'm back on the Black Rail survey for NJAS. I've picked up a new location, Ocean Gate in Ocean County, aka Good Luck Point. It's an interesting place with almost wall to wall marsh land. I need to research if it's all salt (preferable to BLRA) or if some is fresh, maybe on the west side of Bayview Ave. It's lush. Herring Gulls Tri-colored Heron* Great Egret Snowy Egret Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Osprey - maybe 15-20 nests. Crazy! Boat-tailed Grackle Glossy Ibis Mallard CAGO Laughing gull Mute Swan

Birding March 2016

Juices are starting to flow and I have a few ideas for a couple of actual blog posts ... let's see if I actually write them now ... smh

March 27

Raritan Bay waterfront Park. G Scaup (10), RB Merganser (6), GBBG, RBGU, HERG, BOGU, BLACK-headed Gull a non-breeding adult.

March 25

Disbrow Hill Rd Wilson Snipes are back. Wood Duck is still in the pond in the woods, and foy Phoebe also in the woods.

Bald Eagle adult circling the field near TR. A lot of blackbirds around. Nothing new at feeders.

March 18 - 20

In Cape May for the weekend for SS Cape May. Mostly quiet, but did some birding each day. Iceland Gull the only highlight.

At some point I saw NRWS

March 11

Trenton Marsh

Such a beautiful day, and the marsh was gorgeous with sounds of spring, though I didn't have much time.

Pie-billed Grebe 5 (I don't think I've ever seen 5 together before!) *
Wood Duck 2 * (Emi spotted another on DH Rd in the pond in the woods.)
GW Teal 1
RN Duck
N. Shovelers
Gadwall 2
Coot - lots!
Mallards
CAGO
MUSW
RWBB
WTSP

**Cackling Goose at Mercer Corp Park






3/10

Tree Swallows in Trenton*, a woodcock* at Hancock Fields, Laughing Gull* in Cape May. A trip to Brig produced nothing special (Snow Geese present). Was that a Rusty Blackbird at Etra Lake? Bald Eagles down at the River. Yawn. March is not exciting. But things are going to change when the gulls start coming to town. Then with April comes the shorebirds ... excuse me, I just drooled a little. Sorry. Shorebirds. That's what keeps me going through March.

A Soaking Wet Goldfinch

A big storm blew this plastic bag into my tree, and also this bedraggled little American Goldfinch. There are no documented cases of American Goldfinch x Pine Siskin hybrids, but it's easy to imagine that this is what one would look like.

Look what the storm blew in!

Like a Goldfinch with a Siskin's back. No streaking on underparts.

Even the other Goldfinch looks confused.

The tail is pure American Goldfinch ... and I mean that literally and figuratively.

Soaked down to the skin, and a nice little study of finches and siskins ensued. Stay dry little bird.

Birding February 2016

Off to a slow start. It's February and I'm already getting bored with recording my sightings to this blog. Not good! And, I still haven't written any real blog post yet. Sigh ... when the inspiration strikes, I'll be ready.

FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS

Harris's Sparrow (Life bird), Orange Crowned Warbler, Eurasian Wigeon, Western Grebe.

February 28

Last birding day of the month. North Shore tour with some fellow Lakehurst surveyors, Leslie, Tom, and Nano. We started at Sandy Hook and I left after the stop at Pullman Ave. The two best birds of the day were

Western Grebe* (Monmouth Cultural Center)
Golden Eye (SH Church yard) *

Here's the rest:
Common Loon
RT Loon
Horned Grebe
N. Gannet
Canada Geese
Brant
Mallard
Black Duck
Am. Wigeon
Gadwall
RN Duck
Bufflehead
LT Duck
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
RB Merg
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk (Sandy Hook)
Cooper's Hawk (Sandy Hook)
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Am Coot
Killdeer*
GBBG
Herring Gull
RB Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
American Crow
Carolina Wren
N. Mockingbird
Robins
Cedar Waxwing
Starling
YR Warbler
RW Blackbird
Common Grackle
N. Cardinal
House Finch
Gold Finch
HOSP
SOSP
WTSP




February 25

Boy did things change fast from my last post, from nobody talking about the HASP to everybody flipping out about it, including a gun threat hoax and a lengthy discussion on homeowner rights vs birders' right. Well, more on that in a separate post, maybe.

It's been quiet. I've done some birding, but haven't seen anything new or notable. Feeder birds are still the same, I've been checking flocks of geese and gulls with no standouts. It's okay.

Shark River Inlet

I've been hearing a lot of great reports from here, but today was not the day to follow up. Wind 25mph, I think, with strong gusts. Common and RT Loon, the typical gulls, GBB, HERG, and RBGU. A single LTDU in the  breakers. No Gannets.

5th St Lake

Mallards 12

Redheads 10 *

Shark River Estuary

Nice! It's a good time of year for this place. I pulled out to the end of Marconi Ave and the Eurasian Wigeon was right there. I'd forgotten it had been reported here. Here's the list:

Eurasian Wigeon* 1

Americna Wigeon 20

N. Shoveler 5

BLDU

Coot

RUDU

Bufflehead

RB Merganser

GB Heron

HERG

RBGU

GBBG

Brant

Mute Swans!! too many!

February 21

Strange, and possibly incorrect. Yellowlegs species in the middle of the NW loop from 276 to 309 in PA with CAGO.

Well, at least the habitat is right.

February 15

Titusville Private Feeders

Harris' Sparrow. LIFE BIRD
Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-tailed Hawk
Junco
Cardinal 5
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Chickadees 3
American Robins 1
Common Grackle 2
Downy WP 1
Goldfinch
House Finch
Purple ? confusing one.

Nobody's talking about this bird, which is weird since it went out on eBird and text alert. Oh well. I won't talk about it either. The first thing I noticed about this bird was that it had a huge head. It's known for being a very large sparrow - the largest in N America, I think. But it also simply has a huge head. It's 7.9" which is almost Cardinal sized. Additionally, it seemed to have a raised crest, but also its head is very large. Think female Cardinal when trying to find one. In back light silhouette, they will look similar. Very skittish bird. Came, grabbed a seed, then ran to under the bushes. Beautiful. My new favorite. I will return.

February 12

Manasquan Rsvr Environmental Center

Orange Crowned Warbler** w/Emi 1 at feeders, seen from outside in the freezing cold
N Cardinal
WTSP
MODO

Birding January 2016

This will be the boring lists from birding that I do this year, diary style. Sensitive species will be listed with a code, or omitted until later.

Jan 30

Home

Is this the same Coop I had earlier? This one seems huge. Maybe there's a pair.

Whatever it was, it got away.

Trenton

Palm Warbler
Orange Crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Both kinglets
Pine Warbler


Jan 29

Fox Sparrow! at feeders. First time in 4 or 5 years.

Allenhurst

White Scoter 1
Black Scoter many
Surf Scoter 8
Red breasted Merganser 2
Long tailed Duck 13
Razorbill 1
N. Gannet 12 (beautiful, watched diving and sitting on water)
Red throated Loon
Common Loon
Herg
Rbgu
Lesser Blackbacked Gull 1, sitting on jetty.    Shdv photographed.
What else?

Jan 28

Monroe

Canada Geese, 500
Snow Goose 1
Great Horned Owl, maybe, might also have been a hawk, or a bag ... ?

Jan 26

Trotter track, E Windsor

Horned Lark 100 *


Jan 25

Song Sparrow showed up at feeders.

Monroe - local
Large flock CAGO
Snow Geese 2


Jan 24

Did not want to drive yet, so walked up the road, over the bridge into Monroe. Temps mild, and no wind almost. Great day for a walk. Missing were White-crowned Sparrow, Horned Lark, Yellow-rumps.

Feeders

Carolina Wren 1 *
Downy  WP
House Sparrow
Plus same as yesterday

Street

WT Sparrow
House Finch (maybe PUFI, need to check pics)
Rusty Blackbird * - awesome bird for this location
YB Sapsucker 2 - possible first for the area. *
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Juncos
Blue Jays
Ring-billed Gulls - beautiful against the pure blue sky

Monroe

White-throated Sparrows
Juncos
Song sparrows 10
Mourning Doves
Tree Sparrow 1 seen, about 5 heard *
Fox Sparrow 1 *


Jan 23

Historic Blizzard of 2016! Not good visibility from my back window since the wind was blowing directly to the north.

Feeders

WB Nuthatch
Blue Jays 5
Am. Robin 1
Juncos 25
White-throated Sparrow 10
House Sparrows 30
Mourning Dove 5
C. Chickadees 2
House Finch 1
Grackle 1
Red-winged BB 3
Cardinals 2
others ... ?

Jan 22

Florence

I needed to go find a Glaucous gull before the Blizzard set in on Saturday. As soon as I pulled up there was a huge flock right off the lot.

Glaucous Gull 1 (adult - beautiful) *
Herring Gull 200
Ring-billed
Great BB Gull 1
Lesser BB Gull 1 *
Bald Eagle 1 adult *
Canada Geese 6


Jan 18

North Shore

In search of gulls. Stopped at 7 Presidents' Park, nothing around except a few Herring Gulls. The dredging project is not there this year, so the large gull flock I was hoping for did not pan out.

Next, up to Deal. Most of the areas are blocked off here now with limited viewing. The end of Roosevelt Ave. has only one side open out onto a partial jetty. The gulls I could see were all Herrings, but there were hundreds of gulls in the distance where I could not find an access point.

Finally, around Deal Lake I came across a flock of gulls, mostly Ring-bills. But a few 1st cycle Herrings as well. This one had an unusual bill, and in "real life" the bill appeared huge for the bird which was only slightly larger than the Ring-bills.

Herring Gull giving its best Aythya duck imitation.

While I was studying this gull, I noticed the little Ring-bill next to it had bands on both legs.

The gull on the left has some bling.

BT83, Banded in Varennes, Quebec in June 2014. This is its first winter sighting and its first US sighting. Cool beans!

Also seen:

Northern Gannet 18 (Belmar)
Red-throated and Common Loons (Belmar)
What else?
GBB Gulls
Double-crested Cormorant

1st year Ring-billed Gulls are pretty.

Jan 17

Harlem Meer

Quiet, again.
Gadwall 6
Mallards 24
Ring-billed Gulls 10
Blue Jays 5
White-breast Nuthatch 2
Cardinals 2
Robins 18
Starlings
House Sparrows
Pigeons

Home Feeders

First snow of the season!

Usual birds, just a few more than usual, plus:
Cardinals 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker

Really is a slow start to the year.

I did think I saw a siskin, but we'll wait to get a better look.

No sign of the Coop for a few days.

Jan 16

Middlesex Rd, Monroe

Canada Geese 300
Barnacle Goose
      Barg x Cackling hybrid 2
Mallards

Applegarth-Wycoff Mills Rd.

Massive flock of Canada Geese staging, at least one Cackling.
Searched for the white tail, no luck so far.


Jan 15

Cape May

2nd trip this week ... not good. Very gray and quiet.

Rea feeders:

Gold Finch
House Sparrows
White-throated Sparrows
Cardinal
Mourning Dove
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-rumped Warbler

CMP:

Northern Shovelers *
Pintail ducks*
Mallards
Gadwall
Mute Swan *

Sharon Station Rd

Northern Harrier 2 (one gray ghost)

Jan 13

Etra Lake

Same as yesterday except
Greater White-fronted Goose 1 *

Great White-fronted Goose with Canada Geese

Jan 12

Etra Lake

Canada Geese 1000
Cackling Geese 5-8 *
RN Ducks  ~20
Hooded Mergs ~20

Cackling Goose, near Etra Lake. Seems a bit large, but many small geese in this flock.

Jan 11

Drove to Cape May bayshore looking for gulls. Only usual suspects present. Some shorebirds, likely Dunlin, down on the flats.

Sharon Station Rd

Merlin*


Jan 9

Feeders

Cooper's Hawk

Trenton Sewage

Palm warbler 2
Yellow warbler 1 (bright yellow)
Nashville Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped 12
Yellow-throated 1
Pine Warbler 2 (one bright one drab)
(Still no OC)
Ruby and GC Kinglet
Herring
Ring-billed
Greater and Lesser Black-backed gulls

Corp Park

Two CAGO struggle to break through the ice. They made it, but why do some freeze to death in the water?

Jan 8

Thompson Park, Jamesburg

Canada Geese 1000
Barnacle Goose 1 *
    hybrid BARG x CACK 1
Ring-billed Gulls
Black Duck 3
Mallards x
Domestic Geese (?)

Barnacle Goose completely not cooperating with my photo attempts.

Find the Barnacle Goose and the hybrid. Are they mates? Parent and offspring? Or siblings?

Jan 7

Tinicum, PA

Mountain Bluebird 1 *

Eastern Bluebird 12 *

YR Warbler 8

House Finch 3

I was all atwitter over this bird.

I really need a better lense!

Rt. 29, PA

Common Merganser *

Mercer County Park

Canada Geese 500
Snow Goose 1* (foy seen)

Feeders

New - Downy WP

Jan 6

Feeders

chicadees
Blue Jays
WB Nuthatch
House Sparrows
Mourning Doves
Junco

slow start to the year at the feeders

Jan 5

DeKorte

FOY
Fox Sparrow 1
American Kestrel, female 1

Others:
Lots of White-throated Sparrows
Cardinal
Blue Jay
Yellow-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Water was completely frozen, no waterfowl.


Jan 4

My feeders

below freezing today

House Sparrows 25-20
Carolina Chickadees 3 (two in wren house)
Juncos 4
Mourning Dove 3
Tufted Titmouse

Trenton Sewage Authority

Yellow-throated Warbler 1 (very confiding)
Nashville Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warblers 20
Pine Warbler 1

Quick looks at Palm and Yellow
missed the Orange Crowned

Ruby crowned Kinglet 2
Golden crowned Kinglet 3
Juncos
Cardinal
House Sparrow
White throated Sparrow
Starlings
Ring-billed Gulls
Am Crows

what else?

Etra Lake

Canada Geese 150
Hooded Mergansers 17
Mallard

Corp Park

Canada Geese 100
Mallards 8
Bufflehead 3

Jan 2

Wall Twp. CBC

with Mary L. and Bob D.

Canada Geese 563
RB Duck 4
Ruddy Duck 3
Gadwall 11
Mallard 16 (+ 6 hybrids)
Black Duck 7
Song Sparrow 11
Swamp Sparrow 1
Cedar WW 52 (probably a low count)
Robins (with Newfoundlands ?) 699
Starlings 144
Catbird 1
Am. Crows 18
House Sparrow 3
House Finch 24
RB Woodpecker 2
Downy WP 4
Flicker 2
Mourning Dove 7
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Cooper's Hawk 1 (+ 1 that Mary L. didn't agree with, but ... )
N. Harrier 2
Junco 13
WT Sparrow 49
Cardinal 8
RB Gull 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 16
Black Vulture 2
Turkey vulture 8
Tufted Titmouse 3
American Goldfinch 6
Brown-headed Cowbird 45
Red-winged Blackbird 87
Carolina Chickadee 11
Rock Pigeon 45
Blue Jay 8
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 6
Northern Mockingbird 6

+Purple Finch officially added, that was not fully confirmed in the field

Jan 1

Point pleasant Beach/Manasquan Inlet

with Emi and Derek

Herring Gulls 100
Ring-billed Gull 15
Great BB Gull 25

Bonaparte's Gull 1
Red throats Loon 1
Common Loon 1
White-winged Scorer 1
Bufflehead 20
Hooded Merganser 6
Canada Geese
Mallard

Brant at the docks

Rock pigeons

Bonaparte's Gull, Manasquan Inlet

Herring Gull and Great Black-backed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull, same as above

Herring Gull, not the same as above

Manasquan Inlet