Hi Peter,
We had an outstanding overnight trip to the Jersey Shore on the weekend of January 13-14, ranging from ocean and bay to freshwater to farm fields and grasslands. Oh, and Pine Barren subdivisions to see the long-staying Red-flanked Bluetail, the first of its kind to show up in the eastern U.S. There were 12 of us, and for most of the group, these were new places for them. Our total tally for the weekend was 76 species, which for a mid-January weekend is a lot. Credit to everyone who stuck through some challenging conditions and long drives, without complaint, like dense fog on Saturday and wind and frigid temperatures on Sunday.
Saturday we started at Barnegat Lighthouse, which had a great variety of shorebirds for winter (Willet, Red Knot, and Least Sandpiper were unusual), plus the trademark birds we hoped to see: Harlequin Ducks, Razorbills, Common Eiders, all the scoters. After lunch, it was off to see the Red-flanked Bluetail, which came out after about 10 minutes. Then to Manasquan Reservoir, where we saw common and hooded mergansers, lesser and greater scaup, and its nesting pair of bald eagles. Bald eagles, in fact, were at almost every stop we made that weekend. Of course, it wouldn't be a Jersey Shore trip without Italian food, so that night we dined at Vic's Italian-American Restaurant in Bradley Beach.
Here are our eBird checklists with photos from Saturday:
Sunday we started at Sandy Hook, which had been flooded the day before. We stuck to the ocean in the morning and witnessed a fantastic movement of scoters and razorbills. Bonaparte's gulls were also on the move, as were Northern Gannets. After lunch, we checked the farm fields of Monmouth County for a pink-footed goose (no luck), in advance of going to Dorbrook Recreation Area, a county park, to see the short-eared owls that turned up there in early January. Dorbrook is a great spot, though underappreciated and underbirded. Though there are small grasslands here (grasshopper sparrows breed there in summer), this is not a usual spot for shorties. Sunset was a little after 4:50, but by then, there was no owl. We did get to see a small flock of bluebirds fly over and a meadowlark. As we were ready to leave, a volunteer from Dorbrook (one or two people have been on hand to stop photographers from entering the grasslands) told us that one shortie had come out the prior day at 5:10. OK, so we'll wait a little longer. 5:11, nothing, 5:12, nothing. It had been a long weekend. One third of the group had already departed. As the rest of us turned and slowly trudged back toward the cars, we hadn't gone 50 yards before those volunteers waved us back. One shortie was up, its underside glowing in the last light of the day. It glided low over the grasses toward us, then dropped down after two minutes. It was a great way to end the trip.
Here are our eBird checklists from Sunday:
Attached to this email, if you can include them in the post, are some group shots from Barnegat and the bluetail stakeout. Barnegat was foggy when we arrived (as you'll see), with huge waves rolling through the inlet itself and crashing over the near jetty, but the sun broke through by mid-morning and it was downright beautiful.
Ryan
