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n creeper two baltimore orioles overwintering feeding on oranges in fact fox sparrows were particularly numerous at mugger s woods when i finally caught up with a more or less stationary woodcock but also had one fly by and others were present that i did not see while absolute numbers of birds and species continue to be low not least of all because of a dilettante 2 hour afternoon visit it really was very good birding for mid march foy birds were wood duck black capped chickadee fox sparrow baltimore oriole red necked grebe wood duck red breasted merganser ruddy duck red tailed hawk american woodcock 3 5 yellow bellied sapsucker black capped chickadee brown creeper fox sparrow 10 baltimore oriole american goldfinch posted by phil jeffrey at monday march 17 2014 no comments labels american woodcock central park fox sparrow red necked grebe monday january 6 2014 catching up on the year list long beach island and forsythe nwr jan 5th between social distractions and snow storms my year list has been barely ticking along driven mainly by the birds visiting my feeder so finally on sunday i decided to kick it into gear first stop barnegat inlet icy conditions made me reluctant to rock hop down the jetty so i simply did some scoping from the concrete walkway in heavy overcast conditions surf and black scoters were unusually far up the inlet actually back into the bay although they are usually to be found at the atlantic ocean end of the jetty some singles but mostly a group mixed in with common eider on the far north side of the inlet red throated loons red breasted mergansers and the inevitable long tailed ducks were in the bay itself out in the inlet common loon more rb mergansers and a rare for location fly by hooded merganser harlequins and long tailed ducks feeding adjacent to the jetty and northern gannets passing south out over the ocean shorebirds were black bellied plover ruddy turnstone and purple sandpiper on or near the jetty but i had to scope the bay beaches to pick up sanderling and dunlin at range bonus extras were fish crow and boat tailed grackle at the state park entrance with yellow rumped warbler and hermit thrush in the coastal scrub a quick stop at a bay overlook north of the bridge gave me mute swan bufflehead common goldeneye more rb mergansers second stop holgate that usually my cue to leave long beach island but this time i took the drive down to the southern tip at forsythe nwr s holgate division i ve never been there before it s closed in summer to protect piping plover and the drive down that part of the barrier beach during beach season would be tedious at best pretty strong start with a group of black scoter and a few surfs just off the breakwater long tailed duck scatter about common loon and northern gannet over the ocean proper walking south along the beach i added brant american black duck and rb merganser on the bay side then the usual suspects in shorebirds sanderling dunlin black bellied plover and a few ruddy turnstones hurricane sandy seems to have done a number on some of the dunes here with some of them obviously destroyed and it s unclear if the strip of beach will remain intact or rebuild or it it will ultimately break into a series of islands other birds of note included a northern harrier and a flock of snow buntings the buntings were forming a bizarre mixed flock with beach foraging sanderlings after about 90 minutes of walking on the beach i was grateful to make it back to the car third stop brigantine although holgate is part of forsythe nwr brigantine division is the definitive place on the wildlife refuge the recent snowfall meant that the wildlife drive was closed but was open to hikers so i decided to make inroads into the year list by hiking up to the first observation tower most of the impoundments were frozen and the ducks were clustered on the ice in large flocks periodically flushed by bald eagles and a jackass low flying sea plane mainly american black duck red throated loon common loon northern gannet great blue heron snow goose brant mute swan tundra swan american wigeon american black duck mallard northern shoveler northern pintail green winged teal common eider harlequin duck surf scoter black scoter long tailed duck bufflehead common goldeneye hooded merganser red breasted merganser ruddy duck bald eagle northern harrier cooper s hawk red tailed hawk peregrine falcon american coot black bellied plover ruddy turnstone sanderling purple sandpiper dunlin ring billed gull herring gull great black backed gull snowy owl fish crow carolina wren hermit thrush yellow rumped warbler savannah sparrow song sparrow snow bunting boat tailed grackle house finch american goldfinch posted by phil jeffrey at monday january 06 2014 no comments thursday january 2 2014 january 1st green wood cemetery brooklyn a small start to the year list targeted two interesting species in brooklyn s green wood cemetery the first was monk parakeet a species i d made no effort to find in ny state or nyc despite having seen them in fl nj and tx there are well known populations within nyc one of which is at the main gate to the cemetery so despite hearing them before seeing them it took no more than 20 seconds to find one that was the easier of the two species with the nearby red headed woodpecker proving elusive in fact it was only because the other entrance was locked forcing us to retrace our steps to the main entrance that i managed to find it by virtue of it calling it seemed to be moving around with a mixed flock so i was just at the right place and time otherwise the cemetery understandably lacks understory so bird life was relatively low with a few white throated sparrows dark eyed juncos and with red headed woodpecker the most obvious bird posted by phil jeffrey at thursday january 02 2014 no comments labels green wood cemetery mon parakeet red headed woodpecker tuesday october 29 2013 finderne wetlands nj my first time at finderne wetlands in bridgewater nj on a cool and sunny morning corresponded to a decent movement of sparrows but the best birds of the day were two merlins which were chasing each other and an american kestrel over the fields this might have been one reason why i couldn t locate the vesper sparrows reported the previous day but they re just as likely to have moved on the merlins were a particularly pleasant surprise since i d seen only one other this year in az belted kingfisher great egret great blue heron green winged teal and gadwall were in the ponds and a lot more concerned about me than the merlins otherwise the main occupants of the weedy fields were an abundance of savannah sparrows song sparrows came in a distant second but i did find a handful of the more elusive species field and swamp while missing white crowned sparrow that i might have expected here with the wind rapidly rising i didn t find much at the nearby duke farms except a palm warbler as everything started to keep its head down before finderne i d stopped at griggstown native grassland preserve and found my preferred area around the parking lot devoid of any sort of sparrows it had been a hotspot for them in previous years and often in pretty good light in the early morning recent mowing activity probably had much to do with that suspicion was that there were sparrows and palm warblers to be had elsewhere at griggstown but it takes longer for the sun to reach those other areas and i went to finderne instead great blue heron great egret canada goose gadwall green winged teal red tailed hawk american kestrel merlin 2 belted kingfisher carolina wren eastern bluebird yellow rumped warbler palm warbler field sparrow savannah sparrow song sparrow swamp sparrow white throated sparrow red winged blackbird american goldfinch posted by phil jeffrey at tuesday october 29 2013 no comments labels finderne wetlands merlin monday october 14 2013 yet another trans continental chase blue footed booby etc usa 700 usa 2013 500 ask me how i managed to miss all the ex oporornis warblers in central park this year apart from bad luck missing a connecticut by 30 seconds it was that i did 7 birding trips originally the plan was for 6 but i ended up doing yet another california trip in october in the face of a legendary invasion of blue footed booby into ca from mid september into early october somewhat galling in that they started turning up just after i came back from my ca pelagic trip i cashed in the last of my united frequent flier miles and flew to lax i found blue footed booby immediately the next morning at playa del rey less than 5 miles from lax black vented shearwater the following morning in a massive feeding flock off the pacific palisades and island scrub jay in the afternoon at the usual location at prisoner s harbor on santa cruz island island scrub jay was usa 700 but sadly not immortalized in photos since they were not cooperative i managed one whole day without another life bird although that was the day when i saw twelve blue footed boobies down in the salton sea and then saw the recently added exotic nutmeg mannikin usa 701 which turned out by coincidence to be usa 2013 500 this significantly exceeds my previous best for 464 for year but 2013 was a psychotic traveling year on the boat to santa cruz island i met a gentleman who was doing a big year and was in the 680 s so 500 isn t that big a deal by comparison posted by phil jeffrey at monday october 14 2013 no comments labels blue footed booby usa 700 monday september 16 2013 central park sept 14th and 15th total 19 warbler sp chat bb cuckoo i think the whole radar migration prediction thing is over hyped as a useful tool for local birding so i tend to use the standard method of wind direction and temperature so after arriving back in nj from ca to 94 degree afternoon heat the alarm bells went off when the highs over the weekend were in the low 70 s backed by a north west wind more or less ideal conditions bit of a shock therefore when i entered strawberry fields and there was barely any chipping 30 minutes later and it was alive with migrants and in a hour i accumulated what is a very good day s warbler list 16 sp including tennessee bay breasted and blackburnian black billed cuckoo two olive sided flycatchers and a chat in the maintenance field made for a pretty good day however i missed the connecticut warbler by scant seconds and someone didn t look up enough and missed the expected large broad winged hawk flight sunday was quieter but still many good birds in strawberry fields including bay breasted warbler foraging in the grass right in front of me along with black throated greens a change in the mix of warbler species indicated that the second flight was new birds arriving overall i netted 19 warbler species in two mornings some decent birds yellow bellied flycatcher was a year bird and finally saw some broad winged hawk migration on the sunday conspicuously missing were any kinglets or any sparrows excl house it s still ramping up broad winged hawk sun osprey sun black billed cuckoo sat maint chimney swift ruby throated hummingbird several both days eastern wood pewee olive sided flycatcher two in maint on sat least flycatcher sat poss sun yellow bellied flycatcher sun in sf great crested flycatcher blue headed vireo warbling vireo red eyed vireo house wren carolina wren blue gray gnatcatcher swainson s thrush veery sat wood thrush sat gray catbird brown thrasher sun cedar waxwing large flocks both days ovenbird only 1 both days black and white warbler tennessee warbler 3 both days nashville warbler 1 sun sf common yellowthroat american redstart cape may warbler 1 maint both days northern parula magnolia warbler bay breasted warbler both days very cooperative in sf on sunday blackburnian warbler sf sat yellow warbler sf sat chestnut sided warbler sat blackpoll warbler black throated blue warbler pine warbler 3 in sf on sat black throated green warbler canada warbler sf wilson s warbler sf on sat yellow breasted chat elusive maint on sat posted by phil jeffrey at monday september 16 2013 no comments labels bay breasted warbler broad winged hawk central park fall migration tennessee warbler yellow breasted chat friday september 13 2013 california pelagics the california trip arranged at the last minute was the last scheduled one of six trips in 2013 designed to push my usa list toward 700 the other five were tx az fl nc az and netted one to four life birds on each trip however pelagics have always been a weakness of mine not unrelated to a propensity for seasickness so the largest gaps on my list have been shearwaters storm petrels and alcids i reserved a pair of california pelagics 9 8 out of half moon bay and 9 10 out of monterey and ended up with five pelagic life birds the weather was good with light winds so the boat trips weren t as challenging as say the nc pelagic trip in addition i saw the newly minted bell s sparrow of the canescens race the intermediate race at the end of its range where it abuts the belli race of bell s sparrow a hunch is that canescens is a cline between a belli and a nevadensis sagebrush sparrow but seeing them close to a b belli s coastal ranges makes me a little more comfortable counting it the first life bird for the trip was scripps s murrelet 692 and the last was bell s sparrow 697 the half moon bay pelagic was longer and deeper water with the monterey bay pelagic only having a subset of the first species but pelagics are notoriously variable however the monterey pelagic also had blue whale and a remarkable number of humpback whales 50 feeding in the bay including breaching humpbacks which made for a memorable end to the wildlife for the trip although land birding was limited i did complete the trasher grand slam for the year with california thrasher and saw other species i hadn t seen in over a decade pelagic species sooty shearwater great shearwater california rarity pink footed shearwater flesh footed shearwater 696 buller s shearwater 693 black footed albatross ashy storm petrel 694 black storm petrel 695 red phalarope last seen 2001 red necked phalarope sanderling pomarine jaeger parasitic jaeger long tailed jaeger rhinoceros auklet cassin s auklet scripps s murrelet 692 common murre pigeon guillemot notable terrestrial species black turnstone surfbird new for lower 48 second one ever prairie falcon yellow billed magpie wrentit last seen 2001 california thrasher last seen 2001 california towhee last seen 2001 bell s sparrow canescens 697 posted by phil jeffrey at friday september 13 2013 no comments labels half moon bay pelagic monterey bay pelagic friday september 6 2013 brigantine forsythe nwr september 1st and allentown nj shorebirds sept 2nd with jamaica bay being uninspiring i ve been spending some time at forsythe brigantine nwr although even here the shorebird diversity is starting to drop semipalmated sandpipers dominated the scene but eastern willets and whimbrels have left i was lucky to fin...