Junk Birds

No More Wild Goose Chases!

2008-10-07T00:35:00Z

Last winter, a Barnacle Goose showed up in Califon, NJ and stayed for a good while. It seemed like every NJ birder had gone to see this goose. I tried at least 4 times to find this bird and looked everywhere in the area to no avail. I spent hours looking and driving, when I could have probably just driven down to Cape May to get the one seen there (see my first blog post where I mention all this). I even went looking mere hours after it had been seen by other birders and still nothing.

I've been bitter about the Barnacle Goose since then and had declared it a Nemesis Bird.

But today, the victory was mine! Someone discovered a Barnacle Goose in with some Canadas in a little tiny patch of park in Burlington, NJ (of all places) and so I rushed down after work. After some nervous searching through the dozens and dozens of honking, annoyed Canada Geese, I spotted it: the elusive Barnacle Goose!

This was my last goose that I needed for North America (I've seen Greater White-fronted, Ross's, and Cackling) and it felt good to add to the list after the events of last winter. Photo in my gallery.

Birds in the Caribbean

2008-06-15T23:41:00Z

Just returned from my cruise to Bermuda, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico. Not only was it the best vacation I've ever taken, but I managed to add 28 new species to my life list.

Some birds were seen from my balcony on the trip down or back, while others were natives to the islands themselves. I even managed to get some photos of the more common birds and added them to my gallery. It's amazing and funny how exciting it is to get new species and then laugh at how common they are to that area when you see them a hundred more times before the trip is over. For example, seeing my first Bananaquit was great...before I realized that they would show up in every piece of vegetation for the remainder of the trip!

It was amazing seeing the Masked and Brown Boobies dive for flying fish right outside my balcony while the ship cruised towards the Virgin Islands. Later, they hunted just feet from swimmers at the beaches.

My list of new lifers:

Greater Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Parasitic Jaeger
White-tailed Tropicbird
Red-billed Tropicbird
Masked Booby
Brown Booby
Magnificent Frigatebird
Sooty Tern
Sandwich Tern
Brown Noddy
Bananaquit
Antillean Mango
Antillean Crested Hummingbird
Green-throated Carib
Lesser Antillean Bullfinch
Common Ground-Dove
White-winged Dove
Zenaida Dove
Scaly-naped Pigeon
Black-whiskered Vireo
Puerto Rican Tanager
Black Swift
Caribbean Martin
Greater Antillean Grackle
Cattle Egret
Pearly-eyed Thrasher
Gray Kingbird

My 300th Bird Day!

2008-05-11T12:33:00Z

Yesterday was very exciting because it was my 300th Bird Day! By this, I mean that I added bird number 300 to my life list.

I had been pretty close to 300 for a few weeks now and decided that I would take the week off from work to get a few of the spring migrant species I had just kept missing in previous years. Mostly these were birds that just weren't very common migrants where I lived, so I would have to make a few targeted trips. All in all, it was a great week!

I started the week by visiting the Delaware Water Gap, which was such a beautiful place. My target here was Cerulean Warbler. Along Old Mine Road, it wasn't the best fallout but there were still plenty of birds to be seen. I picked up a few common warblers and some good ones too, like Worm-eating Warbler. Louisiana Waterthrush offered great looks and could be heard singing from every little stream coming down the mountain. Hooded Warblers sang and popped up at every stretch of the road. Soon, I thought I heard something different and within minutes had a male Cerulean Warbler in my sights. It went chasing after another warbler, which I quickly discovered was a beautiful female!

The next day, I travelled south. I had a few targets this day and started at Hawkin Road in Medford, NJ. I ran into this kind gentleman who more or less took me right to where I needed to go: a male Prothonotary Warbler. I hurried down to Glassboro Woods, a spot well-known for another difficult-to-get warbler: Kentucky. After wandering the trails for a few hours, I came up empty, but got to add two more lifers to my list: Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Acadian Flycatcher. There were plenty of White-eyed Vireos singing, a few pairs of Worm-eaters, and still more Hooded Warblers to be seen here as well.

In the meantime, great things were being seen at Sandy Hook. I headed there on the third day and starting by looking for warblers. One I keep missing is Bay-breasted, and it eludes me still. I picked up a few warblers and headed to the Salt Pond. Very luckily, a female Wilson's Phalarope was still there, a great bird and lifer for me. In the same area were plenty of warblers, including two female Cape Mays. Not a lifer for me, but great birds nonetheless!

The nasty weather ended up putting a damper on the end of my week. With only two more lifers needed to hit 300, I tried desperately at local spots to get birds I needed. Thursday and friday yielded no new species, but still a few good first-of-the-year birds like Bobolink and American Bittern. I decided that saturday was going to be my day.

So, I drove down to Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware, a well-known excellent spot for birds. Of course, upon arrival, it began to pour. It didn't take too long, even in the rain, to pick up species number 299: the very cool-looking Black-necked Stilt. I had wanted to see this bird for a long time but they just aren't very easy to see in NJ. I turned my attention to shorebirds and began sorting through hundreds of Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlin, and Semipalmated Sandpipers in an attempt to locate some Red Knots. I got thoroughly soaked in the process but that was it. I began to get disheartened, giving up and moving on to admire some American Avocets and some singing Seaside Sparrows. I began the drive back to the exit and headed down a wrong road. I spotted a blue bird in the road and it instantly flew up and away. I swung my car around to see if I could relocate it, assuming it was probably an Indigo Bunting. Instead, it turned out to be a handsome (actually wet and bedraggled looking) Blue Grosbeak, the last bird I needed to reach 300! It was an appropriate 300th bird and on the same day as the WSB and International Migratory Bird Day as well.

All in all, a great week. Hate to go back to work, but am already looking forward to the next milestone. :)

Evening Grosbeaks

2008-03-29T22:36:00Z

Today was a great success! After missing out on the Evening Grosbeaks seen at Assunpink Lake last weekend, I gave it another try this morning. When I got there, two other birders were looking but hadn't found anything yet. I began to walk around the area where they'd been seen, and heard a loud crunching noise. The sound turned out to be four Evening Grosbeaks, three females and one male, chomping on some sumac. After calling over the other birders, we all great long looks at the birds. The male in particular was such a gorgeous bird.

Muddy Feet and Misidentifications

2008-03-21T21:24:00Z

Okay so I need to get something off my chest. I totally fell in love with ebird, have its little gadget on my google homepage, submit all my observations, and check all the latest sightings. But the problem with ebird (and the backyard bird count) is that anyone can post anything and it gets recorded. So lately there have been some crazy sightings being posted on there for NJ. Some guy claims to have seen a Henslow's Sparrow and a Hoary Redpoll at a heavily birded location, and the best, this other guy has been posting birds like Black-tailed Gull (I'd never even heard of this Asian species before and had to look it up), Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Common Murre, and a bunch of other unlikely species, all on the same day at Sandy Hook, where no good bird gets missed. I can only imagine how long he thinks his life list is. Anyways, I hope some reviewer sorts out the info soon.

That said, back to birds. I ended up getting muddy shoes, brown socks, and wet feet at nearby Six Mile Run yesterday after work. The trails are still very flooded there but I decided to tough it out. I got 2 Field Sparrows and a female Purple Finch there last week, but birds seemed to be hunkered down there with the strong winds. There were a few birds around, like an Eastern Towhee, some Eastern Bluebirds, and a Wilson's Snipe (first of the year for me, yay). Supposedly some Evening Grosbeaks have been seen here, but no luck finding any yet. Maybe this weekend will bring better results.

Junk Birds - #1

2008-02-07T21:32:00Z

Greetings all,

This is my first blog about birds on a bird site. I've been birding for about 3 years and I've always toyed with the idea of blogging about birds, but I always end up thinking that no one will read it. Maybe people will read my blog here.

Actually, the real reason I joined whatbird was to help ID birds on the forum. But anyways...I may as well introduce myself.

I am a NJ birder. I used to consider myself a "hardcore" birder. That is, I would do things that "orginary" or "average" birders would not do. This includes: bushwacking (going off trails, through woods and thick phragmites stands, into the marshy mucky water, etc.), trespassing, climbing fences, etc. I guess I learned it all this from my birding "mentor" who didn't have a problem doing these things. And if I wanted to see those Barn Owls, or Connecticut Warblers, or what have you, I would have to keep up. By the way, my mentor's name for birds like house sparrows, pigeons, and starlings is "junk birds" which I think is a funny name for a birding blog.

Now, I've toned that behavior down a bit. I've started "chasing" a little bit this year. That means I would drive to places I've never been before because a rarity has been seen there. I've never really liked this idea before, but as I add more birds to my life list, this has seem to become more and more necessary. Last weekend, I chased two geese I need for my list: a Barnacle Goose seen in Califon, NJ, and a Greater-white Fronted Goose seen at Merrill Creek, NJ. After spending hours striking out while looking for both species, I've learned that chasing birds can be very disappointing. What's worse is when someone gets the bird after you struck out at that location.

As it is though, there are consolation prizes. Birds that aren't new to me, but those that I don't get to see every day, and so they are nice. Two pairs of Bald Eagles, a Pileated Woodpecker, a female Purple Finch, and a handful of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the consolation prizes of my "wild goose chase". Now I understand where that phrase comes from.

Good birding,

TheGrine