Middlesex Birding in 2012

In the last few years, I have made more of a push to bird locally and to fill in the gaps on my Middlesex County bird list. It is incredibly fun to explore new places for their birding potential and learn more about the local bird life. This past year I visited multiple places in the county where I had never set foot before or even knew existed. My efforts were boosted by participating in New Jersey Audubon's Lower Raritan Bird Survey, which I wrote about in the spring, and doing a big day. It also helps that eBird makes tracking county lists very easy.

In 2012, I recorded 195 bird species in Middlesex County, and 23 of those were new county birds. Below are the new species from 2012.

199	Eurasian Wigeon	Cornucopia Cruise Lines	04 Jan 2012
200	Rough-legged Hawk	Sayreville Marsh	16 Jan 2012
201	Greater White-fronted Goose	Donaldson Park	18 Jan 2012
202	Monk Parakeet	Carteret -- Washington Ave	21 Mar 2012
203	Blue-winged Teal	Raritan Center	25 Apr 2012
204	Swainson's Thrush	Donaldson Park	04 May 2012
205	Louisiana Waterthrush	Ayres Beach	06 May 2012
206	Virginia Rail	Raritan Center	07 May 2012
207	Clapper Rail	Raritan Center	07 May 2012
208	Olive-sided Flycatcher	Raritan Center	07 May 2012
209	American Woodcock	Raritan Center	12 May 2012
210	Dunlin	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	12 May 2012
211	Bobolink	Kin-Buc Landfill	12 May 2012
212	Seaside Sparrow	Cheesequake Marsh	12 May 2012
213	Yellow-billed Cuckoo	Jamesburg Park	30 Jun 2012
214	Sandwich Tern	Raritan Bay Waterfront Park	14 Jul 2012
215	Surf Scoter	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	28 Jul 2012
216	Roseate Tern	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	28 Jul 2012
217	American Golden-Plover	Cranbury Half Acre Rd	08 Sep 2012
218	Horned Lark	Cranbury Half Acre Rd	08 Sep 2012
219	Black Scoter	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	13 Oct 2012
220	Glaucous Gull	Edison Boat Basin	01 Dec 2012
221	Fox Sparrow	Rutgers Gardens/Helyar Woods	29 Dec 2012