Wednesday, January 02, 2013

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