Link Round-up for Bloggerhead Kingbirds

Bloggerhead Kingbirds at Andrews Point

I am posting this to collect all of the posts on this year's Superbowl of Birding in one location. I will update with additional links if any more get posted. Corey's second post has a photo of the points and species totals for all of the competing teams.

10,000 Birds (Corey)

• The Day Before the Competition 
• Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Superbowl of Birding

Birding Dude (Andrew)

• Super Bowl of Birding 2010 - On the road to MA… 
• Super Bowl of Birding 2010 - Game Day – Luck and Time Management…
• MA Super Bowl of Birding 2010 - Grace Under Pressure...
• MA Super Bowl of Birding 2010 - The Home Stretch... 

Picusblog (Christopher)

• Bloggerhead Kingbirds at the Superbowl of Birding - The Pre-game show 
• Bloggerhead Kingbirds at the Superbowl of Birding - Game Day
• Bloggerhead Kingbird - wrap up post

The Drinking Bird (Nate)

• Saw What Owl? 
• Ice Bowl

The Feather and the Flower (Mike)

• Let the (Re)counting Begin! [Fun & Games]

Finally, my own

• Finally, a Northern Saw-whet 
• Cold Competition
• Cold Competition, Continued
• Scoping for Seabirds

From other teams

• Granite State Bird Watch: Superbowl of Birding Results 
• NYSYBC Ninja Nighthawks: Superbowl of Birding 2010 
• Burger Kinglets: Super Bowl VII 1/30/2010

Newspaper coverage

• The Newburyport Current: Superbowl of Birding draws crowd

This should be my last post on this topic, and next week the blog will be back to its normal topics.

Scoping for Seabirds

 At several stops during the Superbowl of Birding, other birders would ask us what we were seeing. According to the contest rules, teams may not receive assistance from people who are not on the team during the competition, except for a few sanctioned sources. This means, in part, that teams cannot give each other assistance. Even without such a rule, it would be unwise to tell other teams where good birds are located because that could make the difference between winning and losing. So we had to coldly rebuff such requests. After several such encounters, Christopher expressed his frustration that he wanted to get back to talking about birds instead of keeping quiet.

On Sunday morning, we had a chance to do some normal birding (without a veil of secrecy) before all of the team members had to go their separate ways. We chose to return to Cape Ann, to look for the King Eider we all missed and the Dovekie that Mike and I missed. We also hoped that some of the unusual gulls might have returned to Gloucester Harbor or Niles Pond. Unfortunately we missed all of the desired birds, but the coves at Cape Ann provide ample opportunities to view and photograph some gorgeous seabirds such as Harlequin Ducks and Purple Sandpipers. I was also glad to spend more time at Andrews Point, which became my favorite birding location from the trip.

Mike had brought an extra spotting scope when he drove from New York to Massachusetts, so I had use of a scope throughout the competition and during the next day. On the competition day it was very helpful to be able to scan the ocean and marshes because I was able to find birds faster than I would have otherwise. On Sunday I took advantage of the scope to take a closer look at some species (such as a Black Guillemot) and try my hand at digiscoping.

The bird above is an immature male Common Eider that was swimming in the bay near East Point. Unfortunately the focus is a little soft; I am not sure if that was a result of how I focused the scope or what the camera picked as a focal point. The birds below are Harlequin Ducks from Andrews Point.

I tried digiscoping a few other birds as well, but the results are not presentable. I will need a lot more practice before I can produce images on par with someone like Mike McDowell or Kevin Bolton.

As I mentioned in my second post on the competition, our team won the Essex County Excels award for accumulating the most points in Essex County, Massachusetts. We received gift certificates for a nature store in Newburyport, and since we were all (except Christopher) leaving the area that day, we needed to cut short our birding time if we wanted the opportunity to use them. I used mine on a lens pen and two insect guides: Stokes Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies and Caterpillars of Eastern North America. Those books should help me to identify insects faster and more accurately – and post photos of them on the blog more quickly.

Having said our goodbyes, we went our separate ways. I was very happy to meet and bird with Corey, Andrew, Nate, Mike, and Christopher, and I hope to bird with them again, hopefully sooner rather than later. You can read their own versions of the weekend's events on their blogs; I'll post links here to the individual posts once everyone is done posting.

Cold Competition, Continued

When we left Nahant, we had already missed some good birds and needed to catch up. As we drove into Gloucester, we made a quick stop to find the Peregrines that perch atop the city hall's clock tower. I missed them since my binoculars got tangled in my seatbelt, but four team members saw them, enough for the species to count. (I saw one of the Peregrines on the following day.) From there we headed to Gloucester's fish pier, normally a reliable spot for white-winged and other unusual gulls. On that day the only gulls were Herring and Great Black-backed, with the exception of a possible Iceland that Christopher picked out in flight. We had a similar result at the nearby Niles Pond, another reliable gull location that was bereft of gulls on the day of the Superbowl.

On the way to Eastern Point, the first of our coastal stops along Cape Ann, we spotted a small group of Wild Turkeys in someone's backyard and a Black Scoter on the bay. One thing I noticed during the event was that White-winged Scoters, a species I consider a relative rarity, seems very common in Massachusetts, but Black and Surf Scoters seem much less common. Most scoters I saw were White-winged. Eastern Point itself was a blast – in the sense of a blast of Arctic air. Even my hand and toe warmers and multiple layers proved inadequate against the penetrating cold. Needless to say, we did not spend much time there.

Elsewhere along Cape Ann's coast, cold and wind proved less of a problem.* Nate picked out a Black Guillemot, a life bird for me. Andrew spotted an airborne flock of Sanderling with a Ruddy Turnstone at its head. At one point, the lure of watching several dozen Harlequin Ducks proved too much for me to resist until Mike announced another alcid, this time a Thick-billed Murre. Nate found a Northern Flicker flying in off the ocean; where it originated is unclear. Our last stop in Cape Ann was Andrews Point, a rocky outcropping with a commanding view of the ocean. There the team picked up a Dovekie, our first five-point bird of the day. Enough team members saw it for it count. Unfortunately both Mike and I missed it; the Dovekie would have been a life bird for both of us. My consolation prize was a satisfying look at my life Black-legged Kittiwake.

Pressed for time and needing to find more birds, we headed north to Salisbury and Newburyport. Along the way we scanned every distant raptor-like bird for the elusive Turkey Vulture, a five-point bird for this winter competition. Finally, I spotted two out the front window of the van just outside Ipswich. At Salisbury State Park, we found Bald Eagle and Horned Larks, but missed Merlin, Snow Buntings, and Lapland Longspurs. In downtown Newburyport, we missed the Common Mergansers that we had expected and that Nate and Christopher had seen the day before. At Parker River NWR, commonly known as Plum Island, our luck changed for the better as we quickly found an American Kestrel, a Rough-legged Hawk, and two Snowy Owls. We missed Northern Shrike, despite our best attempts to make one out of every robin and mockingbird that we passed. We ended the competition scanning the ocean from the top of a dune. Nate picked out an Iceland Gull floating on a block of ice while the sun set over the marshes behind us.

As the clock ticked over to 5 pm, we left the refuge for the compilation dinner, and I posted "Game over" on Twitter. We ended the day with 70 species and 127 points, which was good for 6th in species and 7th in points among all teams. The winning team, The Granite State Bird Watch, observed 83 species for 164 while competing only in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. You can read about their day at The Worn Field Guide. While our effort was unable to beat The Granite State Bird Watch – or several other teams, for that matter – it did win us the Essex County Excels award for the most points in Essex County, Massachusetts. Truth to be told, we probably won only because another team neglected to compete in that category, but a win on a technicality is still a win. As a prize, we each received a $50 gift certificate for Massachusetts Audubon's nature store. With the competition over, we headed back to our hotel suite for dinner and some much-needed sleep.

* Some details in this paragraph may not be completely accurate since many of the stops blur together.

Cold Competition

On the morning of the Superbowl of Birding, we rose early in order to be at our first stop by the 5 am starting time. As we were driving to our starting point in the rental van, we passed by a sign giving the time and temperature. The sign showed the temperature as 3°F. Combined with a modest wind, this made for a frigid start to our birding.

We arrived at our first stop just a few minutes before 5 am. Once the clock read 5:00, we jumped out of the van and started looking for birds. Scanning the waterfowl sleeping on a small pond, we quickly located our target species, American Coot, and recorded a few other species like Hooded Merganser as well. Over the next two hours, we listened for owls at several locations while Nate and Corey did their best owl vocalizations to try to draw responses. We heard an Eastern Screech Owl respond at one location but missed Barred, Great Horned, and any other owl species. During this time the moon shone brightly and appeared especially large as it sank towards the horizon.

As the sky lightened, we headed towards Nahant to start the diurnal portion of the competition. Along its coastline, we tallied many waterbird species such as Common Loon and Red-necked Grebe. Unfortunately we missed a five-point bird, a Northern Shoveler, in one of the coves. We searched two spots for songbirds. The first, known as the "stump dump" was bereft of birds. At the second, the Audubon "thicket," we heard a Carolina Wren singing as soon as we exited the van but somehow missed a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (another five-point bird) tallied by a different team five minutes later.

With the early portion of our route completed, we headed towards Gloucester.

(to be continued)

Finally, a Northern Saw-whet

This weekend I traveled to Massachusetts to participate in the Superbowl of Birding, an annual big day competition sponsored by Massachusetts Audubon. Christopher of Picusblog invited my to join the Bloggerhead Kingbirds this year along with Nate of The Drinking Bird; Corey of 10,000 Birds; Mike of The Feather and the Flower; and Andrew the Birding Dude. I will have a report on the competition in a subsequent post.

On Friday morning, I met Corey and Andrew in Queens to ride up with them to Massachusetts in our rental van. Along the way, we made a stop at the Pruyn Sanctuary in Westchester County to follow up on a report of a Yellow-headed Blackbird being seen at the sanctuary's feeders. We stood and waited in the cold for about an hour and a half. During that time we saw many sparrows, including a Fox Sparrow; a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a couple hundred blackbirds, including a Rusty Blackbird. Sadly, we saw no Yellow-headed Blackbird. Eventually time constraints forced us to leave, and we continued on our way to Massachusetts.

Once we had arrived at our hotel, met the other bloggers, and checked in, we set out to do a little bit of birding. Christopher knew the roost location for a Northern Saw-whet Owl, a bird that was a lifer for me and (I think) one or two others. (This species was also a source of frustration for me when I lived in Cape May, since I missed seeing one on multiple occasions.) Christopher guided us to the roost, and we saw this:

We stayed just long enough for everyone to get a good look and take a few photos. I shot this photo through Corey's spotting scope. When I reviewed the photo later, I noticed just how good its camouflage is. If you look closely at this photo, you can see that the feather pattern on the top of its head fades into the tree. You may see the crown of its head, and you can see the eyebrow, but the feathers between those two curves look almost like bark. Owls as a group are especially adept at cryptic camouflage, which helps these birds stay hidden in their daytime roosts. It takes very careful searching and a lot of luck to locate one of these tiny birds.

Northern Saw-whet Owls are fairly common migrants, from what I understand. However, their cryptic feather pattern and tiny size make them extremely difficult to find for the average birder. Saw-whets breed in the coniferous forests of northern North America and migrate south for the winter months.

Superbowl of Birding

 

Today I will be participating in the Superbowl of Birding, an annual competition in Massachusetts to determine who can see the most birds in one day without losing any limbs to frostbite or getting blown into the Atlantic. For this year's event, I am part of the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, who participated last year with good results. As you might guess from the name, my teammates are all bloggers: Christopher of Picusblog, our captain; Nate of The Drinking Bird; Corey of 10,000 Birds; Mike of The Feather and the Flower and Andrew the Birding Dude.

Several of us have Twitter accounts and will try to post live updates there during the day. You can follow our adventures on these accounts:

• @dendroica (my account)
• @picusblog
• @NC_N8
• @birdingdude
• @noflickster
  

If you are a birder with a Twitter account, I would encourage you to follow all of those accounts anyway because they all post fun and interesting tweets.

I will try to write a post on the competition as soon as I can. In the meantime, I have scheduled a few posts to run this weekend to keep the blog going.

Shivering through a Christmas Bird Count

On Saturday, I joined Patrick and his friend Mike for a day of counting birds as part of the Long Branch Christmas Bird Count. Long Branch is one of the oldest CBCs in New Jersey, with the compiled data spanning 75 years. A handful of species have been recorded in every year of the count's history. Some, like the Bobwhite, have become scarce in recent years, while others, like the Bald Eagle, have flourished. Last year, Patrick became the compiler and took over a small area near Allaire State Park.

The Long Branch CBC encompasses some coastal areas that are well-known as rarity magnets. One of them, Wreck Pond, maintained that reputation with a possible Pacific Loon during Saturday's count. The area around Allaire, by contrast, has fewer unusual birds with more opportunity for watching common songbirds.

The three of us started our route at the restored village in Allaire State Park. The trail into the village had good numbers of sparrows, including a Field Sparrow and a Fox Sparrow, the latter of which I missed. We also spotted a Gray Catbird and a flock of Cedar Waxwings. A stream running through the village held a handful of Mallards and Hooded Mergansers. I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in some conifers that I was checking for an owl. Following trails around the perimeter of the village proved fruitless, however; even a known Great Horned Owl roost site was empty.

At our second stop, a restricted area, we had an immediate identification conundrum: a Northern Mockingbird with no tail. How it lost its tail is unclear; it continues to act like a mockingbird, but at a size more fitting for a junco. Another oddity was a tree that held at least seven Northern Flickers. I have never seen so many flickers together at once before, unless perhaps on some crazy migration days in Cape May. The site had plenty of waterfowl if you judge solely by the 600 Canada Geese we recorded there. Most standing water was frozen, so the only other waterbirds were some Black Ducks and Hooded Mergansers, as well as a handful of white domesticated Mallards. The site proved productive for raptors, however. We saw an adult Bald Eagle, and as we were watching it, an adult Cooper's Hawk flew past. A little later, we saw two Red-tailed Hawks in the same field. These open fields and wooded edges are clearly good hunting grounds.

Returning to the state park, we walked a different set of trails but found largely the same birds. In fact we found hardly any birds at all outside of one or two small patches of activity. Patrick did his best to summon a Barred Owl but got no response. The only new species was a single Golden-crowned Kinglet.

After lunch, we walked around a wildlife management area near the Manasquan River. Few waterfowl were present, possibly due to the presence of waterfowl hunters. What we did find was an active foraging flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers joined by a few birds of other species. A small flock of Cedar Waxwings briefly joined them. One of the waxwings had an orange-tipped tail, a variation that may result from an individual bird's diet. The brushy edge of the entrance road also held another Gray Catbird, our second and the third for the count as a whole.

So far we had seen no Dark-eyed Juncos. A stop at the state park's campground changed that with a single flock of at least 40 juncos. A subsequent visit to a roadside lake produced a few more ducks, including a hybrid Mallard X Black Duck. One more stop produced a person building a screech owl nestbox, but no birds.

At that point we decided to pack it in. Even though there was some daylight left, the activity at each stop had been declining as winds picked up and temperatures dropped. Patrick and I went outside the count area to check for some alcids and other seabirds at Manasquan Inlet. There were no alcids to be seen, but we enjoyed the sight of Northern Gannets venturing so close to shore that they almost flew over the beach. There were a few Long-tailed Ducks and a couple Red-breasted Mergansers at the mouth of the inlet, and a Purple Sandpiper huddled against the rocks of the jetty. Beyond that, very few birds were visible. The wind was fierce, and we had to be careful that Patrick's scope did not end up somewhere in the North Atlantic.

Somehow we managed to spend a whole day birding without seeing any House Sparrows despite visiting some places that seemed likely to have them.

As the day drew to a close we headed for the CBC's roundup in Spring Lake. Patrick provided some pizza and shade-grown coffee for dinner to those participants who attended. As of Saturday night, the CBC had recorded 106 with a possible Pacific Loon. A few other species could get added as more checklists are submitted. So ended my Christmas Bird Count season. As with the Raritan Estuary CBC, this count was a lot of fun even if we did not tally any truly rare species in our section.

Final NY Blogger Birding Posts

Carrie and Corey have posted the conclusions to their accounts of the joint bird blogger trip on Long Island. Corey's post includes photos of all the life birds that Carrie and I saw.

Below are links to all of the posts written about that trip.

• Patrick: NY Birding with Bloggers
  
• Carrie: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
  
• Corey: Part 1, Part 2
  
• Me: Part 1, Part 2
  

Bird Bloggers Tour Long Island, Part 2

After spending the early part of the day at Jamaica Bay, the four of us set off in Patrick's car for Jones Beach State Park. Upon arriving at the Coast Guard Station on the western end of the park, we scanned the bay and saw many of the same waterbird species as at Jamaica Bay, with the addition of two distant Long-tailed Ducks in flight and a few Common Loons. Near the parking lot, we also saw a Northern Harrier, the only raptor at any of our birding stops.

I was eager to visit the area around the nature center, a short walk away, since Lapland Longspurs, a potential life bird, sometimes hang around the dunes there. No longspurs were evident yesterday, but Horned Larks supported the spring theme by singing their tinkly songs from all directions. A flock of Snow Buntings flew overhead and an Ipswich Savannah Sparrow was also present. It was evident from the many tracks in the sand that songbirds had been very busy in the dunes.

We could see from the entrance drive that a wintering Snowy Owl was still present, with its head just visible above the dune. It gave itself away by turning its head and blinking, something no lingering pile of snow or plastic bag would do. Moving around to the boardwalk gave us a full-body view of the owl. This was my fourth Snowy Owl sighting this year, something extraordinary considering that, prior to this winter, I had only seen one in my entire life, and that was three years ago.

Unfortunately we also saw two people walk out across the dunes on a route with no marked path. They did this despite signage advising visitors to keep off the dunes and fencing to emphasize the point. It was especially disturbing considering that they set out over the dunes fairly close to where the owl was roosting. Horned Lark, too, is a species of special concern in New York. Plants and animals in urban settings have enough trouble surviving without additional stress caused by people trampling through habitats.

When we walked back to the Coast Guard Station, we scanned the bay a second time. Six American Oystercatchers were standing on a distant sandbar. On a closer sandbar, Corey spotted a Glaucous Gull preening itself amid a crowd of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. As we stood and watched the gull, a life bird for me, other birders walked up for a look at it. One of them spotted a trio of Piping Plovers land farther back on the same sandbar. These endangered plovers are just beginning to return from their wintering grounds.

Leaving Jones Beach, we made our third stop at Point Lookout. A rumored Eared Grebe failed to materialize; though several grebes were present, all were obstinately Horned. Shorebirds, too, were notable mainly by their absence, with the exception of a single Sanderling and a handful of oystercatchers. (By the way, oystercatchers are fine birds to watch, but I had hoped for a Purple Sandpiper or two on the jetties.) We had better luck finding the Harlequin Ducks at the jetty on the inlet between Point Lookout and Jones Beach. These beautiful birds stayed close to shore so we had as good of views of them as one could ask. Two of them appeared to be males in eclipse plumage; they were not nearly as colorful as the one in breeding plumage.

After a short lunch break, we made our final birding stop at Cammanns Pond. This site is a body of water with a small island in the middle, and a narrow strip of park along one side. We visited in the hopes of finding a reported Ross's Goose, a potential life bird for Carrie and me and a good bird for the East Coast. Given the location, the pond had a surprisingly diverse waterbird congregation, with the expected Brant and Canada Geese being joined by Northern Shovelers, Hooded Mergansers, Gadwall, American Black Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, and a couple of Black-crowned Night-Herons. In some ways the most interesting of the more common species was an odd Mallard, which was almost all dark brown, with the exception of its head and nape, which looked deep violet.

Sure enough, the Ross's Goose was present, tucked into a cove on the far side of the island. When it was done preening, it swam across the pond and came very close to where we were standing. (Watch 10,000 Birds and Hawk Owl's Nest for photos.) This was a much better way to see a life bird than trying to pick it out of a flock of Snow Geese hundreds of feet away. As an aside, one Ring-billed Gull kept screaming and dive-bombing other gulls, geese, and sometimes bare patches of water. What inspired the attacks was unclear.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Patrick again and meeting Corey and Carrie, and I hope to get together for birding again soon! Thanks especially to Patrick, who picked me up at my home and did all of the driving. Watch Hawk Owl's Nest, Great Auk or Greatest Auk, and 10,000 Birds for more posts on the weekend.

A Bird-blogging Tour of Long Island

Yesterday morning I joined Patrick, Corey, and Carrie for a day of birding in Queens and Nassau County. I had met Patrick once before, when we went looking for shorebirds together in the Meadowlands, but I was meeting Corey and Carrie for the first time. We met at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge for our first stop.

Early March is an interesting time to be birding because many winter birds still linger while spring migrants are arriving. Yesterday morning there was a definite feeling of spring in the air despite a low temperature in the 30s. Tree Swallows have returned to Jamaica Bay and were already laying claim to nesting boxes. It was my first time seeing them since late November. Red-winged Blackbirds were singing and proudly displaying their red epaulets. Many blackbirds performed slow, attention-seeking flights to drive off potential competitors. Aside from the blackbirds and swallows, many other birds were singing.

As we walked around the West Pond we spotted an assortment of waterfowl. There was a large raft of Greater Scaup and slightly smaller flocks of Ruddy Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Buffleheads, and Red-breasted Mergansers. Scattered about were an American Coot, Green-winged Teal, Hooded Mergansers, and Northern Pintails. A few hundred (or maybe a few thousand) Snow Geese were visible from the refuge, but most were on islands far out on the bay. A few dozen approached and landed in the West Pond while we were at the far end of the trail, allowing for some close-up looks at geese in flight. Common Goldeneye were also visible out on the bay but kept their distance.

Some Dark-eyed Juncos and Field Sparrows near the gardens helped push my Queens list up to an even 100. Aside from those species, Common Goldeneye and Common Grackle were also new Queens birds for me. That shows just how good of a birding spot Jamaica Bay can be, as my Queens list is the result of just a handful of visits.

Our adventures in Nassau County will follow later in part 2. Watch 10,000 Birds, Hawk Owl's Nest, and Great Auk or Greatest Auk for their comments on the field trip and anything that I missed.

Autumn Weekend Notes

This weekend was CMBO's Autumn Weekend, when birders from all over the country converge on Cape May for field trips, workshops, and talks from authors of bird books. Among the attendees for this year's conference were several bloggers – Laura, Susan, Delia, Sharon, Lynne, and Kathi, plus a blog reader and Jay from BirdJam. (Apologies to anyone I left out.) On Saturday night, I met the bloggers who attended the weekend activities over at the C-View (note: view of the sea not included) for dinner. I had a great time meeting people whose blogs I have been reading for years.

Unfortunately, my raptor demo had to be canceled on Saturday morning because of a lack of birds, and I only had one hawk (an AHY male Cooper's) for my Sunday demo, the last public demo that I will do this fall. So these demos may have been disappointing for Autumn Weekend participants. Anyone who stuck around the hawk watch a little longer on Sunday, however, got a special treat. Shortly after my regular demo ended, we banded a hatch year red-shouldered hawk, an uncommon species in Cape May, and I did an impromptu demo with that bird a little before noon.

After I released the red-shouldered hawk, a black-headed gull flew past the hawk watch platform, giving me a life bird.

This week looks like it ought to be very good for banding (and hawk watching). The forecast calls for strong northwest winds, chilly temperatures, and mostly sunny skies. Plus word is that there will be snow in New York and Pennsylvania. Maybe that will finally get the red-tails and goshawks moving.

Meadowlands Morning

This morning Patrick and I met to look for shorebirds at De Korte Park, one of the prime access points for birding in New Jersey's Meadowlands. This was the first time we met, though we both grew up in Middlesex County and had visited a lot of the same places. (If I am not mistaken, this was also my first meeting with another bird blogger.)

We made a circuit around the dikes surrounding the main pond. At the entrance gate to the marsh boardwalk trail, there was a Baltimore oriole whistling from the top of a tree. With that auspicious start, we pressed on. The usual De Korte waterbirds were around - great and snowy egrets, mute swans, ruddy ducks, and laughing gulls were visible from the network of boardwalks and blinds. A few least sandpipers were at the muddy edges of the phragmites beds. In the far corner of the Transco Trail, near the Turnpike, there was a small flock of shorebirds, which turned out to be mostly semipalmated sandpipers, with a few greater and lesser yellowlegs on the edges. A few spotted sandpipers were foraging along the rocky sides of the dikes.

The water level was still high as we headed out to the Saw Mill Creek trail that runs along a power line towards the Saw Mill Creek WMA. This is usually the best place in the park to find shorebirds, but today the water levels stayed a bit too high for mudflats. Instead we were treated to a peregrine falcon, which cruised past us twice and landed at the top of one of the electric towers. (It scolded a bit while we took its picture; I'm not sure if that was because of our presence or something else.) An osprey perched to eat a fish on a tower farther down the trail, and another osprey sat on a tower even farther down. A few black duck and a gadwall were visible in the impoundment next to the trail. We had a few looks at distant herons as well. These included a few black-crowned night herons perched in trees.

In addition to the birding opportunities, De Korte Park has a butterfly garden with brightly-colored flowers, including butterfly bushes and trumpet creeper. A lot of monarchs were around, as well as broad-winged skippers and red admirals. I saw my first painted lady (pictured left).

Thanks to Patrick for driving and for a fun morning of birding!

The Meadowlands is hosting a Festival of Birding on the weekend of September 15-16. Details are available from the Hackensack Riverkeeper (co-sponsored by NJ Audubon).

Sunday Update: Here is an article on the recovery of the Haskensack River, via Birds, Bats, and Beyond.

BIRD SPECIES: 39

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Mute Swan
Gadwall
Mallard
American Black Duck
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
American Herring Gull
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
American Robin
Black-capped Chickadee
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole