Photos of the Week: Red-necked Grebe

Red-necked Grebe is the most difficult to find of the three grebes that regularly visit the eastern coast of North America. Pied-billed Grebes are fairly common on inland waterways, especially during their migration, and Horned Grebes are easy to find along the coast. Red-necked Grebes are another matter since most of them winter around the Great Lakes or Canada's Maritime provinces. To see one in the Mid-Atlantic, you either need to get lucky or know a location where one is reliable.

On Saturday, I got lucky and found one along the Raritan River at Edison Boat Basin. What started as a search for unusual gulls instead turned up an unusual grebe. It started snowing furiously around the same time I spotted the grebe, so the white specks in these photos are snowflakes. Red-necked Grebe is noticeably larger than the other common eastern grebes. It is easily recognizable among grebes because of its long, loon-like bill.

While this species is uncommon here, seeing one on Saturday was not entirely surprising. The persistent cold of this winter has frozen many waterways further north and is pushing many waterbirds south of their normal wintering grounds. This is especially true of Red-necked Grebes and White-winged Scoters, and there have been several reports of Red-necked Grebes around New Jersey in recent weeks. Perhaps I will find a White-winged Scoter soon too.

Great Egret Hunting

While they are hunting, Great Egrets contort their neck into a variety of postures, from the familiar S-curve to fully elongated, sometimes with their head twisted to one side or the other. The three images above are all of the same bird, taken within a few minutes of each other. Click through the photo for a larger version.

On the same morning, I saw my first Forster's Tern at Donaldson Park. This is a species that I have seen many times at other locations, even within Middlesex County, but never before in my local park.

Birding Raritan Bay with the Middlesex Merlins

Last Saturday I went birding with the other members of my World Series of Birding team — Patrick, Anthony, and Tom. We started out at Morgan Mudflats, which in recent weeks has been a hotspot for rare terns and other unusual birds. I saw my life Sandwich Tern there a few weeks ago, on a day when over 140 Common Terns were present at the mudflats, with another 350 at Pirate's Cove. Other recent reports included an American Avocet, Gull-billed Terns, and Short-billed Dowitchers.

Tern numbers were down significantly on Saturday but still substantial. Shortly after we started scanning the mudflats, Anthony picked out a Roseate Tern. It hung around the mudflats for the rest of the morning, mostly loafing but sometimes venturing out on short trips over the water. This bird appeared to be banded on both legs, but the distance was too far to make the bands out with confidence. I shot the photo above through Patrick's spotting scope; the bird on the left is a Common Tern.

Patrick picked out another interesting bird, a Surf Scoter swimming just offshore. Scoters are highly unusual anywhere in New Jersey during the summer months, and even more so in Middlesex County where they rarely venture even in winter. This bird was a county first for me; the Roseate Tern was a state first.

We moved on to Pirate's Cove, a spit of beach at the Middlesex-Monmouth border. As at Morgan, the mudflats at Pirate's Cove held a lot fewer terns than in previous weeks. No rare terns were present despite our best efforts to pick one out from the reduced crowd. We did hear a Fish Crow, our bête noire from the World Series. From there we stopped at a couple marinas on the north side of Cheesequake Creek. At the first, we saw a Clapper Rail chick (shown above) foraging in the mud along the edge of the creek. I had never seen a rail chick before, so this was a great way to end the morning.

American Wigeons

The Eurasian Wigeon was not the only wigeon in Perth Amboy on Saturday. It was in the company of about a dozen American Wigeons, which acted in their normal endearing fashion. In older bird books, the American Wigeon is often called a "Baldpate," a reference to the white stripe on its crown. Here are a few photos of them.

Eurasian Wigeon at Perth Amboy

A few weeks ago I went to see a drake Eurasian Wigeon that was spending time with American Wigeons near the docks for the Cornucopia Princess cruise lines. It was originally found near the NJ Transit train railroad bridge between Perth Amboy and South Amboy during the Raritan Estuary CBC on December 26, and then it moved slightly upstream to the Cornucopia Princess docks. Since then, the bird has stuck around and recently moved again, this time to the Arthur Kill side of the Perth Amboy waterfront promenade.

It is associating with about a dozen American Wigeons in a small cove just south of the yacht club. This area is much favored by waterfowl as it provides a certain degree of protection from the elements. A short breakwater keeps the ducks from having to brave waves coming from the bay, and the houses along Water Street break up westerly winds. Even on a blustery day like yesterday, the area around the cove is relatively calm. I cannot speak to the foraging opportunities, but it seems that the dabbling ducks find plenty to eat at the location.

I liked the wigeon's change of scenery since it meant I could watch and photograph it at much closer range than I was able to back in January. Here are a few more photos of the bird. While I was photographing it, a sudden squall dropped snow flurries, visible in the image above.

Lunch for a Gull

Always opportunists, gulls will take advantage of any available food source, no matter how gross you or I might find it. This Ring-billed Gull grabbed something and valued it enough to keep it away from the other gulls, which naturally chased after this one to steal its lunch. I am not sure exactly what it has. In fact, it does not even look like something edible, but what looks inedible to me may not look the same way to a scavenger.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Donaldson Park

Yesterday as I made my usual route around Donaldson Park, I encountered a sizable gathering of gulls spread over the artificial pond and the nearby baseball field. In the midst of the flock on the baseball field, I spotted a Lesser Black-backed Gull, which sat down on the ground as I watched it, but before I took a photo. You can see its small size and dainty features in comparison to the burly Herring Gull seated just behind it. There is some streaking on its head, but it was very light streaking, and hard to see in the photo above.

When I moved over to check out the gulls on the pond, I was surprised to see yet another Lesser Black-backed Gull, first in the water and then preening on the shore. This individual had much heavier streaking on its head than the other bird and shows a dark gray mantle and yellow legs. Again, it appears small and dainty compared to the Herring Gulls around it.

Finally, as I was finishing my route, I noticed this Lesser Black-backed Gull standing in one of the soccer fields. The gulls had reshuffled a bit in the meantime, and I suspect that this was the same bird as the first individual I saw rather than a third individual. As with the first bird, the head streaking is barely noticeable, and the red dot at the gonys is roughly the same size and shape as on the first bird. So when I entered my checklist into eBird, I entered two rather than three Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

My walk yesterday was also significant as it was the first time I heard House Finches singing this year. For me, the first House Finch song is a leading indicator of the coming spring. Yesterday was indeed a spring-like day, with a high of at least 60°F and an overall feeling of warmth.

Greater White-fronted Goose at Donaldson Park

As I was wrapping up my usual circuit around Donaldson Park yesterday afternoon, I stopped to scan the 300+ Canada Geese in the field next to the tennis courts. On my first scan, I didn't notice anything unusual, but I then heard a high-pitched, three-noted honk that I knew was not made by a Canada Goose. I scanned again and found a Greater White-fronted Goose fairly close to me. Since it showed no signs of flying away, I sat and watched it for a while as it foraged in the soccer field. Though it was slightly smaller than the Canada Geese in the same flock, it mostly held its own against its neighbors and occasionally fought back when they got too aggressive.

Greater White-fronted Geese breed in the Arctic across the northern hemisphere. Three subspecies breed in Alaska and Canada, and one subspecies that breeds in Greenland, flavirostris, is a rare visitor to the U.S. east coast. Members of this subspecies are somewhat larger and darker than the other subspecies and have an orange bill, all of which are consistent with the bird I saw, though I hesitate to call it such without having other birds for comparison. Greater White-fronted Goose is a fairly uncommon bird in eastern North America, though this winter may be an exception to that rule. Most of the flavirostris population migrates eastward to winter in Ireland and Scotland, and most of the continental North American populations migrate west of the Mississippi. That makes it a good county bird in addition to being a really good county bird.

Aside from the unusual goose, I mostly saw the usual birds during my walk yesterday. One exception was a pair of Peregrine Falcons that I saw fly upstream along the river. The falcons were flying in tandem and briefly put all the gulls to flight. The gulls all settled down when the falcons continued on their way.

A Canadian Gull

During the Long Branch CBC, Patrick's friend Mike spotted a banded Ring-billed Gull at Spring Lake. I stopped and photographed it to record the band code, JX3, in white lettering on a blue band. Yesterday I was reminded to submit it by a comment on the photo above. Once I did submit it, I got a response pretty quickly. This gull was banded at Île Deslauriers in Québec on June 8, 2011. Île Deslauriers is just a little north of Montréal. At the time of its banding, this gull was an adult. You can read more about the study on the project website.

Cackling Goose at Donaldson Park

On Thursday afternoon, I found a small goose among a flock of over 600 Canada Geese in Donaldson Park near the tennis courts. After watching it for a while I concluded that it was most likely a Cackling Goose based on a combination of features. Its bill was noticeably short compared to nearby Canada Geese, its head was fairly blocky, and its back and undersides were noticeably pale – almost grayish – compared to the nearby geese. This feature stood out more in person than in my photos. It was also small compared to the flock as a whole, though quite of the Canada Geese were smaller than average themselves.

When I returned to the park yesterday afternoon, the Cackling Goose was there again, this time in the field at the foot of Second Avenue.

A few other notable birds were also present in Donaldson Park on Friday afternoon. One was the American Pipit shown above, which flushed from the field at the foot of Second Avenue and landed in the nearby brush. Another was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull that was among a huge gull flock (mostly Herring Gulls) between the park and Rutgers Boathouse. To cap things off, a Merlin flew by while I was walking at the other end of the park.

Eurasian Wigeon in Perth Amboy

Last week, during the Raritan Estuary CBC, one of the parties found a drake Eurasian Wigeon along the Perth Amboy waterfront. The bird was later refound by other birders, including my friend Patrick, at the Cornucopia Cruise Lines docks a little further upstream from Perth Amboy. Yesterday I finally had a chance to go see the bird. It was not immediately visible from the Cornucopia parking lot, but I was able to find it by following a paved pathway from the parking lot upstream towards the Rt. 35 bridge. There were quite a few ducks tucked close to shore. In addition to the unusual interloper, there were American Wigeons, Gadwall, American Black Ducks, and Red-breasted Mergansers.

Eurasian Wigeon is an unusual bird for New Jersey and is even rarer in Middlesex County. Most records in the state come from coastal hotspots like Cape May, such as the ones I saw there in January 2010 and again in November 2010. Given its rarity, it should not be a surprise that this was a new county bird for me, #199.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Yesterday afternoon, I found an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull along the edge of the artificial pond at Donaldson Park. At first it stood in the shallow water, and then it moved up onto the bank and stood there for a while. The mantle was clearly slate-gray, and its legs were obviously yellow in the afternoon sunlight. Light streaking on its crown and nape also indicates its identity. Oddly enough, there were no Great Black-backed Gulls present, or at least none that I saw. However, there were Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. This was a nice sighting to close out my county birding year.

Bizarro Birds

Birding in Johnson Park is usually an opportunity to observe the strange forms that result from domesticating waterfowl, and Monday was no exception. The bird above looks like the product of a Canada Goose interbreeding with a domesticated goose, probably a Greylag. This goose looks a bit different from the Canada X Greylag crosses that I normally see because of its mostly white face and white belly band. Greylag still seems like the most likely candidate based on availability.

This duck is one of many Mallard domestic breeds. It looked larger and bulkier than the wild Mallards nearby.

Ring-billed Gulls

When the fields at my patch get wet from rain or flooding (or both), the puddles become a foraging area for waterbirds. Yesterday a group of Ring-billed Gulls were loafing and foraging in one of the wet fields near the pond. Here are a few of the birds.

Surprise Ducks

One of the great things about birding is its capacity for surprise. No matter how much you may think a bird might be a given species, it is always worth a closer look because it could be something else. Yesterday as I was walking through my local patch, I saw large numbers of the usual waterfowl like Canada Geese and Mallards. Across the river were some small, very white ducks. At first, I though they were probably Common Mergansers since those are usually present along this stretch of the river from December through March and even April. However, I checked more closely, and they turned out to be Common Goldeneye, a less common species for the site. It was hardly a rarity, but it was still a present surprise and a reminder of the importance of testing assumptions.

Gulls, Geese, and Puddles

Rains last week left large puddles at my patch for these Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese to bathe in and drink.

 

Mute Swan at Donaldson Park

As I was walking around Donaldson Park (my patch) yesterday, I saw a Mute Swan on the park's pond. Mute Swans are not uncommon in New Jersey. In fact, they are very common in certain locations like Cape May or the Meadowlands. However, this was only the second time I have seen one on my patch (the first time was last Sunday). Since it was foraging close to the edge, I stopped to take some photos.

Finally a Greater White-fronted Goose

On Thursday, I had a chance to see a bird that has been on my wishlist for a while: a Greater White-fronted Goose. This was one of the last waterfowl missing from my lifelist that I could see in the eastern United States. I had attempted to see it on a few other occasions in a few other places but missed each time, often getting there a day or two after the last known sighting. Early this week, I found out about one that had been observed at Duke Island Park, a small park near the confluence of the North Branch and South Branch of the Raritan River. So on Thursday I went out to see it.

As it turned out, this turned out to be one of the easiest life birds I have ever looked for. The Greater White-fronted Goose was associating with a large flock of Canada Geese, and on Thursday morning, the flock was in the park's small pond. The Greater White-fronted Goose was on the side of the pond closest to the parking lot, so I had spotted the bird within five minutes of arriving. It stayed on that side of the pond for the entire time I was there, so I had plenty of opportunity to watch and photograph the goose.

Greater White-fronted Geese breed in the Arctic. Most winter in western North America and eastern Canada, but a few show up in the eastern United States each winter. These geese are slightly smaller than Canada Geese and resemble Greylag Geese, which provided the ancestral stock for most domesticated barnyard geese. They are recognized by their distinctive bright orange bill with a white vertical stripe at the base of the bill. They also have black barring on their breasts, but that field mark was mostly not visible on this bird since it was sitting in the water. In the photo above, you can see one of the black bars poking just above the waterline.

The rest of the park was pretty quiet. On the road leading from the park commission building to the dam, I saw a half dozen Eastern Bluebirds, two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and three Yellow-rumped Warblers. Other characteristic winter birds were present, like White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. One Blue Jay was making some odd noises that sounded more like chirps than like the typical Blue Jay calls. (Now that I think of it, I probably should have tried recording its vocalizations.) I was surprised to see two Orange Sulphurs, one of which is in the photo above. I had not seen any butterflies in a while and figured that they had been killed off by recent cold weather.