February 2 - Super Day of Birding

Well, Super Bowl Sunday is here !  Today we started down in Toms River in the cranberry bogs off of Dover Avenue because a Northern Shrike has been reported from here.  We arrived just about 08:00 am & after a 30-minute wait the Shrike was flushed up from it's low position by a photographer walking the dikes of the bogs.
The bird spent some time perched atop a pine tree offering fine looks before heading to a deciduous tree that gave even better looks.

click to enlarge

Our next stop was another spot in Ocean County at Manasquan Inlet.  Here we had nice close views of a Razorbill, perhaps two individuals.  In this very mild winter it was a treat to get an alcid.

We then hit the traditional spots along the long-birded 'North Shore Trip' from Manasquan to points north.  Along the way we picked up the Eurasian Wigeon at it's annual spot within the Shark River Inlet near the 7-11.

We saw lots of other good birds today at the various ponds like Gadwall, Greater Scaup with some Lesser Scaup mixed in.

One last stop at Sandy Hook produced the over-wintering Ash-Throated Flycatcher as a great way to end the day before going home to enjoy the game (but not so much for the 49er's !!)