February 11 - Nanday Parakeet life birds

I was in Tampa, Florida to visit my father who is in the hospital in nearby Clearwater, Florida.  So I decided to see if & where I might be able to see the Nanday Parakeet because I needed this species for my American Birding Association Life List.

As luck would have it, these birds can be found just 4 blocks from the Morton Plant Hospital in the Lake Belleview park.   Since I was near the hospital and there was still some time before Visiting Hours began, I decided to give the park a try.  I was there only a few minutes before I heard the call of the Nanday Parakeet, so I moved closer to the sound and there on the telephone wires was the bird  !

Here's a pic from the MacCauley Library on e-bird taken by a local birder named Wendy.
I want to thank her for reporting the parakeets to ebird so that I could find a lifebird and also a brightspot on an otherwise dour trip to visit my ailing Father.

December 17 - MacGillivray's Warbler

This morning I went down to the  Belmar Marina area of the Shark River Estuary.  From Marconi Road I was able to locate a male Eurasian Wigeon, a species that recently seems to appears here almost annually.

While returning home I received a text message that my friend Rob Fanning had discovered a MacGillivray's Warbler during the Monmouth County Christmas Bird Count along a section of the Henry Hudson Trail that is known as Popamora Point.
Fortunately for me I was just approaching the Sandy Hook exit along the Garden State Parkway and was able to make the exit and be at Popamora Point within 15 minutes.
After a few minutes of searching I saw the bird being flushed by another group of birders.  I then had two more views of this bird as it flew up & briefly landed in some leafless trees before diving back down into the thickets.

Here are two images taken by friend Tommy Boyle:

This is just the 2nd known record of MacGillivray's Warbler in New Jersey. 
The prior record is from Cape May for a two-month period between November 1997
and January 1998.

November 7 - Corn Crake

Yet another long-distance migrant was found today, with this one at Cedar Beach Marina in Suffolk County, NY.
A Corn Crake wass reported after mid-day and I was able to go for it.  I saw the bird quite well before the rain came on. Then on the drive home  I hit a big rut in the roadway that is under construction and flattened my tire. So this will be an expensive outing, but how can a price be put on this mega-rarity ?

Update: On the morning of Thursday November 9 the Corn Crake was found to be deceased.

Steve Walter has some fine photos here: http://stevewalternature.com/

October 26 - Common Greenshank

I took the day off from work today to see if the Common Greenshank was still at "Brig", a/k/a the auto-loop of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
The bird was first reported on Monday about mid-day but  I could not make the 2-hour drive at that time. On Tuesday it was a very stormy day and the bird was not reported. Yesterday, Wednesday, my friend Bill E. went down and was able to see the bird briefly and confirm that it had not left due to the storm.
So this morning I left the house at 5 am and made the trek down south.  The bird was located by others just before 9 am, and a group of 7 cars then caravaned over the the East Dike and saw the bird.
We had fairly close views of the bird including nice look at it's namesake legs, and later when the bird took flight we saw the white-stripe up it's back.

Here's a view of some of the hundreds of birders that came the following Saturday:

October 21 - Sparrowing and a surprise Wren

I went out today with friends Andy E. and Jennifer C. to the sparrow hotspot of Glenhurst Meadows that is located in New Jersey's Warren County.
We had a nice diversity of birds here but the volume was down.  The highlight was a Clay-colored Sparrow that we all had good looks at several times each. We also saw the local specialty, Red-Headed Woodpeckers, along the river at the back of the park.

Next we made a stop at Cold Brook Park out in Hunterdon County. Here we had several dozen American Pipits but only in flight, and 3 of the Vesper Sparrow.

We then traveled back home to Garret Mountain because our friend Bill E. had located a very uncommon Sedge Wren earlier in the day.  Luckily we all were able to hear & then see the Sedge Wren.

August 12 - White-winged Tern !

This morning I went out to see the White-Winged Tern which had been found in Pennsylvania on Thursday.  I couldn't go yesterday as I was still returning from a few days vacation up in Mystic, Connecticut. So I had to wait until 4:30 this morning to take the 200+ mile drive.  Thankfully my friend Bill E. took the ride with me.
We arrived just before 08:00 and saw the bird right away.  The views were very close as the bird is sitting on some pilings at the southern end of Nessum Lake. We waited a bit to see this beauty take some short flights.  While there friends Larry, Jim, and Alyssa showed up as well.  Here's some of Larry's pictures.

ABA Lifer # 650 for me !!

August 6 - Gaa-Lib, Waa-Hib, Waa-Fib

Today saw an early-morning drive down to Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, affectionately known as 'Brig".
My goal was to see the southbound shorebird migration that is getting underway.
I arrived just before 6:30 and got started with nice views of a Blue Grosbeak.  Soon after I saw a Caspian Tern hunting over the marsh.
Next up was some Gull-Billed Terns before turning my attention to the most-recent rarities to be seen in the refuge..The expected species here is the Glossy Ibis (GLIB) however a pair of juvenile White Ibis (WHIB) have been seen for about a week now.  These White Ibis have been faithful to the area near Goose Marker 5, and today was no exception. As I drove toward Marker 5 I saw the White Ibis in flight & they landed in the grassy marsh to feed.
Up the Wildlife Drive roadway about 200 yards further east I spotted the other recent rarity of the American Avocet.  Soon after I spotted the over-summering, and presumed injured, Snow Goose by Marker # 7.
Later on the north dike I spotted a Marbled Gowdit that was feeding near the traditional Tern/Plover mudflat roosting area. I was glad that many others were able to see this bird later throughout the day.
Since I had not yet seen my friend Jason D. on the wildlife drive I took another quick loop of the refuge.  On the north dike I ran into Jason, along with friend Chris and his wife Paula.  Here those 3 showed me the White Faced-Ibis (WFIB) that had been reported yesterday.
So  I was able to have a 3-Ibis species day in New Jersey, which is not a common occurrence!