Overpeck Lifers

I wish I had time for more details posts for these birds, but alas I do not. Here are the 'Cliff's Notes' versions:

Late Monday night i very angrily found out that a Le Conte's Sparrow had been found at Overpeck County park EIGHT MINUTES from my house. I figured knowing my luck the bird would be a one day wonder and essentially dismissed it. It was with a great deal of surprise and glee that I received posts from New Jersey Birding stating that the bird was still present on Tuesday, despite (or perhaps because of) the rain. I headed straight from work to Overpeck. I still had badly needed rain gear in the car from our less-than-exceptional Cape May trip. I arrived on site to find a substantial field literally littered with dozens if not hundreds of sparrows. I almost dismissed the challenge as impossible. Soon Simon lane arrived and we began systematically combing the field. Evan Zupfer joined later.

Thanks to the collective flushing and searching effort, it was I who finally spotted the bird in what seemed later to be its favorite patch of tall smartweeds. We got great looks for less than a minute before it flushed. We caught a few more fleeting glimpses before it disappeared. Larry would get the bird the next day after repeated searches.

After walking through wet knee-high weeds and eventually rain for 2 hours it was no surprise when I got sick at week's end. The symptoms were short lived, but were enough to keep me home from church on Sunday morning--those of you who know me personally know I never miss. I saw my frist Purple Finch of the fall in my yard--a female making a brief appearance near the feeders.

Around 11AM I received a report of a Greater White-fronted Goose at Overpeck. I was feeling much better after sleeping in and I decided to go for it. Greater White-fronted eluded me despite intensive chases last winter. Lo and behold, I got the bird with little effort along with a Bald Eagle and Common Merganser. Two lifers for Overpeck in one week. Not bad for the only 2 ties I have ever been there. All in all a great day for birds.

November 22, Year 289

Nocturnals & Updates

Over the last two weeks I have been spending a few moments outside each night listening for nocturnal migrants. The experience has been quite interesting and fruitful for my 'listing.' I know, I know, lots of us listers have a bad rap, but I just enjoy tracking where I see what. I have my laptop open to recordings of nocturnal flight calls to reference when I hear something I don't recognize.

Using this method I logged my first Great Blue Heron for my 'home list' and last night heard my first Hermit Thrush of the fall as it tracked North to South overhead. I am quite amazed by the number of birds out and the consistency with which they vector in on a N-S route. I intend to really bone up on the nocturnal calls for next WSB. If we really learn these calls we'll be able to make the 2-4AM and 10-12PM stretches much more productive. I think we might try to find a quiet elevated place along the route to listen for calls in the early morning this year.

In BYC news... I have added a few more species to the October total through local birding and just travels in general. My FOM turkeys crosed the road in front of my car last week in North Haledon. Crestwood Lake turned up 4 (FOM) Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Northen Harrier, rare north Bergen County Pectoral Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a few Savannah Sparrows.

FOUR DAYS TILL LARRY AND I CRASH CAPE MAY!

October 80, Year, 284

Lucky Sightings

While on an herbaceous plant walk with my Horticulture class yesturday I picked a Nashville Warbler out of a close group of Palm Warblers with the naked eye. The bird was only about 10 feet away in the open. Later I found 2 Juncos and then a Lincoln's Sparrow on the athletic fields. Warbler and Junco were first of month.

The following day I caught sight of 2 Black Vultures overhead while conducting an outdoor make-up quiz with a student.

October 72, Year 284

Celery Farm 10/11

My search failed to turn up my FOFall Nashville, but I found 39 species in 1.5 hours with good number of birds. Highlights included lots of common sparrows including 1 Lincoln's and the first truly large hordes of Yellow-rumped Warblers. I picked up a bunch of common first-of-month birds as well.

October 69, Year 284

Liberty State Park 10/10

Rob and I spent several hours this morning at Liberty State Park trying to capitalize on the loads of sparrows being reported. (And capitalize on the fact that Larry is out of NJ trying to hunt down Ivory-billed Woodpecker at an undisclosed location in the Southeast. Yeah, I said it. Are you surprised?)

Anyway... Right out of the cars we found a group of sparrow in some phrags. There were several Swamps, a Lincoln's and a NELSON'S! It was my first, Rob's second. We had clear looks at it, though short. It was a new year bird for both of us, and Rob mentioned that it eliminated one of the very few species Rob had seen that I hadn't. It felt great to finally check of a bird I should have seen a LONG time go.

Later we encountered a huge group of sparrows in the overgrown field. Amongst the loads of Swamp, Song, and Savannah we found 3 White-crowned and a Field. There were a few towhees and yellowthroats mixed in too.

At the pond near the Interpretative Center we had a Marsh Wren and a bunch of migrant waterfowl including Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, American Black Duck, Gadwall, and a Pintail. We rounded out the day with a flock of White-throated Sparrows, Robins and Yellow-rumps. In the trees above were 2 Parulas, a Red-eyed Vireo, and my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the fall.

Finished the day with 49 species. Probably the most I have ever had in my few trips to Hudson County. Tomorrow the search for Nashville Warbler continues at the Celery Farm.

October 60, Year 284

September Totals

Today is the last day of September and I'll be doing no birding today because of work responsibilities (darn) so it looks like my totals are as follows:

September 145, Year 283

Celery Farm 9/28

Took another trip to the Celery Farm--this time in the morning. I had the day off. There was a good variety of species, but not many individuals. I had frustrating looks at my only kinglet of the fall so far. I only got to see the underside and little bits of the wings so I couldn't tell which species it was.

The highlight of the morning was a flyover flock of four geese. Bird #1 was a XL-sized Canada Goose. Behind it, birds #3 and #4 were Canadas, 'one size' smaller. The birds were about 150 feet in the air, but it was an obvious size difference. Bird #2 was 'one size' smaller then the trailing pair and less than 2/3 the size of bird #1. It looked truly tiny flying next to the largest bird. Based only on size I feel comfortable calling the smallest bird a Cackling, though it would have been nice to see them for longer than half a minute. The Canada/Cackling nuances are still new to me, so any suggestions on IDing questionable birds in flight would be much appreciated.

My eBird totals are still down for maintenance--making the concluding days of September BYC a little more exciting. Nonetheless, I am not totally sure of my totals as my Excel backup isn't up to date. Updated totals coming ASAP...