A Birding Tale

[Photo copyright Joe Hernandez.]

"Shearwater! Shearwater! Shearwater! Shearwater!"

I show people birds for part of my living, and some people even think I'm good at it, but that was the best I could do in my sudden frantic state. I had no camera.

Silas Hernandez had a quiet frantic in his voice. "I don't have it."

"There! There! There! There!" Oh, I'm good at giving directions to birds, all right. Finally, "It's in front of your brother!" I suspect Silas had been looking far out into the bay, since it was a shearwater after all. Nope. The damn thing flew right at us, over the spit north of the landing, point blank.

I met Silas and his brother Joe just that morning, at Norbury's Landing, two young guys looking for birds before heading off for a wedding. We chatted, and Silas mentioned he had a milestone, I think he said he was at 398 species for North America and hoped to notch 400 this trip. I asked what he had in mind, and he said there wasn't too much in the way of possibilities. I believe it, but this was two days post-Tropical Storm Isaiah . . .

So we parted, me walking up the beach, getting up to the sandbar, raising my bins, and landing on an Arctic Tern resting belly-down on the sand. Huh, I wonder if Silas has this one? I turned and saw the guys getting in their car, so I jogged backed down the beach, yelled and waved them over.

399. Then it got interesting. I'm studying the tern and this bird flashes through my bins.

This is how people who bird a lot identify birds: we look at them and say, "Holy s--t, that's an Audubon's Shearwater." Then we identify them using field marks, which is what I did, screaming the whole time. Luckily Joe was ready with his camera.

Audubon's Shearwater from shore is stupid rare. Audubon's shearwater 40 feet away over a sandbar is double dog stupid rare.

[Audubon's Shearwater, photo's above and below copyright J. Hernandez.]

Officer, We Just Saw a Wolverine

Right, so the title of this post comes from an actual story,  but if you want to skip the rest just know this: if you saw it, and if you know you saw it, go ahead and report it and damn the torpedoes. Yes, of course, document, and get photos if you can (sometimes you cannot).  I recently posted a working breeding bird  list for New Jersey and people have been hitting me up like, where the hek was Bachman's sparrow? Where the hek are the Swainson’s warblers? Where the hek is the Merlin?

In the late 90’s or thereabouts I took my first trip to Colorado with my dear friends Dave Womer and Rex Miller. In theory we are three New Jersey boys, but in practice we are all three well travelled professional wildlife biologists and at least fairly good birders.

So we’re on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mount Nationsl Park and Rex says, and I quote,   (using the first amendment), “Holy shit that’s a fucking wolverine!“ And it was, unknown in Colorado at the time. It was during the transition from film to digital and I literally didn’t have any kind of camera at all on me and my friend Dave Womer had his but it was in the car and we’re watching this wolverine stalk across a cirque…

So that afternoon we stop in at the visitor center at Endovalley and report what we had seen and basically got totally laughed off.  I don’t blame the people, I mean we were from New Jersey right , so maybe we know how to fight (that will be another story for another time) but not how to identify a wolverine. But I did get annoyed when I said look, let’s  go to where we saw it, hike back in off the road, and photograph the track. They totally blew us off. Big mistake.

Because two years later a wolverine with a radio collar, from Wyoming , wandered into northern Colorado. It was happening, we saw a Wolverine and nobody believed us and to tell you the truth I’m still kind of aggravated about that.

Like I said at the start of this blog, I recently floated that that Merlin, Swainson’s Warbler, and Bachman’s Sparrow were either breeding in New Jersey or trying to. For concern of them being harassed, can't say exactly where.

A Working List of NJ Breeding Birds

New Jersey, New Jersey, US

Jun 1, 2020 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Protocol: Historical

Checklist Comments: Working list of New Jersey breeding bird species.

218 species (+10 other taxa)

Canada Goose 1

Mute Swan 1

Wood Duck 1

Blue-winged Teal 1

Northern Shoveler 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Gadwall 1

Northern Shoveler x Gadwall (hybrid) 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

American Wigeon 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Mallard 1

American Black Duck 1

Green-winged Teal 1

Hooded Merganser 1

Common Merganser 1

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Ruddy Duck 1

Northern Bobwhite 1

Ring-necked Pheasant 1

Ruffed Grouse 1

Wild Turkey 1

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1

White-winged Dove 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Mourning Dove 1

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1

Black-billed Cuckoo 1

Common Nighthawk 1

Chuck-will's-widow 1

Eastern Whip-poor-will 1

Chimney Swift 1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1

King Rail 1

Clapper Rail 1

Virginia Rail 1

Sora 1

Common Gallinule 1

American Coot 1

Yellow Rail 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Black Rail 1

Sandhill Crane 1

Common Crane 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Sandhill x Common Crane (hybrid) 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Black-necked Stilt 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

American Avocet 1

American Oystercatcher 1

Wilson's Plover 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Piping Plover 1

Killdeer 1

Upland Sandpiper 1

American Woodcock 1

Wilson's Snipe 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Spotted Sandpiper 1

Willet 1

Laughing Gull 1

Herring Gull 1

Great Black-backed Gull 1

Least Tern 1

Gull-billed Tern 1

Common Tern 1

Forster's Tern 1

Royal Tern 1

Sandwich Tern 1

Black Skimmer 1

Double-crested Cormorant 1

Brown Pelican 1

American Bittern 1

Least Bittern 1

Great Blue Heron 1

Great Egret 1

Snowy Egret 1

Little Blue Heron 1

Tricolored Heron 1

Cattle Egret 1

Green Heron 1

White Ibis 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Glossy Ibis 1

White-faced Ibis 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Black Vulture 1

Turkey Vulture 1

Osprey 1

Mississippi Kite 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Northern Harrier 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1

Cooper's Hawk 1

Northern Goshawk 1

Bald Eagle 1

Red-shouldered Hawk 1

Broad-winged Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Barn Owl 1

Eastern Screech-Owl 1

Great Horned Owl 1

Barred Owl 1

Long-eared Owl 1

Short-eared Owl 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Northern Saw-whet Owl 1

Belted Kingfisher 1

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1

Red-headed Woodpecker 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker 1

Downy Woodpecker 1

Hairy Woodpecker 1

Pileated Woodpecker 1

Northern Flicker 1

American Kestrel 1

Merlin 1 Second hand report of breeding.

Peregrine Falcon 1

Monk Parakeet 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Eastern Wood-Pewee 1

Acadian Flycatcher 1

Alder Flycatcher 1

Willow Flycatcher 1

Least Flycatcher 1

Eastern Phoebe 1

Great Crested Flycatcher 1

Eastern Kingbird 1

White-eyed Vireo 1

Yellow-throated Vireo 1

Blue-headed Vireo 1

Warbling Vireo 1

Red-eyed Vireo 1

Loggerhead Shrike 1 Extirpated?

Blue Jay 1

American Crow 1

Fish Crow 1

Common Raven 1

Carolina Chickadee 1

Black-capped Chickadee 1

Carolina x Black-capped Chickadee (hybrid) 1

Tufted Titmouse 1

Horned Lark 1

Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1

Purple Martin 1

Tree Swallow 1

Bank Swallow 1

Barn Swallow 1

Barn Swallow (American) 1

Cliff Swallow 1

Golden-crowned Kinglet 1

Red-breasted Nuthatch 1

White-breasted Nuthatch 1

Brown Creeper 1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1

House Wren 1

Winter Wren 1

Sedge Wren 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Marsh Wren 1

Carolina Wren 1

European Starling 1

Gray Catbird 1

Brown Thrasher 1

Northern Mockingbird 1

Eastern Bluebird 1

Veery 1

Hermit Thrush 1

Wood Thrush 1

American Robin 1

Cedar Waxwing 1

House Sparrow 1

House Finch 1

Purple Finch 1

Red Crossbill 1 Exceedingly rare breeder. Flight years.

White-winged Crossbill 1 Exceedingly rare breeder. Flight years.

Pine Siskin 1 Exceedingly rare breeder. Flight years.

American Goldfinch 1

Grasshopper Sparrow 1

Chipping Sparrow 1

Field Sparrow 1

Dark-eyed Junco 1

White-throated Sparrow 1

Dark-eyed Junco x White-throated Sparrow (hybrid) 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Vesper Sparrow 1

Seaside Sparrow 1

Saltmarsh Sparrow 1

Savannah Sparrow 1

Henslow's Sparrow 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Song Sparrow 1

Swamp Sparrow 1

Eastern Towhee 1

Yellow-breasted Chat 1

Bobolink 1

Eastern Meadowlark 1

Orchard Oriole 1

Baltimore Oriole 1

Red-winged Blackbird 1

Brown-headed Cowbird 1

Common Grackle 1

Boat-tailed Grackle 1

Ovenbird 1

Worm-eating Warbler 1

Louisiana Waterthrush 1

Northern Waterthrush 1

Golden-winged Warbler 1

Blue-winged Warbler 1

Golden-winged x Blue-winged Warbler (hybrid) 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Brewster's Warbler (hybrid) 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Lawrence's Warbler (hybrid) 1 Exceedingly rare breeder.

Black-and-white Warbler 1

Prothonotary Warbler 1

Swainson's Warbler 1 Exceedingly rare breeder. Locations should be kept confidential to keep people from taping them.

Nashville Warbler 1

Mourning Warbler 1

Kentucky Warbler 1

Common Yellowthroat 1

Hooded Warbler 1

American Redstart 1

Cerulean Warbler 1

Northern Parula 1

Cerulean Warbler 1

Magnolia Warbler 1

Blackburnian Warbler 1

Yellow Warbler 1and 

Chestnut-sided Warbler 1

Black-throated Blue Warbler 1

Pine Warbler 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Exceedingly rare breeder. Highlands.

Yellow-throated Warbler 1

Prairie Warbler 1

Black-throated Green Warbler 1

Canada Warbler 1

Summer Tanager 1

Scarlet Tanager 1

Northern Cardinal 1

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1

Blue Grosbeak 1

Indigo Bunting 1

Painted Bunting 1 Apparently bred ocean county, no proof at hand.

Dickcissel 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S70430052

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

"Peregrine:" Actionable Birding Information for NJ Statewide

[Peregrine is a new NJ statewide actionable birding intelligence network on GroupMe, see below for details.]

Hi Birder Friends, 

I created a birding information group using GroupMe.  It's called "Peregrine", and it's for sharing  actionable NJ statewide bird information.

  
If interested, you will need the GroupMe app and to get me your phone number. Email me your phone number at peregrine43@hotmail.com.

There are at least two Cape May bird groups, one using WhatsApp and one using GroupMe, contact CMBO for details. Groups for northern NJ, Somerset/Morris, South Jersey birders, and SW Jersey birders also exist. As far as I know, Peregrine is the only one for NJ statewide, and I ask that other list owners and participants cross post rarities of statewide interest to Peregrine.

Basic rules for the statewide Peregrine GroupMe are :

1a) Only “actionable” birding intelligence for all of NJ (for Peregrine GroupMe) is posted. “Actionable” means a field birder in or near NJ, or planning to be, would find the information useful in planning their movements.

1b) Birds on the NJBRC rarity list and/or are flagged on eBird and/or are the equivalent of the old ABA Birdfinding Guide rating system of “May see” (<25% of time for location and season) or rarer are posted; err on the rare side.

1c) Feel free to report intelligence relating to weather patterns or bird sightings outside NJ if the observer has the knowledge (many do) to think it will be NJ - helpful.

1d) Species name written out or four letter banding codes are acceptable, but best to spell out species with confusing codes, e.g Gray Kingbird and Great Kiskadee.

1e) Be as specific as reasonably possible on locations. Don’t assume people on the list are “from around here.” Dropping a pin is great. Street address, City/county/known location important as well (e.g., "Beanery" or "Forsythe Wildlife Drive"). Walking directions from the access point to the bird are great.

1f) Please consider stating how long you will remain at the location if it makes sense to, no one is obligated to remain but it always helps to hand off birds.

2a) The bird must have a reasonable chance of being re-found.

2b) Reports of re-sightings are OK within reason, especially if the bird disappears for a while and then is refound.

3)No owls, no raptor nests, and be generally thoughtful about a bird’s vulnerability to being trampled or taped. NO private property or closed area birds unless there is specific access permission; if so give details.

4)This is not a clique, anybody can join. With GroupMe there is apparently no limit to # of people, unlike WhatsApp, which has a ceiling.

5)Publicly disrespecting anyone either directly or by allusion will result in immediate and permanent removal from the group (s). Be adults, contact people privately.

6)These are closed groups, meaning only the list owner (s) can add members. Owner (s) will need your full phone number for Peregrine to add you. email peregrine43@hotmail.com.

7)Remember, no one is being forced to join, to stay joined, to keep alerts on, or to read anything they’re not interested in.

8)Contact list creator/owner Donald Peter Freiday with questions or to join at peregrine43@hotmail.com . Eventually this info will be parked permanently  at FreidayBird.blogspot.com .

Here are two YouTube reviews / how-tos about GroupMe (there are many others):
https://youtu.be/nJ9YSf5Qd0Y

https://youtu.be/_Pl4oFwacpM

Thoughtful Thursday on Sunday: Of Adversity and Footprints

 [Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills, SD. The Black Hills are my spirit helper place, too.]

 "I think I just figured it out. Life, I mean. It’s about 2 things: overcoming adversity and leaving a footprint. We must pity those who never had to overcome adversity, because they will never leave a footprint. It took me 55 yrs to figure this out. Guess I’m slow."

- DPF