Common Tern

Like Laughing Gulls, terns are a notable feature of summers along New Jersey's waterways. Two species in particular predominate. One, the Forster's Tern, is often seen along the coast but seems to prefer inland waterways and marshes. The second, Common Tern, adheres more strictly to coastal beaches.

Terns are noted for their foraging behavior, in which they repeatedly hover and then plunge headfirst into the water for fish. Their pointed bills and forked tails give them a sleeker appearance than gulls, their closest relatives in the avian evolutionary tree.

Always remember to watch your back during preening.

Laughing Gulls

Gulls in the eastern United States are at their peak diversity in winter when the local breeders are joined by birds from further north, including a few species that breed in or near the Arctic. There is one characteristic gull of summer, though, the Laughing Gull. From May through August, Laughing Gulls are often the most numerous gull species on the shore, particularly along New Jersey's southern coastline, which houses one of the largest breeding colonies of Laughing Gulls on the continent. At the peak of breeding season, their ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaa-haaaaaaaaaaaaa calls can be deafening.

In spring and early summer, these are among the most attractive gulls, with sleek black hoods, crisp white semicircles around their eyes, and striking red bills. By late summer, the adults have already started to shed their hoods as they molt into their winter (basic) plumage. Their mantles are a mix of fresh and worn feathers, and their bright red bare parts are now muted.

In late summer, Laughing Gull flocks also feature recently-fledged immature birds, given away by the brownish coloration of their mantles and their grayish bodies.

Like other gull species, Laughing Gulls are opportunists. They are not above snatching food from barbecues and beachgoers or robbing the local tern colonies. They also forage for themselves, as I saw this gull doing. It was picking items up out of the surf and eating them. Most of their diet consists of invertebrates, such as insects, crustaceans, and mollusks.

Return to the Rogers Refuge

Since my last visit to Rogers Refuge was not successful, at least in terms of turning up rails or a bittern, I was back there again yesterday evening to try again. Instead of walking around, I stood on the observation deck the entire time to make sure I would not miss any of the secretive marsh birds if they did make an appearance. As it turned out, I was waiting a long time. While I was waiting, there were plenty of other birds to watch, so the time did not seem to drag. Red-winged Blackbirds were the most prominent, and their antics kept grabbing my attention. Several times I saw a male glide towards the platform with its red epaulettes fully flared. The males kept chasing each other around and called repeatedly from the reeds in front of the platform, like the bird above.

Plenty of other birds were active in the marsh, too. A pair of Wood Ducks was feeding among the lilypads, and occasionally I would see one or two Wood Ducks fly past. Baltimore Orioles were singing in the woods across the marsh, and an Orchard Oriole occasionally sang in the trees behind me. At one point, a feather drifted down in front of me; the lower part was white and the tip was bright orange, about the right size and color for a Baltimore Oriole. Wood Thrushes were singing in the woods; I could not hear their song clearly over the din made by the Red-winged Blackbirds, but the pattern of flute-like sounds was still distinctive. My first Solitary Sandpiper of the season flew in and started walking around the far edge of the water.

Finally, around 7 pm, the Sora finally made an appearance. My mother spotted it first when it appeared about ten feet from the left side of the platform, near where a Swamp Sparrow had just landed. It walked around there first and then disappeared into the reeds. Shortly after that it appeared at the water's edge, again within about ten feet of the platform. It was hard to get a clear view, but it was possible to watch it as it moved slowly in and out of the reeds. The reeds and the Sora's movements made it difficult to focus the camera on it, but I did get the image above after a few tries.

Longtime readers of this blog might remember that this is not the first Sora I have seen. My first Sora sighting was a roadkilled bird that I found one morning on Sunset Boulevard in Cape May Point. That encounter gave me a much clearer view of the Sora's plumage, but it was far more exciting to see a living Sora!

Lesser Black-backed Gull

An adult, breeding-plumaged Lesser Black-backed Gull showed up at Donaldson Park yesterday afternoon at low tide. It is the gull in the foreground of the image above. Its normally sleek lines and small size relative to Herring Gulls are somewhat obscured since it chose the moment I snapped the shutter to fluff its feathers out. Other markings, like the slate-gray back and yellow legs, are visible, however. What impressed me about this gull was how brightly colored it was. The yellow legs really stood out, especially when sunlight hit them the right way. I have spent many winter days closely scrutinizing the legs of poorly-lit, dark-backed gulls in the hope of picking out a Lesser among the Great Black-backed Gulls. On this bird, the yellow legs gleamed almost as brightly as flashing neon lights. The white head feathers and yellow bill also seemed quite gaudy.

The other notable bird yesterday afternoon was a Pied-billed Grebe, my first of the year for that species. A little further downstream was a pair of Common Mergansers, which could well turn out to be my last of the spring for that waterbird species.

Red maple flowers are further developed than the last time I photographed them.

A Canada Goose from Canada

A little more than a month ago, I found a Canada Goose wearing an orange neck collar in Donaldson Park. I photographed the goose and reported the number on its collar, "H8W1," to the Bird Banding Laboratory. It appears that all four geese in that image are wearing leg bands, but I was not able to get clear photos of any of them, except for the large neck collar. Yesterday I received a certificate of appreciation from the Bird Banding Laboratory, and it included some information about the goose. It was banded near Boucherville, Quebec, in July 2008; when it was banded, it was too young to fly. Boucherville is just northeast of Montreal, about 400 miles north of here. So unlike most of the geese I have reported, this goose had to cross international boundaries to get here.

Leucistic Mallard

I found this unusual duck yesterday in my local patch, Donaldson Park. It is almost entirely white, except for random speckling on the head and back, the dark flight feathers, and the tail and tail coverts. I think this is a leucistic female Mallard. Leucism is a condition in which an animal loses some or all of its pigmentation so that it appears pale, all white, or with white blotches around patches of normal color. Unlike albinos, which lose all of their melanin, leucistic animals typically retain their normal eye color.

With Mallards, there is always a question of whether an unusual individual is a wild Mallard, a hybrid of a Mallard and some other duck, or a domestic Mallard breed. I think this is a wild Mallard for a few reasons. First, the bird seems slightly smaller and more compact than the normal wild female and male Mallards close to it, but not so small that it would have required selective breeding to produce it. Second, its bill is similar in size, proportions, and color pattern to the nearby female's.

Third, although the wing feathers on the two birds appear to be folded slightly differently, the overall color patterns of the plumage appear similar on the white duck and the normal female Mallard. The head of the white duck has fine, dark streaking; the breast, back, and tail coverts have teardrop-shaped dark streaking; the tail and tertials are dark; and the speculum (barely visible in these photos) is blue with black and white borders. The blue on the speculum is only visible in the photo with the wild male Mallard, and even then it is only a small part of it. I do not see strong evidence of another species's plumage pattern in this bird.

Regardless of its true identity, this is an interesting and beautiful bird. If you happen to see reasons why this is not a leucistic wild female Mallard, please leave a comment!

Gulls, Ducks, and More in Gloucester Harbor

Aside from magnificent looks at Common Eiders and a White-winged Scoter, Jodrey's State Fish Pier offered views of some other waterbirds at close range. Some sleeping Red-breasted Mergansers are shown above. Other ducks in the harbor included Greater Scaup, Common Goldeneye, American Black Duck, and Bufflehead.

Gulls were plentiful as well, largely due to the fishing industry, which has fishing boats and processing plants lining the piers. The most interesting gull continues to generate discussion at 10,000 Birds. Opinions on its identity range from Slaty-backed Gull to Lesser Black-backed Gull to Great Black-backed Gull. I am undecided and still waiting to see if a consensus develops among more knowledgeable birders than me.

A lot of gulls were clearly Great Black-backed Gulls. Some of them were fighting a continuous battle over this fish carcass. One would win and get a few mouthfuls, and then another would come along, drive it off the rock, and claim the carcass for itself. You can see a few of the gulls fighting in the video I posted of a swimming Common Eider.

Besides the common trio of gulls (Great Black-backed Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and Herring Gull), the pier is a great place to find white-winged gulls. On the day of the Superbowl of Birding, we spotted a Glaucous Gull from the pier, as well as three Iceland Gulls. On Sunday morning I was able to photograph one of the Iceland Gulls, this one an adult. Unfortunately the photo does not quite render how pale the wingtips are or how beautiful these gulls look in person.

As I mentioned in my post on the Superbowl, we spotted three species of alcids from the fish pier during the competition: Thick-billed Murre, Black Guillemot, and my life Dovekie. The Thick-billed Murre and the Black Guillemot were in the harbor again on Sunday. This time the murre was ridiculously close to the pier. It is hard to get much better looks at an alcid than this, especially from land!

Finally, Common Loons were also coming fairly close. In almost any other place, good looks at a loon would have been a highlight, but at the fishing pier it lags behind the other great birds in the harbor. They are still fine looking birds, though.

A Super Bird: White-winged Scoter at Gloucester Harbor

Three species of scoters frequent the coast of eastern North America: Surf, Black, and White-winged Scoter. Of these three, the first two are very easy to spot in the mid-Atlantic states while the third is relatively uncommon. Because of that, I was pleased to see several White-winged Scoters during my trip to Massachusetts. We found the species for our Superbowl of Birding checklist and saw them at multiple stops. Best of all, one passed very close to Jodrey State Fish Pier while we were standing and watching birds on Sunday morning. It was close enough to get a good look at the white wing patch that inspires its name and the hints of a white marking around the eye.

White-winged Scoters breed in freshwater wetlands in northwestern North America, but spend their winters in coastal waters along both eastern and western North America. Like other bay and sea ducks, White-winged Scoters feed primarily by diving and capturing prey underwater. They dive to the bottom, grab something, and then consume it on the way up. Their food consists of mollusks, crustaceans, and insects. On their winter territories, they mainly eat mollusks, especially rock clams and blue mussels. (Here are a White-winged Scoter eating a clump of mussels and a Surf Scoter eating some kind of mollusk.)

Aside from being a species I do not normally see, this bird was just fun to watch. Here is a video of the White-winged Scoter swimming and diving.

Common Eiders in Gloucester Harbor

As I mentioned in my last post on the Superbowl of Birding, Jodrey State Fish Pier in Gloucester Harbor is an excellent birding location. I highly recommend a stop there if you happen to be in the Cape Ann area during the winter months. The fishing industry based in the harbor attracts numerous sea birds. Some fight for scraps left by the fishing boats and processing plants; others dive for fish and crustaceans in the waters of the harbor. Many of these birds swim very close to the pier, allowing for close study and photography. They come so close, in fact, that their presence was a distraction for me during the Superbowl of Birding.

One bird that I found especially distracting was the Common Eider. This species is not at all uncommon along the Atlantic coast in the winter. One can usually see hundreds of them at Barnegat Light, and there are other places to see them along the mid-Atlantic coast. However, it is uncommon to have such close views of their regal plumage.

The were a lot of eiders in the harbor, but they swam around in small groups of half a dozen or so.

Watching them at close range made it easy to watch them as they preened.

It also gave me the opportunity to see details like the white stripe down the middle of an adult male's crown, something I have not noticed previously.

I will leave you with a video that shows an adult male eider swimming through the harbor. Along the way it passes several other birds, including Great Black-backed Gulls fighting over a fish carcass and an adult Iceland Gull doing its long call. If the embedded video does not work for you, try watching it on Flickr or on YouTube.

Harlequin Ducks at Barnegat Light

One of the most popular sea ducks during winter in North America is the Harlequin Duck. The adult male's blue, red, and white plumage is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. The female is brown but retains echoes of the male's harlequin pattern in its facial markings. The ducks are highly social, spending the winter in small groups whose interactions are delightful to watch.

Harlequin Ducks breed along fast-moving rivers in the far northwest and northeastern Canada. In the winter, they migrate to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, where they seek out rocky coastlines. In the southern parts of their winter range, where the beaches are sandy, they are often found along jetties and seawalls.

Handfuls of Harlequin Ducks are present all along the northeastern U.S. coast, but one of the best places to watch them is along the jetty at Barnegat Light in New Jersey. This is a consistently great spot for two reasons. First, it attracts a large flock; when I was at the jetty two weeks ago, I counted about 15, but there are often more than that. Second, you can walk out along the jetty (at your own risk!) and see them at very close range.

They bob up and down on the waves, staying in close proximity to the jetty even as the waves crash against it. The ducks dive to feed on a variety of invertebrates such as crustaceans and mollusks, which they pick off the rocks underwater.

Cackling Goose on the Raritan

Since prolonged cold temperatures have frozen still water (and some ponds in Johnson Park have been drained), many of the Canada Geese in the area have been pushed to roost in the moving waters of the Raritan River rather than their favorite ponds. Yesterday about 2500 Canada Geese were spread out along the Raritan upstream from the Landing Lane bridge. In that flock I found at least two Cackling Geese; one of them is pictured above. It has the classic blocky head, short bill, and grayish brown breast of the Richardson's subspecies. Plus it has a partial white collar and is clearly smaller than the surrounding Canada Geese.

The Canada Geese on the river, especially those who were separated from the densest flocks, had a hard time with the ice. As they rested, the water froze around them. Each goose had to struggle a bit to get out of the water and onto the ice. Many of them had frosted or ice-covered feathers.

Other waterfowl on the river included Black Ducks, Greater Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, Common Goldeneye, Buffleheads, and Common Mergansers.

Unusual Mallards at Wreck Pond

Even common duck species may be interesting if you look at them closely. When Patrick and I were counting waterfowl at Wreck Pond as part of the Long Branch CBC on Saturday, we encountered a flock of about a hundred Mallards clustered together on the west side of the pond. Perhaps massing together like that helps keep them warm, or perhaps that side of the pond offered better protection from the wind. In the early morning sunlight, the Mallards looked especially pretty, especially when light caught the males' bright green heads at just the right angle. The females' brown streaking seemed a bit richer than normal as well. A wild male is pictured above, and a wild female is below.

Among the normal-looking wild Mallards were a few oddballs. First, two clearly domestic Mallards were standing in close proximity to each other. This type of domestic duck has the wild Mallard's green head, but has a white breast (instead of chestnut) and a browner back and flanks than the wild version. It also looks a little longer and seems to stand in a more upright position.

A third duck (pictured below) had the overall plumage pattern of a normal female, but the plumage was much lighter. I am not sure if this is a sign of leucism or another form of domestic duck. The relatively short bill makes me think it has a domestic origin, either as its own breed or perhaps a hybrid of domestic and wild ducks.

Hooded Mergansers

One of the highlights of last Saturday's Long Branch CBC was watching a large flock of Hooded Mergansers at Wreck Pond in Sea Girt. They were all gathered in a small area of open water at the east end of the pond, along with a few Gadwall, Black Ducks, and Snow Geese – and a huge flock of Canada Geese. The mergansers were present during both morning and afternoon stops there, and some of them came quite close to the road.

A few Hooded Mergansers were present at Lake Como as well. This male was displaying his crest among a mixed group of Mallards and American Coots.