Day 257: September 13th – Birding Brigantine

Sunny, mid 70s with a light breeze

      We arrived down in Jersey around 12:00 PM and headed straight out to Brigantine unit of Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.  The tide was perfect as the mudflats were exposed.  Even in the middle of the day, if the shorebirds are around, they should be here. 

Mute swans and tree swallows

        As we entered the refuge, we were amazed at the number of swallows. Hundreds, more likely thousands, of tree swallows were everywhere we looked.  A constant flow of the birds were in the process of migrating down the coast and were taking advantage of the small insects associated with the wetlands.  Fortunately for us, the green headed flies have all but disappeared by this time of year.  Unfortunately, the mosquitoes have attempted to take their place.  Even these have not become a major distraction, however, so we had great weather and great conditions all around for our 8 mile drive around the refuge.

        What a beautiful sight to see the expanse of wetland vegetation punctuated by the pure white plumage of the Great egrets and Snowies. 

       What we did not find an abundance of were the shorebirds and waders we were hoping to see.  Greater and Lesser yellowlegs were sporadically found usually hanging out in small groups of a half dozen or less. 

       We have seen immature Black-crowned Night herons and their parents each time we have visited the refuge over the past couple of months.  Today was no different save that the juveniles seem to be a bit more brazen…..standing out in the warmth of the mid-day sun while their ever attentive parents perched back in the cover of the vegetation.  It will take about 3 years for the young Black-Crowns to reach full maturity. A juvenile like this one has yellow-orange eyes, yellow-green legs and a dark brown plumage with cream colored spots and streaks. His belly is streaked brown and white.. The second year bird has more of a plumage like the adult; it will be browner with a dark cap and back and brown wings and neck.

       We had mammals as well as birds out on the refuge today.  Three white-tailed deer were out in the middle of the main impoundment grazing on the vegetation.

       There were also large numbers of red-winged black birds, but for the most part they were females.  The females look nothing like the males and at first look appear more like sparrows on steroids than their male counterparts.

       By days end, we had just shy of 40 species, but were surprised that we came across few of the migrating shorebirds we had expected.  It has been a warmer than normal summer and perhaps the insects and seeds are abundant enough to keep some of the migrants in the breeding grounds a bit longer than usual.  We’ll continue to monitor the movement of the birds as autumn approaches and the days become shorter.