Returning to Plainsboro Preserve in the morning, the feeders were far more active and I found two Common Redpolls in the trees next to the feeders, and then one on the feeder itself. There were also American Goldfinches and the other usual suspects. After this I drove south to Florence where I found the hoped-for triple of Lesser Black-backed Gull, Iceland Gull and Glaucous Gull. Ironically the Glaucous Gull seemed a little on the small side and the Iceland a little on the big side for these species but I've got no reason to doubt the ID and there's certainly a big variation in the size of immature gulls. Some of the immature Herrings at Florence looked quite small compared to the adults. Driving north along 206 near Columbus I saw a small goose amongst Canadas in flight - my hunch was Greater White-fronted but I did not get a good look and was unable to chase down the flock before I lost it in the air.

With intermittent rain I went to Whitesbog and a few stock northern NJ coastal ponds. Whitesbog did not hold the intermittently-reported Northern Shrike but there were Tundra Swans and American Tree Sparrows. This is a series of cranberry bogs (not sure if they are active or not), so bore some resemblance to Franklin Parker. A visit to Point Pleasant did not yield anything interesting - two Common Loons in the inlet but no Bonaparte's Gulls on the beach. Lake Como held a few ducks including Canvasback and Lesser Scaup. Silver Lake had a small flock of Brant and American Wigeon. Sylvan Lake, in Bradley Beach, also had American Wigeon and Brant but in this case the Wigeon flock contained a Eusrasian Wigeon. The flock was a little skittish and did not pose for photography. A local cop rolled up to me while I was there and asked me what I was doing, but since this was a weekday it wasn't surprising and he was happy enough with my answer and did not bother me further. Late in the day I went to Plainsboro Preserve to look for Redpolls but only found the usual suspects including many Yellow-rumped Warblers and some American Tree Sparrows.

Since I was going to Long Island anyway to do some paperwork at Brookhaven National Lab, I did a spot of birding either side of this - skimming multiple sites. At Jamaica Bay WR the waterfowl numbers were fairly low in the ponds but widely distributed over the bay. A few Snow Geese were dotted around, there were several American Tree Sparrows and a Hermit Thrush but nothing too remarkable. At the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach State Park there was a pair of Black Scoter sitting on the sand bar but not a huge amount of activity within visible range out in the bay. A flock of 30+ Snow Buntings were in the median strip near West End 1. At Massapequa Preserve the hardy shorebirds - a Greater Yellowlegs and six Long-billed Dowitchers were in the pond at Pittsburg Ave along with a few waterfowl including Green-winged Teal. After Brookhaven, Montauk Point held tends of thousands of sea ducks, mainly scoter of all three species but also many Common Eider too, a single fly-by Razorbill and a few Northern Gannets. Back at the Deep Hollow Ranch/Theodore Roosevelt Park the Barnacle Goose was in evidence but I didn't find the Pink-footed Goose that was seen earlier in the day. Finally, at Shinnecock Inlet I saw more Snow Buntings and a very distant glimpse at a Snowy Owl being harassed by a Peregrine.

I went into NYC early on Monday morning to track down the first winter Scott's Oriole that was being seen in Union Square Park, of all places. True to form the bird was seen quite easily - perching over my head in a tree pre-sunrise and returning to the small garden in the southwest corner of the park a couple of times to pose in the sunlight. This is potentially a first NY State record for this species.

Dissed by Short-eared Owls at Shawangunk NWR, I went to Pole Farm in chilly but less windy conditions the following afternoon. Getting there at 3pm the owls were already out hunting, outnumbering the Northern Harriers. There was also a couple of American Tree Sparrows at this site, along with the sadly expected behavior of two bird photographers trampling around in the habitat.

A brief foray into the southern edge of the Catskills in search of winter boreals netted some excellent looks at Pine Grosbeak in Grahamsville but unfortunately the civilized start time led to us missing feeder birds like Common Redpoll. The day was frigid (low 20's at most) with a brisk wind. So a visit to Shawangunk NWR near Wallkill in Ulster County was especially invigorating while scanning the fields for Short-eared Owl. While developing the early stages of frostbite we did see 4 Rough-legged Hawks including one dark morph and one that looked more intermediate than pale morph. That and several Northern Harriers dominated the field and we did not manage to wait out full darkness before retreating to the car to thaw out.

I took an hour before work to go look at the gulls at Florence. Florence is in the unlucky position of being on the NJ side of the Delaware River across from the Tullytown Dump. However this is somewhat of a boon for gull watchers, since there are two good overlooks onto the river (the boat ramp and Rivers Edge Park) that often make it possible to scope thousands of gulls in relatively good light, given patience. This morning wasn't the most productive time that I've ever had there and the accumulating flocks kept flying away, but nevertheless I found 25+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single immature Iceland Gull. No Glaucous for me this time, and it's been a couple of years since I last saw one here.

One of the few redemptions for a frustrating half-day's birding along the NJ coast was a Peregrine trying to kill a Ring-billed Gull near my apartment complex, and two Short-eared Owls at the Federal City Rd entrance to Pole Farm in Lawrenceville.

The CCP4 Study Weekend invited me to give a talk at this annual methods meeting. So I would up in Leeds in Great Britain for the 3rd-5th and after that at my parent's place in East Anglia. During the few days that I was there I returned to my old childhood birding grounds - the local patches Holbrook Bay and Alton Water, and also a day trip to the excellent nearby RSPB reserve Minsmere. Some distribution patterns have changed over the last 25 years: Little Egrets, a rarity in the 1980's, were overwintering a decent numbers (I saw at least 7 in one day) both on the Stour estuary and also on Alton Water - these birds did closely resemble the Western Reef-Heron that was in NYC this past summer; five (Western) Marsh Harriers were also overwintering at Minsmere. Sadly some passerines were notable by their absence: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is now borderline rare; Song Thrush appears to continue its decline; I only heard one and saw no Skylarks. The bird of the trip was the Little Egret (I'd seen precisely one before), and a male Smew seen at Minsmere.

On an otherwise slow day to start the year I was checking out a large flock of Canada Geese along Washington Road in Princeton when I came across two Cacking Geese in the flock of many hundreds of Canadas. One Cackling was classical Richardson's - square head, grayish, white edges to the upperpart feathers. The other Cackling was darker, a more rounded head, with a partial white collar at the front of the neck. Superficially Aleutian in appearance, it probably just reflects the inherent variation in Cackling Goose and may well have been Richardson's too. These were my first known Cacklings on the East Coast although Cacklings have been reported nearby from Mercer County Park and Rosedale Park. Another interesting bird for the day was an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk over my apartment complex.

I did a brief NJ North Shore loop on the afternoon of NY Eve. I struck out on the hybrid Snow X Brant Geese at Lake Como, and the Red-necked Grebe at Pt Pleasant. The latter at least in part because the location given on the JerseyBirds list was wrong. However I did find the adult Black-headed Gull close to the beach south of Manasquan Inlet (Point Pleasant side).

The year list came to 364 by the end of 2007, which happens to be my 3rd highest total, propelled by the Utah and Texas trips. My US list sits at 599.

Long-billed Murrelet strike-out.

Much colder but still sunny, I went out in the morning to Griggstown Grassland Preserve in Franklin Twp (NJ) and found very little indeed. The numerous Savannah Sparrows that were previously present were conspicuous by their absence. A few raptors (American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, both Vultures) were present, a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds, and the expected hardy winter species (Junco, Titmouse, Flicker). Two sparrow species that I did see were Song Sparrow and a probable Chipping Sparrow. It looks like this site is going to be quite quiet during the winter. Update: slightly more activity there two days later on a calm day, with five Savannahs, Song Sparrow and American Goldfinch, but numbers are unquestionably way down.

After the Masked and Muscovy Ducks in Texas, it seemed only natural to do another crazed road trip to go find the the Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese at the Deep Hollow Ranch in Theodore Roosevelt State Park in Montauk (NY). I saw the Barnacle Goose in the first 30 seconds, but the Pink-footed Goose took more effort - the reward for hiking the trail up the east side of the pasture was that I ran into 25 Red Crossbills in a mobile and vocal flock, and TWO Western Kingbirds perched together on a wire at the northern end of the pasture. The day was remarkably balmy. Both geese were ultimately quite cooperative:

There are more pictures at PFGU_2007.html. These were the first Western Kingbirds I've seen in NY, I think. I still remain cynical about Barnacle Geese on Long Island, although it's telling that there's another Barnacle Goose at Cape May right now. In a bit of inconsistency, Pink-footed Goose is in my USA list from the PA bird in 2005, but Barnacle Goose is still not included and I really don't want to make it USA #600. If I see the Cape May bird, I may have to add it however.

Hearing of a pair of breeding Masked Ducks in Texas, found in late October but reported in early November, I dithered a while about chasing this species - the presence of ducklings seemed to make the odds of finding them high, but it's a long way to fly just for one species. Nevertheless a cheap flight to Houston ($333 from Newark, incl. tax) found me on the way to TX in the very early morning of November 14th. After a 4 hour drive from Houston airport to the site, I found the Masked Ducks after 20 minutes. I think the adults had already left the site, which begs a few questions of birder pressure, but the juveniles were still present. I saw two the first day, and four or five on the 15th and 16th. Bad pictures were taken on the 16th:
I then went to the Rio Grande Valley, stopping at San Ygnacio and failing to find any Seedeaters. I managed to make it as far south as the Salineno boat launch around sundown, where there wasn't much going on but I spent the time talking to a birder (Ted). At 6pm, around the time we had both been thinking of leaving for a while, three Muscovy Ducks flew over our head, going upriver at dusk. We were both sure of the ID, and between the two of us saw pretty much all the ID marks although the light was pretty poor. I think there was one male and two females, based on the while shoulder patch of one of them. A startling and entirely lucky end to the day. You can find more on this trip at the TX 2007 trip report.