This weekend had a lunar theme.  Firstly, on Friday, a beautiful BLUE MOON(the last until 2018)
 Photo by Lisa Ann Fanning- taken iPhone through Spotting Scope.    

Then yesterday, word that a friend had a LUNA moth on his garage door in East Brunswick. (Thanks Rich!) We were able to stop by and see this beautiful creature up close.  
   
    
  

  
   
 

   
 

   
 

  
 

By Rob and Lisa Ann Fanning

This year’s World Series was one for the history books.   Fog socked in the state to the south, so visibility and migration were nill.   Teams across the state struggled to add birds for their total. The wining team only saw 208 species (very low by most years’ standards.)

 

  

Our Team (The Sandy Hook Century Run Team) is a non-competitive team, who’s goal it is to see at least 100 species (usually around 125-140.)  We fell just short of that goal and ended up at 94 species for the day. 

The important part is that we are raising funds for New Jersey Audubon’s All Things Birds Initiative. As a team, we raised in excess of $4,500 for important education programs and conservation initiatives.  Thank you to those who contributed and made it possible. 

Rob and I arrived early to listen for nocturnal birds, and while we did not hear our main target (the Chuck-will’s-widow) one of our team members did.

We did, however see and hear some great birds all day. We birded from 5am until almost 7pm.    

Some of our personal highlights were: American Woodcock (heard), Black-bellied and Piping Plovers, Clapper Rail (in flight), Common and Least Terns, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow Warblers, White-crowned Sparrow, and a brilliant Indigo Bunting to end the day.

A cumulative species list follows:  (note not all species were seen by all team members.)

NEW JERSEY AUDUBON’S WORLD SERIES OF BIRDING

17^TH ANNUAL SANDY HOOK CENTURY RUN

May 9, 2015 5:30 am to 7 pm

28 people, including leaders

 94 species total

Brant Canada Goose Mute Swan Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Red-breasted Merganser Red-throated Loon Common Loon Northern Gannet Double-crested Cormorant Least Bittern Great Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Glossy Ibis Turkey Vulture Osprey Cooper’s Hawk Clapper Rail American Oystercatcher Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Piping Plover Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs

Willet Lesser Yellowlegs  Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Least Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher American Woodcock Bonaparte’s Gull Laughing Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Least Tern Common Tern Forster’s Tern Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Chuck-will’s-Widow Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Merlin Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee House Wren

Carolina Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher American Robin  Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Northern Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat American Redstart Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Seaside Sparrow  Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Boat-tailed Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow

 

 

 

 

The next day, we recovered by doing what else? Birding! 

 



(As seen from I-78)

Date range: Feb 7, 2015 – Feb 16, 2015 
Total # of Species: 163 
Total # of Checklists: 31
 
 
Location(s):   Aransas Bay–Rockport/Fulton to Aransas NWR by boat; Bentsen-Rio Grande Val. SP WBC (Mission) (LTC 069); Bishop; Brooks; Brownsville; Cameron Co.- Hwy100 (E. Ocean Blvd.); Cameron Co.–Hwy100–Aplomado Viewing Area; Estero Llano Grande SP WBC (LTC 054); FM 490 to Starr border; Falfurrias Rest Area (LTC 004); H E B – Mission TX; Harris; Hidalgo; Houston TX – The Heights; Jara Chinas Rd; Kleburg Co. TX – 285; Laguna Atascosa NWR–Buena Vista Blvd. (within refuge); Mission Nature Park; Port Aransas; Resaca de la Palma SP WBC (Brownsville) (LTC 048); San Jacinto Battleground (UTC 041); Santa Ana NWR (LTC 059); South Padre Is.–Birding and Nature Center; Texas; US-TX-Port Isabel – 26.0912x-97.3275 – Feb 12, 2015, 11:14 AM; Yturria Tract (Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR)
 
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Snow Goose

Gadwall

American Wigeon

Mottled Duck

Blue-winged Teal

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Lesser Scaup

Bufflehead

Hooded Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Ruddy Duck

Plain Chachalaca

Common Loon

Least Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe

Eared Grebe

Neotropic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Tricolored Heron

Reddish Egret

Cattle Egret

Green Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

White Ibis

White-faced Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

White-tailed Kite

Hook-billed Kite

Northern Harrier

Cooper’s Hawk

Bald Eagle

Harris’s Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Clapper Rail

Sora

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Sandhill Crane

Whooping Crane

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

American Oystercatcher

Black-bellied Plover

Killdeer

Spotted Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet

Lesser Yellowlegs

Long-billed Curlew

Marbled Godwit

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Dunlin

Least Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher

Wilson’s Snipe

Bonaparte’s Gull

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Caspian Tern

Forster’s Tern

Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Inca Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Greater Roadrunner

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Green Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Aplomado Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Green Parakeet

Black Phoebe

Eastern Phoebe

Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

Couch’s Kingbird

Loggerhead Shrike

White-eyed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Green Jay

Blue Jay

Chihuahuan Raven

Horned Lark

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Cave Swallow

Black-crested Titmouse

Verdin

Sedge Wren

Carolina Wren

Cactus Wren

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Red-vented Bulbul

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Eastern Bluebird

Clay-colored Thrush

Curve-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling

American Pipit

Cedar Waxwing

Black-and-white Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Gray-crowned Yellowthroat

Tropical Parula

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Painted Redstart

Olive Sparrow

Cassin’s Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Black-throated Sparrow

Lark Bunting

Savannah Sparrow

Lincoln’s Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Pyrrhuloxia

Black-headed Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Painted Bunting

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Western/Eastern Meadowlark

Brewer’s Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Bronzed/Brown-headed Cowbird

Altamira Oriole

Lesser Goldfinch

House Sparrow

On Sunday 12-14-14, we covered our CBC sector area which includes Allendale (incl the Celery Farm), Franklin Lakes and areas nearby.
Our sector personally saw 49 species and were told about 2 additional (Red-winged Blackbird and Green-winged Teal) for a total of 51 reported.

Our personal results are below:

Fyke CBC Sector 3, Bergen, US-NJ
Dec 14, 2014 6:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Canada Goose 368
Mute Swan 16
Gadwall 23
American Black Duck 16
Mallard 141
Northern Shoveler 13
Ring-necked Duck 82
Lesser Scaup 2
Bufflehead 1
Hooded Merganser 6
Common Merganser 30
Ruddy Duck 12
Wild Turkey 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-tailed Hawk 5
American Coot 39
Ring-billed Gull 21
Herring Gull 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 34
Mourning Dove 33
Eastern Screech-Owl 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 13
Downy Woodpecker 28
Hairy Woodpecker 7
Northern Flicker 2
Blue Jay 61
American Crow 40
Fish Crow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 40
Tufted Titmouse 27
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 22
Brown Creeper 3
Winter Wren 2
Carolina Wren 13
American Robin 51
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling 181
American Tree Sparrow 7
Song Sparrow 10
White-throated Sparrow 18
Dark-eyed Junco 50
Northern Cardinal 17
House Finch 12
Purple Finch 11 at Celery Farm – mostly in one flock
Pine Siskin 2 Heard flying over Celery Farm
American Goldfinch 52
House Sparrow 238 approx 100 at Lorrimer

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

Can you find the Paraque and McCall’s Eastern Screech owl in these photos taken in Rio Grande Valley last week?

Report Details
Nov 5, 2014 – Nov 9, 2014
Total # of Species: 140 combined

Location(s): Bentsen-Rio Grande Val. SP WBC (Mission) (LTC 069); El Canelo Ranch (LTC 010); Estero Llano Grande SP WBC (LTC 054); Falfurrias Rest Area (LTC 004); Frontera Audubon Center (LTC 058); Laguna Vista (LTC 032); McAllen- Parakeet roost (10th Str. b/w Violet & Dove); Quinta Mazatlan WBC (LTC 063); Salineño (LTC 080); South Padre Is.–WBC/Conv. Center/Laguna Madre Trail (LTC 035); US-TX; US-TX-Harlingen; US-TX-Mission – 26.2374x-98.4020 – Nov 6, 2014, 12:33 PM; US-TX-Rio Grande City; William P. Hobby Airport

Species Name
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret (Lisa only)
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Harris’s Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Gray Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Clapper Rail
Sora
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Laughing Gull
Franklin’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Groove-billed Ani
Eastern Screech-Owl
Common Pauraque
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Ringed Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Red-crowned Parrot
Green Parakeet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch’s Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Clay-colored Thrush
Gray Catbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Painted Redstart
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark
Brewer’s Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Verdin (Rob only)
House Sparrow

Non-bird species of note:
Butterflies
Queen
Monarch
White Peacock
“Patch” (trying to determine real name)
Texas two tail
Swallowtail sp

Reptiles
American Alligator
Blue Spiny Lizard

So hard to believe hurricane Sandy was two years ago… Sometimes Mother Nature gives you a hug with her beauty!

Originally posted by Monmouth County Audubon.

Stop senseless habitat destruction on Sandy Hook

Members and Friends,

The National Park Service has announced a plan to relocate maintenance facilities at Sandy Hook to areas that provide critical bird habitat. The proposed action would result in destruction of this critical habitat in order to construct new facilities and expand existing development.

Your urgent action is needed to OPPOSE this plan. Please submit comments against the proposal by October 22, 2014 to the website or address below.

NPS is considering two sites for development for the new facility. One area, the “well and water treatment plant site,” runs from the north end of the Scout Camp north to the intersection of the bike path and the unused portion of Randolph Road. This area contains the largest and oldest contiguous piece of coastal maritime/holly forest in Monmouth County. It is well known by birders as a prime spot for birding, especially in migration. Bird banding study in this very area has documented this forest as a critical stopover site for migrating birds.

A second site under consideration, the “tent city” site, runs along Gunnison Road adjacent to the MAST campus and into the wooded area behind the NOAA Marine Sciences Lab. The area is currently undeveloped grassy scrub and forest. The lots along Gunnison Road are known by birders to attract sparrows in the fall migration. The site is also the location of an active Osprey nesting platform. Maps and the NPS’ statement regarding the proposal can be found at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/gate and click on the link titled Relocate Maintenance Facilities to More Sustainable Locations – Sandy Hook.

Monmouth County Audubon opposes the proposed relocation to either of these sites. Please submit comments OPPOSING the plan.

Key points against this plan include:

* NPS should not undertake any new construction that involves removal of old trees, native vegetation and wildlife habitat when there are existing developed areas and abandoned buildings on Sandy Hook that can be refurbished, re-purposed and re-adapted for use as the maintenance facility.

* Both areas under consideration are important bird habitat. The “well and water treatment plant” site encompasses dense, old maritime forest which provides critical habitat for both nesting and migrating songbirds. An ongoing bird banding study being done by the College of Staten Island documents use of this forest by thousands of migratory birds, including New Jersey state-threatened and endangered species. The “tent city” site also provides habitat for nesting and migrating birds, including Henslow’s Sparrow, a federally endangered Species.

* The proposed sites do not provide a “sustainable” location for the maintenance facilities because both areas flooded during Superstorm Sandy and will likely flood again in future storms.

* The proposal would cost approximately $24 million dollars, a poor use of taxpayers’ money which should instead be spent on refurbishing existing buildings.

* Relocating maintenance facilities to either proposed site would negatively impact visitor use and experience at Sandy Hook by destroying prime birding locations or making them unavailable to the public.

* The NPS has the duty and responsibility to preserve and protect the natural resources of Sandy Hook for future generations. The proposed plan violates this mission.

We urge you to submit your comments by OCTOBER 22, 2014, online at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=237&projectID=49465&documentID=61398
You may also submit your comments by mail to:

Office of the Superintendent
Gateway National Recreation Area
ATTN: Sandy Hook Unit Maintenance Facilities Relocation EA Comments
210 New York Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10305

Thank you for your support!
Monmouth County Audubon Society