Clapper Rail

We drove down to Brigantine for some Saturday morning birding. We had our hopes set on seeing a bittern since some have been reported there lately. While looking for bitterns, instead we found a Clapper Rail. Similar behavior to the Soras we have seen with the darting in and out of the reeds, but it was the longer bill than the sora that made us question what it was, and it wasn't as striped as the bitterns. After a bit of research, we are pretty confident that it's the clapper rail.

Mike was lucky enough to see the endangered California Clapper Rail on a recent trip and now we've both seen his eastern relative.

Eastern Bluebird from Brigantine

We don't get Eastern Bluebirds in our yard or neighborhood, so this somewhat common bird is an uncommon treat for us when we do get to see them.

Hooded Merganser at Brigantine

The Hooded Merganser duck is one of our very favorites to see, and with our lake being drained for repairs this fall, we were feeling very deprived. Fortunately our trip to Brigantine included seeing this one male, but we sure would have liked to have seen many more!

More Birds from Brigantine on a Lovely (but brisk) Fall Morning

Yellow Rumped Warbler

White-throated Sparrow

Hermit Thrush

Savannah Sparrow

Eastern Meadowlark at Brigantine

It's always a good birding day when you can add another bird to your life list. Today at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (aka Brigantine), Chris spotted a largish bird in a tree being harassed by some smaller birds. It turned out to be an eastern meadowlark. We stayed for a while and it flew and was joined by 3-4 others.

Red Fox at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge

 

 

 

 

We know it's supposed to be a bird blog, but sometimes when out birding we run into other wildlife that we can't resist photographing. This morning one of the first sightings we made at Forsythe was this adorable red fox. We were so close it was actually difficult to get a picture of this whole body. He was playing or trying to pounce on something for quite a while and didn't seem to mind us watching, so we backed off a little and got some more shots.

Brigantine: Birds in Flight

Seagull

Snow Geese Landing

Northern Harrier

Brigantine: Ducks

Northern Pintails

American Black Duck

Hooded Merganser

Ruddy Ducks

Many migrating ducks are returning to Brigantine. There were at least 100 pintails around, but just one hooded merganser.

Brigantine: Waterfowl

 

 

 

Brant

Mike and Chris have a disagreement about Brants. Mike thinks they are worth stopping for. Chris doesn't.

Last of the Brigantine Photos

Osprey

Sparrow

Carolina Wren

This was our first time at Brigantine. Here are the last of the Brigantine bird photos. Chris spotted a small bird, most likely a sparrow with some blue on its head and a brown body, but we weren't ably to identify or photograph it. The bird highlight for us was the meadowlark, but the fox was special too.