July 11 - The Grail Bird

During the afternoon of Friday July 10 there were reports out of Jones Beach that a Red Phalarope was being seen in the ponds near the West End's Teddy Roosevelt Nature Center.  Also this bird was reported to be in breeding plumage !
I had seen hundreds of this species while I was out in California in 2010, with some seen from shore & most others seen while on a pelagic birding boat ride.  However I had never seen the beautiful female in breeding plumage.  I called my friends of Andy and Jennifer to setup a meeting time for the next morning.   We got together at their place around 4:45 am in order to be on the beach just after 6:00.
We had excellent views of this bird for about 90 minutes.

 credit: The Mulberry Wing

credit: Issac Grant


Afterwards we drove to nearby Captree Island and had a brief look at the White-Faced Ibis that had been found by Arie Gilbert earlier this year.

Finally we continued farther east to Connetquot State Park for some fine views of the breeding Yellow-Throated Warblers.  This is a separate subspecies from the Yellow-Throated Warblers that I see in southern NewJersey.

After enduring a 30-minute delay on the George Washington Bridge, we finally made it back to New Jersey where a quick stop at the Richard DeKorte Park in the Meadowlands produced two American White Pelicans, and several Least Terns !