Crabbing with Yellow-crowned Night-Herons

 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are very much crustacean specialists, eating in large part crabs, although they will also eat small fish, frogs, reptiles and mammals just like other herons.  I've even seen them feeding in fields at night, presumably eating insects and/or mammals.  Thursday night at Heislerville I watched three, two adults and an immature bird, catch crab after crab right as the sun was setting.

Sometimes Shorebirds Sleep at Night

We spent the entire afternoon and evening at the Heislerville shorebird impoundment mist-netting again today, and had a fairly big day catching about 115 birds in all.  We started around 1:30 and before all of our nets were set up, even, the first birds were hitting the nets.  A steady stream kept coming all day, mostly Semipalmated Sandpipers (SESA), but also a few each of Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers.  We also caught a Great-crested Flycatcher, a Barn Swallow, and a Red-winged Blackbird.

We flagged every SESA, and took blood from almost every one as well.  We kept catching birds all the way up until dark, and then had to catch up on banding the last birds.  Although SESAs often get "sleepy" in the hand (not a sign of stress as in songbirds), at night every SESA I flagged basically went right to sleep.  God they're adorable.  This one was sleeping long enough for me to whip out the iPhone for a quick picture.

The overcast conditions today, probably contributed to our large catch, although with 20,000 birds at the impoundment, it was bound to happen.  In the next week or so, we may get as many as 50,000 birds roosting and feeding on the impoundment at high tide, so our catches will get bigger and bigger.

 The sun did come out for a little while though.  Here's a view of our nets from the dike where we band, flag, and take blood from the birds.

 I'm looking pretty cool in my bug shirt and headlamp.  Gotta keep out the mosquitoes and no-see-ums, while flagging in the dark.  By the time we got back it was already past 11:00 pm, then we spun and processed our dozens of blood samples until 1:00am.  What a night.

Long day of Shorebird Mist-netting

By Luke Musher

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Yesterday we set up mist nets at the Heislerville shorebird impoundments, one of our usual banding locales.  On the bright side, there were thousands of birds, and many more thousands than we've been having at this spot.  The only problem was that they weren't flying into our nets!  We caught 17 birds during our 11 hours (!!!) in the field - 15 Least Sandpipers, and 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers.  Needless to say, we were very bored most of the day.  The highlights were watching World Series of Birding teams rushing by, sorting through the hoards of shorebirds, and taking tons of photos.  

A young South African birder came by and told us about a male Wilson's Phalarope he found. Unfortunately I couldn't leave my post and the bird was in with thousands of shorebirds that were completely backlit for me.  I radioed Tom Magarian, who was at the mist nets across the impoundment, and so in better light.  He was able to locate the bird.  I thought I had the phalarope silhouette for a few seconds, but then lost it after adjusting my scope - rookie mistake.  Shorebirds I did see throughout the day included Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least, Semipalmated, and White-rumped Sandpipers, and three flyover American Oystercatcher.  A Merlin kept the flock moving around for a little while in the middle of the day.  Tom and the rest of the crew on the other side of the impoundment watched it catch and fly off with a peep.

Our nets...without birds in them.

Oh look a flock of 17 Least Sandpiper right by our nets.  None of them got caught.

Fish or American Crow?  A good photo quiz, perhaps. Comment on this post with thoughts. (Hint: look at wing shape)

Least Sandpiper, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Black Skimmer, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Clapper Rail, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Pretty, pretty, pretty cute

So many shorebirds present. Here, mostly Semipalmated Sandpiers and Short-billed Dowitchers with a couple Dunlin and Semipalmated Plovers

Short-billed Dowitcher, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Two Shorebirds

By Luke Musher
Our first day in the field for my shorebird technician position was slow (and buggy!!!) today, but at least we got to handle two species.  The first bird was a Least Sandpiper, and the second was a Short-billed Dowitcher.  Check it -

Expect more of this soon.  We should catch upwards of 1500 Semipalmated Sandpipers by the begining of June along with Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, and these two.  There's always the chance of Curlew Sandpiper at Heislerville!

White-faced Ibis and Stilt Sandpiper at Heislerville

By Luke Musher

At the end of the day today I went over to Heislerville with my co-workers/roommates, Steph and Nick.  Lots of new shorebirds out and about including Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, a single Stilt Sandpiper (pretty rare in spring), Willet, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and Ruddy Turnstone.  Someone else had White-rumped Sandpipers (making a total of 12 species).  I'll definitely be back in the morning to check it out again.

A White-faced Ibis was present with the Glossy Ibis on the south impoundment.  I digiscoped some photos with my iPhone.

I'm adding this photo a little late, but it's just to show that I've had all three North American Ibises in two days!  This White Ibis was present all day yesterday, 4/30/2012, at the Wetlands Institute near Stone Harbor, NJ.  

On a separate note, the solution to the tern photo quiz will be up tonight or tomorrow.  I sincerely apologize about the delay but I've been pretty busy with my new job.