“On October 23, Sam Galick and Virginia Rettig discovered and photographed an ABA Code 3 Common Greenshank at the Brigantine Division of the Forsyth NWR in Atlantic County, New Jersey. Pending acceptance this is a 1st record for New Jersey and one of only a few records for the Atlantic coast of this widespread Eurasian shorebird.
Edwin B. Forsyth NWR is located just north of Atlantic City, New Jersey. It consists of two divisions, departed by about 20 miles, of which the northwestern Brigantine division is the most regularly visited by birders. The bird was seen along the Wildlife Drive, reportedly near the “dogleg”, a stretch along the northern side of the drive where the road turns northeast and back northwest again. The entrance to the Wildlife Drive is off US Route 9, onto Great Creek Rd.
Common Greenshank is a widespread tundra-breeding shorebird in the Old World. It is an uncommon, but regular, visitor to western Alaska, primarily in spring. There are fewer than 10 records for this species away from Alaska. All Common Greenshanks reportedin the eastern part of the continent have occurred in the Atlantic provinces. This is the farthest south in the ABA Area it has occurred in the east, though there are single records each from Barbados and Bermuda.
The phone began to ring, and the texts tweeted at me about this bird found Monday. For some reason, folks presumed I would be going to look for this bird the following day. Am I that predictable? Well, ...yes.
This is a code three bird; fairly regularly though rare in Alaska, but otherwise relatively unheard of here on the east coast. And Noo Joisey is much closer than Alaska.
I can recall a time when getting a co-conspirator was more difficult. Now, not so much, and its more like assembling a posse. The thing is, cars have only so many seats...
So what to do when there are more posse-ees than seats... Well it turns out I dodged a bullet in more ways than one. The weather forecast was atrocious, and this meant that I decided not to "enjoy" a long ride made longer by horrible weather conditions: 90% chance of rain all day with 25 mph winds also all day. Nope, better to stay home... house work... oh yay...
And while some hailed this as a glimmer of sanity on my part, I assuaged my disappointment by clinging to hope that the bird would deign to stick around so that I might get a view.
For the uninitiated, the bird is a shorebird aka sandpiper type device. It most closely resembles a Yellowlegs, but with pale green legs. I know what some of you are thinking: then why don’t we call them Greenlegs or Yellowshanks? Good question. Blame the British - I mean, have you ever heard how they mangle the pronunciation of our words?
Besides the leg color, this bird has a white rump with white extending up the back. But by far the best field mark for ID was made as an off-hand comment on Facebook. “... I would have passed it off as a leucistic Greater Yellowlegs..."
So as hoped for, the bird was relocated on Wednesday. This meant the texts and phone calls started coming in again, and a plan was being hatched.
A call from Earic Miller was expected as he had indicated interest previously if not for the weather being so awful. A text from Avian Resnick was a surprise however. He is not known for being spontaneous or impetuous; probably a hazard of his chosen profession; or perhaps an appropriate stereotype? Nevertheless he suffered a spontaneous relapse of "bird flu". Mind you, this is only the second time he has been stricken thusly. The first time was in hopes of seeing a Gray-crowned Rosyfinch way way upstate. On that occasion, we dipped on the quest so I superstitiously insisted that he not reprise that outcome!
The fourth participant was Arlene Rails. She and I were supposed to have gone hiking and beer sampling, but with a little coercion, accent on ‘little’, she agreed to the change in plans. The four of us rendezvoused at 5:30am, and off we went to Brigantine.
We made good time and arrived about 8am. It was a cold 45 degrees, and very windy, so we car-birded our way along the wildlife drive. The further along we went the more shorebirds we saw, and near the end of the first leg we saw flocks of 100 or so Yellowlegs that we scanned.
We thought we might have had a candidate, but with the sun to our right, and a congregation of cars on the next leg, we moved on to make better use of the light. Conditions here were ~ideal~ with the sun behind us. We stopped and scanned in a few places, but with a lot of cars on the drive, we chose to stop further down where the tall grasses stopped and allowed an unobscured view.
No sooner had we set up scopes when Earic said that it looked like the folks we had passed were now intently looking at something. He and I ran back there, soon followed by Avian and Arlene. The bird was there!! I was so glad we did not make a bee line to the location where the bird had been seen twice previously; you know, the 'scene of the crime'.
 |
| Brigantine Division of the Edwin Forsyth NWR The wildlife drive is only the perimeter. |
Looking at the bird it was easy to pick out in glasses or scope, and at times even bare eyed. But after some satisfying scope looks I ran back to get Avian’s car and my camera. The bird continued to cooperate and we enjoyed good looks. We were all pleased that the bird had been found so soon, and I inquired who had spotted it. The fellow introduced himself as Jason Hornbill, and I called Avian over as we didn’t recognize him nor he us. Jason had birded with us on a pelagic out of Hatteras NC back in 1993.
 |
| Co. Greenshank in foreground - Note lighter color of back and pale green legs. Gr Yellowlegs in rear. |
 |
| Co. Greenshank - left. Note large white 'Dowicher-like' mark on back Gr. Yellowlegs - right |
We may have seen the Greenshank again, but the cold and wind, and our slight unpreparedness moved us along. We headed up to Toms River and a favorite restaurant called "The Office" for well deserved comestibles and celebratory beers. This place has been a favorite stop form many many years, what with an expansive menu choice and many tasty beer choises on tap!
Founders Breakfast Stout was a unanimous choice for all but Avian, who was chauffeuring us. I also enjoyed a Cape May Honey Porter, because, Lifer! The recent taxonomic mishugas did not put a damper on things; IOW I had recently 'lost' Thayer's Gull, but with this sighting I was once again at 717 for my ABA list. Not too shabby :)
We returned home with little traffic delays and rejoiced at another perfectly executed twitch.
