Miss me? Well, I’m still down in NJ, but I am finally getting back out to do some birding, so I’ll start checking in on occasion again.

Other than a few quick trips to my local patch down here - Duke Island Park - today was my first real birding trip in a week. I needed a half-day of thinking of nothing other than birds, so I headed to one of my most favorite birding destinations: Sandy Hook. Jutting out into the Raritan Bay, pointing north towards New York City, this narrow spit of sand is one of the top birding destinations in the state. No matter what the weather, and time of season, Sandy Hook rarely fails to produce.

Stiff northwest winds off the water today made for a rather chilly morning and reduced landbird activity. However, large mixed flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles were battling northward through the wind during the morning hours. Waterfowl are certainly on the move down here, so I focused my attention on the more sheltered coves and inlets along the peninsula’s length. A Northern Harrier coursed low over Plum Island, startling American Black Ducks and Red-breasted Mergansers into flight. A raft of Greater Scaup was in Spermacetti Cove. A small flock of Cedar Waxwings, a handful of Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a few Black-capped Chickadees (an isolated population found on Sandy Hook) worked the sheltered woods around the Boy Scout Camp, and I was excited to flush an American Woodcock from near the Rusty Barn.

North Pond, below the hawkwatching deck that I spent many a cold and foggy morning on one spring not long ago, was mostly open and held the bird of the day: a drake Eurasian Wigeon, which has been seen around the Hook for some time now (and it was, according to my checklist, my 221st “Hook Bird.” And, on the way out, I spotted an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull roosting with the “regulars” on the Plum Island sandbar. Only 38 species in about 4 hours – well below average, and a bit of windburn, but otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyable way to clear one’s head.