Southern Ocean County, 1/4/2026: Rule #3 and a pair of Ross’s Geese

     On Sunday I headed down to Long Beach Island at the southern end of the county to help a friend who was doing the beach portion of the annual Holgate Christmas Bird Count. I normally don’t participate in CBC’s only because I like to bird on my time, at my pace and where I want.  My friend had asked me a couple of times, so I didn’t want to diss him.  He already had enough people to help him which allowed me to meet up with them well after they started.  The ocean was very flat, and it didn’t take me long to realize that there was not going to be very much to find on this walk.  That was also about the time that Rule #3 came into play.

Rule #3, actually Law #3, comes from Zirlin’s Laws of Birding.  You won’t find these laws published anywhere as they come from the mind of my friend, Larry.  They are his own personal axioms, that over time have proven their salt with me.  Law #3 states, “Wherever you are, you should be somewhere else.” Once I arrived at the Holgate location, I started walking along the beach to meet up with the other counters.  I was about a mile down the beach when I got news of a possible arctic loon reported at the Barnegat Light side of Barnegat Inlet.  If you are not familiar with Long Beach Island (LBI as it is known locally), it is a township along an approximately 20-mile stretch of barrier island from Barnegat Inlet to Holgate.  So, yeah, I was a good half hour away.  If the report was confirmed, it would be only the second record of arctic loon in New Jersey.  I decided to stay the course until I heard more information.

Very soon after that, Larry himself texted me that he had come upon 17 greater white-fronted geese in Manahawkin.  17 white-fronted geese is an abnormally high number and would have been a county record high except for the 24 that I found last February at a park closer to home.  Larry’s geese were also about a half hour away and, at that time, I was about two miles from my car.  Again, I stayed the course and texted Larry, “Law #3.”  He replied, “Well for you not me.”

By the time we all got back to our cars, the only bird of interest that I saw on the beach was a young snowy owl.  It was my first in over four years. There was no new information on the loon but we then got word of a pair of Ross’s geese at Harvey Cedars in LBI.  It was nearly nine years to the day since I last saw a Ross’s goose.  Since Harvey Cedars is up the road about three-quarters of the way (15 miles) to Barnegat Light, I figured I would try double-dipping the geese and the loon.  Before heading out I texted Larry a heads up about the geese.  His response was simply, “NOW it’s Law #3 for me.”  Karma, Larry.  Karma.

Ross’s geese at Harvey Cedars, Long Beach Island, NJ.  1/4/2026.  © S. Weiss

As soon as I arrived at the Harvey Cedars location, I immediately picked out the two Ross’s geese mixed in with a foraging flock of Canada geese.  Two small white geese are not too hard to find amongst much larger and darker geese.  After documenting them with a few photographs, I continued on to Barnegat Light State Park to see if the possible arctic loon was around.  There had been no updates on the bird.  I ran into my friend Doug there (he had first reported the aforementioned geese) and he had no luck with the loon.  Since I had driven there anyway, I walked the long jetty path from the lighthouse to the inlet mouth with no luck.  In fact, I only saw one loon, that being a common loon.

By the time I left Barnegat Light SP, I was getting tired.  I had walked nearly six miles of beach and jetty.  I decided to make one more stop since I was already at the southern portion of the county.  I went a little more south to Stafford Forge WMA to see the trumpeter swan candidate for the new year.  On my way there I passed by the goose location, and they were all gone.  It was a good thing I stopped for them earlier.  When I arrived at Stafford Forge, I quickly saw the swan as it was the only bird on the mostly frozen lake.  My day was done.

The snowy owl and Ross’s geese saved the day.  Hopefully there will be other opportunities to get white-fronted geese.  As for the arctic loon, it’s either a life bird that I missed, or another loon misidentified.  Either way, I will be scrutinizing every loon I see for the rest of this winter.