Negri-Nepote Grasslands 6/18--DICKCISSEL

We were in NJ today down in Toms River house hunting so after looking at a few places we thought our eyeballs could be put to better use and decided to drive up to Somerset to the Negri-Nepote Grasslands and try for the reported DICKCISSELS there.

We had never been to the grasslands so I was hoping that another birder or two might be there to point us the way, but when we arrived at 5 o'clock, we were the only ones there. I'd printed out a map of the reserve and remembered reading on line that the birds had been seen between the pond and "the house" so I shouldered our scope and off we marched. Pretty humid and pretty buggy. We saw some interesting birds on the way like Cedar Waxwings and a House Wren and when we were past the pond I set up the scope and sighted on a line of distant trees where I, for whatever reason, assumed the birds would be perched. No soap. I scanned all the power lines and came up with doves and blackbirds. Just as I was about to chalk it up as a valiant effort I saw a bird flash by in the high grass and come to perch on a stalk. It sang; the song matched the song I'd researched last night. We quickly scoped it and got our lifer Dickcissel with "field guide looks." It swayed on that long stalk of grass for three or four minutes, so we were really able to study this handsome bird, one I never really thought about getting as they are common in the Midwest, but not around here. So that was a very satisfying way to end the day.

18 species
 Mallard  1
Great Blue Heron  1    Flyover
Turkey Vulture  1
Mourning Dove  4
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Tree Swallow  10
House Wren  1
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
Cedar Waxwing  10
Common Yellowthroat  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
DICKCISSEL  1    Singing
Red-winged Blackbird  1
American Goldfinch  2

Some other birds seen today were 2 Eastern Kingbirds mobbing a crow at the Monmouth Rest Stop on the Parkway and the first White-breasted Nuthatch I've seen in quite a while in the woods behind a housing development in Whiting, NJ.