Today we gave our friend Sue (check out her blog: SUZE, CYCLING) her Pine Barrens tour. She's the first guest in our house and we're excited about entertaining her.
Sue & I started out this morning walking the WMA behind the house. Not much was happening, as is often the case, until we were walking back and the sun had started to heat up the woods. Then we came upon the proverbial "mixed flock" of bluebirds, kinglets, woodpeckers, chickadees and titmice.
Whiting WMA
14 species
Mallard 5 f/o
Turkey Vulture 1
Mourning Dove 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 10
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Then the 3 of us drove over to Whitesbog, where the commercial blueberry was first cultivated, to give her a look at some real cranberry bogs and to see if there were any Tundra Swans around. There were, and not much else to be seen, but the bogs did impress.
Whitesbog
4 species
Tundra Swan 37
Turkey Vulture 1
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 1
It was extremely windy today, so I was trying to keep away from water and open area as much as possible. I suggested we hit Eno's Pond which would be protected somewhat by the surrounding woods. It would also give us a chance to eat lunch at the Mud City Crabcake House. I wish the light had been better there (the clouds grayed up the atmosphere) because there was an interesting hawk-like bird flying overhead that I couldn't identify since it was just silhouetted against the sky. Still, the female Belted Kingfisher was still on the pond and we did catch sight of a Sharp-shinned Hawk patrolling the skies, which may have been why the numerous robins were so vocal today--predator alert.
Eno's Pond
7 species
Mallard 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
American Robin 50
After a good lunch (definitely will keep Mud City in mind for future meals) we decided to recreate the end of Monday's trip and drove the 15 minutes or so down to Barnegat. The observation platform this time held less than nothing, but the cut in the phragmites on Bayshore was jumping with ducks and other waterfowl, as well as 8 Great Blues standing in the reeds like a police lineup.
Forsythe--Barnegat
10 species
Mute Swan 5
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 10
Northern Shoveler 2
Northern Pintail 5
Green-winged Teal 25
Hooded Merganser 25
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Great Blue Heron 8
American Coot 25
Then, as Shari & I on Monday, we literally just turned around and scanned Barnegat Bay. Long-tailed Ducks and Buffleheads were in the water and made Sue happy.
Barnegat Beach
4 species
Canada Goose 20
Long-tailed Duck 3
Bufflehead 4
Herring Gull 2
33 species knocking around today. Tomorrow, when it is supposed to be less windy, we plan to go to Barnegat Light and Brig. With any kind of luck, we'll rack up the species for Sue.
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