The trails, though were full of birds and we enjoyed especially the bluebirds and the waxwing we found. Chickadees were also about. Allaire falls along the demarcation line of the range separating Black-capped Chickadee from Carolina Chickadee. It is in central Jersey that they overlap and they can be devilishly difficult to tell apart. ("Devilishly?" I've been reading a lot of Edith Wharton lately.)
The two best ways of distinguishing them is by voice and the amount of white they have in their wings. At this time of year they're not singing (Black-capped: 2 notes; Carolina: 3 notes) and it is pretty difficult to decide how many "dee-dee-dees" they're calling per second. So most of the ones I saw or heard I had to let go as "Black-capped/Carolina." But a couple at the feeders stayed still long enough for me to see the extra amount of white in their wings and on their shoulders to let me call them Black-capped. In reality, they're probably all hybrids anyway.
But the highlight of the day was another roadside sighting of a game bird (last week it was pheasants) when Shari pointed out 4 hen Wild Turkeys foraging alongside the Garden State Parkway, just north of the Monmouth County/Ocean County line. Not only a new year bird for me, but a new Jersey bird as well. This time Shari couldn't, of course, screech to a halt and turn the car around for us to get a better look, but turkeys at 60 mph are pretty obvious and still count.
22 species for the day:
| Canada Goose |
| Mallard |
| Wild Turkey |
| Turkey Vulture |
| Mourning Dove |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| Downy Woodpecker |
| Hairy Woodpecker |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| Tufted Titmouse |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Eastern Bluebird |
| American Robin |
| Northern Mockingbird |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| White-throated Sparrow |
| Dark-eyed Junco |
| Northern Cardinal |
| House Finch |
No comments:
Post a Comment