Assunpink WMA 1/6--White-crowned Sparrow

We went on a field trip today to Assunpink WMA, led by NJ Audubon's Scott Barnes. Assunpink is a huge WMA (I didn't realize how huge until today) about 1/2 hour from here up in Monmouth County. We've birded it a few times, but the place seemed unwieldy to me so I was very interested to see where Scott looked for birds. Because so much of the shore is closed down due to storm damage, these inland spots are taking on more significance for Jersey birders, so we really need to get more familiar and comfortable there. Sunday is the best day to bird there--no hunting allowed except for clay pigeons on the skeet shooting range.

Last time we were there in December, we were looking for a Northern Shrike, which we didn't find. I asked Scott when was the last time it had been reported there and he said he'd seen it earlier this morning when he was scouting out various spots. The bird is quickly becoming a nemesis species, because despite 2 trips today to the field where he'd spotted it this morning, it never showed. "Shrike Three!" I was ready to call out this afternoon after our 2nd trip through the field. It is especially aggravating because a few years ago we saw a shrike at Jones Beach that had been reliably reported as a Northern Shrike only to have it morph into a Loggerhead Shrike after much online debate. At one point today we thought we had the shrike in the scope sitting atop a tree; alas, it turned out to be the easily mistaken lookalike, Northern Mockingbird. Nemesis.

But that was the only disappointment of the day. Excellent species abounded. My two stand outs for the day are the White-crowned Sparrows we saw along a driveway to a farm on Imlaystown Road (I noted that Scott said that this was reliable spot for this hard to get sparrow through the Spring) and a personal favorite, a Brown Creeper in a section of the WMA we'd never been to. This section has as a landmark an aviation beacon atop a small hill. The bluebirds seemed to like roosting on its apparatus. Also on that hill is a nice stand of Norway spruces where we heard a Winter Wren and saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

I've got a much better feel for Assunpink after today's trip; I won't feel like I'm always in the wrong field next time we got there. And since the shrike has been there since mid-December, there's no reason it can't spend the entire winter not being seen by us.

Our list for today:
35 species
Canada Goose  25    f/o
Mute Swan  4
American Black Duck  4
Mallard  6    f/o
Bufflehead  1
Common Merganser  3
Ruddy Duck  41
Great Blue Heron  3
Turkey Vulture  1
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Killdeer  1
Ring-billed Gull  20
Herring Gull  2
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1    Heard
Northern Flicker  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1    Heard
Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard
Tufted Titmouse  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Brown Creeper  1
Winter Wren  1    Heard, fields by aviation beacon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Eastern Bluebird  9
Northern Mockingbird  4
European Starling  200
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Song Sparrow  3
White-throated Sparrow  2
White-crowned Sparrow  3    Farm on Imlaystown Road
Dark-eyed Junco  10
Northern Cardinal  1    Heard