Belleplain SF 4/27--Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Worm-eating, Prothonotary, Hooded, Yellow-throated Warblers, Summer Tanager

White-eyed Vireo
Photo: Shari Zirlin

We started our weekend of field trips with Pete Bacinski at Belleplain State Forest in Cape May County. Shari & I had only birded this forest once, almost 5 years ago. It's a big place and hard to know where the best spots are if you're not a local or a regular visitor. Interestingly, the one well-known area called "The Triangle" that we remembered going to in 2008 turns out to no longer be the hot spot it once was. "Birded out," according to Karen Johnson, who was assisting Pete.

The one bird that Shari & I really wanted to see was Worm-eating Warbler. We had heard this bird when we were in Belleplain last time, but that was our only encounter with the bird. Happily, the group was treated to long looks at one not too high up in a tree. I had studied it's trilling song, more insect-like than a Pine Warbler's song and not as mechanical as a Chipping Sparrow's, and when we got out of the car I heard one and immediately recognized it. Others were on the bird a lot faster than I was, but eventually, with enough people tugging me this way and that I was able to get the "field guide" look at it. Shari didn't have nearly as hard a time finding it once I was able to point her to it. So, in a way, we feel like we got a life bird today.

It was something of a Warbler Fest in the forest today, as you would hope during Spring migration. Some of the warblers I only heard but I was fine with that because I've at least seen them in the past. Ovenbirds, for instance, were all over the place, chef chef cheffing away wherever we stopped, but I still haven't seen one this year and I'm okay with that. We had 9 warbler species, 2 vireos and a Summer Tanager as the highlights of the morning's birding. 44 species in all.

Then, we went to Heislerville (see above).

Belleplain list:
Double-crested Cormorant  6    f/o HQ
Black Vulture  1
Turkey Vulture  6
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  1
Laughing Gull  2    f/o HQ
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1    HQ Feeder
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard
Hairy Woodpecker  1    Heard
Eastern Phoebe  1
White-eyed Vireo  5
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  1    Heard
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
Ovenbird  10    Heard
Worm-eating Warbler  1
Black-and-white Warbler  5    Heard
Prothonotary Warbler  1    Heard
Hooded Warbler  1    Heard
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  3
Yellow-throated Warbler  1
Prairie Warbler  3
Eastern Towhee  1    Heard
Chipping Sparrow  2
Field Sparrow  1    Heard
White-throated Sparrow  5
Summer Tanager  1
Northern Cardinal  1    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Eastern Meadowlark  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  1   
House Finch  1    Heard
American Goldfinch  3