Whiting WMA 4/20--Ovenbird

Won't get fooled again

                                                                                              The Who

Last year I was driven crazy by a bird song I should have known. It took me a number of walks in the WMA before the proverbial light bulb turned on and I realized what warbler I was hearing and then only after I actually saw it. Today, I heard an Ovenbird twice; the second time I was pretty sure I knew what it was and listening to the song on my computer confirmed it. 

There is a road here called Wranglebrook that, if  you look on a map is a paved extension of a sand road that winds through the WMA. There is also, on the other side of the WMA in Toms River, another road by the same name that intersects with Rt 37. Which would lead one to believe that there is an actual stream by the same name. Today, I was decided to see if I could find it. I knew it's location, more or less, by looking at aerial maps on Google, but the roads on those maps often disappear when the tree cover gets too thick. I set out on my usual walk and just kept walking, past the farthest point I've gone to, up the road for about another miles until I found the stream partially contained by an ancient culvert and partly flowing across the road. Unfortunately, aside from some grackles (surprising to find them that deep in the woods) it was not a very birdy area. Buggy, yes. But I did find it.

Not many people actually walk the sand roads. But lots of slobs drive on them. Today, I saw a pick up driving out with a trailer loaded with ATVs--illegal to use in these areas, but hey, who's looking? I also saw a number of beer bottles and cans, of course. It started me thinking: Why do I never see evidence of "good beer" discarded on the road--no Stella Artois, no Pilsner Urquell, no St. Pauli Girl--no green bottles. All I see is piss beer, Bud Lite, Coors, Coors Lite, something called Ice, Old Potosie (I made that up), etc. I think you can see where I'm going with this...the shitheads who throw away their empty beer cans in the wilds don't even know what good beer is. 

I could go further into this rant but instead, here are the 26 species I gleaned walking around 4 miles in the woods:

Canada Goose  2
Mallard  3    Crossley Preserve
Ring-necked Duck  5    Pond in Whiting WMA
Turkey Vulture  1
Mourning Dove  4
Downy Woodpecker  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  2
crow sp.  2
Tree Swallow  7
Carolina Chickadee  20
Tufted Titmouse  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Eastern Bluebird  1    Chased a Tree Swallow off a nesting box
American Robin  4
Ovenbird  2    Heard
Pine Warbler  5
Eastern Towhee  10
Chipping Sparrow  20
White-throated Sparrow  1    Heard
Northern Cardinal  2
Common Grackle  5
Brown-headed Cowbird  7
House Finch  1    Heard
American Goldfinch  2    Heard