Double Trouble SP 6/2--Acadian Flycatcher

Probably because, before the term "birding" was popular, I started out as a "bird watcher" and because the activity it known most widely to outsiders as "bird watching," whenever I'm counting birds that I've only heard in the field, I always have the feeling that somehow, in a fundamental way, I'm cheating. Of course, the best birders all bird by ear--you couldn't finish very high in the World Series of Birding without being an excellent ear birder--but I'm not the best birder--I'm pretty good at watching birds and mediocre identifying them by ear. That said, there are a lot of birds I don't need to see in order to i.d. them; I certainly don't stop to look for jays, crows, 5 or 6 common warblers, cardinals, many sparrows and so forth. It's when I just hear an unusual bird that I can a little uncomfortable. For one thing, I always prefer seeing a bird; it's just more satisfying to find in the bushes or high in the crown of a tree. For another, seeing what you hear, and vice versa, confirms the other sense.

On the other hand, some birds you  just know you're not going to see--Whip-poor-will springs to mind--and sometimes, walking by dense foliage, if you hear a bird you just know looking for it is futile. All this leads up to me walking along the side of the woods in Double Trouble SP this morning and hearing an explosive "peet sah!" I knew I wasn't going to find that bird, but I also knew, to a confidence level of 99%, that it was my first Acadian Flycatcher of the year. To allay a nagging conscience, one of my birding rules is that I have to hear the bird at least twice before I'll count it--I heard the flycatcher thrice.

The list below is just full of the appellation "heard." With the trees fully leafed out and my skills improving, about 1/2 the birds I found today were by ear. I was happy to actually see an Ovenbird--usually I don't see them because they tend to walk around in the underbrush--and I am confident enough in my ear that I when I heard the ethereal, Theremin-like song of a Veery coming from the middle of the woods, I counted it even though eBird considers the bird rare for this area and time of year. In this case, local knowledge trumps a mechanical filter--I've heard them in Double Trouble this late in the season before.

The other highlight today was finding my first NJ Orchard Oriole, interestingly, in the same general area of the park that I've seen them before, near the back bogs, a place you wouldn't normally think of as OROR habitat.

Today's list:
31 species
Wood Duck  1    f/o
Mallard  5
Great Egret  2
Mourning Dove  1    Heard
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1    Heard
Acadian Flycatcher  1    Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  5    Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2
Blue Jay  1    Heard
Fish Crow  2    Heard
Tree Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  3
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard
Carolina Wren  1
Veery  1    Heard
Wood Thrush  1    Heard
American Robin  3
Gray Catbird  10
Ovenbird  9
Black-and-white Warbler  2    Heard
Common Yellowthroat  2    Heard
Prairie Warbler  2    Heard
Eastern Towhee  2
Chipping Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  2    Heard
Northern Cardinal  2    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Common Grackle  5
Brown-headed Cowbird  4
Orchard Oriole  1