Negri-Nepote Grasslands 6/15--Grasshopper Sparrow, Dickcissel

Dickcissel

Two years ago on the Saturday corresponding to today, we saw our house in Whiting for the first time. While pondering on the way back to Brooklyn whether we wanted to drastically change our lives, we managed somehow to massage the GPS enough to find the Negri-Nepote Grasslands in Franklin Township, Somerset County and it was there that we got our lifer Dickcissel.

Dickcissels seem to have become an annual visitor to this great grasslands preservation project, so today it seemed appropriate to go back there to see if we could find our year Dickcissel. Two years ago we found the bird on a trail well past the blind that sits on a small pond. Today, when we reached the blind, I looked ahead and I looked to our right and to our right I saw a birder. Following the "find the birder, find the bird" rule we headed toward him and sure enough as we approached he called out "Dickcissel." I stopped looking at the Field Sparrow in the scope and quickly sloshed up the soaking path to where he stood and there, alternately singing and chasing away other birds, was this very handsome male. Speculation is that they're nesting in the grasslands, which would be great.

The Field Sparrow, by the way, was a satisfying find in itself, since Shari had heard it singing long before we ever glimpsed it. Good ear, there! Our other "target" bird today was a little more elusive. The Grasshopper Sparrow is a fairly common but secretive bird of the grassy fields. I've been frustrated at Colliers Mills the last month trying to find one. The habitat there is perfect and I know they're there, but I haven't had any luck. The bird has a very soft, insect-like call, very fast, and while I heard the bird a couple of times, I didn't really want to count it on sound alone. Especially since, unless the birds were great ventriloquists, it sounded like they were just a few feet away from us. Shari, who's hearing has not been effected by 35 years of the printing business, was hearing them much more often than I was and I just had enough of a nagging doubt as to whether I really was hearing the bird or something else to be a little put off until I saw one fly out of the brush and land in a small, flowering bush. And it posed.

Grasshopper Sparrow

This is only the second time we've seen Grasshopper Sparrow. Last year, we saw them on the Lakehurst Naval Base, where they also breed. We're going back to Lakehurst this year on Wednesday, so, while it would be fine to see them again, we can concentrate on getting Upland Sandpiper there for the year.

Our day list:
24 species
Canada Goose  6    f/o
Mallard  2    f/o
Great Egret  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Mourning Dove  1
Chimney Swift  1
American Crow  1
Tree Swallow  10
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard
House Wren  4
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  1    Heard
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Prairie Warbler  1    Heard, parking lot
Eastern Towhee  1    Heard
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  2
Grasshopper Sparrow  2    
Song Sparrow  2
Dickcissel  1    Singing. 
Red-winged Blackbird  20
American Goldfinch  2