Double Trouble SP 4/21--Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Yesterday, I had a frustrating walk around Double Trouble. Just as I was leaving for the park, in the late afternoon after it had rained most of the day, I got an email from Greg telling me that he'd found a Louisiana Thrush in the same area where he had one last year. It took some looking then with Greg before I found that warbler, which is quite uncommon in these parts. I didn't really expect to find it yesterday--and I didn't--but I did expect to find something--and I didn't.

Today I went back mid-afternoon to get the sour taste out of my mouth. Naturally, I looked for the LOWA and, naturally, I didn't find it. But I did find many Black-and-white Warblers, finally. They've been here for at least a week and it seemed like everyone was seeing them but me. A couple of Common Yellowthroats also popped up--good to see these masked warblers after hearing them for the last few days just about everywhere I birded.

I was walking on the back bogs, along Sweetwater Lane when I heard a Song Sparrow singing on the other side of a reservoir. I hadn't seen any birds for a while, so I stopped to scan for the bird, as I did earlier on Island Beach when I was looking for the mockingbird. I like to practice locating birds I've heard. I always would rather see them. I stopped mid scan when I saw a black figure in a small tree. At first I thought it was plastic caught up in the branches, but then I saw the broad white tail band--obvious even in my poor photograph--so there was my first Eastern Kingbird for the year.

One other slightly unusual bird today was Merlin zipping overhead.

I won't be able to get back to Double Trouble until perhaps next week, so I'm pretty certain that Louisiana Waterthrush isn't going to make onto the county list this year.
21 species
Canada Goose  2     nesting on bog on Sweetwater Lane
Mallard  8
Great Egret  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Merlin  1
Eastern Phoebe  4
Eastern Kingbird  1
Fish Crow  1     Heard
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  12
American Robin  3
Black-and-white Warbler  8
Common Yellowthroat  2
Pine Warbler  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Eastern Towhee  1     Heard, behind sawmill
Chipping Sparrow  10
Song Sparrow  1     Heard, Sweetwater Lane
Dark-eyed Junco  1
House Finch  1     Heard, village