 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On the last day of the month, this ominous sight on the Union Transportation Trail
Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Sussex, Warren
|
 |
| Yellow Warbler, Great Bay Blvd |
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
June Birds--139 Species
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Pole Farm 6/27--Bobolink
 |
| Bobolink Photo: Mike Mandracchia |
We found the chat after it flew out of the tree posted up in the field on a stalk of high grass and then, before we were out of the parking lot had 7 or 8 species including Blue Grosbeak. We walked out about 770 feet (I measured it on Google Maps) to the bathrooms and looked in the field to the left and both saw, almost at the same moment, a beautiful male Bobolink on a small bush, just where it was supposed to be. So in the space of 5 minutes, Mike had two year birds. That's pretty hard to do in June. As Mike said, all our chases should be this easy.
Meadowlarks were abundant in that field, flying and singing and being chased by blackbirds and we also saw a female American Kestrel come out of a nest box and perch up in a nearby tree. I think we both figured we would have to spend some time looking for the Bobolink and then, if we were lucky, we'd have 10 or 11 more species and then go somewhere else, but by the time we turned around we already had about 20 species on our list and we'd only been there 15 minutes. I had expected only grasslands, but looking around we saw more diverse habitat than I expected including woods. Another birder there told us that "30 paces" beyond the observation deck, about 1/2 mile away, there was a nesting Wood Thrush. I've heard plenty of Wood Thrushes this year, but I had yet to see one, so we decided to explore the area more thoroughly. We added plenty of Field Sparrows on our walk out there, as well an Indigo Bunting, plus towhees and other list builders. When we walked off our 30 paces where the thrush was supposed to be we found, instead, nesting Ovenbirds. Ovenbirds can be easily mistaken for thrushes if you're an inexperienced birder as this woman who gave us the directions admitted she was. Still, Ovenbirds are cool. We continued on the cinder trails, easy walking, and eventually did come upon a viewable Wood Thrush. We kept making rights but without a map in hand weren't sure if we were on a loop so after about a mile and half we retraced our steps. Mike had thought he'd heard a Scarlet Tanager at one point and when we came back to that part of the trail he heard it again. It wasn't until it started calling continuously that I was able to hear it. The usual description of the tanager's song is "a robin with a cold," but that is a little too poetic for me. However, once it sang multiple times, I was ready to list it.
We got back to the parking lot without having seen a robin, which seemed impossible. I saw a bird up in a bare tree which I thought might have been another sparrow but sure enough, Mike put his glasses on it and it was a robin. It took us 44 birds to get it, but we had one. We hadn't seen a Chipping Sparrow; one flew in while we were standing in the parking lot. A Carolina Wren sang. A Chimney Swift flew over. Then we saw a Black Vulture. I suppose if we stood there long enough we would have come up to 50 species on the day.
But the weather report for today was not an optimistic one; it had drizzled off and one while we walked. The weather was deteriorating by the time we returned to the parking lot and a look at the weather map didn't show any clear spots anywhere else. With 49 species, and about 20% of those what my old friend Peter in Brooklyn would call "quality" birds, we decided that despite the claim that the best birding is done in bad weather, we'd rather be inside. As I write this, a soaking rain is hovering over most of NJ.
Our Pole Farm list. We both think the place bears more investigation, especially during migration.
Great Blue Heron 3
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 10
Chimney Swift 1
Downy Woodpecker 1 Heard
Hairy Woodpecker 1 Heard
Northern Flicker 1
American Kestrel 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2 Heard
Red-eyed Vireo 1 Heard
Blue Jay 2 Heard
American Crow 2 Heard
Tree Swallow 10
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 10
Tufted Titmouse 2 Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
House Wren 1 Field across from obs deck.
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
Wood Thrush 6
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 20
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 25
Cedar Waxwing 1 Heard
Ovenbird 3
Common Yellowthroat 10
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Eastern Towhee 15
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 12
Grasshopper Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 1 Heard
Northern Cardinal 3
Blue Grosbeak 1 Heard
Indigo Bunting 2
Bobolink 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Eastern Meadowlark 5
Common Grackle 4
Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Heard
Orchard Oriole 1 Field behind parking lot
House Finch 2 Heard
American Goldfinch 1
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Barnegat Light SP 6/17--Piping Plover
 |
| Piping Plover |
 |
| Click photo to enlarge |
At the ocean the water did not have a lot of avian life in it, aside from dozens of gulls following the fishing fleet. There were a few terns that I had to let go because they were too far out and they were in the sun. I did have a few Forster's Terns in the inlet.
On my way back I scanned the jetty, not really expecting find much on it. I did remember last year seeing a Black-crowned Night-Heron on it and sure enough, as my scope ran up the rocks, there was one facing the inlet. Then another. What food they could possibly expect to find there I don't know.
22 species (+1 other taxa)
Double-crested Cormorant 15
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Osprey 4
American Oystercatcher 2
Piping Plover 2 One banded
Laughing Gull 75
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 25
Forster's Tern 3
Sterna sp. 10
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 3
American Crow 5
Tree Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 1
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 3
Song Sparrow 1 Heard
Northern Cardinal 1 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 4
American Goldfinch 2 Heard
House Sparrow 10
Monday, June 15, 2015
Story Behind the Sign (Or, "Shari, I don't think we're in Brooklyn anymore")
Of course, I knew I was getting a biased account. It is truly hard for me to believe that any dealer would tell a customer to "get the fuck out" of his shop. It isn't hard for me to believe, though, given my own experiences with the GM ignition debacle, that something is seriously wrong with his car.
He told me that he's going to court with GM and that soon he has to give a deposition to GM's lawyers. He's a retired "prototype tester," so he feels he has an advantage over the average car buyer since he drove vehicles for a living. He's a little crusty, a little arrogant, and very pissed off. It occurred to me that all this might add up to him being the type of guy who thought he could fight GM on his own. I asked him, in parting, if he had a lawyer.
"Oh yeah! I got me one of them crazy lawyers--he's Jewish!"
I'm glad I asked him in parting, because I didn't want to talk to him anymore.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Great Bay Blvd WMA 6/10--Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
 |
| Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Great Bay Blvd. |
After that we headed down to Great Bay Blvd, hoping to add some year birds to our lists. Mike still needed Little Blue Heron and we both needed Brown Pelican and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. It didn't look good for any of these species until on our way back, just as we were about to go over one of the wooden bridges, Mike spotted a bird just off the water that wasn't an egret or ibis. Naturally, there was a car behind us, so we could stop. Instead we crossed the bridge, turned around and went back over. As we crossed again going south I put my binoculars on the bird and saw that it was the Yellow-crowned. It posed for pictures and we were both pretty pleased. We hadn't exactly given up, but we were in the process of leaving.
 |
| Immature Black-crowned Night-Heron |
To the birder we told it was a Yellow-crown I can only say, "Oops, sorry." At least we told her where to find the adult.
I had 27 species while we slalomed up and down the boulevard of broken asphalt avoiding the many Diamondback Terrapins making their way from one side of the marsh to the other. Mike also had a Cooper's Hawk and a distant American Oystercatcher that I missed.
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Egret 15
Snowy Egret 10
Black-crowned Night-Heron 5
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
Glossy Ibis 10
Osprey 5
Clapper Rail 4 Heard
Willet 10
Semipalmated Sandpiper 20
Laughing Gull 75
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Common Tern 3
Forster's Tern 1
Mourning Dove 3
Willow Flycatcher 1
Fish Crow 1
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 25
Gray Catbird 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Yellow Warbler 1 Heard, end of the road
Seaside Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 3
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Boat-tailed Grackle 10
Monday, June 8, 2015
Double Trouble SP 6/8--Black-billed Cuckoo
I went to Double Trouble with, appropriately, 2 goals: to get in a long walk and to see if I could gather in the Acadian Flycatcher for the county list. Both goals accomplished. I walked out onto Gowdy Road and just before it intersects with Hooper Lane (quaint how what amount to levees are named) I heard the explosive "Pizza!" I waited, heard the bird call about 10 times clearly but pretty deep in the woods. I knew this one wasn't going to show, but with that part of the mission achieved, I proceeded to walk what amounts to 3 different loops around the bogs.
Across from the bog along Sweetwater Lane I heard a Veery, flagged as rare for the county in June, but I always hear one at Double Trouble, though this particular spot was an odd place to get one. It was while I was walking along Mud Dam Road, the more customary area for this bird (and where both I and another birder have already listed it there this year) where I was listening hard, if such a thing is possible, that I heard my year bird for the day, a Black-billed Cuckoo. It was pretty far up the road, but I clearly heard the repetitive "coo-coo-coo-coo." I've heard BB Cuckoos sometimes incessantly repeat the coo-coo." This bird did it in 2 sets of about of 10 coos each then shut up. Black-billed Cuckoo was not a bird I was thinking about today, so that was a happy surprise.
Walking around the loudest and most common bird that I heard was Ovenbird. They seemed to be anywhere there were woods. I finally saw one along Mud Dam and then, walking a little one-way path that goes down to the creek I came upon a crowd of them, very vocal and visible. I think I had 4 or 5 of them zipping around the branches around and above me. You hear 10 Ovenbirds for every one you see, so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of one.
Here's an arcane reference: Doesn't the bird in the bottom photo look like Jerry Colonna? All those who know who Jerry Colonna was, raise your hand. (Hi Mom!)
While making my 3rd and final loop, which takes me out to the lake and then back to the parking lot, I saw another cuckoo, briefly. Really, I only saw a part of the bird, enough of it to know that it wasn't a dove. I figured I'd have to let that one go as a "spuh" until, on my way back I made a minor loop of the graveyard (I believe the original owners still have an easement to bury their family in the park) when I heard the "gowp," very softly of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Looking up, I saw it quite clearly, though it refused to stay still and hopped up the branches of the tree it was in then flew and landed in a few different trees, each a little further away. But I did see all the field marks, so I it was a two cuckoo day and 3 county birds. And a little over 3 miles hiked.
32 speciesGreat Egret 1 Lake
Turkey Vulture 3
Cooper's Hawk 1 Mud Dam Road
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Black-billed Cuckoo 1 Heard Mud Dam Road
Northern Flicker 1
Acadian Flycatcher 1 Heard Gowdy Road
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 3 Heard
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 1 Heard Mud Dam Road
Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Heard Mud Dam Road
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow 1 Heard
Barn Swallow 4 Nest beneath bridge, customary spot
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Veery 1
Wood Thrush 2 Heard
Gray Catbird 25
Ovenbird 20
Black-and-white Warbler 2 Heard
Common Yellowthroat 20
Pine Warbler 5
Prairie Warbler 6
Eastern Towhee 5 Heard
Northern Cardinal 1 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Heard
American Goldfinch 2
Across from the bog along Sweetwater Lane I heard a Veery, flagged as rare for the county in June, but I always hear one at Double Trouble, though this particular spot was an odd place to get one. It was while I was walking along Mud Dam Road, the more customary area for this bird (and where both I and another birder have already listed it there this year) where I was listening hard, if such a thing is possible, that I heard my year bird for the day, a Black-billed Cuckoo. It was pretty far up the road, but I clearly heard the repetitive "coo-coo-coo-coo." I've heard BB Cuckoos sometimes incessantly repeat the coo-coo." This bird did it in 2 sets of about of 10 coos each then shut up. Black-billed Cuckoo was not a bird I was thinking about today, so that was a happy surprise.
Walking around the loudest and most common bird that I heard was Ovenbird. They seemed to be anywhere there were woods. I finally saw one along Mud Dam and then, walking a little one-way path that goes down to the creek I came upon a crowd of them, very vocal and visible. I think I had 4 or 5 of them zipping around the branches around and above me. You hear 10 Ovenbirds for every one you see, so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of one.
While making my 3rd and final loop, which takes me out to the lake and then back to the parking lot, I saw another cuckoo, briefly. Really, I only saw a part of the bird, enough of it to know that it wasn't a dove. I figured I'd have to let that one go as a "spuh" until, on my way back I made a minor loop of the graveyard (I believe the original owners still have an easement to bury their family in the park) when I heard the "gowp," very softly of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Looking up, I saw it quite clearly, though it refused to stay still and hopped up the branches of the tree it was in then flew and landed in a few different trees, each a little further away. But I did see all the field marks, so I it was a two cuckoo day and 3 county birds. And a little over 3 miles hiked.
32 speciesGreat Egret 1 Lake
Turkey Vulture 3
Cooper's Hawk 1 Mud Dam Road
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Black-billed Cuckoo 1 Heard Mud Dam Road
Northern Flicker 1
Acadian Flycatcher 1 Heard Gowdy Road
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 3 Heard
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 1 Heard Mud Dam Road
Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Heard Mud Dam Road
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow 1 Heard
Barn Swallow 4 Nest beneath bridge, customary spot
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Veery 1
Wood Thrush 2 Heard
Gray Catbird 25
Ovenbird 20
Black-and-white Warbler 2 Heard
Common Yellowthroat 20
Pine Warbler 5
Prairie Warbler 6
Eastern Towhee 5 Heard
Northern Cardinal 1 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Heard
American Goldfinch 2
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Assunpink 6/7--Yellow-breasted Chat
 |
| FAA Navigation Beacon at Assunpink WMA |
The winner of my "Most Effort Expended to Find It" award goes to Yellow-breasted Chat which I finally found today in the fields around the navigation beacon at Assunpink. It was my 3rd trip there in the last 2 weeks where I have spent hours tramping the tick infested paths looking for this very large warbler, obsessively circling back to a corner of one of the fields where last year I spotted one. It wasn't until I sincerely invoked the magical words, "Well, I guess I'm giving up on this bird," that I heard a chat in last year's place. I could count it, but I wasn't really satisfied. I looked into the fields without much hope of seeing it--look at all that undifferentiated green. Then I saw a bird pop up in a bush. Yes, a very distant chat:
 |
| Can you find the chat? It's in there. |
I looked at it closely for a few seconds through my binoculars then saw that it might be a cooperative bird and took some shots.
29 species
Canada Goose 2 f/o
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Willow Flycatcher 2
White-eyed Vireo 3
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
Wood Thrush 2 Heard
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 15
Northern Mockingbird 1
Cedar Waxwing 2
Ovenbird 1 Heard Norway Spruce grove
Common Yellowthroat 15
Yellow Warbler 4
Yellow-breasted Chat 2 both singing.
Eastern Towhee 4
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 10
Grasshopper Sparrow 1 Heard
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2 Heard
Indigo Bunting 4
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Common Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
American Goldfinch 1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)