IBSP 5/11--Black-throated Green Warbler

American Redstart, Reed's Road

At 7:45 this morning, I had to lie and say I was indeed going fishing in order to get into Island Beach SP today since they have instituted the new hours and now only anglers get to use the park before 8 A.M.  At 7:45 I was pretty late for the warblers, so scratch that place off the birding list until autumn unless I borrow a fishing rod from my neighbor.

Whether due to my lateness or to the winds, Reed's Road was not nearly as active as it was on Monday. I still managed to get a few warblers and I was thrilled to get, in the same tree as this redstart, my FOY Black-throated Green Warbler. I was in "the bowl" when I saw it and I was remembering that I saw one there before when it popped into view. Black-throated Green, for some reason, is my nemesis warbler. It is not uncommon--for everybody else. For me, I'm lucky if one crosses my path every year.

Least Sandpiper (the yellowish legs give it away)

Walking along the beach of Barnegat Bay on my way back I came across 3 Least Sandpipers. Not new for the year, but new for the county and good views too instead of looking at them in a scope through heat shimmer and trying to separate them from the other peeps.

Yet again, catbirds were everywhere, but even their numbers were probably half of what I saw on Monday. 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were, as always, a treat. Certain birds you don't get tired of.

I took a walk along the Spizzle Creek trail and the most unusual bird there was a Green Heron poking its head above the reeds.

The Reed's Road list:
31 species
Great Egret  1     in bay at end of the road
Glossy Ibis  8     f/o
Osprey  1
Spotted Sandpiper  3
Least Sandpiper  3
Laughing Gull  6
Herring Gull  1
Mourning Dove  2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1     Heard
White-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
Blue Jay  1     Heard
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
House Wren  1
Wood Thrush  1     Heard
Gray Catbird  35
Brown Thrasher  1
Black-and-white Warbler  2
Common Yellowthroat  4
American Redstart  2     Bowl
Northern Parula  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1     Female: white spots on wings
Black-throated Green Warbler  1     Bowl
White-throated Sparrow  8
Eastern Towhee  4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3
Red-winged Blackbird  5

Rusty Blackbird

On my way home I stopped at the Dover Road cranberry bogs. I think these bogs deserve monitoring at the shorebird season progresses. There are muddy bogs in the back that look similar to Whitesbog in August and today I found 4 species of shorebirds in them. But the most interesting bird in the bogs was an icterid. I saw this bird and it didn't look like the nearby grackles and it was smaller in both bill and tail and not iridescent. When it flew it had no epaulets, so it wasn't a Red-winged Blackbird. Looks like Rusty Blackbird to me. Good habitat for it, right color for the time of year (they're only rusty in winter), so I'm going with that. I suppose it could be a Brewer's Blackbird, but that would be a very, very rare bird in NJ and I don't have to skills (or a good enough photo) to go that route.