Forest Resource Education Center 3/7--Winter Wren

Winter Wren, FREC

After walking through Bunker Hill Bogs this morning through a light but steady rain and not finding anything new for the year (or county) I went to a diner for lunch and was ready to drive up north to visit my mother and wait to pick up Shari on her return from Iceland. But the rain stopped and I had plenty of time, so I drove over to FREC, thinking it might have a sparrow or flycatcher new for the year--neither was there, but I did spy a Winter Wren, hopping around on and under a log on the banks of the mighty Toms River. It was very active and not cooperative--most of my pictures were of leaf litter sans bird; I did manage one doc shot. I love the little cocked, stubby tail.

The habitat there is perfect for Winter Wren--wet woods and similar to the other places I've seen them in the county--the back bogs of Bunker Hill and woods at the Ocean County Parks Offices. It was a nice surprise. Winter Wrens are so hard for me to find that I don't even consider them when I go out looking for new birds. I might not find another one for the rest of the year, so I savored it as long as it stayed in sight, which was probably under a minute.

In the hour or so I spent there I had 19 species.
Mallard 2 Pond
Turkey Vulture 1
Mourning Dove 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Carolina Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 7
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Winter Wren 1
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 7
European Starling 8
Dark-eyed Junco 6
Song Sparrow 1
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 1