Sunday, March 18, 2018

Salem County 3/18--Blue-winged Teal, Horned Lark

Mixed blackbird flock somewhere just to the left of
 the middle of nowhere
Mike and I drove down to Salem County to join Scott's trip, which is the equivalent in distance to driving down to Cape May, but instead of arriving at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, you end up slightly to the left of the middle of nowhere. Or, as I like to think of it: Delaware East.

I hardly ever bird down there, due to a combination of distance and unfamiliarity. Checking my records, I hadn't been down there in 3 years.  It can be a great spot and today ranked as pretty good.  The highlight for me was seeing Sandhill Cranes in NJ for the first time outside of Ocean County. There were 3 of the big birds in the Mannington Marsh and we saw and heard what we assume were the same birds (2 of them) from multiple locations.

After meeting at the Wawa in Woodland (what could be bad?) our first stop, where we picked up Eastern Meadowlarks, was on Compromise Road, probably the 2nd best name for a road in NJ, exceeded only by "Unexpected Road" up in Cumberland County. Then it was on to various viewing points in Mannington Marsh where we had the cranes and 14 species of waterfowl, including Tundra Swans and a single drake Red-breasted Merganser which eBird flagged as "rare" I guess for the "late" date.

The 2 year birds I got were at our last stop at the marsh--a nice-looking drake Blue-winged Teal  in with a larg flock of Green-winged Teal and two calling quickly flying by Horned Larks. Eagles abounded at every stop, vultures were as common as pigeons and pigeons...well, who really cares about pigeons?

We ended the day sorting through huge blackbird flocks around pastures, hoping for a rarity (it is a good spot for both Yellow-headed Blackbird, which I have seen there and Brewer's Blackbird, which I have not), but to no avail.

For our various stops I managed 52 species for the day. To show how underbirded Salem County is, that one day total puts me in eBird's county top 10 for the year (for the moment). They were:

Species             First Sighting
Snow Goose   Compromise Rd.
Canada Goose   Compromise Rd.
Mute Swan   Salem River WMA
Tundra Swan   Salem River WMA
Wood Duck   Salem River WMA
Blue-winged Teal   Mannington Marsh
Northern Shoveler   Salem River WMA
Gadwall   Salem River WMA
Mallard   Salem River WMA
American Black Duck   Salem River WMA
Northern Pintail   Supawna NWR
Green-winged Teal   Salem River WMA
Ring-necked Duck   Salem River WMA
Red-breasted Merganser   Mannington Marsh
Great Blue Heron   Compromise Rd.
Great Egret   Salem River WMA
Black Vulture   Compromise Rd.
Turkey Vulture   Compromise Rd.
Northern Harrier   Mannington Marsh
Cooper's Hawk   Salem River WMA
Bald Eagle   Sunset Dr
Red-tailed Hawk   Mannington Marsh
Sandhill Crane   Salem River WMA
Killdeer   Compromise Rd.
Wilson's Snipe   Mannington Marsh
Greater Yellowlegs   Mannington Marsh
Ring-billed Gull   Mannington Marsh
Rock Pigeon   Featherbed Lane WMA
Mourning Dove   Featherbed Lane WMA
American Kestrel   Sunset Dr
Merlin   Featherbed Lane WMA
Blue Jay   Salem River WMA
American Crow   Salem River WMA
Fish Crow   Mannington Marsh
Horned Lark   Mannington Marsh
Tree Swallow   Salem River WMA
Carolina Chickadee   Supawna NWR
Carolina Wren   Salem River WMA
Eastern Bluebird   Sunset Dr
American Robin   Featherbed Lane WMA
Northern Mockingbird   Wawa Woodstown
European Starling   Compromise Rd.
Fox Sparrow   Supawna NWR
White-throated Sparrow   Salem River WMA
Song Sparrow   Salem River WMA
Swamp Sparrow   Salem River WMA
Eastern Towhee   Supawna NWR
Northern Cardinal   Salem River WMA
Eastern Meadowlark   Compromise Rd.
Red-winged Blackbird   Featherbed Lane WMA
Brown-headed Cowbird   Featherbed Lane WMA
Common Grackle   Featherbed Lane WMA

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