June in Review

Grasshopper Sparrow, Colliers Mills

By the middle of the month, avian activity gets very, very quiet hereabouts, so I had to range farther around the state to get new, or at least interesting, birds--a couple of trips to High Point SP, an excursion to Old Mine Road, and even some brief forays into Middlesex County, one for a chase (see above), another--the Monk Parakeets--because I was in the area anyway. And yet, I still haven't made it down to Cape May this year! Which partially explains my lagging list.

Mike and I did okay up at High Point SP, but the Old Mine Road trip had the weather against us--steady rain--and the second trip we were going to make got cancelled because of the weather too.

American Avocet at Brig

In terms of rarities, I did all right for the month coming up with one I wasn't looking for (American Avocet) while looking and not finding another (Roseate Spoonbill) at Brig. Today's Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are probably the highlight of the month, although the memory I'll carry with me forever is taking my mother to see and hear the Monk Parakeets.

Northern Mockingbird on lamp post in front of house

I spent a lot of time tromping around Colliers Mills looking for a Red-headed Woodpecker and didn't find one, which was frustrating, but I did find other sought after birds there along the way. The Grasshopper Sparrows were very cooperative for a couple of trips. And our backyard had two very interesting birds this month, both mimids. We always have a few Gray Catbirds, but rarely do we have Brown Thrasher and there were two hanging near our feeder for a couple of days. Even more intriguing, for me, are the two Northern Mockingbirds that appear to be nesting behind an ornamental tree up against the house across the street. The first day we looked at this house 7 years ago I saw a mockingbird and didn't think anything of it, but it was years before I saw another in the neighborhood. Now there are two very aggressive birds which I've seen chasing any Fish Crow that dares to come into the vicinity.

Also new for the month were the Common Nighthawks flying over the house--this is a very early date for them; usually they don't appear until August.

The special trip of the month was to the Lakehurst base where the Upland Sandpipers put on quite a show. I'll admit to having become a bit jaded about this trip, so it was fun to be there with birders who'd never been on the base and vicariously enjoy their life birds.

For the month I notched 149 species. I could have run down to Brig today and added the spoonbill, but I have to have something to do in July.

Species                                                 First Sighting

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck   Monroe

Canada Goose   Assunpink WMA

Mute Swan   Sussex

Wood Duck   Whitesbog

Blue-winged Teal   Brig

Mallard   Assunpink WMA

American Black Duck   Ocean City Welcome Center

Green-winged Teal   Brig

Common Merganser   Old Mine Road IBA

Wild Turkey   Assunpink WMA

Common Loon   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Double-crested Cormorant   Assunpink WMA

Brown Pelican   Shark River Inlet

Great Blue Heron   Assunpink WMA

Great Egret   Brig

Snowy Egret   Brig

Little Blue Heron   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Tricolored Heron   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Green Heron   Ocean City Preserve

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Ocean City Welcome Center

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Ocean City Welcome Center

Glossy Ibis   Brig

Black Vulture   New Egypt

Turkey Vulture   Assunpink WMA

Osprey   Brig

Cooper's Hawk   35 Sunset Rd

Bald Eagle   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Red-shouldered Hawk   High Point SP

Broad-winged Hawk   High Point SP

Red-tailed Hawk   Field next to Lakewood Wawa

Clapper Rail   Brig

Virginia Rail   Cattus Island County Park

Common Gallinule   Ocean City Preserve

American Avocet   Brig

American Oystercatcher   Brig

Semipalmated Plover   Brig

Piping Plover   Shark River Inlet

Killdeer   Whitesbog

Upland Sandpiper   Lakehurst NAES

Ruddy Turnstone   Brig

Dunlin   Brig

Least Sandpiper   Brig

White-rumped Sandpiper   Brig

Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig

Greater Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Willet   Brig

Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig

Laughing Gull   Brig

Herring Gull   Brig

Great Black-backed Gull   Brig

Least Tern   Brig

Gull-billed Tern   Brig

Caspian Tern   Brig

Common Tern   Shark River Inlet

Forster's Tern   Brig

Black Skimmer   Brig

Rock Pigeon   Forsythe-Barnegat

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog

Black-billed Cuckoo   High Point SP

Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift   Assunpink WMA

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd

Belted Kingfisher   Old Mine Road IBA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Assunpink WMA

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   High Point SP

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   High Point SP

Northern Flicker   Colliers Mills WMA

American Kestrel   Lakehurst NAES

Monk Parakeet   Carteret

Eastern Wood-Pewee   High Point SP

Acadian Flycatcher   Brig

Willow Flycatcher   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Eastern Phoebe   High Point SP

Great Crested Flycatcher   35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Kingbird   Assunpink WMA

White-eyed Vireo   Assunpink WMA

Yellow-throated Vireo   Old Mine Road IBA

Warbling Vireo   Assunpink WMA

Red-eyed Vireo   Assunpink WMA

Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd

American Crow   Assunpink WMA

Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Common Raven   Old Mine Road IBA

Horned Lark   Lakehurst NAES

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Union Transportation Trail

Purple Martin   Brig

Tree Swallow   Assunpink WMA

Bank Swallow   Brig

Barn Swallow   Assunpink WMA

Cliff Swallow   Wesley Lake

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Black-capped Chickadee   High Point SP

Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd

White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd

House Wren   35 Sunset Rd

Marsh Wren   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Carolina Wren   Assunpink WMA

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   High Point SP

Eastern Bluebird   Union Transportation Trail

Veery   High Point SP

Hermit Thrush   High Point SP

Wood Thrush   High Point SP

American Robin   Assunpink WMA

Gray Catbird   Assunpink WMA

Brown Thrasher   Brig

Northern Mockingbird   Assunpink WMA

European Starling   New Egypt

Cedar Waxwing   High Point SP

Ovenbird   Assunpink WMA

Worm-eating Warbler   Old Mine Road IBA

Northern Waterthrush   High Point SP

Black-and-white Warbler   High Point SP

Prothonotary Warbler   Union Transportation Trail

Common Yellowthroat   Assunpink WMA

Hooded Warbler   Old Mine Road IBA

American Redstart   High Point SP

Northern Parula   Old Mine Road IBA

Yellow Warbler   Assunpink WMA

Black-throated Blue Warbler   High Point SP

Pine Warbler   Whitesbog

Prairie Warbler   High Point SP

Canada Warbler   High Point SP

Grasshopper Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Seaside Sparrow   Brig

Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Field Sparrow   Assunpink WMA

Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Swamp Sparrow   Reeves Bogs

Eastern Towhee   Assunpink WMA

Yellow-breasted Chat   Brig

Scarlet Tanager   High Point SP

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Rose-breasted Grosbeak   High Point SP

Blue Grosbeak   Assunpink WMA

Indigo Bunting   Assunpink WMA

Eastern Meadowlark   Lakehurst NAES

Orchard Oriole   Union Transportation Trail

Baltimore Oriole   High Point SP

Red-winged Blackbird   Assunpink WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird   High Point SP

Common Grackle   Assunpink WMA

Boat-tailed Grackle   Brig

House Finch   35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch   Assunpink WMA

House Sparrow   New Egypt Brown Thrasher on our feeder Ovenbird, Whitesbog

Monroe Twp 6/30--Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Chasing on the last day of the month. Sometimes you chase a bird because it feels like an obligation to get it on the list--do I really feel like battling the greenhead flies at Brig to get the spoonbill having missed it once already? No, but I probably will. And then there are birds you chase because you really like them--the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks I saw in Monroe Township this morning fall into that category.

Because of the "heat wave" the weathermen are trying to get us hysterical about, I originally planned to walk in one of the local cranberry bogs early in the morning, see what I saw, then come home without a boiled brain. But I changed plans when I saw the report of the BB Whistling-Ducks. I love goofy looking birds way more than so-called beautiful birds and these ducks, with their big white-wall tire eye-rings and ungainly bodies certainly qualify. So I got up early and headed up to Monroe which is in the lightly-birded southwest section of Middlesex County. I've been in the area before, but for rare geese in the winter. Because of blocked roads and imprecise GPS instructions, it took me a little longer than I expected to find the spot--a vernal pond in a corn field on the side of a county road, but once I got there I found the 10 ducks almost immediately--they made it easy by having one "sentinel" standing up watching while the others fed. I say "almost" because as I braked to a halt once I saw the pond, the first bird I saw was a Green Heron standing in the middle of the pond. It took about 10 seconds more for me to see the hunched over bodies of the ducks farther back in the grasses. I was by myself when I saw the birds, but by the time I went down the road, stopped in a parking lot to figure out where I was then turned around, there was a line of cars on the narrow shoulder. It is always amusing when a rarity shows up outside of a refuge or park because the locals become either amused or alarmed or both when suddenly there is a new roadside attraction that they can't really see. Ducks? You guys are lined up for ducks?

"Sentinel" on the left

The Diamondback Terrapins of Great Bay Blvd--6/28

Click a photo to enlarge

To drive to the inlet at Tuckerton this time of year, you have to participate in The Great Great Bay Blvd Terrapin Slalom Event, the object of which is to swerve around the dozens of Diamondback Terrapins crossing the road, while at the same time avoiding a head-on collision with on-coming vehicles that are attempting to also avoid squishing the terrapins.

I thought about counting the number of terrapins I saw but that quickly became untenable. They were darting out of the greenery on the sides of the road at a pace I've never seen before. At one point, while I was walking on the road, I counted 10 up ahead of me either on the road or digging in the sandy cutouts along the road. I encountered them at every spot I stopped--on the beaches, on the trails, on the road, on the bridges (which I hate because they are most vulnerable there), and seemingly under every bush. While I walked from the inlet up to the first wooden bridge, I thought, for a lark to take a photo of each one I came across, but again, that became untenable--I stopped at 20. So I would conservatively say I saw 50 terrapins, in the 4 hours I was there but the actual numbers of terrapins coming out of the marshes to lay their eggs on a day like today--sunny and hot--is likely in the hundreds.

I moved quite a few off the road and especially off the wooden bridges but despite their ungainliness, they can move pretty fast when instinct tells them to, one of the reasons I couldn't photograph each one--a shadow moves them.

I originally didn't plan to go to Tuckerton today because the tides were against me--I prefer low tide which isn't until late this afternoon--but the forecast for Assunpink was rain and thunderstorms, so this was my best alternative. I'm wondering now if the high tide pushes the terrapins out of the water--gives them sort of a boost onto land--or if it is more temperature related.

When I started it was cool and breezy, so I was thinking that my walk would be comfortable as those conditions keep the greenies down, but by the time I made it to the southern end of the road the sun had come out and although there was still a decent wind, anytime I got to a spot where the reeds and bushes were higher than my ankles, the flies came out for a greet and eat.

I did see birds there today--nothing special but there was enough variety to keep me interested and motivated to keep looking despite swatting the flies. (Repellent? Someone described that as "salad dressing for flies.")Noisy Willets are still everywhere, but I did see one each of American Oystercatcher, Greater Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated Sandpiper. I was looking for interesting terns and didn't find any. The only night-heron I saw was black-crowned.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Common Yellowthroat

36 species
Mallard 7
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Great Egret 25
Snowy Egret 20
Tricolored Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 5
Glossy Ibis 3
Osprey 15
Bald Eagle 2 Two imm on nest
Clapper Rail 2 Heard
American Oystercatcher 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 Inlet
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Willet 30
Laughing Gull 100
Herring Gull 25
Great Black-backed Gull 4
Least Tern 1
Common Tern 1
Forster's Tern 7
Black Skimmer 2
Mourning Dove 3
Willow Flycatcher 1
Tree Swallow 10
Bank Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 40
House Wren 1 Heard
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 1

Common Yellowthroat 4
Saltmarsh Sparrow 1
Seaside Sparrow 15
Song Sparrow 6
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Boat-tailed Grackle 50

Shark River Inlet 6/20

Brown Pelicans FOY USA
(click any photo to enlarge)

I had a dental appointment this morning in Sea Girt (or Sea Grit, as Shari likes to mispronounce it), which isn't far from the Shark River Inlet so I drove up there just for the fun of looking at the Least Tern breeding colony, while at the same time hoping I'd come up with something new for the year--I was thinking Royal Tern, hoping Roseate Tern, dreaming Sandwich Tern. There is a season, tern tern tern, but this was not the season.

However, there were other rewards. In amongst the 75 to 100 terns sitting on their ridiculously rudimentary nests were a few oystercatchers and large group

Semipalmated Plover

Piping Plover

of Black Skimmers, along with one Semipalmated Plover, a rarity, it seems, this time of year in Monmouth County. There was also a more exciting Piping Plover which, since they breed in NJ, aren't considered rare. Endangered yes, but you can find them if you look in the right places. This Piping Plover was probably immature, judging from both its coloration and its fearlessness around beachgoers. I'm sure none of the other people on the beach knew there was an endangered species right under their feet. Since the bird is the color of sand, I bet half of them didn't even see it.

I also had the pleasure of running into a birder I know and she and I spent a pleasant time watching the Least Terns fly in and out, some birds bring food to the nest sitters.

Least Tern delivering food to mama and chick

The highlight there was the two birds sitting very close to the edge of the colony that had chicks. I had never seen tern chicks before (juveniles of course, but not chicks) and these were adorable. Least Terns are feisty birds and they have to be to protect their young in such open, vulnerable conditions. Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide and I'm sure the chicks are a tasty morsel for any of the 3 species of gulls commonly found on the beach this time of year, along with crows and who know what other random predators.

I happened to glance up and look north over the jetty which is when I spotted the 3 Brown Pelicans flying over the inlet. This is early for pelicans and I was excited to see them, not remembering that I'd already seen plenty of them when we were in Mexico in April. However: country bird, state bird, county lifer bird, month bird. Plus: fun bird. How can you not love seeing these "flying boats?"

I spent a little over an hour walking around the fenced off area. I don't know who maintains this area each year, but they do a good job and I'm thankful the birds are protected. Obviously, a bird that nests in such precarious circumstances (the skimmers and oystercatchers are in the same predicament) needs all the help and isolation it can get.

My list:
16 species
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Brown Pelican 3
American Oystercatcher 4
Semipalmated Plover 1
Piping Plover 1
Laughing Gull 6
Least Tern 75
Common Tern 2
Black Skimmer 42
Rock Pigeon 1
Northern Mockingbird 2 Chasing grackle
Song Sparrow 1 Heard
Northern Cardinal 1 Flying parallel with boardwalk
Red-winged Blackbird 1 In tree at entrance
Common Grackle 10
House Sparrow 5 On jetty and beach

Least Tern & chick

High Point SP 6/17--Canada Warbler

It's a long drive to High Point SP to hear and (sorta) see one bird, but my trip up there with Mike (who, happily, doesn't mind a long drive) had other compensations. We did two loops around Cedar Swamp in the Kuser Natural Area at High Point, hoping we might hear, or perhaps flush, a grouse, or failing that (spoiler alert: we failed) get a couple of warblers on the year list. In that we were somewhat successful.

At the start of the trail we ran into a birder we know and she showed us where Canada Warbler was often heard. We'd just passed that spot and saw an unidentified bird that flew too fast and too far back. She heard the bird and pointed out it's sputtering little song--if it sounds like anything it sounds like someone giving you the raspberries. I heard it clearly enough but when it showed itself, briefly, I never got on it. On our 2nd loop, I did manage to see a flash of the bird as it jumped up off a branch and then down into the underbrush. Not the most satisfying listing, but that's warblers!

Warblers we were able to get good looks at were redstarts, Ovenbirds, Black-and-white Warblers, Northern Waterthrush and a single Black-throated Blue Warbler that posed high on a branch in the greenish-cast light of the woods.

But the real highlight of our trip was bird watching. The great thing about northern NJ is that you can see a lot of nesting birds. We saw a female redstart on the ground, which we thought unusual until Mike took a photo that showed her picking up a long stem for her nest and then we saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (which are long gone from our part of the state) visiting her nest and heard her cheeping chicks inside the hollowed out tree.

But the best was a Veery on a nest, something neither of us had ever witnessed.

I told Mike that perhaps it was anthropomorphizing, but there is something about a thrush or warbler sitting on its nest that makes them seem vulnerable and fragile. Perhaps it is because it is both incubating and protecting its eggs at the same time and it seems like a lot to ask of a little bird.

I came away with 27 species. I also broke the record for insect repellent, employing 4 kinds: Permethrin, Off spray, Off wipes, and Ultrathon lotion, all of which worked fine except for the flies bouncing off my eyeballs. Something to be said for wearing glasses.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 3
Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Heard
Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Heard
Red-eyed Vireo 15
Blue Jay 2
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
Veery 5
Wood Thrush 1 Heard
Gray Catbird 1 Heard
Ovenbird 15
Northern Waterthrush 2
Black-and-white Warbler 5
Hooded Warbler 1 Heard
American Redstart 6
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Singing
Prairie Warbler 2 Heard
Canada Warbler 1 Heard, saw shape fly
Chipping Sparrow 3
Eastern Towhee 2 Heard
Scarlet Tanager 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 toward end of loop
Brown-headed Cowbird 3 two in parking area, one on trail