Manahawkin WMA 11/7--Orange-Crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler
photo: Mike Mandracchia

It isn't much to look at, described as "drab" in the field guides, and you almost never see its orange-crown, but Orange-crowned Warbler is a tough bird to find, usually only passing through this area in the fall and avidly sought after. Mike and I stumbled on one just where the mowed trail at Manahawkin WMA meets Stafford Avenue. Our first reaction was that it was another Pine Warbler, which we'd seen earlier in the day at Cedar Bonnet Island, but it didn't look quite right for Pine and the habitat was wrong (though an animal with wings can be just about anywhere). Mike was able to get a good photograph and upon reflection and study we landed on Orange-crowned. I thought it might possibly be a Tennessee Warbler, another drab, green/yellow warbler, but that bird has a white eye-line and is a little greener. Besides, Tennessee would be "rare" this time of year, while Orange-crowned, surprisingly, though hard to find, is listed as "expected." More confounding, the Pine Warbler we saw at Cedar Bonnet is considered rare in autumn and winter, even though we know that many overwinter--I have the photos and eBird lists for my backyard over the course of quite a few winters to prove that. I was able to get some documentary photos of the Pine, but I won't pollute this page with them.

This was our first birding expedition since Mike got back from Australia late last week. We started out at Cedar Bonnet, a recently opened section of the extensive Forsythe NWR, because he hadn't been there yet and because I'm convinced that it will develop into a great birding site, especially for viewing winter ducks in Barnegat Bay. Today was an okay day, though the sparrows I'd seen on Sunday were not in evidence. Perhaps the falcon, Merlin, Northern Harrier, and Cooper's Hawks we saw had something to do with that.

In all we had 42 species on the day, not bad for a couple of walks in the morning.

21 Canada Goose
11 Mute Swan
50 American Black Duck
1 Hooded Merganser
5 Rock Pigeon 
1 Mourning Dove
1 Greater Yellowlegs
11 Laughing Gull
8 Ring-billed Gull
5 Herring Gull
53 Double-crested Cormorant
11 Great Blue Heron
2 Great Egret
5 Turkey Vulture
1 Northern Harrier
2 Cooper's Hawk
2 Belted Kingfisher
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
1 Merlin
1 Peregrine Falcon
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Blue Jay
50 American Crow
3 Carolina Chickadee
2 Red-breasted Nuthatch
2 Carolina Wren
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
25 American Robin
3 Northern Mockingbird
20 European Starling
2 House Finch
2 American Goldfinch
2 White-throated Sparrow
17 Song Sparrow
10 Red-winged Blackbird
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
1 Pine Warbler
2 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Northern Cardinal