Oros Preserve 2/19--Rusty Blackbird

I was up in Woodbridge Township to visit my mother (she's fine, thanks) but before I arrived at the ancestral home, I stopped off at the Ernest L. Oros Wildlife Preserver in the Avenel section, within view of the green dome of Rahway State Prison (name now softened to East Jersey State Prison so that Rahway isn't stigmatized). It's an interesting plot, wetlands with Woodbridge Creek (a tributary of the Rahway River) running through it.

Each time I got there (which is usually in the spring) the habitat improves through whose efforts I'm not certain, but I appreciate it. Great spot for warblers in May. I first got to know it when Red-headed Woodpeckers were wintering there a few years ago. They seem to have disappeared, but the other specialty bird, Rusty Blackbird, can still be found there and it didn't take me long to find a small flock of these glossy, yellow-eyed birds, which, for your convenience, are not rusty in winter, although, when the light was right, I was able to see a little brown on the napes of their necks.

The trails there are rudimentary and can be muddy but today the ground was frozen as was some of the water. In the back there is a kind of pond with open water and it was there that I saw most of my waterfowl for the day. Including an American Wigeon and a couple of Gadwalls, both unusual for the area  and both new for me in Middlesex County.

In less than an hour and a half I thoroughly covered the preserve, which is a good thing when Mom is waiting. In that time span I had 19 species, not bad for a few acres enclosed by railroad tracks and truck routes.

Canada Goose  12

Gadwall  2    

American Wigeon  1    

Mallard  29

Mourning Dove  10

Herring Gull  1    Flyover

Great Blue Heron  1

Belted Kingfisher  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Downy Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  1

Blue Jay  7

American Robin  1

European Starling  1

Song Sparrow  7

Red-winged Blackbird  5

Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Front section, in thickets near gazebo

Rusty Blackbird  6    I.

Common Grackle  1    Near stream in front, with flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker and jays