Double Trouble SP | Great Bay Blvd 4/21--Eastern Kingbird, Cape May Warbler, Prairie Warbler

Eastern Kingbird, Great Bay Blvd

I started the day at Double Trouble SP with two warblers in mind. I was half successful. I walked the path to Ore Pond, which is usually one of the two best spots in the park for warblers and while I found a lots of Black-and-white Warblers and a couple of Pines, as well as hearing a cacophony of Common Yellowthroats and Ovenbirds, the one warbler that I have in the past found along the little canal that separates the to & fro paths eluded me.

In the past few years, just around this time either Greg or I have found Louisiana Waterthrush along the canal, but not today. I even had a visiting couple from Maryland ask me about the bird (because they were having a hard time finding one in Maryland!) and I told them where to look, though I warned them that, up until it started to appear in the park it was considered rare for the county.

Shrugging my shoulders, I continued on my 3 mile walk around the bogs. It wasn't until I was on the final stretch of Mud Dam Road that I finally heard my other warbler target when the ascending notes of the Prairie Warbler rang out. I actually heard two along that stretch, possibly three but I'm not counting the first one I thought I might have heard as it was only a partial song. Normally, I find my first Prairie Warblers on the north end of Turnmill Pond at Colliers Mills, but the last time I tried to go there all the roads were blocked for construction and I didn't want to take the chance again this morning. So the walk wasn't a complete bust.

Except: I passed a young birder I know casually while on Mud Dam. We nodded, but didn't compare notes. If we had, I might have known that his much younger ears had heard the Louie Waterthrush over by the restrooms. And I did stop in at the restrooms before I left and heard not peep. Add a dollop of aggravation to the walk.

32 species

Canada Goose  6

Wood Duck  1

Mallard  11

Ring-necked Duck  3

Great Egret  1

Turkey Vulture  2

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard 

Downy Woodpecker  1

Eastern Phoebe  3

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard 

Blue Jay  3    Heard 

American Crow  2

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1

Tree Swallow  5

Barn Swallow  30

Carolina Chickadee  5

Tufted Titmouse  3

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1

White-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  8

American Robin  1    Heard 

American Goldfinch  1

Chipping Sparrow  7

Song Sparrow  2

Eastern Towhee  10

Red-winged Blackbird  6

Ovenbird  15    Heard 

Black-and-white Warbler  9

Common Yellowthroat  10    Heard 

Pine Warbler  2

Prairie Warbler  2    Heard 

Northern Cardinal  2

I hit Manahawkin WMA next and while the woods were busy (I saw my first White-eyed Vireo today), the water in the impoundments was high and there were no shorebirds, interesting or otherwise, to look through. 

I drove down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton, even though I suspected the tide would be high. The tide was high and when I saw all the Sunday traffic roaring up and down the road I wondered what the hell was I thinking! In all the salt pans in the marsh I saw two Greater Yellowlegs. I saw lots of egrets, of the two most common variety and that was about it. But I should have remembered that 80% Great Bay Blvd is not particularly interesting and that the action starts at the north end of second wooden bridge.

It was there that I found my FOY Eastern Kingbird and it was there that I finally found a Black-crowned Night-Heron in Ocean County, right where it should have been, the cedar stand just before the bridge. I literally clapped my hands when I saw the night-heron, I was so happy. Of course, that didn't make the night-heron very happy and it flew off behind the trees into the marsh. 

The water was high along the last stretch of road and I had given up on seeing any shorebirds along there. I was hoping that the inlet might have some feeding on the higher mud but I assumed it would be full of fishermen which would scare off the birds. It turned out I was wrong on both counts but before I figured that out I found the best bird of the day. 

A guy and a gal and a pit bull were about to walk out onto the beach, but when they saw me with my scope they graciously let me go ahead. This might actually have worked to my disadvantage. I was about 25 feet onto the path in the little grove that separates the end of the road from the beach when I called out, "Holy Expletive!" 

"What's wrong?" the guy said.

"Nothing. That's a rare bird." It was a Cape May Warbler (orange ear patch, black stripes on yellow breast, dark back, yellow patch on the rump, all the field marks), and with them behind me and the scope on my shoulder and the bird flitting around, I had no hope of getting a picture of it. It was so close I didn't even need my binoculars. After a minute or so it disappeared, diving down, out of the wind. That is the first Cape May I've seen in the county. Gorgeous bird. 

I walked on the beach, which had nary a bird or person on it, then came back to the path and looked around both sides of the grove for a while. The bird popped up again. I put my scope back in the car but as soon as I swung my camera up, it disappeared again. But there was no doubting what I'd seen. Great bird and one I don't get every year. 

Surprise birds are always the best.

21 species

American Oystercatcher  2

Greater Yellowlegs  2

Herring Gull  100

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Forster's Tern  25

Double-crested Cormorant  12

Great Egret  30

Snowy Egret  25

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1

Osprey  6    on nests and hunting

Belted Kingfisher  1

Eastern Kingbird  1    

Fish Crow  4

Barn Swallow  5

Brown Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

Song Sparrow  3

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Boat-tailed Grackle  15

Common Yellowthroat  2

Cape May Warbler  1