Huber Preserve | Whitesbog 5/11--Pectoral Sandpiper, Broad-winged Hawk

Union Pond, Whitesbog

Yesterday both the World Series of Birding and the Ocean County Big Day were run and I, not participating in either, went to quiet Burlington County to escape the madness. I figured the the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve would be the least birded place I could go and I hadn't visited this warbler hotspot yet this year, so at 6:45 I emerged from my car and spent the next 4 hours primarily walking the white trail (relatively free of ticks) for more than 2 1/2 miles almost up to Route 70 and back, with a detour on the return to the Yellow trail where I watched assiduously for ticks (and found only a few).

It was a fine, peaceful walk and I enjoyed not being concerned with which bird I "needed" for the county or the year. The preserve is almost fully leafed out so many of the birds were heard only, but even that, usually frustrating, was all right with me, since I was happy to be able to identify them. Yet, I did see a lot of warblers--of the 10 species, only Hooded & Worm-eating Warbler remained hidden from me. I was pleased to immediately track down a Prothonotary Warbler, Ovenbirds, which were singing by the dozens, occasionally popped into view, I got a great look at a Blue-winged Warbler, and I took the horseshoe-shaped Yellow Trail specifically because I knew a few Prairie Warblers would make themselves observable instead of just hearing them along the wider, white trail.

The only disappointment was at the bridge with the red gate, where I unslung my camera from my should to take a picture of a phoebe and found that the battery was dead and the spare about 15 miles away, still in the charger. Not that I find taking photos of birds especially edifying, but I do like to get a few if for no other reason than to illustrate this blog. Plus, now I was stuck lugging a useless hunk of machinery for 5 miles. The photo above was taken with my phone and it shows.

The new bird for the year was one that was completely off the possibility chart for me--I was on the Yellow Trail, which is closed in and doesn't afford much sky view, when I saw a Broad-winged Hawk fly above me, then immediately swerve behind a tree, peeked out again, and was gone. A warbler preserve is not a place that makes you think of hawks, but that's what makes birding fun--the unexpected.

After lunch I did a couple of miles walking around Reeves Bogs, another place I felt sure would be empty and it was. I found nothing unexpected, but enjoyed my best look of the year at a Green Heron. Of the other two birds I've seen this year, one was distant and identified from shape and color, while the other was a flyaway at the Oros Preserve. This one one flew into a tree and perched there and let me look at it for as long as I wanted. The last bird I noted there was in a dead tree close to the parking area. At first I took it for a Merlin, but once I got closer and I saw the prominent "mustache" and when it flew off (of course) its markings were those of a PEFA. Besides, Merlin is rare this time of year, Peregrine merely "infrequent."

My last stop was Whitesbog, even though I suspected this place would busy--not with birders, but with illegal ATVs and dirt bikes and there was some of that--enough to annoy me but not enough to break my good mood, especially when, after scoping the rapidly filling bogs, I found a Pectoral Sandpiper in the center of the Upper Bog. The late winter draw down of the bogs lasted long enough into the spring to attract shorebirds, and though the heavy rains have eliminated most of the mud, there is still enough in the Lower Bog for about 50 Least Sandpipers to make a living. Today's weat weather will probably end that. I also had my first Orchard Oriole for Burlington County this year (I can't completely get away from that county thing can I?).

For the day, I walked 9 miles and found 55 species. There was possibly a Black-billed Cuckoo that I heard at Huber, but, with the definite Yellow-billed that I heard and knowing that they sometimes cross-sing, I listed it as a slash bird.

My Huber list:
2 Canada Goose -- Heard flyover
2 Wood Duck
3 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo -- Heard
1 Yellow-billed/Black-billed Cuckoo -- Heard
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Broad-winged Hawk
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker -- Heard
1 Hairy Woodpecker
4 Eastern Wood-Pewee
3 Eastern Phoebe
10 Great Crested Flycatcher
6 White-eyed Vireo
2 Red-eyed Vireo -- Heard
3 Blue Jay -- Heard
1 American Crow -- Heard
2 Tufted Titmouse -- Heard
1 Carolina Wren
4 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
2 Wood Thrush -- Heard
2 Gray Catbird -- Heard
2 Chipping Sparrow
20 Eastern Towhee
4 Brown-headed Cowbird -- Heard
20 Ovenbird
1 Worm-eating Warbler -- Heard
1 Blue-winged Warbler
4 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Prothonotary Warbler
5 Common Yellowthroat
2 Hooded Warbler -- Heard
1 American Redstart
4 Pine Warbler
7 Prairie Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal

Number of Taxa: 35