Manasquan River WMA | New Egypt 5/1--Baltimore Oriole, Black-throated Green Warbler

To initiate the new month, Mike & I roamed around the northern and western parts of the county, starting with the Manasquan River WMA up in Brick. For May 1, it was cold and raw. I don't know how many new arrivals were there, but we found the usual warblers and one new one for us--Black-throated Green Warbler, which Mike's keen hearing picked out and which we finally found high in the crown of a leafing out tree. Interesting to me because they were new county birds, but not so much to Mike who already had them in the county, were hearing both Wood Thrush (multiple birds) and one Red-eyed Vireo.

We then decided to try a place in Jackson that neither of us had been to in at least a couple of years, the Metedeconk Preserve, a tract of hardwoods and pines with a little stream running through it, which I suspect is the Metedeconk River in its infancy. The first 3/4 of a mile around the muddy loop was giving us only Common Yellowthroats and Ovenbirds at best, but it started to get more interesting toward the end. At 11:17 we heard, twice, a Barred Owl hooting and we had Warbling Vireo (new for Mike) and a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The owl was worth the slippery walk.

Eastern Meadowlark, Colliers Mills

Our next stop was Colliers Mills. We walked out to Success Road in the hope of hearing (maybe even seeing) a Grasshopper Sparrow but we had success of a different sort when Mike heard an Eastern Meadowlark which I was able to locate in the grassy field. This is the first meadowlark I've seen at Colliers Mills, where you would think the conditions perfect for it, and Mike says he hasn't seen one there in 20 years. It was also a new county bird for me, much to Mike's chagrin, as was the Orchard Oriole in the parking lot. We like to see who can rack up the most county birds in a year. It's not a competition unless I'm winning. Right now, I'm winning.

Common Raven, Colliers Mills

We also first heard, then saw a Common Raven fly over the fields. Rave is supposedly rare in the county but of late, "common" is the operative word.

We took a run out to the New Egypt mud fields pastures where we thought we might find some shorebirds but those fields haven't been very productive this year. Instead we found a creepy flock of over 60 Black Vultures settled in among the cattle and roosting in the trees, a few more warblers and one more bird for my year & county list, Baltimore Oriole. Two actually, high in a tree, but that orange really stands out.

Fence Lizard

We made a couple of more stops with nothing else of interest other than a torpid fence lizard not enjoying the unspring-like weather conditions that Mike moved off a track tie coated in creosote and into the brush at the Lakehurst railroad tracks. 68 species seemed to be enough for the first day of the month and the weather was only getting colder and drizzly so we ended around 4 o'clock.

Species             First Sighting

Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA

Mallard   Colliers Mills WMA

Wild Turkey   Manasquan River WMA

Rock Pigeon   New Egypt

Mourning Dove   Manasquan River WMA

Laughing Gull   Colliers Mills WMA

Herring Gull   Manasquan River WMA

Great Blue Heron   Manasquan River WMA

Black Vulture   Colliers Mills WMA

Turkey Vulture   Manasquan River WMA

Osprey   Manasquan River WMA

Red-tailed Hawk   Manasquan River WMA

Barred Owl   Metedeconk Preserve

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Manasquan River WMA

Downy Woodpecker   Manasquan River WMA

Northern Flicker   Colliers Mills WMA

Merlin   New Egypt

Great Crested Flycatcher   Manasquan River WMA

Eastern Kingbird   Manasquan River WMA

White-eyed Vireo   Manasquan River WMA

Blue-headed Vireo   Manasquan River WMA

Warbling Vireo   Metedeconk Preserve

Red-eyed Vireo   Manasquan River WMA

Blue Jay   Manasquan River WMA

American Crow   Metedeconk Preserve

Fish Crow   Manasquan River WMA

Common Raven   Colliers Mills WMA

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA

Purple Martin   W Colliers Mill Rd, Plumsted

Tree Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA

Barn Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA

Carolina Chickadee   Manasquan River WMA

Tufted Titmouse   Manasquan River WMA

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Manasquan River WMA

White-breasted Nuthatch   Manasquan River WMA

House Wren   Manasquan River WMA

Carolina Wren   Metedeconk Preserve

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Manasquan River WMA

Wood Thrush   Manasquan River WMA

American Robin   Manasquan River WMA

Gray Catbird   Manasquan River WMA

Northern Mockingbird   Colliers Mills WMA

European Starling   Colliers Mills WMA

House Finch   Manasquan River WMA

American Goldfinch   Manasquan River WMA

Chipping Sparrow   Manasquan River WMA

Field Sparrow   Manasquan River WMA

White-throated Sparrow   Manasquan River WMA

Song Sparrow   New Egypt

Eastern Towhee   Manasquan River WMA

Eastern Meadowlark   Colliers Mills WMA

Orchard Oriole   Colliers Mills WMA

Baltimore Oriole   New Egypt

Red-winged Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird   Manasquan River WMA

Common Grackle   E. Colliers Mill Rd

Ovenbird   Manasquan River WMA

Black-and-white Warbler   Manasquan River WMA

Common Yellowthroat   Manasquan River WMA

Yellow Warbler   New Egypt

Pine Warbler   Manasquan River WMA

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Manasquan River WMA

Prairie Warbler   Manasquan River WMA

Black-throated Green Warbler   Manasquan River WMA

Northern Cardinal   Manasquan River WMA

Rose-breasted Grosbeak   Metedeconk Preserve

Blue Grosbeak   Manasquan River WMA

House Sparrow   Metedeconk Preserve