Wednesday, May 1, 2019

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

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