Negri-Nepote Grasslands 6/23--Henslow's Sparrow

Henslow's Sparrow
Photo: Mike Mandracchia

Although I've only been there 4 or 5 times, I have a fondness for the Negri-Nepote Grasslands up in Franklin Township.I don't bird Somerset County all that much. But 8 years ago, after first looking at the house from which I write this, Shari & I went up there and got our life Dickcissel.

And yesterday, Dickcissel was the bird of the day, as Mike and I went over to Laurel Run Park in Burlco so he could get it for the year, which we did, pretty easily. As we were leaving, I checked the rare bird reports and saw a report of Henslow's Sparrow up at Negri-Nepote. The only Henslow's I've ever seen was in Ohio and, remarkably, considering his list, it would be a lifer for Mike, so despite having to take a rather roundabout route to get there, we went, arriving mid-afternoon. Because of diminishing habitat (read: grasslands) Henslow's has become a rarity in NJ. The closest place to reliably find them is in central Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for us, by the time we got there the bird had gone to ground and while we were happy to find our buddy Bob Auster there along with a couple of other birders we knew, the bird never showed for us. Of course, after we left it showed up again around 6 PM.

Bob texted me that he was going back early today and Mike and I decided to do the same. By the time I arrived at Mike's house, at around a quarter after six this morning, Bob texted that he already had seen the bird. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and 6 minutes to walk to the back field where the bird was being seen. We joined a long stream of birders headed in the same direction. We were lucky to get a parking spot--as we were leaving I saw many northern and central Jersey birders I know already leaving and still the parking lot was congested.

Just because Henslow's is rare doesn't mean it is a particularly interesting bird to look at--there are not astonishing field marks as there are on say a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. And its "song" if you will is just a stifled sneeze. Still, hard for me to get a Jersey lifer and even harder for Mike to get a lifer in Jersey, so there was great relief when the bird, which everyone assured us would "pop up" on a certain little bush in the field, actually did pop up, sing, and give great views, especially if someone kindly lent you his scope. My pictures came out smallish, but Mike's photo shows the bird to good advantage.

Coming in and going out we built up a pretty good list without really birding hard--most of the typical grassland birds can be found there, like Grasshopper Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, etc. We found 'em all and then some, including one flycatcher which we could swear was calling "Free Beer" like an Alder Flycatcher, but, considering the rarity of that bird and the fact that everyone else was reporting Willow Flycatcher (common) we relented and defaulted to the "Fitz-bew" bird. Since both birds look exactly alike (and were once conspecific) you can only really separate them by voice. Too bad, still need Alder for the year.
The list, covering a 1/2 mile to the sparrow spot:

35 species

Mourning Dove  3

Chimney Swift  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Willow Flycatcher  1    

Great Crested Flycatcher  1    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  5

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  2

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Tree Swallow  20    Feeding young

Barn Swallow  6    Nesting in blind

House Wren  4

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Eastern Bluebird  1

American Robin  2

Gray Catbird  5

Brown Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

European Starling  4

Cedar Waxwing  4

American Goldfinch  7

Grasshopper Sparrow  1

Chipping Sparrow  1

Field Sparrow  1    Heard

Henslow's Sparrow  1    

Song Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  1    Heard

Orchard Oriole  2

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Brown-headed Cowbird  2

Common Grackle  4

Common Yellowthroat  4

Yellow Warbler  1    Heard

Blue Grosbeak  1    Heard

Indigo Bunting  2