Pinelands Winter Census

Tundra Swans on Union Pond at dawn

Because great swaths of the Pinelands (the real estate euphemism for the Pine Barrens) lie outside any Christmas Count circles, including such hot spots as the Parker Preserve, Budd's Bogs, Reeves Bogs and my own beloved Whitesbog, Jim Schill, about 5 years ago, organized an annual census of the heart of the area which falls on the weekend before the Super Bowl. My area, which the last couple of years I've done solo, comprises Whitesbog and a few nearby areas like Country Lake Estates, Whitesbog Road, and the private section of the cranberry bogs across Rt 530. In midwinter, it isn't necessarily the most productive area, but if the water isn't frozen, and if the roads are passable, conditions which pertained today, with some work I can do all right.

The highlights of the day were barbelled in between long stretches of ordinary birding. I started out owling predawn in Whitesbog Village. I try to be circumspect there because officially the area isn't open and people do live there, so I don't go hooting around the houses. I first tried for Great Horned Owl, which I've heard there a few times, but none were calling. I then walked the road almost out to the bogs where one of the great Burlco birders told me he'd reliably had screech owl. I played the call a couple of times and was almost immediately rewarded with a response--very clear and repeating. So, as far as I was concerned, the day was a success, this being my Burlco county lifer. But let's not end the paragraph without a complaint--how come I can get one or the other of the owls, but not both in the same morning?

By the time the skies were starting to lighten I was out on the bogs counting swans and geese. There were only 62 Tundra Swans spread among the the lower and middle bogs and Union Pond, a fairly low number for this time of year when the population is usually closer to 100. And I'm glad I counted when I did, because by 10 AM the count of Tundra Swans was zero. They all flew off, along with the geese, presumably to more congenial bogs where guys weren't firing shot guns to train their dogs.

Some minor surprises included 3 Field Sparrows near the Triangle Field (where the commercial high bush blueberry was developed more than 100 years ago), a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and 17 Ring-necked Ducks way back in Ditch Meadow. In the Ocean County section, I was able to locate the Red-shouldered Hawk that has been hanging out there for the last month or so on the Upper Reservoir.

Eastern Bluebird, Whitesbog Road

There were a couple of spots I couldn't check out, either because of dogs or because the water was too high. I drove over to Browns Mills to eat lunch at the Wawa there and then started doing my spots outside Whitesbog. Country Lake Estates didn't have much other than a Ring-billed Gull to add to my list and I thought Whitesbog Road was going to be a complete bust until after walking almost its entire length down to Rt 70, I saw two Pine Warblers (year bird!) and an Eastern Bluebird just as I was getting back to my car. The working cranberry bogs had zilch--not surprising considering how late it was in the afternoon.

I decided to do a "mop up" back at Whitesbog. There were still a couple of portions of the trails I hadn't walked on. When you're doing a survey like this, it is always perplexing how supposedly "easy" birds are nowhere to be found. Amazingly, I didn't have a House Finch. Or a Mourning Dove. Or a starling! I walked through the village and back out onto the bogs, circling the lower bog with little to show for it. Then I walked back onto a side trail (where a few years ago the police dug up a dead body) and came upon a small flock of sparrows zipping across the trail from one thicket to another. Song and White-throated it appeared, but as I glassed the bushes and branches one sparrow stood out--big and heavily striped. My year Fox Sparrow.

Back in the village I was about to call it quits, but looking through the huge robin flock one bird did not belong--finally, a Mourning Dove. And while checking out the feeder one more time, I glanced up at a bare tree and there at the very top was not a robin but a starling. Which made 40 species for the day which seemed like a reasonable mid-winter number and so I walked over the parking lot and went home, 11 hours after I started and 34,000 steps (13.4 miles) logged.

My list for the day:

Canada Goose 105

Tundra Swan 62

Mallard 24

American Black Duck 4

Ring-necked Duck 17

Hooded Merganser 4

Mourning Dove 1

Ring-billed Gull 1

Herring Gull 2

Turkey Vulture 11

Northern Harrier 1

Red-shouldered Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Eastern Screech-Owl 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker 1

Downy Woodpecker 4

Blue Jay 5

American Crow 10

Fish Crow 1

Carolina Chickadee 6

Tufted Titmouse 4

Golden-crowned Kinglet 5

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1

White-breasted Nuthatch 2

Winter Wren 1

Carolina Wren 3

European Starling 1

Eastern Bluebird 3

Hermit Thrush 3

American Robin 60

American Goldfinch 2

Field Sparrow 3

Fox Sparrow 1

Dark-eyed Junco 70

White-throated Sparrow 12

Song Sparrow 9

Swamp Sparrow 4

Red-winged Blackbird 150

Pine Warbler 2

Northern Cardinal 4

Swamp Sparrow, Whitesbog