Manasquan River WMA 5/15--Chimney Swift, Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

Today was the first day this year I was able to bird in a tee-shirt. Manasquan River WMA is pretty close to my Subaru dealer where I had an appointment this morning.

A Digression Which Will Only Have Meaning to Ocean County Residents to Who Watch Television

At the end of every commercial for this complex of dealerships, including my Subaru dealer, the spokeswoman put up her two hands palms up at right angles to her arms and says, "Between Lakewood and Brick." There is nothing between Lakewood and Brick other than the border line separating the two towns. It is an insidious message devised to distance the company from its Lakewood address and all that Lakewood implies--Orthodox Jews.

To confess my own bias: Because the spokeswoman in those commercial appears so amateurish, I always assumed nepotism was involved in these DIY spots, that she was the girlfriend, daughter, or niece of someone at the company. It turns out, according to my salesman there, that she is charge of the corporation's IT department! She should stick to her day job.

With that out of the way, the late start at the WMA probably didn't help me with finding warblers, which were scarce to my eye and ear. It looks like I won't see a Blue-winged Warbler (among many other species) this year, since this is my go-to spot for them and I've gone to it twice with no sightings.

I did however come across another favorite bird, Indigo Bunting, singing in the first field which has been cut down and plowed. It is just a couple of acres of dirt now making it a bird desert. This is one of the places I've seen the Blue-winged Warblers, but the trees around the field still exist so I can't blame the land management.

A Chimney Swift flew overhead, another new bird. I like them for the optical illusion they present when zoom by of their wings alternately flapping instead of together like all other birds. They too fly with their wings coordinated, but for some reason (and this I remember first reading in my Peterson Guide), they look like they're going left right left right left right. I'd like to know how the illusion is created, but have never found an explanation.

33 species

Canada Goose  2

Mourning Dove  4

Chimney Swift  1

Glossy Ibis  1    Flyover

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3    Heard

Great Crested Flycatcher  4    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  3

Red-eyed Vireo  2

Blue Jay  6

American Crow  1

Carolina Chickadee  4

Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  4

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Gray Catbird  25

Eastern Bluebird  5    Back field

Wood Thrush  4    Heard

American Robin  7

Chipping Sparrow  1

Field Sparrow  15

Eastern Towhee  5    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  2

Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Back field. Looking for someplace to lay eggs?

Ovenbird  4

Common Yellowthroat  5    Heard

Yellow Warbler  1

Prairie Warbler  3

Northern Cardinal  6

Blue Grosbeak  2

Indigo Bunting  2