Whitesbog 5/4--Spotted Sandpiper, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler

Gray Catbird

Who turned on the catbird spigot? I returned to Whitesbog today and everywhere I went--the woods, the bogs, the reservoirs, the brush, the brambles, the Burlington side, the Ocean side--there were Gray Catbirds singing. I've seen a few catbirds this year, mostly overwintering birds; it took me to the end of April before I came across one in the spring, and now there is one frequenting our backyard, but today they were just out of hand. My count of 50 is a reasonable estimate but there were probably more.

I wasn't out of the car more than a few minutes when I ran across my first year bird, a Spotted Sandpiper that I flushed from the cross dike between the middle and upper bogs. Flush it twice actually but it didn't pose for pictures.

Probably the coolest thing I saw was in one of the less birded areas that I like to go to--a murder of crows was making a ruckus. I figured they were probably mobbing a hawk or owl, but the stand of trees they were attacking had no path going to it. I could see the crows swooping down, but I couldn't find their target. I turned around and started to walk back, then, just to look one more time I saw a circular opening in the pines and there, on a branch, was a Great Horned Owl fending off the crows. A crow would come near, the owl flinched, the crow would back off. I think the crows always "win" in these encounters because eventually the raptor just leaves, since it isn't worth the energy to fight them off.

Barn Swallow

I walked over onto the Ocean County side and stopped at a place where in the past I've seen Yellow Warblers and sure enough, right at the spot, there they were. They nest in this area, along with Tree Swallows which were checking out the holes in the dead trees. I saw one Barn Swallow among them, only my 2nd of the year and a year county bird.

I checked out the Upper Reservoir and, as expected this time of year, there were Eastern Kingbirds flying around, looking like big swallows. Nothing on the reservoir itself save for one Wood Duck that flew in. No raptors at all there: unusual.

Eastern Kingbird

Over by what I call the "breached bog" which is usually a good place to find sparrows in the winter, I found the first Savannah Sparrow that I've seen in a while. Of course Common Yellowthroats and Pine Warblers were all about, and Ovenbirds were singing unseen which seems to be the case 90% of the time this year.

Savannah Sparrow

I'd seen my friend's truck parked in his usual spot when I was looking at the Yellow Warblers, but he wasn't there. When I was walking back on the trail that leads away from the reservoir I could see that his truck door was open, so I figured he was back and cut through a shortcut full of blueberry bushes, greenbriar and ticks. Scraped my arm, pulled two ticks off my pants, but it was worth to catch up with him.

We talked for quite a while at the safe distance and while we were talking the Yellow Warblers were courting and the catbirds were singing and then, up in a maple he spotted a Baltimore Oriole so there was another year bird for me.

I guess Whitesbog is just about my favorite to be. The birding on any one day is not going to rack up the big numbers, but it is a calm place to walk around and find what I can find--and every time there is something akin to today's owl sighting to make it worth my while.



35 species today:

Canada Goose  9

Wood Duck  3

Mallard  2

American Black Duck  4

Mourning Dove  4

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Green Heron  1

Turkey Vulture  1

Great Horned Owl  1

Northern Flicker  3

Great Crested Flycatcher  7

Eastern Kingbird  7

Blue Jay  1

American Crow  10

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tree Swallow  13

Barn Swallow  1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3

Gray Catbird  50

Chipping Sparrow  1

White-crowned Sparrow  1

Savannah Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  12

Swamp Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  12

Baltimore Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Common Grackle  21

Ovenbird  12

Black-and-white Warbler  1

Common Yellowthroat  23

Yellow Warbler  2

Pine Warbler  5

Prairie Warbler  6