Whitesbog 5/6--Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Orchard Oriole

I walked around some of the more remote sections of the Ocean County side of Whitesbog this morning, just curious to see what was in the woods. Most of the time when I take an unfamiliar trail, there I'm pretty certain I won't get lost; but a lot of the times I realize the path is going to take me some place I don't especially want to be.

Today, I walked over one of the makeshift bridges that my friend put in a couple of years when the Upper Reservoir breached and blew out some of the dams in the smaller bogs. I had a sense of where I was and then realized that I might not like where I was going. There were two ways back to where I parked, a really long trail through the woods, or cross another, more precarious bridge, pictured on the left.

I am
A) Impressed that I am still spry enough to climb up on the far side, straddle the board, stand up, and then cross over the water with out plunging in &
B) Amazed that I'm stupid enough to actually do it instead of backtracking or taking the long way around.

Great Crested Flycatcher

When I wasn't balancing on beams, I was able to find some birds, including a couple of new ones for the year. Just before I started my daredevil act, I saw a Hairy Woodpecker which I was able to track down after hearing it.  On the dike of the Upper Reservoir I saw a yellow bird that I first took for a warbler, but then saw that it was a first year male Orchard Oriole. Over by Little Tank I finally got a decent look at a Great Crested Flycatcher (I've been hearing them all over, but have had only fleeting glances of them), and over one of the smaller reservoirs, a beautiful adult Bald Eagle flew.

Tree Swallows were abundant along with some Barn Swallows, but it wasn't until I was almost back to the car that I was finally able to spot a brown swallow and follow it long enough with my bins to determine that it was my first Northern Rough-winged Swallow of the year.

By that time also it had started to rain yet again in this dismal spring. I was happy enough with the 32 species I was able to list:

Wood Duck   3

Mallard   5

Mourning Dove   3

Killdeer   1

Spotted Sandpiper   1

Turkey Vulture   1

Bald Eagle   1

Hairy Woodpecker   1

Northern Flicker   1

Eastern Phoebe   1

Great Crested Flycatcher   5

Eastern Kingbird   3

White-eyed Vireo   1

American Crow   1

Fish Crow   1

Carolina Chickadee   3

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   1

Tree Swallow   45

Barn Swallow   7

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   2

Gray Catbird   30

Song Sparrow   3

Eastern Towhee   10

Orchard Oriole   1

Red-winged Blackbird   30

Brown-headed Cowbird   2

Common Grackle   10

Ovenbird   20

Black-and-white Warbler   2

Common Yellowthroat   26

Pine Warbler   3

Prairie Warbler   10