June Review Summer Doldrums Edition

Well, at least it was a good month for Yellow-breasted Chats. These noisy non-warblers that are probably more closely related to our tanagers were pretty easy to find this month. I had them in 3 counties (Atlantic, Ocean, & Monmouth) which is surely a record for me. The ones in Ocean, Mike and I found in Double Trouble SP. They're a hard bird for Ocean County and attracted a lot of attention until the shearwater show at Barnegat Light distracted everybody and pulled them to the shore. 

Yellow-breasted Chat, Brig

The chats at Double Trouble were totally unexpected and the first ones ever reported for that park. Mike and I were walking int he Sandy Damage Area when I heard one blatting away. I was quite familiar with the "song" having spent a good portion of the previous day looking for and eventually find a couple of them at Brig where they have become a relatively easy annual species ever since they use a hydro-axe and turned woods into fields. 

For the last day of the month I went to the aviation beacon field at Assunpink, which has always been the place they were easiest to find. Today was no exception. I heard one almost immediately in a hedgerow they seem to prefer and walked over there where one of my friends was also looking for it. We never could persuade the bird to come out (pishing sounds pretty weak when a chat is a on a roll) but like the whip-poor-will, their song is so distinctive that you don't feel cheated if you only hear one. 

Great Egret with strange red tail feathers, Brig

I added 8 more species for the year which is not very impressive, but I haven't really been working at it. I chased the shearwaters and, while eventually successful, the chase didn't pass the fun test. I haven't chased other birds in the county. My routine has been to get up fairly early, get to a place that is close by, bird for 3 hours or so and be home by mid-morning. If the birds are where I want to be, fine. I bird every day but I don't want to bird all day. 

This time of year the best places to bird, I feel, are out in the fields and around the bogs. The shore is empty and the sand tough on the legs, the marshes are full of greenhead flies and in the woods you switch to swatting deer flies. I'm not looking to make myself miserable; I can read the news for that.

For the month I had 118 species in Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean Counties. 

Species             Location Canada Goose   Double Trouble State Park Mute Swan   Manahawkin WMA Wood Duck   Whitesbog Blue-winged Teal   Manahawkin WMA Gadwall   Manahawkin WMA Mallard   Whitesbog American Black Duck   Whitesbog Surf Scoter   Barnegat Lighthouse SP Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd Rock Pigeon   Stafford Preserve Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Double Trouble State Park Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Manasquan River WMA Clapper Rail   Brig Black-necked Stilt   Brig American Avocet   Brig American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP Black-bellied Plover   Brig Piping Plover   Island Beach SP Killdeer   Whitesbog Whimbrel   Brig Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig Greater Yellowlegs   Brig Willet   Manahawkin WMA Laughing Gull   Brig Ring-billed Gull   Island Beach SP Herring Gull   Manasquan River WMA Great Black-backed Gull   Manahawkin WMA Least Tern   Brig Gull-billed Tern   Brig Caspian Tern   Brig Common Tern   Brig Forster's Tern   Manahawkin WMA Black Skimmer   Brig Great Shearwater   Barnegat Lighthouse SP Double-crested Cormorant   Brig Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP Great Blue Heron   Double Trouble State Park Great Egret   Double Trouble State Park Snowy Egret   Manahawkin WMA Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP Tricolored Heron   Manahawkin WMA Green Heron   Brig Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Brig Glossy Ibis   Double Trouble State Park Turkey Vulture   Manasquan River WMA Osprey   Manahawkin WMA Bald Eagle   Laurel Run Park Red-tailed Hawk   Lakehurst Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA Red-bellied Woodpecker   Manasquan River WMA Downy Woodpecker   Double Trouble State Park Hairy Woodpecker   Double Trouble State Park Northern Flicker   Whitesbog Peregrine Falcon   Cedar Bonnet Island Eastern Wood-Pewee   Manasquan River WMA Acadian Flycatcher   Union Transportation Trail Willow Flycatcher   Brig Eastern Phoebe   Double Trouble State Park Great Crested Flycatcher   Double Trouble State Park Eastern Kingbird   Manasquan River WMA White-eyed Vireo   Double Trouble State Park Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA Red-eyed Vireo   Manasquan River WMA Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd American Crow   35 Sunset Rd Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd Carolina Chickadee   Manasquan River WMA Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Manasquan River WMA Purple Martin   Brig Tree Swallow   Manasquan River WMA Bank Swallow   Stafford Preserve Barn Swallow   Manasquan River WMA Cliff Swallow   Wesley Lake White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Manasquan River WMA House Wren   Manasquan River WMA Marsh Wren   Manahawkin WMA Carolina Wren   Manasquan River WMA European Starling   35 Sunset Rd Gray Catbird   Manasquan River WMA Brown Thrasher   Brig Northern Mockingbird   Stafford Preserve Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog Veery   Double Trouble State Park Wood Thrush   Manasquan River WMA American Robin   Manasquan River WMA Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog House Sparrow   Union Transportation Trail House Finch   35 Sunset Rd American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd Grasshopper Sparrow   Laurel Run Park Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd Field Sparrow   Manasquan River WMA Seaside Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA Song Sparrow   Double Trouble State Park Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog Eastern Towhee   Manasquan River WMA Yellow-breasted Chat   Brig Orchard Oriole   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area Baltimore Oriole   Whitesbog Red-winged Blackbird   Manasquan River WMA Brown-headed Cowbird   Manasquan River WMA Common Grackle   Whitesbog Boat-tailed Grackle   Brig Ovenbird   Manasquan River WMA Black-and-white Warbler   Double Trouble State Park Common Yellowthroat   Manasquan River WMA Hooded Warbler   Double Trouble State Park Yellow Warbler   Whitesbog Pine Warbler   Double Trouble State Park Prairie Warbler   Double Trouble State Park Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd Blue Grosbeak   Manasquan River WMA Indigo Bunting   Manasquan River WMA

Turkey on the neighbor's pickup truck.