August Recap: Burlco Edition

Green Heron, Whitesbog

Not only did I bird Whitesbog 28 out of the 31 days of August, almost the rest of my time was spent in Burlington County, with a trip to Palmyra yesterday and a walk around Reeves Bog on August 2nd to avoid the Ruff hysteria at Whitesbog (I got there early and I got out early that day).  I spent one day on Great Bay Blvd with a side trip up to Waretown to finally tick the Mississippi Kite. Aside from the kite, which I wanted to keep my consecutive streak alive, I did no chasing. Lately, I've been of a mind that I want the cool birds to be where I want to be and if there is a rare bird somewhere I don't feel like being, then I'll just let it go by. For instance: when I found the American Golden-Plovers and the Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Whitesbog, my first thought was "Good. Now I don't have to go up to those sod farms in Monmouth and Mercer."  

I like Ocean County 3 seasons out of 4, but in the summer it seems like an awfully long drive to LBI just to look for terns, and Island Beach is not somewhere I want to be on weekends. Burlington county is not crowded and surprisingly few people know about places like Reeves Bogs or South Park Road. And even most of those birders who come to Whitesbog for the rarities only know the bogs. I dread finding a rarity in Ditch Meadow because of its inaccessibility. 

A few birds went unremarked this month because they weren't "new" for the year, but they were still exciting finds either because of the location or the date. During my walk around Reeves Bogs I found a beautiful Hooded Warbler male that just popped out at me on a  trail that I recently discovered and had only birded for the second time. Reeves looks like it has plenty of good habitat for Hooded but this was the first one I've seen there. Probably just passing through. I also saw a very early Northern Harrier there that day hunting over the bogs. When we saw one this weekend at Whitesbog someone commented that it was early and the one at Reeves was there almost a month ago. 

Baltimore Oriole, Backyard

Finally, in a way, the most exciting bird of the month was found in our own backyard. I was standing in the bedroom one afternoon last week, talking to Shari, looking at our neighbor's suet feeder when I cut the conversation short and told her to come quick. Our first backyard Baltimore Oriole was clinging to the suet cage. Baltimore Orioles are not really a Pine Barrens bird--they prefer deciduous trees in which to building their hanging nests and this is the first one that has managed to find our yard during migration. The oriole was our 98th yard bird, not bad for our little patch of ground. It helps to have 1200 acres of WMA behind the house. 

For the month, birding only Burlington  and Ocean Counties, I had 130 species, a fairly small number, but I did add 9 year birds to the list and, most importantly, I had the more fun birding this month that I've had all year. Because, as I often have to say to some fervid birder who wants to know if I'm "going" for this or that bird, "It ain't a job." 

Species               First Sighting

Canada Goose   Whitesbog

Wood Duck   Whitesbog

Blue-winged Teal   Whitesbog

Mallard   Whitesbog

American Black Duck   Whitesbog

Green-winged Teal   Whitesbog

Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd

Rock Pigeon   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Mourning Dove   Whitesbog

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog

Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift   Whitesbog

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd

Clapper Rail  Great Bay Blvd

Black-bellied Plover   Whitesbog

American Golden-Plover   Whitesbog

Semipalmated Plover   Whitesbog

Killdeer   Whitesbog

Ruff   Whitesbog

Least Sandpiper   Whitesbog

White-rumped Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Buff-breasted Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Pectoral Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Semipalmated Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Western Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Short-billed Dowitcher  Great Bay Blvd

Wilson's Snipe   Whitesbog

Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Solitary Sandpiper   Whitesbog

Greater Yellowlegs   Whitesbog

Lesser Yellowlegs   Whitesbog

Laughing Gull   Lakehurst--Route 70

Ring-billed Gull   Whitesbog

Herring Gull  Great Bay Blvd

Great Black-backed Gull  Great Bay Blvd

Least Tern  Great Bay Blvd

Caspian Tern   Whitesbog

Forster's Tern  Great Bay Blvd

Double-crested Cormorant  Great Bay Blvd

Least Bittern   Whitesbog

Great Blue Heron   Whitesbog

Great Egret   Reeves Bogs

Snowy Egret  Great Bay Blvd

Tricolored Heron  Great Bay Blvd

Green Heron   Whitesbog

Black-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd

Glossy Ibis  Great Bay Blvd

Black Vulture   Whitesbog

Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog

Osprey  Great Bay Blvd

Mississippi Kite   Waretown

Northern Harrier   Reeves Bogs

Cooper's Hawk   Whitesbog

Bald Eagle  Great Bay Blvd

Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog

Broad-winged Hawk   Whitesbog

Red-tailed Hawk   Whitesbog

Eastern Screech-Owl   Whitesbog

Great Horned Owl   Whitesbog

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Northern Flicker   Reeves Bogs

American Kestrel   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Merlin   Whitesbog

Peregrine Falcon   Whitesbog

Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher   Whitesbog

Willow Flycatcher   Whitesbog

Least Flycatcher   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog

Great Crested Flycatcher   Whitesbog

Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog

White-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog

Warbling Vireo   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Red-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog

Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd

American Crow   Whitesbog

Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Common Raven   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog

Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd

Purple Martin   Whitesbog

Tree Swallow   Whitesbog

Bank Swallow   Whitesbog

Barn Swallow   Whitesbog

Cliff Swallow   Whitesbog

White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog

House Wren   Whitesbog

Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd

European Starling   Whitesbog

Gray Catbird   Whitesbog

Brown Thrasher   Whitesbog

Northern Mockingbird   Whitesbog

Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog

Veery   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

American Robin   Whitesbog

Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog

House Sparrow   Whiting

House Finch   35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch   Reeves Bogs

Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Field Sparrow   Whitesbog

Seaside Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd

Saltmarsh Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd

Song Sparrow   Whitesbog

Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog

Eastern Towhee   35 Sunset Rd

Bobolink   Whitesbog

Baltimore Oriole   35 Sunset Rd

Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog

Brown-headed Cowbird   Whitesbog

Common Grackle   35 Sunset Rd

Boat-tailed Grackle  Great Bay Blvd

Ovenbird   Whitesbog

Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog

Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog

Hooded Warbler   Reeves Bogs

American Redstart   Whitesbog

Magnolia Warbler   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Bay-breasted Warbler   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Black-throated Blue Warbler   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Pine Warbler   Reeves Bogs

Prairie Warbler   Reeves Bogs

Scarlet Tanager   Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Blue Grosbeak   Whitesbog

Palmyra Cove Nature Park 8/30--Least Flycatcher, Bay-breasted Warbler

Palmyra Cove Nature Park is a long 42 miles from here. On a weekday morning it takes about an hour and half to get there; on a Sunday morning, only an hour. Lots of traffic lights on ugly Rt 73. But if you want to have a good Burlco list, you have to bird this migrant trap on the Delaware. Lots of varied habitat--the river, the cove, the ponds, the woods. So, I've been considering making it my Sunday trip. It has the advantage of being fairly devoid of people once you get away from the parking lot and the river trail. About the only people you're likely to run into are birders--good birders. 

I knew Jim and Matt would be there today. In the dozen or so times I've visited, I've never gotten past a pier that juts out into the cove. The real Palmyra birders go another thousand feet or so to a footbridge that affords views of both the cove and the river. Since the river is tidal and this morning was dead low tide, I found the duo actually out in the cove, after finding the semi-hidden path off the trail that will get you there. I didn't lug out my scope which meant I wasn't able to see some the distant raptors that they were getting, but then, I've never had much luck scoping the sky anyway. Ravens, Osprey, & kestrel were new for the month for me, and we had Cooper's Hawk and 5 Bald Eagles fly over too. 

After a while we move back onto the bridge, checking out the gulls and Caspian Terns flying north & south. A pleasant and unexpected surprise of the morning was to see Scott coming on to the bridge--it was like seeing a bird make an appearance well out of its range. 

After walking back to the parking lot so Jim & Matt could store their scopes, we set out inland on the maze of trails through the woods and around ponds. I've never been real comfortable walking the trails there, not so much because I think I might get lost but because I fear winding up in a place I don't want to be with a long walk back to where I do want to be. 

It was a relatively slow day there and long stretches of the woods were quiet, but like most places, you find pockets of birds and those pockets were rewarding. Around the big pool birds were flitting--we picked out a redstart and an oriole and some flycatchers, one of which turned out to be a Least Flycatcher, a bird I often miss for the year, so it was good to finally see one after a long hiatus. Birds I wasn't necessarily thinking about made appearances--a Veery, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, a couple of Magnolia Warblers. All birds I don't see very often in my normal haunts. Then Matt found a Bay-breasted Warbler, another new one for the year. It was a tad difficult to get on and not in breeding plumage with only a hint of bay on the flanks, but a very good addition to the list. Unless I go to Magee Marsh in Ohio, I might only see one of those a year, so that's probably the one.

Scarlet Tanager

The last cool bird of the day was a female Scarlet Tanager which, being greenish yellow, blended in very well with the leaves it was sitting in.  (See above)

Spotted Lantern Flies

A disturbing sight was seeing my first Spotted Lantern Flies. I've seen billboards warning about them and the destruction to trees they cause, but until today I'd never seen one. I saw dozens today. So many of the trees there were crawling with the bugs. Some, it was true were on their natural host, the ailanthus tree (of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn fame), an introduced species, but others were on native trees. There's a phone number to report the bug, but I have the feeling that the authorities know about this infestation. What they can do about it, other than cutting down all the trees in the park, I don't know.  

I got 53 species on the day, which isn't a patch on what the better birders were getting; a later start and the inability to i.d. birds on the wing kept my numbers down. But by far, the best day I've ever had at Palmyra.

Canada Goose  8

Wood Duck  2

Mallard  33

Wild Turkey  5

Rock Pigeon   40

Mourning Dove  2

Chimney Swift  7

Lesser Yellowlegs  1    Bridge

Laughing Gull  30

Ring-billed Gull  4

Herring Gull  1

Caspian Tern  7

Double-crested Cormorant  11

Great Blue Heron  4

Great Egret  4

Green Heron  1

Black Vulture  4    With flock of TUVU

Turkey Vulture  6

Osprey  2

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  6

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Downy Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  1    Heard

American Kestrel  1    Cove perched on tree

Peregrine Falcon  2    Distant @ cove

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3

Least Flycatcher  1    Small with pronounced eye ring

Eastern Phoebe  1

Warbling Vireo  3

Red-eyed Vireo  1

American Crow  1

Common Raven  3    Exact count

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3

Carolina Wren  8

Gray Catbird  3

Northern Mockingbird  1

Veery  1    Brown thrush with mostly unspotted breast

American Robin  6

Cedar Waxwing  37

American Goldfinch  3

Chipping Sparrow  5

Baltimore Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird  1    Cove

Common Grackle  1

American Redstart  2    One yellowstart

Magnolia Warbler  2

Bay-breasted Warbler  1    

Black-throated Blue Warbler  1    Handkerchief on wing

Scarlet Tanager  1    Female

The Whitesbog 100 Challenge

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Last weekend, after having another excellent day at Whitesbog (Red-shouldered Hawk, Least Bittern, Bobolink ...), it occurred to me that I had a very good shot at reporting 100 species for the month there. A new game to play. The hawk was #94 for the month. Almost immediately I regretted missing the Stilt Sandpipers that made an appearance one rainy afternoon after I'd left. I regretted even more blowing off the Brown-headed Cowbird Jim saw in the Middle Bog early in the month. It didn't seem worth the effort to move my scope. But so long as the weather held and the bogs didn't miraculously fill up, enough birds were "due" to make an appearance for me to hit the century mark. 

Two rarities, Ruff and Western Sandpiper, were already on the list. White-rumped Sandpiper, a
"regular" rarity, was too. What helped last week, was to add 2 birds, Caspian Tern and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, that I'd never seen before at Whitesbog. Then, on Wednesday, I got there pre-dawn and heard a Great Horned Owl out on the bogs, giving me 3 out of the "Nocturnal Four" (GHO, Screech Owl, nighthawk, whip-poor-will). I figured I was going to need screech to make the mark, but on Thursday, which started out dreary, I blasted through to 102 with a cowbird in the lower bog, two more "semi-regular" rarities in the American Golden-Plovers and the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 14 flyover Glossy Ibises, along with number 100, a Wilson's Snipe. Now greed set in. Yesterday's surprise addition was Blue-winged Teal and today I met Jim pre-dawn for owls and we heard two Eastern Screech Owls, as well as seeing a Great Horned Owl hooting atop a tree. Before the remnants of Hurricane Laura (hey, a hurricane I can pronounce!) dropped a torrential downpour on us, an early Northern Harrier flew in from Ocean County for #105. 

To paraphrase Newton: If I have seen 105 species this month it only because I stood on the shoulders of giants, so I'd like to thank all the better birders who went around with me on the bogs, especially Jim. Together we probably walked a cumulative 50 miles this month around Whitesbog's dikes, Union Pond, Ditch Meadow, the village, Rome Pond Road and more and have the chigger bites to prove it. Persistence also pays: Aside from one day I went down to Tuckerton and one day I had a tooth extracted, I have visited there every day in August. 

Spotted Sandpiper

Tomorrow, I am going to give the place a rest. If I go back Monday, I may have a chance to add to the list (Little Blue Heron has not shown up yet this year), but once I got the screech-owl at 5:15 this morning, the game was over. 

The Whitesbog 100 (+5):

Key: Year bird; rarity

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Blue-winged Teal

Mallard

American Black Duck

Green-winged Teal

Wild Turkey

Mourning Dove

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Common Nighthawk

Eastern Whip-poor-will

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Black-bellied Plover

American Golden-Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Ruff

Least Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Wilson's Snipe

Spotted Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Caspian Tern

Double-crested Cormorant

Least Bittern

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Green Heron

Glossy Ibis

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Northern Harrier

Cooper's Hawk

Bald Eagle

Red-shouldered Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Eastern Screech-Owl

Great Horned Owl

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Merlin

Peregrine Falcon

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

Great Crested Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

White-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Fish Crow

Carolina Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Bank Swallow

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

White-breasted Nuthatch

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

House Wren

Carolina Wren

European Starling

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Eastern Bluebird

American Robin

Cedar Waxwing

House Finch

American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Eastern Towhee

Bobolink

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Grackle

Ovenbird

Black-and-white Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler Northern Cardinal Blue Grosbeak

Solitary Sandpiper

Whitesbog 8/27--American Golden-Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper

American Golden-Plovers

Yesterday was supposed to be the day at Whitesbog: cold front, NW winds, rain to knock the birds down. As so often happens, the birds didn't get the memo and everything in the bogs, save for a White-rumped Sandpiper, was what has been in the bogs since they got drawn down at the end of July. 

Today started off much the same, only sparser. I saw exactly two shorebirds in the Middle Bog when I started off this morning--a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Pectoral Sandpiper, fighting each other for a square foot of shallow water. I started my figure 8 around the two drawn-down bogs. A decent amount of birds in the Lower Bog, but nothing I hadn't seen. A grazing juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird was notable only because I haven't seen cowbird this month. You know you're clutching at straws when a cowbird makes you stop. 

Wilson's Snipe

Completing the loop I stopped again where I started and scanned. More shorebirds had beamed down from the orbiting shorebird starship, a hodge-podge of Spotted Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers...and then...BOING...American Golden-Plover! I started taking all the crummy pictures I could, both through the scope and with my slow-responding camera. Slimmer, browner, a gold/brown cap. I texted Jim and was pondering whether I should put them on the Burlco alert when I looked up and they were flying off to the north. Very much like their Black-bellied cousins, they were doing the Whitesbog touch 'n' go. Still, I had enough pictures to document the sighting and the morning had gone from dull to exciting. As I was cussing out the plovers for leaving, I looked out to area where they'd been and saw a bird with what one of my friends describes as racing stripes on its back. Its head was tucked in, but scoping it closely I saw that it was a Wilson's Snipe, not a rare bird, but a cryptic one that I come across about once a year at Whitesbog. 

Even though I had just been at the Lower Bog, I felt it behooved me to check it for the plovers. Maybe they had circled around and landed in the rapidly growing grass. They weren't there. I ran into D... birding from her car. She asked me if I'd seen anything "good" and for once I was able to say yes. She thought there was the possibility of them coming back so she decided to drive back to the spot I'd been. As I was walking back my friend who is there every day, usually much earlier, drove up. "Now you come," I said. He also drove up to the parking spot the SE corner of Middle Bog. 

I trudged up there, put down my scope and started a scan. Two more spotties, another semiplo...and BOING...Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Where are these birds coming from? Like a dolt I yelled out to them that I had a buffie, which scared the crap out of the bird and I lost it. In my defense, hand signals wouldn't have worked and I don't have either of their phone numbers. We scanned for a while unsuccessfully and then my friend took off for a walk around the bogs. Meanwhile after another 15 minutes or so of scanning, D... came up with the bird, on the other side of the bog near where we parked. That was great because I was starting to doubt my sighting. Now we only needed to get my friend on it. He was coming up the south side of the bog, close to where the bird was running around in the short grass (the Middle Bog hasn't had time to grown up like the Lower) and D... walked over to him and got him on the bird. It was too far for my camera and too active for me to digiscope. It then took off. Still, we all got it, we all saw it well and over the course of the day I know that 3 more people have seen it in the Lower Bog where it relocated and was refound by a birder who saw my alert. He was in the midst of writing a scientific paper, stopped, and came out for the bird, finding it in the Lower Bog. Alas, the golden-plovers were not refound. 

So, while my list is short for the day--34--it is mostly because I spent the majority of it picking through the shorebirds instead of birding the larger, more diverse habitats that I usually do. 

Mallard  22

Green-winged Teal  2    Continuing pair w Mallards Middle Bog

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

American Golden-Plover  2    

Semipalmated Plover  5

Killdeer  6

Least Sandpiper  33

Buff-breasted Sandpiper  1    

Pectoral Sandpiper  3

Semipalmated Sandpiper  4

Wilson's Snipe  1    Middle Bog

Spotted Sandpiper  3

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  3

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  2

Green Heron  1

Glossy Ibis  14    Flyover to west

Turkey Vulture  2

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  1

Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard

Eastern Wood-Pewee  1

Eastern Phoebe  1

Eastern Kingbird  3

American Crow  4

Carolina Chickadee  3    Heard

Tree Swallow  50

Barn Swallow  10

Gray Catbird  4

Eastern Towhee  2    Heard

Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Juvenile in lower bog

Common Yellowthroat  2

Whitesbog 8/25--Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Ditch Meadow

Shari has taken to calling me "Bog Boy" since I'm at Whitesbog so much this month. But the trips are paying off, if not in interesting shorebirds (maybe tomorrow with the NW winds and a cold front predicted for tonight) then in other new birds for me for both Whitesbog and Burlco. 

I got a moderately late start today, arriving at the parking spot on the Middle Bog just after 7, trailing behind my friend's pickup. Just after we got out of our vehicles I saw a small flock of what I took for gulls coming in from the east, flying low over the bogs. At first I thought Laughing Gulls, but quickly saw that they were terns and defaulted to the most likely species, Forster's, but my friend demurred, saying "Look at the size of them, look at the bills," and I realized my mistake. It was 7 Caspian Terns, an infrequent visitor to the bogs, heading west. One would be impressive enough there; 7 might break the record. 

Spotted Sandpiper

Oddly, almost all the shorebird action has shifted back to the Lower Bog, which looks like a sod farm with a stream (Cranberry Run) flowing through it. I counted over 70 Least Sandpipers in there, along with a mix of Semipalmated Sandpipers & Plovers, Killdeer, and Spotted Sandpipers. After making my figure 8 around the two drawn-down bogs, I stowed my scope in the car and headed over to Union Pond and Ditch Meadow, which were somewhat quiet. I had to got all the way back to the hidden pond to scare up 3 Wood Ducks and a Green Heron. 

Coming back from that pond I saw out of the corner of my eye a bird flitting in the trees, which, given the dearth of passerines today, was an occasion. My first impression was Willow Flycatcher, since I've seen them back there a couple of times this month, but a closer, albeit brief, look told me I had a different flycatcher. My observations, in this order, prominent eye ring, contrasting wing bars, greenish back, yellow on front, small...Yellow-bellied Flycatcher! Not a rarity but I haven't seen this species in years, not since an autumn field trip with Scott up at Sandy Hook. Certainly never seen one at Whitesbog or in Burlco. The bird flew up higher in the trees. I could see it moving around but it stayed pretty well hidden then evaporated out of sight. 

Back at the bogs almost all the sandpipers had disappeared. That's the way it is at Whitesbog--a constant turnover. 

Nowhere near the species numbers I was getting over the weekend, but then I wasn't putting in the hours or the miles either. 

34 species

Canada Goose  2    Lower Bog

Wood Duck  3    Ditch Meadow

Mallard  20    Middle Bog

Green-winged Teal  2    With mallards in middle bog

Mourning Dove  6

Semipalmated Plover  8

Killdeer  4

Least Sandpiper  77

Pectoral Sandpiper  2

Semipalmated Sandpiper  10

Spotted Sandpiper  4

Greater Yellowlegs  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  5

Caspian Tern  7    

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  1

Green Heron  1

Turkey Vulture  2

Eastern Wood-Pewee  4    Heard

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  1    

Eastern Phoebe  1    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  2

American Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Purple Martin  20

Tree Swallow  30

Barn Swallow  5

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Gray Catbird  10

American Robin  1    Heard

American Goldfinch  1    Heard

Song Sparrow  2

Eastern Towhee  2    Heard

Common Yellowthroat  3

As I've probably mentioned before, I eschew most forms of social media. I even find aspects of eBird creepy (does everyone have to know where I was and when?), so, when I got this picture today in a text message from a friend, I had no idea where it was from. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (eBird's parent) put this on their Facebook page. It is from yesterday's Whitesbog list. I guess female and immature Purple Martins are worthy of a quiz. At least I know I got the species right! Still, it made me wonder how, out of the thousands of pictures that are uploaded to eBird every day, that one photograph was deemed interesting enough to disseminate to all their followers. How did they even find it? Again, it gives me the creeps. 

Whitesbog 8/22--Bobolink

 Getting to Whitesbog pre-dawn didn't get me much except to feel virtuous--no owls, despite stopping in a few known hot spots, no whip-poor-wills. Only Common Nighthawks, flying over the cedars out on the bogs in the gray dawn. Not even an interesting sunrise and at this time of year, no sunrise chorus. 

For the last few days the bogs haven't changed much either in water or bird content. There has been a

Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper hanging out in the middle bog and sometimes, it seems, two, but whether it (or they) are "continuing" or different birds has been a topic of discussion to which no conclusion has been (or probably can be) reached. 

I was standing at our parking spot with Jim and Matt, scoping the bogs when Jim pointed out a "plink" he heard from a Bobolink flying overhead. I wouldn't have been aware of the little sound had it not been pointed out and, as it was, barely heard it and wasn't going to count one call note for my year bird. But a few minutes later two more Bobolinks flew overhead, I could hear them and I could see them, so they went on the list. 

Another bird by ear this morning was on a trail that goes behind Rome Pond. Had I been by myself I would have been left wondering what it was--it was only a brief guttural grunt--and would likely have dismissed it as a squirrel, but Jim thought differently and, after playing the call of Least Bittern we decided that that was the mystery sound. I know that Least Bittern is at Whitesbog--I spent a few mornings looking over on the Ocean County side where my informant had been seeing and hearing one--but this is the first one for me at Whitesbog and also for Burlco. 

Wild Turkey

Another species I was happy to see today was Wild Turkey. Adults and poults were walking in the old blueberry field along the entrance road. I haven't come across a Wild Turkey at Whitesbog in quite a while, though I know they roam the area. 

After lunch I was going to walk back to Ditch Meadow and around Union Pond, but the sight of 4 motorcycles racing along the dikes and an SUV filled with yapping kids and dogs discouraged me, so I packed it in after 54 species in 7 hours and 16 minutes. But that doesn't count the nocturnal time listening for stubborn owls and nightjars. 

Canada Goose  2    Heard

Wood Duck  2

Mallard  25

Wild Turkey  7    

Mourning Dove  3

Common Nighthawk  4

Chimney Swift  7

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2

Semipalmated Plover  4

Killdeer  2

Least Sandpiper  7

Pectoral Sandpiper  1

Semipalmated Sandpiper  4

Western Sandpiper  1    

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  2    One each in Lower and Middle Bog

Lesser Yellowlegs  5

Ring-billed Gull  1    Flyover

Least Bittern  1    Heard call

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  3

Green Heron  2

Turkey Vulture  6

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard

Hairy Woodpecker  1    Heard Rome Pond Rd

Northern Flicker  3

Eastern Wood-Pewee  6

Eastern Phoebe  1    Heard

Great Crested Flycatcher  1    Heard Lower Meadow

Eastern Kingbird  5

Red-eyed Vireo  4    village. One singing, 3 foraging in tree near Suningive

American Crow  5

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tufted Titmouse  3

Purple Martin  250

Tree Swallow  10

Bank Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  4

White-breasted Nuthatch  3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

Carolina Wren  5

Gray Catbird  20

American Robin  10

American Goldfinch  4

Chipping Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  2

Eastern Towhee  5

Bobolink  2    Flyover

Common Grackle  1    Flyover

Common Yellowthroat  5

Pine Warbler  3

Prairie Warbler  4

Northern Cardinal  1    Heard