Island Beach SP 9/24--Lincoln's Sparrow

Sparrows, particularly winter sparrows, seemed to be the theme of the day at Island Beach today. I don't know what it portends for the autumn and winter, but 3 sparrows I found today were "rare" this time of year according to eBird. It actually got a little tiresome. Last week when I was there on Scott's field trip, I dumped all my species into one list for Island Beach SP even though right there on the hot spot it says "please consider using a more specific location." It's too hard to make a list for every location when you're trying to keep up with a group. But today, as I usually do, I did make a list for each of my 5 stops, and by the time I got down to Spizzle Creek, I was sick of describing White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. They're everywhere in the park. They may be early, but they're not rare. Then, along the entrance path to Spizzle, I saw a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow, also, you guessed it, rare. I saw as many sparrows species today as I did warbler species. Migration is shifting and/or I'm lousy at finding warblers. With Red-breasted Nuthatches abundant again this year, after a hiatus last year, it looks like it might be an interesting during the cold weather. 

Dark-eyed Junco and White-throated Sparrows, Spizzle Creek

I also found Savannah Sparrows in the dump and, most interesting to me, a Lincoln's Sparrow popped up in the reeds along the muddy path to the blind at Spizzle Creek. I've seen one there in the past. I knew immediately it wasn't a Song Sparrow when I saw the creamy, striped chest. 

Northern Waterthrush with Snickers Wrapper, Reed's Road

I started the day before the park officially opened birding along the alley between the park and the houses on 24th street. It wasn't as busy as on Saturday but still good. Reed's Road was pretty quiet until I hit the beach where at least there were Northern Waterthrushes and sparrows to watch. Judging from other lists I saw from there contemporaneous with my walk, I didn't do very well--they listed about twice what I found. I didn't feel like spending more time there then I did because I was having one of those "where I am, I should be somewhere else" days and I was anxious to hit as many trails as I could looking for something "good." 

The Tidal Pond Trail had 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers on it, two gorgeous males and a female and Johnny Allen's Cove Trail had Swamp Sparrow. Spizzle was the only spot I saw any waders and I recorded no shorebirds today at all. My last stop was going to be the Winter Anchorage, but the parking lot was full. If the parking lot was full, I reasoned, then there were probably too many crabbers and kayakers out there discouraging any birds from hanging out on the sandbars--which, from Spizzle Creek, didn't look like they were exposed very much anyway he said munching on sour grapes. 

For the 5 stops I managed 46 species. Not much compared to last Saturday, but it was like a rehearsal for fall birding. 

Species   Location

Mute Swan   Reed's Road

Mallard   Reed's Road

Mourning Dove   IBSP Alley

Laughing Gull   Reed's Road

Herring Gull   Reed's Road

Great Black-backed Gull   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Double-crested Cormorant   Reed's Road

Great Egret   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Tricolored Heron   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Osprey   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Belted Kingfisher   Reed's Road

Northern Flicker   IBSP Alley

Merlin   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Least Flycatcher   Johnny Allen's Cove Trail

Eastern Phoebe   Reed's Road

Red-eyed Vireo   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Blue Jay   Reed's Road

Red-breasted Nuthatch   IBSP Alley

Marsh Wren   Johnny Allen's Cove Trail

Carolina Wren   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Gray Catbird   IBSP Alley

Brown Thrasher   Reed's Road

Northern Mockingbird   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

American Robin   Reed's Road

House Sparrow   IBSP Alley

Chipping Sparrow   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Dark-eyed Junco   Reed's Road

White-crowned Sparrow   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

White-throated Sparrow   Reed's Road

Savannah Sparrow   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Song Sparrow   IBSP Alley

Lincoln's Sparrow   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Swamp Sparrow   Johnny Allen's Cove Trail

Eastern Towhee   Reed's Road

Red-winged Blackbird   IBSP Alley

Northern Waterthrush   Reed's Road

Nashville Warbler   Reed's Road

Common Yellowthroat   IBSP Alley

American Redstart   IBSP Alley

Northern Parula   IBSP Alley

Magnolia Warbler   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail

Black-throated Blue Warbler   Tidal Pond Trail & Dump

Palm Warbler   Johnny Allen's Cove Trail

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Reed's Road

Northern Cardinal   IBSP Alley

Palmyra Cove Nature Park 9/20--Sora

Sora

I don't know why, but Palmyra seems much farther away than say Brig or Sandy Hook, even though it takes me more or less the same amount of travel time to get to any of them. Assuming I go a Sunday to Palmyra. Maybe it's because birding a dredge spoil site on the Delaware seems more exotic than being on the coast. 

I was up early this morning and left the house in the dark. By the time I reached Palmyra's parking lot, the sun had been up for only a few minutes. Just as I was starting to walk out of the parking lot M pulled up, then K, so I joined them. We walked out to the bridge where we found, as expected Jim & Tom. I hung around while M & K went a-wandering and I joined Jim and Tom in counting the huge Blue Jay migration taking place. Flocks of 30 or 40 birds would pass by every few minutes. My count seems enormous to me but it is a couple of hundred under theirs. Suffice it to say that Blue Jays out numbered all the other species today, including gulls. 

We were hanging around in the cove when Scott turned up and the four of us birded together for a while. Jim and Tom of course, know the park inside and out; Scott and I haven't birded it nearly as much as they and Tom, during the course of the day showed us a lot of the hot spots in this hot spot. I would say that I wish I had a map of the park, but it would be next to useless because a lot of the places Tom took us aren't places on the map--we bushwhacked through some woods, up over a dike and around over to a hidden pond where a Connecticut Warbler had been reported. I can go years without seeing a Connecticut and now, after a minor amount of pishing, I had my 3rd bird in 2 days. 

Before that we had stopped at the Perimeter Pond and looked for a Sora that was supposedly there. We couldn't find it. We met M & K coming back to look for the bird and they told us about the Connecticut report. We set off for the spot and were about halfway there when M called Tom. They had the Sora. Turn around, walk back, and find it about 50 feet away from where we'd been looking. A very cooperative bird, feeding beneath a stalk of bent over reed. Then we headed back to Connecticut territory, though, Jim, who was lugging his scope, peeled off to put it away. It kind of reminded me of days at Prospect Park when rare birds would be reported on a primitive alert system and I would fast walk from pond to trail to lawn in the park 

While there were a lot of warblers, the big push seemed to have been yesterday, as it was on Island Beach. Fall is definitely in the air--I got my first of season Yellow-rumped Warbler today. Tom continued walking us around to great spots where there was always something of interest--an Ovenbird here, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (county lifer) there, and finally, into "The Pit" which you would never know was once a dredge spoil pit being as flat as the surrounding area, where some sparrows and warblers were flying hither and yon and giving us a hard time until Scott picked out one bird that was puzzling and said it was a Yellow-throated Vireo. Always a good bird, but, apparently at Palmyra, a very good bird. 

It was a great tour of the park, but I had the same feeling I get sometimes when I'm on a trip with Scott out west--I have no idea where I am or how to get back to the car. It is then that I revert to the philosophical adage, "I am here and it's now." 

Looking at my list about 3/4 of the way through the day I was astonished to find I was at over 60 species. I didn't feel like I was birding very hard. It just seem every tree, field, or body of water had something new for the day. I ended up with 68 species. It hasn't been a bad 2 days...at least in terms of birds. 

Canada Goose  46

Wood Duck  18

Mallard  24

Wild Turkey  6

Mourning Dove  1

Chimney Swift  30

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Sora  1    Small striped Rail w yellow beak black patch around eye. 

Killdeer  1

Least Sandpiper  8

Semipalmated Sandpiper  5

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Laughing Gull  100

Herring Gull  5

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Caspian Tern  2

Double-crested Cormorant  71

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  8

Green Heron  3

Turkey Vulture  5

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  1

Cooper's Hawk  2

Bald Eagle  7

Red-shouldered Hawk  2

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Belted Kingfisher  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2

Downy Woodpecker  2

Northern Flicker  3

Eastern Wood-Pewee  2

Least Flycatcher  1

Eastern Phoebe  3

Yellow-throated Vireo  1    Yellow throat. Prominent spectacles. White wing bars. In the pit

Red-eyed Vireo  2

Blue Jay  335

American Crow  17

Carolina Chickadee  8

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  5

Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  2

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1

House Wren  1    Heard

Marsh Wren  1    Heard cove

Carolina Wren  2

Gray Catbird  8

American Robin  7

Cedar Waxwing  13

American Goldfinch  5

Chipping Sparrow  5

Song Sparrow  1    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Common Grackle  150

Ovenbird  1

Northern Waterthrush  2    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  3

Connecticut Warbler  1    Flea market pond area

Common Yellowthroat  1

American Redstart  4

Cape May Warbler  3

Northern Parula  3

Blackpoll Warbler  1

Black-throated Blue Warbler  1

Yellow-rumped Warbler  1

Scarlet Tanager  3

Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1

Indigo Bunting  4

Island Beach SP 9/19--Philadelphia Vireo, Swainson's Thrush, Purple Finch, Northern Waterthrush, Nashville Warbler, Connecticut Warbler

Connecticut Warbler

When I got out of the car at the Island Beach Marina with the wind whipping around, it did not look like promising conditions for my first NJ Audubon field trip since the pandemic began. But I did hear a Red-breasted Nuthatch there, so that was a hint that there might be birds around. I was really early for Scott's & Linda's trip, so I drove back to the parking area just outside the gate and walked on a trail that runs between the backs of houses and the park itself. It was pretty muddy in there, as if a big mower had just run through, but it was full of birds to my delight. I got my FOY Northern Waterthrush, a Cape May Warbler, a Blackpoll Warbler, and 3 or 4 Black-throated Green Warblers. The warblers must have been young because they showed no apprehension of me as I lumbered by. They stayed in the puddles created by the tractor, picking at who knows what. One BT Green kept inching toward me until it was literally poking at the mud just underneath my boot.  

Black-throated Green Warbler

I was about 2/3 of the way down the trail when I had to turn back to meet the group. I told Scott there were a lot of birds in there so that was our first stop. I figured that of course all the birds would disappear and I'd have wasted the group's time but no indeed, they were abundant--warblers, phoebes, hummingbirds, and other birds, feeding everywhere. 

Normally, our next stop would be Reed's Road in the park proper, but since the pandemic affects where the restrooms are open, we found ourselves down a couple of miles, across from the smaller, less-birded, Tidal Pond Trail. It was surprisingly birdy in there with all kinds of warblers again. Just as we were about leave Scott found a Connecticut Warbler--county lifer for me--and it was surprisingly cooperative giving the group eventual good looks as it skulked in the grass.  As we were going to leave again, in the same place as the Connecticut but about 20 feet higher, Scott came up with a Philadelphia Vireo. It has been 363 days since I've seen a Philadelphia Vireo, the last one being the 21st of September last year when Scott found one on Reed's Road. Then it was a three tick bird (year, county, county lifer), this year just a two tick bird. We also saw a Tennessee Warbler. Last week, I'd never seen one in the county. This week: two. 

We poked around the dump area that has enough weeds and scrub to attract birds and Purple Finch and White-throated Sparrows (rare now, common next week) were among our finds. Then we made our way down to this little trail that runs to the bay. In there we had a female Indigo Bunting, more vireos, more warblers, and my first Swainson's Thrush of the year along with a returning Brown Creeper also rare for the moment. 

Making our way south, we next walked the Johnny Allen Cove Trail and what did Scott find almost immediately?--another Connecticut Warbler. For a rare bird there were at least 6 found today at the park and if 6 were discovered, there were probably a few more than that escaping observation. I managed to get an identifiable picture of this one--the first time I ever saw a COWA long enough to manage a photograph. 

Fall is coming early this year it seems because not only are there a lot of Red-breasted Nuthatches around, and not only are the White-throated Sparrows popping up all over, but that quintessential winter sparrow, the Dark-eyed Junco was on the Spizzle Creek Trail. It took us a while to convince ourselves we were seeing them (because of the light, not our birding skills), but there were two and we kept pushing them up the trail and we walked along. 

There were a few herons and egrets in the marsh, but the most interesting bird was one that has to go under the old name of Traill's Flycatcher which was used to be before it was split into Alder and Willow. Without calling, it is just a guess what bird it truly is.

Willow/Alder Flycatcher (Traill's)

The only real disappointment of the day was scoping down at the Winter Anchorage. We were hoping for a much lower tide to expose the sand bars around the sedge islands, but there was very little exposed and the only birds I added for the day were a couple of Willets. 

With that, after close to 9 hrs of birding, we wrapped it up. I haven't had a day like that, in terms of my list, since pre-Covid. I put 6 more birds on to the year list, 10 on to the county list, and one more for the county life list. Not that I'm keeping score this year. For the day: 69 species + the "sp." 

Pied-billed Grebe  1    Johnny Allen Cove Trail

Mourning Dove  1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2

American Oystercatcher  25

Willet  2

Laughing Gull  10

Herring Gull  6

Great Black-backed Gull  20

Royal Tern  1

Common Loon  1    Flyover

Double-crested Cormorant  15

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  4

Snowy Egret  1

Little Blue Heron  1

Tricolored Heron  2

Osprey  1

Belted Kingfisher  2

Northern Flicker  10

Merlin  5

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3

Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher)  1    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail. 

Eastern Phoebe  11

Eastern Kingbird  1    Flyover Swimming Lot 1

White-eyed Vireo  1

Philadelphia Vireo  1    Tidal Pond Trail

Red-eyed Vireo  8

Carolina Chickadee  1

Tree Swallow  1000

Golden-crowned Kinglet  1    Heard zeezeet on Spizzle Creek Trail

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2    Tidal Pond Trail

Red-breasted Nuthatch  6    Easily

Brown Creeper  1    Small brown little football of a bird with a pointy bill creeping up tree 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1    Spizzle

House Wren  2

Carolina Wren  3

Gray Catbird  7

Brown Thrasher  1    Heard

Northern Mockingbird  1

Veery  2

Swainson's Thrush  1

American Robin  2

Cedar Waxwing  5

House Sparrow  3

House Finch  1

Purple Finch  2

American Goldfinch  1    Heard Flyover

Chipping Sparrow  4

Dark-eyed Junco  2    Black sparrows with white bellies and white outer tail feathers

White-throated Sparrow  9    Yellow lores white throat

Song Sparrow  3

Eastern Towhee  1    Heard Spizzle

Red-winged Blackbird  4

Boat-tailed Grackle  1    Spizzle

Northern Waterthrush  4

Black-and-white Warbler  1

Tennessee Warbler  1

Nashville Warbler  1

Connecticut Warbler  2  Greenish back with eye ring.

American Redstart  4

Cape May Warbler  2

Northern Parula  4

Bay-breasted Warbler  2

Chestnut-sided Warbler  1

Blackpoll Warbler  1

Black-throated Blue Warbler  2

Palm Warbler  2

Black-throated Green Warbler  5

Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1    Female Tidal Pond Trail

Indigo Bunting  1    Female Johnny Allen Cove Trail

A much better picture of the Connecticut Warbler ©️ Pam Hines

Manasquan River WMA 9/15--Tennessee Warbler

 L👀k for one bird, find another. 

I haven't been up to the Manasquan River WMA since the spring. Since yesterday I saw a report of a Connecticut Warbler--a hard bird in NJ and really hard in Ocean--and since the birder was kind enough to post the exact location he found it and since I know that exact location well, I figured a late summer visit was in order. The spot he reported was where there is an unlikely guardrail blocking a path to prevent dummies from plummeting down a trail that ends in a quagmire, but when I got to that corner of the field the area was completely overgrown and the guardrail not visible. I was not about to plunge into waist high weeds so I stood around and pished. I got a Northern Parula, a few catbirds and chickadees and the like, but no rare warbler. Didn't really expect to, but you gotta try. 

Red-eyed Vireo

Just to make sure, I made 3 circuits of that field. No sparrows. Red-eyed Vireo, a Prairie Warbler, a Common Yellowthroat back at the guardrail. I decided to explore the other big field. I heard a mower and was happy to walk the new path it was making through the very high grass. The only birds that flushed from the mower were some goldfinches. I suppose the others had already beat a retreat. There's a little path that leads down to Ridge Road where I've usually had some luck, so I walked down there and found some activity--goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds, another yellowthroat. Then I spotted a warbler I couldn't place at first. A greenish back, a gray cap, pretty plain looking. At least it stayed in sight for a while for me to ponder.

Philosophers sometimes make statements that seem stupidly obvious but that they think are important. Here's one I learned: There are always two facts you know--you're here and it's now. From there you can supposedly start reasoning your way to more specific facts.  Here's a birding corollary I just made up: Every bird has a name. All I had to do was eliminate all the birds I knew the warbler was not (and notice that I knew it was a warbler and not a vireo or a different tiny passerine) and I'd know what bird it was. Looking at the bird, I knew it was not a Worm-eating Warbler, I knew it was not a Connecticut Warbler (no eye ring), I briefly considered Orange-crowned Warbler and dismissed it, I knew it was not a drab Pine Warbler (see enough of those) so...let's look up the only other dull warbler I can think of and yes, it was my FOY and county lifer Tennessee Warbler.  That made me happy. I don't see many Tennessee Warblers probably because they're so plain and nondescript that I miss them or dismiss them and I'm sure this is the first one I've ever identified on my own. I took pictures but they came out useless blurs. 

Random thought: If Oreothlypis ruficapilla hybridized with Oreothlypis peregrina it would be a Nashville Tennessee Warbler.

Perspective. If I had had Tennessee Warbler for the year and the county, I would say it was a slow day with a good walk. But, all I need is one cool bird a day. 

22 species

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Red-eyed Vireo  3

Blue Jay  6

American Crow  9

Carolina Chickadee  8

Tufted Titmouse  5

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Yank yank yank

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  3    Heard

Gray Catbird  12

American Robin  5

American Goldfinch  7

Common Grackle  1

Tennessee Warbler  1    Gray cap, greenish back, eyebrow

Common Yellowthroat  5

American Redstart  1

Northern Parula  1

Prairie Warbler  1    Very bright with strong stripes on flanks

Northern Cardinal  2

Whitesbog Shorebird Season Recap

Middle Bog 9/10/20

Blue-winged Teal

The boards are back in the gates of the 19th century water control system; the Middle Bog is filling up fast through rain and seepage, the Lower Bog looks like a sodden sod farm; Joe is getting his water back. Though there is still plenty of mud, sand, and open grassy areas in the two bogs, today I saw exactly one shorebird: a Killdeer flying over Union Pond. Ducks, including a filter-breaking flock of Blue-winged Teal have taken over the Middle Bog. I declare shorebird season at Whitesbog officially fini.  

American Golden-Plover

And it was quite a successful 5 weeks or so. Of course, Jim's Ruff on the first day of August was the highlight that could not be beat, but all the regular rarities made appearances: Both Black-bellied and American-Golden Plovers dropped in twice for brief periods, there were a few days of Buff-breasted Sandpiper sightings (probably two different birds), Western Sandpiper(s) for a week, multiple White-rumped Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers on and off, and, on one rainy Sunday, Stilt Sandpipers appeared after I had been there, for a teeth-gnashing miss on my part. In all, 18 species of shorebirds were recorded in August. The place is a mini-Brig. 

Waders were a disappointment though. Last year we had upwards of 25 Great Egrets feeding in the bogs. This year we were lucky if there were three. Glossy Ibis did not settle in as they usually do. I had one flyover flock. Jim and I had a fly by Snowy Egret, but Little Blue Heron did not appear this year. We could speculate as to why but there is no way we can ever know. The conditions seemed the same but same to us and same to birds is different. Also, Gull-billed Terns were recorded early in the month but I never saw any. In past years they would be regular feeders in the middle bog but they appeared ephemeral this year. 

It really is a special event when the boards are pulled and the bogs drain in a few days. The birds show up out of seemingly nowhere. If you give them habitat, they will come. 

In a few months those bogs will be filled with geese and Tundra Swans. Winter ducks will come in. There's plenty of pickerel for the diving ducks and with the grasses growing throughout the month, plenty of food a few inches below the surface for the dabblers. Let's hope for no breaches in the dikes or drought in the summer that would prevent the bogs from being drawn down next year. 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper 

Brig 9/8--Little Stint

Luck was with me today. Over the weekend, at Brig, it was discovered that the odd sandpiper photographed by one persistent birder who, admirably, is always looking for what shouldn't be there was, actually, a mega-rarity. On Sunday the Bird Jam began, with hundreds of birders flocking (pun intended) to the area between markers 3 & 4. I was texted by Mike while I was at Palmyra, but I had no intention of getting involved with that craziness. Just the images of 40 or 50 cars "parked" haphazardly, with a hundred thousand dollars worth of scopes lined up along the dike made me light-headed. The crowds continued on Labor Day. I abstained. 

I wasn't really that interested in the bird. I had to remind myself while I was mentally sneering, that for most of those birders, a Little Stint (for that indeed was what the odd sandpiper turned out to be) was a life bird, a rare wanderer from the Eastern Hemisphere. However, I'd already had Little Stint a couple of times in South Africa and, compared to the other shorebirds I was seeing at St Lucia and Muzi Pan (African Jacana, Blacksmith Lapwing, Crowned Lapwing, Kittlitz's Plover, White-fronted Plover, Three-banded Plover), the stint was just another sandpiper. It would be great to have it on my ABA list, my Jersey list, and so forth, but not at the price of my nerves. (Not to mention the possibility that it could become the first birding super-spreader event, though, to their credit, almost everyone today was wearing a mask and I hear it was similar behavior the previous two days.)

So this morning, hoping that most people who wanted it would have seen it already, and hoping that it would stay, I drove down there without any real enthusiasm. It felt like something I should do and I hate being told what I should do, even if I'm the one telling myself. 

2/3 of a Little Stint

My plan was to try to get some walking in by leaving the car in the lot and hoofing it down to the area on the south dike, but when I saw an email that the bird was present, I figured, let's just get this bird and drove over to marker 3 where 5 or 6 birders were congregated. It was then, while getting my bins out of my backpack, that I discovered that I'd left the camera at home. I shouldered my scope, walked up to the first guy I saw, asked about the stint. He had his iPhone attached to his scope and showed me the bird on the screen. I was then able, after a minute or so, to find the bird on my own (ain't an official sighting until I see it in my scope) and got most of the field marks--spindly legs, pale head, mottled appearance, hint of rufous on the body. I couldn't really see the "braces" on its back because of the angle I was at. The bird moved around a lot, playing 3 card monte with some other peeps, but I was able to track it pretty well. The only digiscope photo I was able to take is horrible--through the vegetation, if you look hard, you can see about 2/3 of a Little Stint. 

Then a Peregrine Falcon came along and buzzed the birds which all took off. This has been going on, I understand, since the bird was originally rediscovered. I drove down the dike a bit but the bird was not to be found until a few hours later. But I only need to see it once. And I only saw it once because I nixed the walking idea--luck. 

Brown Pelican with Laughing Gull

Frankly, the more interesting birds to me were the two Brown Pelicans I found on the north dike, just before the dogleg. I've seen white pelicans at Brig numerous times, but these were the first brown one I'd ever encountered. They are "infrequent" according to eBird. And, I found them. 

All in all the day exceeded my expectations, which were admittedly low. Because there has been some speculation that this stint is the same stint that summered on a beach in Rhode Island, I had the notion that it might stick around. But I was almost positive I'd need help getting on the bird. As someone said today, "If that bird had landed on the hood of my car, I wouldn't have known it was a stint." So all praise to the birder who originally found it, a great guy, who studies every peep as if he's never seen one before. That's birding.

For the loop and Gull Pond, I managed 57 species. I probably could have done a little better walking on Jen's Trail, but the mosquitoes were awful. 

Canada Goose  110

Mute Swan  39

Wood Duck  1    Gull Pond.

Blue-winged Teal  6    Gull Pond

Mallard  35

American Black Duck  1

Mourning Dove  1    Atop Visitor's Ctr

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1    Gull Pond Road

Clapper Rail  2

American Avocet  11    Exact count

American Oystercatcher  1    NE Corner

Black-bellied Plover  18

Semipalmated Plover  8

Little Stint  1    MEGA 

Least Sandpiper  50

White-rumped Sandpiper  1

Semipalmated Sandpiper  25

Western Sandpiper  1

Greater Yellowlegs  1    Heard flyover

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Laughing Gull  300

Herring Gull  100

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Caspian Tern  29

Common Tern  1

Forster's Tern  65

Royal Tern  4

Black Skimmer  30

Double-crested Cormorant  320

Brown Pelican  2    

Great Blue Heron  8

Great Egret  85

Snowy Egret  28

Little Blue Heron  5

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1    Roosting in tree along road to Gull Pond

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  4

Turkey Vulture  4

Osprey  10

Northern Harrier  1

Bald Eagle  1

Northern Flicker  1

Peregrine Falcon  2

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard Jen’s Trail

Blue Jay  3    Heard

American Crow  4

Carolina Chickadee  3    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  2

Tree Swallow  100

Marsh Wren  1

Carolina Wren  2

European Starling  150

Gray Catbird  2    Heard Gull Pond Road

American Goldfinch  2

Song Sparrow  2

Red-winged Blackbird  75

Ovenbird  1    Jen’s Trail

Black-and-white Warbler  1

Brown Pelicans with Herring Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, and Great Egret

Palmyra Cove Nature Park 9/6--Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler

Since I missed so many warblers during the Covid Spring, I've been trying to catch them on their way back south. I could try Sandy Hook, but you have to get there early and it's a haul and it's crowded with people pursuing non-avian activities.  The problem with Reed's Road on IBSP is that once you've walked its quarter mile of marine forest back and forth you're done and what if it's a slow day? So, Palmyra, the Burlco migrant trap, is a good choice for me but only on a Sunday morning when traffic is light and it's just a 55 minute drive. 

But Palmyra is a big place and I only know the main trails and not that well. I was fortunate today to meet in the parking lot a couple of birders I know who are extremely knowledgeable about the park. I started out walking with them and soon had no choice but to stick with them because they were bushwhacking parts of the park I had no idea existed and I would have been hopelessly lost trying to find my way back to my car. 

Green Heron

Groups of birders seem to coalesce and split apart naturally at Palmyra so that at one point there were about 8 of us and then 5 and then 4. The smaller the number, the more comfortable I feel. Warblers were in patches. Yesterday, as I've heard all too often in my birding adventures, was great. Today, they said, was just okay. Still, for someone like me whose steady diet of Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Common Yellowthroat gets a little dull, a Magnolia Warbler is a thrill, as were all the other warblers we encountered, especially my 3 year birds: Cape May, Blackburnian, and Chestnut-sided Warblers. Granted, none of them were in their breeding finery and most of them were high up and flitting about maddeningly, but I was able to clap eyes on them long enough to put them on the list. I did miss, twice, Nashville Warbler. It is excruciatingly frustrating when 4 or 5 other people are talking about the bird's field marks and you can't even find it in the locust tree (one reason being you don't know what a locust tree is but even if you did, you'd still not be able to find in the "hole on the right hand side"). At least nobody said, "In the green tree" today. 

Unlike last week, we didn't spend much time at the cove itself but were mostly in the woods. Despite my frustrations and aggravations, I did wind up with a list of 56 species. Without my friends guiding me through the dark woods and theoretical trails I'm sure my list would only be half that.

Canada Goose  6    Flyovers

Wood Duck  1    Heard, Cove

Wild Turkey  10

Mourning Dove  3

Chimney Swift  2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Laughing Gull  100

Herring Gull  15

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Double-crested Cormorant  7

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  1

Green Heron  3

Turkey Vulture  1

Osprey  1

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Belted Kingfisher  1    Heard

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  4

Northern Flicker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  1

Least Flycatcher  1

Great Crested Flycatcher  1

Warbling Vireo  3

Red-eyed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tufted Titmouse  1

Barn Swallow  1

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  5

Gray Catbird  3

Northern Mockingbird  1

American Robin  2

House Sparrow  2

House Finch  5

American Goldfinch  4

Field Sparrow  4

Baltimore Oriole  1

Common Yellowthroat  1

American Redstart  6

Cape May Warbler  1

Magnolia Warbler  1

Bay-breasted Warbler  1

Blackburnian Warbler  2

Chestnut-sided Warbler  1

Scarlet Tanager  2

Northern Cardinal  1

Blue Grosbeak  1

Indigo Bunting  1