March--A Wide-ranging Month

Wood Ducks, Ditch Meadow, Whitesbog

I ended the month at Raritan Bay Waterfront Park in Middlesex County, another place I haven't visited since pre-pandemic, in this case just about two years, because that's when Scott runs a few trips there and I try to get up there in hopes that his expertise will pull out a white-winged gull from the flocks of usual gulls. It took a bit of doing but he got the group on an Iceland Gull flying out over the bay. Not the field guide looks you'd like but obvious enough.  Also new for me was Laughing Gull, though I wasn't too concerned about getting that species for the year. 

Being in Middlesex today made it the seventh New Jersey county I've birded this month, which is another thing I can say I haven't done since the pandemic started. Why that's one third of the counties in the state. But in Delaware we birded two thirds of the counties in the state. Impressive if you don't know there are only three in the state. 

Sandhill Cranes, New Egypt

On Sunday, Scott found a quartet of Sandhill Cranes in the storied corn field on Brynmore Road in New Egypt. They are off and on again habitués of that field over the years. Unfortunately, this is where my eschewing of social media and the GroupMe alerts bit me on the ass, because I didn't find out about it until late in the afternoon on Sunday. Monday & Tuesday we were in Delaware. Today, just as I was about to leave South Amboy and was checking eBird to see if anyone had seen the cranes today, Mike texted me that he had them again in the field. There's no good way to get there from South Amboy but I took the least bad way and made it there in a little over an hour. As always seems to be case with this species in NJ, they were hard to see in the corn stubble unless they stood straight up. Luckily, when I got there a couple were. Not a year bird; hell, not even a month bird since I saw pair fly over at the end of Scott's trip to Salem County early in the month which bled over into Gloucester County when we stopped at Pedricktown Marsh. 

I did one trip to Brig this month where I got the surprise of the King Rail and a long recording of it. The Delaware trip is documented above. Mostly, of course, I was in Ocean and Burlington Counties. I had a few great moments at Whitesbog this month like when I found the woodcocks in the triangle field pre-dawn, or came up the Wood Ducks above in Ditch Meadow. And here's a peculiarity: I now hold the Ocean County record for most Ring-necked Ducks seen in one place--665 at Colliers Mills, the vast majority of them staging the south end of Turnmill Pond. That was a memorable sight. And finding the Red-headed Woodpecker (twice) at Colliers Mills always seems like an accomplishment to me. 

It was a good month with 134 species listed of which 24 were year birds. April begins the craziness of warblers and shorebirds. I already have anticipation anxiety. 

Counties birded:
Delware: Kent, Sussex

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Gloucester, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem

Species               First Sighting

Snow Goose   Pemberton Lake WMA

Brant   MacLearie Park

Canada Goose   Deal Lake

Mute Swan   Silver Lake

Tundra Swan   Whitesbog

Wood Duck   Whitesbog

Blue-winged Teal   Bombay Hook

Northern Shoveler   Silver Lake

Gadwall   Holly Lake

Eurasian Wigeon   MacLearie Park

American Wigeon   MacLearie Park

Mallard   Deal Lake

American Black Duck   Whitesbog

Northern Pintail   Salem River WMA

Green-winged Teal   Whitesbog

Redhead   Whitesbog

Ring-necked Duck   Whitesbog

Greater Scaup   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Lesser Scaup   Silver Lake

King Eider   Manasquan Inlet

Common Eider   Manasquan Inlet

Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Black Scoter   Spring Lake

Long-tailed Duck   Manasquan Inlet

Bufflehead   MacLearie Park

Common Goldeneye   LBI Bayside

Hooded Merganser   Manahawkin WMA

Common Merganser   Pemberton Lake WMA

Red-breasted Merganser   Deal Lake

Ruddy Duck   Silver Lake

Wild Turkey   Wranglebrook Rd

Pied-billed Grebe   Bamber Lake

Horned Grebe   MacLearie Park

Rock Pigeon   Pilesgrove

Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd

King Rail   Brig

Clapper Rail   Prime Hook

American Coot   Lake of the Lilies

Sandhill Crane   Pedricktown Marsh

American Avocet   Bombay Hook

American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Black-bellied Plover   Bombay Hook

Killdeer   Compromise Rd.

Ruddy Turnstone   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Dunlin   Manasquan Inlet

Purple Sandpiper   Manasquan Inlet

American Woodcock   Crestwood Community Gardens

Wilson's Snipe   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Greater Yellowlegs   Eno's Pond

Lesser Yellowlegs   Eno's Pond

Bonaparte's Gull   Shark River

Laughing Gull   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Ring-billed Gull   Manahawkin WMA

Herring Gull   Deal Lake

Iceland Gull   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Lesser Black-backed Gull   Wreck Pond

Great Black-backed Gull   Deal Lake

Forster's Tern   Bombay Hook

Red-throated Loon   Manasquan Inlet

Common Loon   Manasquan Inlet

Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP

Great Cormorant   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Double-crested Cormorant   Deal Lake

American Bittern   Island Beach SP

Great Blue Heron   Pemberton Lake WMA

Great Egret   Manahawkin WMA

Snowy Egret   Bombay Hook

Little Blue Heron   DuPont Nature Center

Black Vulture   Plumsted Recreation Park

Turkey Vulture   1398 State Highway 35

Osprey   Pedricktown Marsh

Northern Harrier   Manahawkin WMA

Cooper's Hawk   CVS parking lot Schoolhouse Rd.

Bald Eagle   Pemberton Lake WMA

Red-tailed Hawk   Whitesbog

Rough-legged Hawk   Featherbed Lane WMA

Short-eared Owl   Brig

Belted Kingfisher   Manahawkin WMA

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Northern Flicker   Manahawkin WMA

American Kestrel   Colliers Mills WMA

Merlin   Mannington Marsh

Peregrine Falcon   Cedar Bonnet Island

Eastern Phoebe   Colliers Mills WMA

Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd

American Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Common Raven   Lake of the Lilies

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd

Horned Lark   Sunset Park

Purple Martin   Bombay Hook

Tree Swallow   Reeves Bogs

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog

Red-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd

White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd

Brown Creeper   35 Sunset Rd

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Forest Resource Education Center

Marsh Wren   Great Bay Bvld. WMA

Carolina Wren   1398 State Highway 35

European Starling   35 Sunset Rd

Brown Thrasher   Manahawkin WMA

Northern Mockingbird   New Egypt

Eastern Bluebird   Colliers Mills WMA

Wood Thrush   Manahawkin WMA

American Robin   Silver Lake

House Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

House Finch   35 Sunset Rd

Purple Finch   Island Beach SP

Pine Siskin   35 Sunset Rd

American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd

Chipping Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA

Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA

American Tree Sparrow   Island Beach SP

Fox Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd

White-throated Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Savannah Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Swamp Sparrow   Meadowview Lane

Eastern Towhee   Bombay Hook

Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog

Brown-headed Cowbird   Whitesbog

Rusty Blackbird   Reeves Bogs

Common Grackle   Plumsted Recreation Park

Boat-tailed Grackle   Manahawkin WMA

Pine Warbler   Cloverdale Farm

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Island Beach SP

Yellow-throated Warbler   Prime Hook

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Bombay Hook | Prime Hook 3/29-30--Blue-winged Teal, Clapper Rail, American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Forster's Tern, Snowy Egret, Purple Martin, Yellow-throated Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler, Prime Hook

For my birthday (thank you, I'm officially old), Shari took us to Delaware for two days of birding the two big NWRs down there, Bombay Hook and Prime Hook. It was the first time in over a year that I've been out of state. While late March is probably not the ideal time to be down there as you're between waterfowl and shorebird seasons, I was very glad to see one of my favorite species, American Avocet, in the hundreds yesterday, a nice birthday present.  While they for the most part remained too far away to get decent photographs, the flocks were easily viewed through the scope and they were in such numbers that just the patterns of white, black, and rufous in the distance was an impressive sight. 

American Avocets, Bombay Hook

Purple Martin, Bombay Hook

Our first year bird was found in the parking lot of Bombay Hook within a minute of our arrival. Two Purple Martins were already checking out the one martin house that is permanently up, being an old wooden structure that is immobile on its post. 

Thousands of Dunlin were flying in and out of the Raymond Pool. Scoping the huge flock a couple of Black-bellied Plovers stood out, large and plump compared to the smaller sandpipes. I can't remember if it was over Raymond or Shearness that we saw our first Forster's Tern of the year, but I do remember that at the far end of Shearness was where we saw our FOY Snowy Egret. Herons and egrets were in surprisingly short supply there--it wasn't until Finis Pool that we came upon 4 Great Egrets. 

This morning we drove down to Prime Hook and again, in the parking lot, we got our first year bird, a calling Clapper Rail. Some other birders claimed a King Rail along the boardwalk trail, but we didn't hear it and I have to say I'm a tad dubious about that, but hey, it isn't my state to worry about. The coolest bird probably of the two days we came upon because, as we driving out, Shari saw a road we'd never taken and just impulsively turned down it. It lead to a canoe launch and while we didn't see any waterfowl there, on the road in Shari spotted a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and, as we were walking back to our car, I heard a warbler song I couldn't identify, not surprisingly. I just started playing songs of early-arriving warblers, like waterthrushes but they were not like anything we were hearing. Then I thought, well, I don't know Yellow-rumps song because I always see them in winter, so I played that and it was wrong too. But next to Yellow-rump was Yellow-throated Warbler, which I played on a whim and it didn't seem to match, but then I heard the bird singing right behind us and sure enough, I had inadvertently called in Yellow-throated Warbler!

Forster's Tern, DuPont Nature Center

On our way back north we stopped at the DuPont Nature Center, another favorite spot in Delaware, specifically hoping to get Shari her FOY American Oystercatcher and we were successful with two pairs on the jetty. Then it was back up to Bombay Hook for one more circuit of the pools where we saw even more avocets than we had the day before (alas, no Black-necked Stilts, a much harder bird to find in the state) and we added our final year bird when we saw four ducks that looked different and braved the wind gusts to confirm that they were indeed what we suspected, a set of drake Blue-winged Teals. 

For the two days we totaled 69 species, not bad for a time of year that falls between two stools.

Species                First Sighting

Snow Goose   Bombay Hook

Canada Goose   Bombay Hook

Mute Swan   Bombay Hook

Wood Duck   Bombay Hook

Blue-winged Teal   Bombay Hook

Northern Shoveler   Bombay Hook

Gadwall   Bombay Hook

Mallard   Leipsic River Bridge

American Black Duck   Bombay Hook

Northern Pintail   Bombay Hook

Green-winged Teal   Bombay Hook

Bufflehead   Bombay Hook

Ruddy Duck   Bombay Hook

Pied-billed Grebe   Bombay Hook

Mourning Dove   Bombay Hook

Clapper Rail   Prime Hook

American Coot   Bombay Hook

American Avocet   Bombay Hook

American Oystercatcher   DuPont Nature Center

Black-bellied Plover   Bombay Hook

Dunlin   Bombay Hook

Greater Yellowlegs   Bombay Hook

Lesser Yellowlegs   Bombay Hook

Ring-billed Gull   Bombay Hook

Herring Gull   Bombay Hook

Great Black-backed Gull   Prime Hook

Forster's Tern   Bombay Hook

Double-crested Cormorant   DuPont Nature Center

Great Blue Heron   Bombay Hook

Great Egret   Bombay Hook

Snowy Egret   Bombay Hook

Little Blue Heron   DuPont Nature Center

Black Vulture   Bombay Hook

Turkey Vulture   Bombay Hook

Osprey   Bombay Hook

Northern Harrier   Bombay Hook

Bald Eagle   Bombay Hook

Red-tailed Hawk   Bombay Hook

Belted Kingfisher   Bombay Hook

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Bombay Hook

American Kestrel   Bombay Hook

Merlin   Bombay Hook

Eastern Phoebe   Bombay Hook

Blue Jay   Prime Hook

American Crow   Sleep Inn Dover

Fish Crow   Bombay Hook

Carolina Chickadee   Prime Hook

Purple Martin   Bombay Hook

Tree Swallow   Bombay Hook

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Bombay Hook

Carolina Wren   Bombay Hook

European Starling   Bombay Hook

Northern Mockingbird   Sleep Inn Dover

Eastern Bluebird   Bombay Hook

American Robin   Bombay Hook

House Sparrow   Bombay Hook

House Finch   Bombay Hook

Chipping Sparrow   Prime Hook

Field Sparrow   Prime Hook

Song Sparrow   Prime Hook

Swamp Sparrow   Prime Hook

Eastern Towhee   Bombay Hook

Red-winged Blackbird   Bombay Hook

Brown-headed Cowbird   Prime Hook

Common Grackle   Wawa Dover

Pine Warbler   Prime Hook

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Prime Hook

Yellow-throated Warbler   Prime Hook

Northern Cardinal   Bombay Hook

FREC 3/27--Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, FREC

Pre-pandemic, Mike led a series of "Birds of Jackson" trips where the group would explore a number of locations from late winter to early spring.  The trips have obviously been a no-go the last two years but there was no reason Mike & I couldn't recreate one. Yesterday, a Saturday, which is the day the trips were held, Mike and I met up at FREC (Forest Resources Education Center) a bit earlier than the trip would have started but from thereon we essentially did the full trip in order, including a stop at a Wawa on County Line Road. Besides FREC, we stopped at Butterfly Bogs for ducks, Lake Enno, which is a really obscure spot that practically no one birds but is a great place to pick up Baltimore Oriole a little later in the spring, then Wawa, a retention pond at Jackson Mills, Prospertown Lake, which still had Common Mergansers, one of the few places in the county you can find this duck, and finally, Colliers Mills, though we didn't drive up the length of Success Road out to Rt 571 as we do on the trip. 

My only new bird for the year was a little tricky to get. At FREC, just as we crossed the bridge over the mighty Toms River (barely a trickle this far upstream) Mike said he heard Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. My first reaction was, "Nah, too early." Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is just at the lower bottom of the highest calls I can hear, but I wasn't hearing this one. However, eventually the little bird showed itself high up in just-budding tree. Early, perhaps, but Saturday all of sudden, lots of gnatcatchers were reported all around Ocean County, so there must have been a push of them overnight. Later, as we walked on the other side of FREC which is just outside the limits of the Pine Barrens, we saw another and I was able to document it. 

I missed hearing Northern Waterthrush as Mike did because I was hearing a woodcock softly peent us and didn't catch the warbler in front of us. Would like to get that bird, but would really like to get LouisianaWaterthrush, a much more difficult species to find. I'll have to start haunting Double Trouble soon to see if I can stumble upon one. 

Red-headed Woodpecker, Colliers Mills

Our other accomplishment occurred at Colliers Mills. I asked Mike if he wanted to try to track down the Red-headed Woodpecker, since he needed it for the year and of course he did. We went into the woods north of the Success Road and started looking around--bluebirds and robins abounded but no woodpeckers. I told Mike I had a 50% hit rate and since I didn't see it last time I was there, we should find it. Finally, near the edge of the woods we heard the bird and started walking towards its "Queer" cry. Mike spotted the bird first and we watched it move it around but it kept coming back to one dead tree full of holes and we realized that was its nest or at least it was investigating it as one. And the tree is very easy to find with a series of landmarks but of course I'm not going to reveal that information. I'll be curious next time I'm there to see if one of those holes is occupied. 

For the day we had 51 species, an excellent count for the township:

Species          First Sighting
Canada Goose   FREC
Wood Duck   FREC
Gadwall   Butterfly Bogs
Mallard   FREC
American Black Duck   Prospertown Lake
Green-winged Teal   Butterfly Bogs
Ring-necked Duck   Butterfly Bogs
Bufflehead   Butterfly Bogs
Common Merganser   Prospertown Lake
Mourning Dove   FREC
Killdeer   Colliers Mills WMA
American Woodcock   FREC
Herring Gull   Prospertown Lake
Double-crested Cormorant   Prospertown Lake
Great Blue Heron   Butterfly Bogs
Great Egret   Butterfly Bogs
Turkey Vulture   Jackson Mills Pond
Red-tailed Hawk   Lake Enno
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   FREC
Downy Woodpecker   FREC
Hairy Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker   FREC
American Kestrel   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Phoebe   FREC
Blue Jay   FREC
American Crow   FREC
Fish Crow   FREC
Carolina Chickadee   FREC
Tufted Titmouse   FREC
Tree Swallow   Prospertown Lake
Red-breasted Nuthatch   FREC
White-breasted Nuthatch   FREC
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   FREC
Carolina Wren   FREC
European Starling   FREC
Northern Mockingbird   Prospertown Lake
Eastern Bluebird   FREC
American Robin   FREC
House Finch   FREC
American Goldfinch   FREC
Chipping Sparrow   FREC
Field Sparrow   FREC
Dark-eyed Junco   FREC
White-throated Sparrow   FREC
Song Sparrow   FREC
Red-winged Blackbird   FREC
Brown-headed Cowbird   FREC
Common Grackle   Lake Enno
Pine Warbler   FREC
Northern Cardinal   FREC