June Recap--Doldrums Edition

Cedar Waxwing, Whitesbog

If April is the cruelest month, June is the dullest. Not surprisingly, I wasn't able to add very many year birds to my list, though the results were not as paltry as the month's entries would indicate. At Brig, for instance, I finally got a Chimney Swift for the year, but there is not much to say other than it was pointed out by Bob Auster. You can't exactly go looking for habitat for swifts, so it is just a question of when your life vector intersects with their life vector.  Of course, once I added it to the list, I started seeing them more frequently and in Ocean County too.

The same problem, to a large extent, goes for Common Nighthawks. There are places they're more likely to appear, but again, it is more luck than design. We lucked out in our backyard, the same day Bob pointed out the swift. We sitting on the patio in the early evening, having an adult beverage, when Bob thought he heard a woodcock. "Unlikely," I replied. And then, hearing it "peeent" again, I realized it was nighthawk (or nighthawks) flying above us. Add two aerial species to the list. 

I ramble around Colliers Mills quite a bit and go to areas that are at best lightly birded but I had never ventured very much further south than a pond on Hawkin Road. Just didn't look promising. But on a tip from Scott I walked about mile further down the road and off on another trail where I came across a Summer Tanager singing in exactly the spot he had pinned on the map. Despite standing there for more than a half hour and listening to the bird sing and sing, I could not get eyes on it. Not much of an entry there. I also discovered a rather large pond there (which I realized later is the southern end of the pond that is off the berm that dams Turnmill Pond) and it looks like it might be a good area for ducks in the winter. I also had Veery and Hooded Warbler back there, so it is worth the walk. 

Last weekend we visited friends out on Long Island. They live in a leafy suburb just over the Queens border where the streets are lined with full grown oak, maples, and London planes. In the morning I walked around the neighborhood with him as he walked the dog and heard most of the songs you'd expect--cardinal, Song Sparrow, Fish Crow (if you want to call that a song), robin, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, chickadee...wait a minute. I'm in New York. That's a Black-capped Chickadee and that's the first one I've heard all year, not having ventured much above the Raritan. I did consider writing an entry titled "Inadvertent Year Bird" but it would have consisted of the paragraph you just read.

So only seven year birds for the month. Other cool birds were the continuing Common Eiders in Barnegat Inlet, where until recently some King Eiders were mixed in (Steve advised me to look at my pictures of the eiders and sure enough there were 3 hens in the flock) and Whitesbog has been a regular stop for me where the ever-shabbier Bufflehead continues and I learn more botany from my friend as we hike around the remote areas crossing his precarious bridges. 

Black-and-white Warbler, Double Trouble SP

For the month 130 species. 

Counties Birded: 

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean

New York: Nassau

Species                First Sighting Snow Goose   Brig

Canada Goose   Whitesbog

Mute Swan   Brig

Wood Duck   Reeves Bogs

Mallard   Double Trouble State Park

American Black Duck   Whitesbog

King Eider   Island Beach SP

Common Eider   Island Beach SP

Black Scoter   Island Beach SP

Bufflehead   Whitesbog

Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd

Mourning Dove   Whitesbog

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Double Trouble State Park

Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd

Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift   Brig

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd

King Rail   Whitesbog

Clapper Rail   Brig

Virginia Rail   Reeves Bogs

American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Semipalmated Plover   Brig

Piping Plover   Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Killdeer   Manchester Dump

Ruddy Turnstone   Brig

White-rumped Sandpiper   Brig

Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig

Greater Yellowlegs   Brig

Willet   Brig

Laughing Gull   Brig

Herring Gull   Brig

Great Black-backed Gull   Brig

Least Tern   Double Trouble State Park

Gull-billed Tern   Brig

Caspian Tern   Brig

Common Tern   Brig

Forster's Tern   Brig

Black Skimmer   Brig

Brown Booby   Surf City

Double-crested Cormorant   Brig

Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP

Least Bittern   Lakehurst Railroad Tracks

Great Blue Heron   Whitesbog

Great Egret   Double Trouble State Park

Snowy Egret   Brig

Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP

Tricolored Heron   Waretown

Green Heron   Whitesbog

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Beach Haven Inlet

Glossy Ibis   Brig

Black Vulture   Jumping Brook Preserve

Turkey Vulture   Crestwood Village

Osprey   Brig

Cooper's Hawk   Whitesbog

Bald Eagle   GSP MM 48

Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog

Broad-winged Hawk   Double Trouble State Park

Red-tailed Hawk   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters

Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog

Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Downy Woodpecker   Whitesbog

Hairy Woodpecker   Double Trouble State Park

Northern Flicker   Whitesbog

Peregrine Falcon   Cedar Bonnet Island

Olive-sided Flycatcher   Double Trouble State Park

Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog

Acadian Flycatcher  Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve

Willow Flycatcher   Brig

Eastern Phoebe   Double Trouble State Park

Great Crested Flycatcher   Whitesbog

Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog

White-eyed Vireo   Double Trouble State Park

Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog

Blue Jay   Crestwood Village

American Crow   Whitesbog

Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Common Raven   Whitesbog

Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog

Black-capped Chickadee   Malverne

Tufted Titmouse   Whitesbog

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Whitesbog

Purple Martin   Whitesbog

Tree Swallow   Whitesbog

Bank Swallow   Reeves Bogs

Barn Swallow   Whitesbog

White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Double Trouble State Park

House Wren   Whitesbog

Marsh Wren   Brig

Carolina Wren   Whitesbog

European Starling   35 Sunset Rd

Gray Catbird   Whitesbog

Brown Thrasher   Island Beach SP

Northern Mockingbird   Crestwood Village

Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog

Veery   Double Trouble State Park

Wood Thrush   Double Trouble State Park

American Robin   Double Trouble State Park

Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog

House Sparrow   Brig

House Finch   Double Trouble State Park

American Goldfinch   Double Trouble State Park

Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Field Sparrow   Double Trouble State Park

Seaside Sparrow   Brig

Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog

Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog

Orchard Oriole   Colliers Mills WMA

Baltimore Oriole   Whitesbog

Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog

Brown-headed Cowbird   Double Trouble State Park

Common Grackle   Whitesbog

Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd WMA

Ovenbird   Whitesbog

Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog

Prothonotary Warbler   Reeves Bogs

Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog

Hooded Warbler   Double Trouble State Park

Yellow Warbler   Whitesbog

Pine Warbler   Whitesbog

Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog

Summer Tanager   Colliers Mills WMA

Scarlet Tanager   Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve

Northern Cardinal   Double Trouble State Park

Indigo Bunting   Brig

Dickcissel   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters Black Vultures, Jumping Brook Preserve