March Wrap-up--117 Species

Hairy Woodpeckers, Whitesbog

The Lion/Lamb cliche about March wasn't in evidence today, as Mike & I tried to bird Great Bay Blvd in ridiculously windy conditions. In fact, for most of the month I stayed away from the ocean & bay because birding in wind is "challenging" and no fun. This explains the lack of Sanderlings, Purple Sandpipers, turnstones, etc., on the list. 

The only year bird I skipped in my entries was Glossy Ibis. Not much to say about that one. I drove down Bay Parkway in Waretown on my way back from Manahawkin out of idle curiosity. A few days before ibises had been reported there. The mud flats were empty, and the bay had practically nothing in it, but, when I happened to scan the sky, I saw a single ibis flying over the marsh. I watched it swoop down and up and around, finally landing in an inaccessible area beyond some cedars. I suppose it could have been a White-faced Ibis and strictly speaking I should list it as "Ibis sp" but I'm going with the odds and calling it a Glossy. 

For the month I had 117 species. Most of my time seemed to be spent at Colliers Mills and Whitesbog--in other words, "inland." 11 year birds for the month. That number will surge upward in April as migration gets into full swing. If it doesn't, then something is drastically wrong. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean  

Species           First Sighting
Snow Goose  Brig
Brant  Manasquan Inlet
Canada Goose  Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan  Lake of the Lilies
Tundra Swan  Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Duck  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Shoveler  Brig
Gadwall  Brig
American Wigeon  Manahawkin WMA
Mallard  Colliers Mills WMA
American Black Duck  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Pintail  Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal  Brig
Redhead  Holly Lake
Ring-necked Duck  Colliers Mills WMA
Greater Scaup  Great Bay Blvd
Lesser Scaup  Colliers Mills WMA
King Eider  Island Beach SP
Common Eider  Island Beach SP
Long-tailed Duck  Island Beach SP
Bufflehead  Colliers Mills WMA
Common Goldeneye  Great Bay Blvd
Hooded Merganser  Colliers Mills WMA
Common Merganser  Brig
Red-breasted Merganser  Great Bay Blvd
Ruddy Duck  Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe  Double Trouble SP
Horned Grebe  Barnegat Municipal Dock
Rock Pigeon  New Egypt
Mourning Dove  35 Sunset Rd
American Coot  Holly Lake
American Oystercatcher  Great Bay Blvd
Killdeer  Lake of the Lilies
Dunlin  Brig
American Woodcock  Crestwood Community Gardens
Wilson's Snipe  Brig
Greater Yellowlegs  Forsythe-Barnegat
Laughing Gull  Barnegat Municipal Dock
Ring-billed Gull  Lake of the Lilies
Herring Gull  Holly Lake
Great Black-backed Gull  Great Bay Blvd
Red-throated Loon  Great Bay Blvd
Common Loon  Great Bay Blvd
Northern Gannet  Great Bay Blvd
Great Cormorant  Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant  Lake of the Lilies
Great Blue Heron  Great Bay Blvd
Great Egret  Shelter Cove Park
Snowy Egret  Cattus Island County Park
Glossy Ibis  Waretown--Bay Pkwy
Black Vulture  New Egypt
Turkey Vulture  Colliers Mills WMA
Osprey  Shelter Cove Park
Northern Harrier  Brig
Sharp-shinned Hawk  Brig
Cooper's Hawk  Lake of the Lilies
Bald Eagle  Great Bay Blvd
Red-shouldered Hawk  Budd’s Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Screech-Owl  Budd’s Bogs
Great Horned Owl  Budd’s Bogs
Belted Kingfisher  Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker  Colliers Mills WMA
Merlin  Cranberry Bogs
Peregrine Falcon  Great Bay Blvd
Eastern Phoebe  Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay  Colliers Mills WMA
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  New Egypt
Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse  Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Budd’s Bogs
Tree Swallow  Whitesbog
Barn Swallow  Budd’s Bogs
Golden-crowned Kinglet  Colliers Mills WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch  Colliers Mills WMA
Brown Creeper  35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Colliers Mills WMA
Winter Wren  Budd’s Bogs
Carolina Wren  Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling  Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Catbird  Brig
Brown Thrasher  Manahawkin WMA
Northern Mockingbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird  Colliers Mills WMA
Hermit Thrush  Colliers Mills WMA
American Robin  Colliers Mills WMA
Cedar Waxwing  Manasquan River WMA
House Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow  Brig
Field Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
American Tree Sparrow  Cranberry Bogs
Fox Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Dark-eyed Junco  35 Sunset Rd
White-crowned Sparrow  Budd’s Bogs
White-throated Sparrow  Crestwood Community Gardens
Savannah Sparrow  Colliers Mills WMA
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee  Crestwood Community Gardens
Eastern Meadowlark  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Brown-headed Cowbird  Colliers Mills WMA
Rusty Blackbird  Budd’s Bogs
Common Grackle  Lake of the Lilies
Boat-tailed Grackle  Great Bay Blvd
Louisiana Waterthrush  Budd’s Bogs
Pine Warbler  Stafford Forge WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler  35 Sunset Rd
Northern Cardinal  35 Sunset Rd

Snow Goose, Brick Reservoir

Colliers Mills 3/28--Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

It was with little enthusiasm that I started my walk at Colliers Mills this morning. With the temperature below freezing and the wind chill well into the teens, I can dress my body for a Spring cold snap, but I can't get my psyche warm. With the wind a snappy 20 mph gusting to perhaps 30, I opted to start my walk in the woods. My reasoning was that I'd stay somewhat out of the wind and that there weren't going to be any birds in the fields in any case. 

I hadn't gotten far up Hawkin Road, having checked the boat launch area at Turnmill Pond to find zero waterfowl on it, when I heard a high, buzzy call. I looked up to see a Golden-crowned Kinglet, but the bird and the call combo didn't sit right with me. Across the road I saw more flitting and when the bird finally stopped for a moment, I saw a big white eye ring. Ruby-crowned Kinglet was dismissed before my mind could get past "King," and then the "tzee tzee" made sense when I saw that I had an unexpected year bird with a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Can't find the birds that are supposed to be there, Red-headed Woodpecker or kestrel, but I get my earliest NJ gnatcatcher instead. 

If I wasn't determined to walk my four miles, I could have turned around and gone home, because the rest of the trek was uneventful. The ponds had little to nothing in them, the woods, after that spot were fairly quiet, and the fields, of course, were barren except for juncos. I don't know why 24 degrees feels a lot colder in March than it does in January, but it does and once I was done walking, I was done for the day. I considered 27 species pretty good given the conditions and my mood. 

Canada Goose  24
Mallard  5     Pond on Hawkin
Ring-necked Duck  1     Colliers Mills Lake
Mourning Dove  3
Great Blue Heron  5
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Northern Flicker  8
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
Carolina Chickadee  1

Tufted Titmouse  1

Golden-crowned Kinglet

White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1     
Carolina Wren  2     Heard
European Starling  2
Eastern Bluebird  1     Heard
American Robin  25
Field Sparrow  2
Dark-eyed Junco  15
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  4
Pine Warbler  10     Heard
Northern Cardinal  3

Yeah, the weather pissed me off, too.

Budd's Bogs 3/26--Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Louisiana Waterthrush

Any time I'm offered the opportunity of birding a hot spot like Budd's Bogs, which is private land, I jump.  Budd's is one of the largest cranberry producers around here, with a variety of habitats. I met Steve and Matt at 5:45 AM on Big Hill Road and we got in Steve's vehicle, stopping first on Retreat Road for Eastern Screech-Owl which was very cooperative after about 5 minutes of listening. Almost as soon as we were on the bogs, we had Great Horned Owl, so that made it worth getting up well before dawn. 

But I had those birds for the year. The interesting birds, to me, were, first, the Barn Swallow that flew over us fairly early in the trip; easy to pick out against all the Tree Swallows swooping around a gnat hatch over one of the flooded bogs. Whether that was on the only Barn Swallow of the day was hard to tell, since we had another later in the morning over another bog. 

Then, after a fairly long walk along a wooded trail that ran next to a reservoir (lots of Ring-necked Ducks and Wood Ducks) we came to a spot that Steve was fairly confident we would hear Louisiana Waterthrush. And he was, of course, right--helps to bird with an expert. Not one, but two of the birds were singing, establishing territory. Not that I spend a lot of time worrying about early dates for birds but according to my records, this was the earliest in the year I'd ever come across a Louie. What I do pay attention to though is county birds and this was, a slight surprise to me, a Burlington County lifer.  

Finally, back to the swallows. After going through what seemed our third weather front (calm, then, wind and drizzle, then back to sunny but windy) we found a goodly number of Tree Swallows over another water source and among them, hard to pick out at first since they were zipping around pretty good, was my FOY Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Later, over a huge hump of dirt where Steve says they tend to nest (along with kingfishers) we came across a second bird, a much better look for me as it flew directly overhead.

9 species of sparrows and 7 raptors (if you count vultures as raptors) filled out our list. Matt & Steve had 61 species, I only could count 60 because I missed the Blue-winged Teal that flew out of a bog with flock of Woodies. 

Canada Goose  25
Wood Duck  15
Mallard  6
American Black Duck  7
Green-winged Teal  8
Ring-necked Duck  10
duck sp.  3
Wild Turkey  1 Heard
Mourning Dove  7
Killdeer  5
Great Blue Heron  4
Black Vulture  9
Turkey Vulture  16
Northern Harrier  3
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  2
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Eastern Screech-Owl  1
Great Horned Owl  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  3
Northern Flicker  13
Eastern Phoebe  9
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  18
crow sp.  4
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2
Tree Swallow  20
Barn Swallow  1     1+, early, seen at two locations
Golden-crowned Kinglet  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Winter Wren  3
Carolina Wren  6
European Starling  15
Eastern Bluebird  2
Hermit Thrush  4
American Robin  4
House Sparrow  1
American Goldfinch  3
Chipping Sparrow  1     Wells
Field Sparrow  2
Fox Sparrow  2
Dark-eyed Junco  6
White-crowned Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  4
Savannah Sparrow  23
Song Sparrow  25
Swamp Sparrow  9
Red-winged Blackbird  200
Brown-headed Cowbird  15
Rusty Blackbird  40     40+
Common Grackle  75
Louisiana Waterthrush  2     early, normal breeding spot for this species
Pine Warbler  8
Yellow-rumped Warbler  30
Northern Cardinal  4

That's What Makes It All Interesting

Back when I worked in printing, each morning I would go downstairs to talk to Vinnie, who was, at once, my vendor, my mentor, my advisor, and my therapist. I would tell him of the disasters I was confronting that day: paper not delivered, wrong paper delivered, wrong ink used, book bound upside down. Every day a new set of problems to extricate myself and the company from. Vinnie listened while scribbling out work orders or adding up estimate sheets. When I was finally done with my litany of woe, he'd look at me and in the soft voice I could barely hear (and couldn't hear if the presses were running which is why I'd visit before the pressmen clocked in), he would invariably say, "Larry, that's what makes it awwlllll interesting." 

The phrase came back to me today after my second birding debacle in a row--and I'm using the word fully aware that these events wouldn't register as a microscopic speck on the real current debacles we're living through. 

If you've been following these entries, then you know that I've been looking for Red-headed Woodpecker since the year started. Since my supposedly reliable spots have turned out to be anything but, I headed to Cloverdale Farm in Barnegat yesterday. I had seen RHWO reported there. Cloverdale, a sweet little former cranberry bog and Christmas tree farm, has in the past had the woodpecker there--I've seen them in a swampy bog, on the power line cut, along the road, and once even at a feeder just outside the park boundaries. I tried all those spots yesterday and more, walking the perimeter 3 times and checking all the wooded areas. I saw Red-bellied Woodpeckers investigating a hole in dead tree, I saw 4 Wood Ducks, but once again, I did not find a Red-headed Woodpecker, never mind the two that had been listed. 

I am going to be discreet and vague now and use the wrong pronoun, because I don't want to embarrass anyone. After 3 hours I figured I'd tried all I could. I then ran into one of the people who'd listed the woodpecker. I said I hadn't been able to find "their" Red-headed Woodpecker. They said the last one they'd seen was back in NOVEMBER and was a juvenile. "Wait a minute," I said, "You listed two the other day." Momentary confusion then the explanation. 

In the financial world, if someone wants to buy 100 shares and winds up ordering 1000 shares, that's called "fat finger" syndrome. On the taxonomic order on the eBird list for this area, Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpecker are one above the other and it is easy, especially on a smart phone, to hit one when you mean the other. Which is what happened. Which is why I couldn't find a Red-headed Woodpecker, walking around 3 hours in mist and light drizzle. In a way, I was happy though. I hadn't failed. I was just looking for what wasn't there. 

Today, I drove down to Tuckerton. I stopped at Tip Seaman Park (site of last year's Western Kingbird debacles) and pulled out my phone. There was a message from my informant at Whitesbog: Sandhill Crane in Rome Pond. I hesitated for less than a minute. The thought that came to me was that I'd never be able to enjoy birding Great Bay Blvd, or even be able to concentrate on birding, knowing there was a rare bird at Whitesbog, one that I didn't have on my patch list. So, I just drove back 30 something miles, 40 something minutes, hoping the crane would stay for an hour. Rome Pond seemed like a weird place for it to be. I think of Sandhill Cranes in corn stubble fields, not on mud flats. 

Just as I was approaching Whitesbog, I got another message, saying that either there were two or that it had moved to a bog across from where my informant usually parks. Where my informant usually parks is Ocean County. Now I really wanted the bird, which, of course, wasn't in Rome Pond. I phoned him and then got the equivalent of, "OOO, you just missed it," because as we were talking, he was also watching it fly off toward the ranges of Ft. Dix. 

Maybe, we conjectured, it flew off and landed in Otter Pond which is just outside the Ft. Dix boundary, and which, for the last few years is not a pond at all, but a rapidly succeeding grassland. I put on my muck boots and walked over there, crossing a few treacherous bridges but, naturally, no surprise, of course, there was no Sandhill Crane there. Again, though, I was happy, in a way. If I had stayed in Tuckerton, I would have been beating myself up for laziness and fecklessness. This way, at least, I'd tried. Although at $4.15 a gallon, I wasn't thrilled with using up 60 miles worth of gas for no productive reason. 

When I got home this afternoon, I looked out the back window and there, for the first time since October, were two Wild Turkeys. 

That's what makes it awwlllll interesting. 

Barnegat Municipal Dock 3/20--Laughing Gull

I had the Year Bird Jones today. Yesterday, I spent my birding time at Colliers Mills looking, for probably the 15th time this year, for Red-headed Woodpecker. The absence of a post here about that species tells you the result. Today, I figured I may as well look at my other supposedly reliable spot, South Park Road in Tabernacle. This is usually a good place for Red-headed Woodpeckers; I believe I have a higher "hit rate" for them there than I do at Colliers Mills, but a back forth walk of 1.9 miles on the gravel and dirt road turned up none of the birds today. Plenty of other birds, including the first Wood Ducks I've ever seen there and a Pine Warbler every 100 feet, but the target bird remains elusive. 

And I still wanted a year bird.  So, I did something I rarely do. Usually, after a long walk, I'm pretty much done birding. As I've said, I bird every day, but I don't bird all day. And I'm especially averse to taking a long drive from one spot to the other but that's what I did this morning, driving 28 miles from South Park Road up 70, across 72, down Bay Avenue, to the Barnegat Municipal Dock parking lot. Because that parking lot is always full of gulls and I figured it would be the obvious spot for Laughing Gull, despite my earlier vow to just let that bird come to me. 

When I got there, it was full of gulls, but just Herring and Ring-bill Gulls, it seemed. Then a few gulls shuffled about and revealed my FOY Laughing Gull. A couple of minutes later a second one appeared at another spot in the lot and was quickly joined by a third. And there, along with decent pictures, is my accomplishment of the day. 

A quick scan of the bay turned up a pair of Horned Grebes and then a couple of American Oystercatchers on an island, both flagged as "Infrequent" on eBird. The "Infrequent" designation is a little mysterious. It could just be that the area isn't birded as much as it might be and thus the reports are sparse, or it really could be that the species doesn't turn up there much. For the most part when I encounter this flag, I assume the former. 

A couple of more stops on the way back home turned up semi-interesting birds: Greater Yellowlegs off the observation platform at the Barnegat Impoundments (hadn't seen them this month) and a Pied-billed Grebe in a channel along Bay Parkway in Waretown (again, "Infrequent," and maybe so, because it is the first time I've seen one there).

Shelter Cove | Cattus Island CP 3/16--Snowy Egret, Osprey

Osprey, Shelter Cove

Alert: It isn't your eyes nor your computer. These are really crappy photos. 

This morning I remembered a few years ago going around the Wildlife Drive at Brig with Mike when we were looking at distant ducks across the impoundments. Mike said, "Isn't is great how good we've gotten identifying birds from so far away?" I replied, "Yeah, but it isn't any fun." 

Snowy Egret, Cattus Island CP

The memory came to me at Cattus Island after finding a Snowy Egret way across the creek on the Ocean County Parks HQ side. How'd I know it was a snowy and not the more expected Great Egret? Size, admittedly hard to judge from a distance, shape & posture, and of course, the black bill I could barely see in my binoculars. My picture was taken with my new camera which has a 67X zoom. (Why 67? Why not 65, or 70?) It looked better in my binoculars. I thought about going back to the car for the scope but then thought, "For a Snowy Egret? That's a lot of work." Not exactly birdwatching; more like bird-ticking.

Earlier, I had a similar experience at Shelter Cove. I walked along the beach over to the marsh half expecting to find an early Osprey and after scanning the empty nest platforms, found one sitting atop a tree. Again, really distant and 67X doesn't help, especially when you've somehow got the wrong settings for an automatic camera, but clearly, head pattern alone told me it was Osprey. 

Ever since a long summer vacation 40 years ago on Martha's Vineyard where the cottage I stayed in was directly across a pond from a pair of constantly cheeping Ospreys, this species has been one of my least favorite birds, so I wasn't devastated that I didn't get the field guide looks this morning. I am sorry to have taken the picture as my belief is that there are already approximately one billion more photos of Ospreys than there need to be--and at least a half billion of them have been taken of a particular, nicely lit nest at Brig--but I try to document each new year bird. Usually, each year at Brig, I take one excellent photo of an Osprey and post it here in the hopes that, having already made the perfect photograph it will dissuade others from hogging up the road at Brig but it never seems to work so maybe I'll just forgo the futility this year. 

Good Advice at Any Time

 

Wawa Branching Out to More Exotic Fare?

 

Great Bay Blvd 3/7--American Oystercatcher

Digiscoped

I subscribe to the eBird alert " Year Needs--Ocean." For the majority of the birds featured in those alerts, I know that eventually I'll come across them (although, I'm starting to have my doubts about Wild Turkey, normally a backyard bird that I haven't seen in months). But sometimes impatience pushes the "eventually" to "today." Thus, after a week of American Oystercatcher reports from several locales, I headed down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton where I was pretty certain I'd be able to spot a few on the usual mud bank. Gusty winds of 35mph didn't dissuade me from plunking down my scope and scanning east, but all I could see between the shaking scope and heat shimmer were apparitions that I thought might be oystercatchers. So, I walked through the mud until it was just a little deeper and slicker than where a reasonable person would stand, searched around for those shapes and there they were, 9 oystercatchers standing into the wind.

Almost as soon as I ticked those birds, my phone started pinging with alerts for Laughing Gull. I like oystercatchers and they're worth seeing any day but Laughing Gull I am definitely going to wait until I stumble across one or a flock. 

My Eastern Phoebe sighting Saturday was just the first of a slew of phoebe reports the last few days and I found two in the cedars south of the 2nd wooden bridge while I was walking the road. There are certainly insects for them to eat as the warm weather the last couple of days seems to have caused a hatch. At an earlier stop this morning at Stafford Forge the air was thick with gnats; I was swatting them away from my face like it was July. I could have used some swallows to thin the herd. 

The list is a little sparse; any right-thinking bird would have been hunkered down today.

17 species
Canada Goose  3
American Black Duck  12
Bufflehead  9
Red-breasted Merganser  21
American Oystercatcher  9
Herring Gull  20
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Bald Eagle  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Phoebe  2     
American Robin  4
Dark-eyed Junco  2
Song Sparrow  10
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Boat-tailed Grackle  50
Yellow-rumped Warbler  3

Colliers Mills 3/5--Eastern Phoebe

After a couple of semi-productive stops in New Egypt (Jumping Brook Preserve & the Brynmore Road "pastures"), I intended only a quick walk at Colliers Mills. Mostly, I was hoping to find a kestrel on the power lines along Success Road. But what always happens is this: As long as I'm all the way up here on Success, I may as well cut over to the woods east of the police range and look again for a Red-headed Woodpecker. Well, as long as I'm in the woods, I may as well walk a little bit more see what ducks are on Turnmill Pond. Well, as long as I'm here counting a huge flock of Ring-necked Ducks, I may as well walk along the berm...and I reached the end of the berm and it appears I'm circling the pond and it has become a 2-mile hike. 

And I'm glad I did because I got a little surprise on Hawkin Road. Besides the juncos, the Brown Creeper, the Hermit Thrush, and the Fox Sparrow that were all along the edge of the road, suddenly a gray flycatcher with a brown head appeared at the top of a leafless bush--my first Eastern Phoebe of the year. 

I was surprised to find it flagged as "rare" on eBird. Phoebes do overwinter occasionally in Ocean County--I remember seeing one at Double Trouble in January the day after Shari & I discovered the lapwings at the aforementioned Brynmore Road "pastures"--but this one must be early, because I have walked that stretch of Hawkin Road at least 10 times this year and never saw a phoebe until yesterday. Today, I notice, there are a couple of more reports from other parts of the county, so one more sliver of evidence that migration is beginning earlier and earlier each year. 

No bird photos, but assuming you're not eating while reading this, here is a photo from the "pasture" I've titled "Hmm Hmmm Hm, Good Eatin'!" 

My Colliers Mills list for yesterday:

Colliers Mills WMA, Ocean, New Jersey, US
Mar 5, 2022 10:07 AM - 12:09 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
30 species
Canada Goose  41
Ring-necked Duck  118     Not unusual to have large flocks on Turnmill Pond in late winter
Lesser Scaup  1     With RNDU
Hooded Merganser  3     Colliers Mills Lake
Mourning Dove  4
Turkey Vulture  4
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2     Heard
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Phoebe  1     
Blue Jay  2
Carolina Chickadee  1     Heard
Tufted Titmouse  4     Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Brown Creeper  1     Off Hawkin Road
Carolina Wren  1     Heard
Northern Mockingbird  1
Eastern Bluebird  2
Hermit Thrush  1     Hawkin Road
American Robin  100
Field Sparrow  1     Success Road
Fox Sparrow  3     Success Road & Hawkin Road & burnt area behind parking lot
Dark-eyed Junco  10
White-throated Sparrow  15
Song Sparrow  12
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Brown-headed Cowbird  40
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1     Berm
Northern Cardinal  1     Burnt area behind parking lot

Crestwood Community Gardens 3/1--Eastern Towhee

It is disturbing how quickly the familiar can become unfamiliar. Tonight, even though I have woodcock on the list, I decided to continue my tradition of driving to the Crestwood Community Gardens, a few minutes away, to listen and possibly see the woodcocks in action. I arrived just a few minutes before sundown, knowing that they don't really get going until it is dark. A few birds were still calling, mostly White-throated Sparrows chipping in the brush. But there was one song I was hearing almost subliminally from over the other side of the garden. I wasn't paying that much attention for a few minutes and then suddenly I was very much paying attention because I realized it was a song I hadn't heard lately. 

I then I realized it was my first Eastern Towhee of the year, singing a slightly addlepated version of "Drink your tea." As soon as I pulled out my phone to make a recording, the carillon from the nearby church started and banged on for a good five minutes. This has always been one of the hazards of listening for the woodcocks over there. By the time they stopped, so had the towhee. 

I had given myself a time limit to stay there--it would be almost totally dark by 6:15 and if I hadn't had one by then, the hell with it. 

At exactly 6:15 I heard one peenting from someone's garden patch. Like the one the other day it only called a few times and there was no flight display. Perhaps March 1 is a little early and they're just getting geared up. Anyway, as I wrote yesterday, the surprise birds are the most fun, and the towhee was definitely unexpected.