Jumping Brook Preserve | Emson Preserve 5/6--Chimney Swift, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Bunting

Orchard Oriole

Not enough rain to keep me indoors, but just enough drizzle to be a nuisance was the story this morning as I walked around Jumping Brook Preserve in New Egypt where I have been having a lot of luck of late. The drained bogs draw me even though the unmown dikes terrify me as tick habitat. Jumping Brook is only 5+ miles due north of Whitesbog as the shorebird flies, so when August rolls around this year, I am going to tear myself away from the drawn-down bogs in Burlco and search for the rarities we get there at Jumping Brook, in Ocean County. I will be heavily coated in permethrin when I do. 

Today I added a couple of more shorebirds to the Preserve's list--Least Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper had never been recorded there, but that is almost meaningless since, compared to nearby spots like Colliers Mills or the New Egypt cattle pastures, it is rarely birded

As I was walking toward those bogs, I saw my first Chimney Swifts of the year scything through the lowering sky and along the path I came across my first Orchard Orioles of the year too. And, while I was scanning the swallows and swifts over the bogs, I saw, for the second time this year, a Sandhill Crane flying toward Joint Base MDL. There must be some out-of-the-way area on the base where the cranes are hanging out. 

The rain came in dribs and drabs and after a couple of hours I was back at the car with an idea. I drove over to the Emson Preserve with another year bird in mind. I know that the long driveway there is good habitat for Indigo Bunting, with a line of trees separating farm fields but my first walk up and down it didn't turn up any. I decided to walk in the woods which, don't seem to get the warblers you would expect in a hardwood forest. But I did come across a Palm Warbler, which is supposed to have already left the area, and an Eastern Phoebe, a species that suddenly seems to have gone "dark." By the time I had completed the loop it was raining pretty steadily. As soon as I got out of the woods, I heard a song that seemed like an Indigo Bunting's but I wanted to be sure. And I didn't want to just hear a beautiful bird and I didn't feel like standing in the rain searching, so I played it's song and immediately a male flew down to greet me, shivering it's wings in territorial excitement. Using playback is not something I usually do, but I think the bird will survive. 

Between the two spots I had 52 species, not bad for inland birding. 

Canada Goose
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Herring Gull
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
American Goldfinch
White-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Orchard Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting