Manahawkin WMA 2/25--Brown Thrasher

Brown Thrasher

Tired of going to spots and not seeing as many species as I could see looking out my back window, I drove down to the Manahawkin WMA, which has the advantage of 3 habitats--grass, woods, and water. I parked on Stafford, instead of the parking lot off Hilliard, so I could scope the impoundments first, then double back, ditch the scope and walk Stafford both directions, entering the woods off Stafford then looping around through the grassy areas, back again along the impoundments to the car. It was a good strategy. The impoundments had a lot of ducks, including 120 Green-winged Teal. It wasn't too long ago that I made a special trip to Jackson to get 3 of these little ducks. Northern Pintails were in both impoundments, a very handsome duck, a fairly large number of Hooded Mergansers were scattered around, along with the usual black ducks and Mallards. One Gadwall was in the mix too. 

Not too much activity on Stafford aside from a couple of flushed Great Blue Herons in the marsh and Buffleheads around the Bridge to Nowhere. The path in the middle of Stafford that takes you into a hardwood forest was pretty dead until I got about halfway along when it exploded with birds--sparrows, woodpeckers, a Hermit Thrush, chickadees, etc., and at the edge of a little clearing, two Brown Thrashers, new for the year, flew up into a tree where I was able to take one truly lousy picture before they disappeared.

For the morning's walk I totaled 34 species, much better than I've done at any one spot probably all month.

Canada Goose  6
Mute Swan  6
Gadwall  1
Mallard  22
American Black Duck  38
Northern Pintail  21
Green-winged Teal  120
Bufflehead  7
Hooded Merganser  31
Greater Yellowlegs  6     Back impoundment
Ring-billed Gull  4
Herring Gull  10
Great Blue Heron  4
Turkey Vulture  2
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  1
Blue Jay  5
Carolina Chickadee  3     Heard
Tufted Titmouse  1     Heard
Carolina Wren  2     Heard
Brown Thrasher  2     Hardwood Forest
Hermit Thrush  1     Heard hardwood forest
American Robin  6
House Finch  2
Fox Sparrow  1     Hardwood forest
White-throated Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  6
Red-winged Blackbird  1     Heard
Boat-tailed Grackle  1
Northern Cardinal  1     Heard

And then this afternoon, I spent a lot of time looking out my back window where I saw 15 species, including a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Brown Creeper, and my first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of the month. It helps to live on the border of the Whiting WMA. 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker