May Review--Migration Madness & Rarities

Gray Kingbird, Barnegat Lighthouse SP

Thinking about the "best" bird of the month I at first thought it a tossup between the Gray Kingbird at Barnegat Lighthouse and the Kentucky Warbler at Island Beach, and while the kingbird, being southern species is certainly rarer than the warbler, I have to say it was the Kentucky that took the prize, since they are much more difficult to see and it was the first one I actually ever saw (heard the other). The best bird that I just bumped into has to be the Cerulean Warbler that Shari & I saw on Cedar Bonnet Island, and the two easiest rarities were just the other day at Brig with the Black-necked Stilt and the Red-necked Phalaropes. I'm still the only birder to see and photograph two down there, though I just heard from Steve that today he had three (!) in the surf at Island Beach. Wish I'd been there instead of getting the car worked on "between Lakewood and Brick." 

Migration was strong for a few days this month, though they were days I didn't happen to be on Reed's Road on Island Beach. I'm still missing a lot of warbler species. I can't, or really, don't want to, spend every day trudging up and down Reed's Road. I looked at BirdCast more than I usually do, and it just confirmed for me that the information, while interesting in an academic sense, doesn't correlate to big numbers of birds the next day. I don't care how many birds crossed over Ocean County (sometimes the numbers are astonishing). I want to know how many landed (and if possible, where) and BirdCast can't tell you that. 

Stubbornly, a lot of birds would not show up where I wanted to be. And a few times I went to places I didn't especially want to be, and the birds still didn't show up. But there is always the anticipation that today will be the day that you find a bird that shouldn't be there. It happens 4 or 5 times a year for me. 

As usual, I was mostly in Ocean County this month, with forays into Atlantic, Burlington, and Monmouth and even once incidental list in Mercer County. 172 species for the month, 53 of them year birds.

 Species   First Sighting
Brant    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Canada Goose    Whitesbog
Mute Swan    Cedar Bonnet Island
Wood Duck    Colliers Mills WMA
Mallard    Whitesbog
American Black Duck    Cedar Bonnet Island
Bufflehead    Island Beach SP
Red-breasted Merganser    Island Beach SP
Ruddy Duck    Assunpink WMA
Wild Turkey    35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Mourning Dove    Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Cranberry Bogs--Dover Rd
Common Nighthawk    Double Trouble SP
Chuck-will's-widow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Jumping Brook Preserve
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail    Island Beach SP
Virginia Rail    Island Beach SP
Black-necked Stilt    Brig
American Oystercatcher    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black-bellied Plover    Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Plover    Island Beach SP
Piping Plover    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Killdeer    Jumping Brook Preserve
Whimbrel    Brig
Ruddy Turnstone    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Red Knot    Great Bay Blvd
Sanderling    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Dunlin    Brig
Purple Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Sandpiper    Colliers Mills WMA
White-rumped Sandpiper    Cedar Bonnet Island
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Short-billed Dowitcher    Brig
Red-necked Phalarope    Brig
Spotted Sandpiper    Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper    Manasquan River WMA
Greater Yellowlegs    Island Beach SP
Willet    Cedar Bonnet Island
Lesser Yellowlegs    Cedar Bonnet Island
Bonaparte's Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Laughing Gull    Manasquan River WMA
Ring-billed Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Herring Gull    Cedar Bonnet Island
Lesser Black-backed Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Great Black-backed Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Tern    Brig
Gull-billed Tern    Brig
Common Tern    Brig
Forster's Tern    Cedar Bonnet Island
Black Skimmer    Brig
Common Loon    Manasquan Inlet
Wilson's Storm-Petrel    Manasquan Inlet
Northern Gannet    Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Cedar Bonnet Island
Great Blue Heron    Colliers Mills WMA
Great Egret    Cedar Bonnet Island
Snowy Egret    Island Beach SP
Little Blue Heron    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Tricolored Heron    Island Beach SP
Green Heron    Island Beach SP
Black-crowned Night-Heron    Great Bay Blvd
Glossy Ibis    Cedar Bonnet Island
Black Vulture    Manasquan River WMA
Turkey Vulture    Monmouth Medical Center
Osprey    Colliers Mills WMA
Cooper's Hawk    Island Beach SP
Bald Eagle    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-shouldered Hawk    Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Barred Owl    New Egypt
Belted Kingfisher    Cedar Bonnet Island
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker    Whitesbog
Hairy Woodpecker    Beach Ave
Northern Flicker    Manasquan River WMA
Merlin    Island Beach SP
Peregrine Falcon    Cedar Bonnet Island
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Double Trouble SP
Acadian Flycatcher    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Willow Flycatcher    Cranberry Bogs--Dover Rd
Eastern Phoebe    Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher    Manasquan River WMA
Eastern Kingbird    Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Kingbird    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
White-eyed Vireo    Manasquan River WMA
Yellow-throated Vireo    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Blue-headed Vireo    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Warbling Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue Jay    35 Sunset Rd
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee    35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse    Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Brig
Purple Martin    Island Beach SP
Tree Swallow    Whitesbog
Bank Swallow    Colliers Mills WMA
Barn Swallow    Whitesbog
Red-breasted Nuthatch    Colliers Mills WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch    Whitesbog
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Whitesbog
House Wren    Manasquan River WMA
Marsh Wren    Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren    Whitesbog
European Starling    35 Sunset Rd
Gray Catbird    Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher    Manasquan River WMA
Northern Mockingbird    Lake Takanassee
Eastern Bluebird    Whitesbog
Veery    Manasquan River WMA
Gray-cheeked Thrush    Island Beach SP
Swainson's Thrush    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Hermit Thrush    Island Beach SP
Wood Thrush    Manasquan River WMA
American Robin    35 Sunset Rd
Cedar Waxwing    Island Beach SP
House Sparrow    Lake Takanassee
House Finch    35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch    Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow    Whitesbog
Field Sparrow    Manasquan River WMA
White-crowned Sparrow    Whitesbog
White-throated Sparrow    Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow    Cedar Bonnet Island
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Savannah Sparrow    Whitesbog
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow    Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee    Whitesbog
Yellow-breasted Chat    Assunpink WMA
Orchard Oriole    Jumping Brook Preserve
Baltimore Oriole    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird    Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird    35 Sunset Rd
Common Grackle    Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle    Cedar Bonnet Island
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Louisiana Waterthrush    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Northern Waterthrush    Cedar Bonnet Island
Blue-winged Warbler    Manasquan River WMA
Black-and-white Warbler    Whitesbog
Prothonotary Warbler    Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Kentucky Warbler    Island Beach SP
Common Yellowthroat    Whitesbog
Hooded Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
American Redstart    Double Trouble SP
Cape May Warbler    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Cerulean Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Parula    Cedar Bonnet Island
Magnolia Warbler    Island Beach SP
Blackburnian Warbler    Cedar Bonnet Island
Yellow Warbler    Manasquan River WMA
Chestnut-sided Warbler    Island Beach SP
Blackpoll Warbler    Island Beach SP
Black-throated Blue Warbler    Island Beach SP
Palm Warbler    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Pine Warbler    Whitesbog
Yellow-rumped Warbler    Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler    Whitesbog
Black-throated Green Warbler    Island Beach SP
Canada Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Scarlet Tanager    Island Beach SP
Northern Cardinal    35 Sunset Rd
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    Island Beach SP
Blue Grosbeak    Manasquan River WMA
Indigo Bunting    Island Beach SP

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, our backyard

Bat Box Double Trouble

ONLY PATRIOTIC BATS 
PERMITTED IN THIS BOX

Brig 5/29--Black-necked Stilt, Red-necked Phalarope

Black-necked Stilt

Two out of three isn't bad. Some interesting birds, more or less rare, have been seen at Brig the last week or so but it took 3 of them to reach critical mass for me. The chief attraction was Black-necked Stilt, one of my favorite shorebirds, and not just because it's easy to identify. Red-necked Phalarope was also reported along with a Curlew Sandpiper that seemed to make irregular appearances mixed in with a flock of Dunlin. By orthography you can see the two birds I found today. And I got them very early in the morning, so that by 8 o'clock I could do "real" birding, not chasing. The Red-necked Phalarope I saw first, at Goose Marker 4, where it had been reported. I didn't have to look very hard, since as soon as I plunked down my scope, a birder next to me told me where it was. It was spinning crazily, as phalaropes do, and because it was a female, and thus brightly colored (unlike most birds, the females have the gaudy plumage), there was no dithering over whether it was a Wilson's Phalarope. 

I was going back to put my scope in the car and move on to GM 5 (where the Curlew Sandpiper was last seen) & then to the tower (where the stilt was last seen), when I heard my fellow birder give out a whoop. I look up the road and there, having just flown in, was the Black-necked Stilt. It pranced right before me and headed towards the phalaropes. So far, so easy. 

However, at GM 5 there were only a very few Dunlins and no Curlew Sandpiper among them. At the tower, a stilt appeared again. I thought it odd that it had flown back so suddenly, but birds have wings. I was walking back to GM 5 to give the Curlew Sandpiper another chance to add to my year list, when a photographer stopped me to say he'd just photographed a stilt down the road. "Well, there must be two," I told him, "Or else it's hyperactive," I thought. 

GM 5 still had no Curlew Sandpiper and thus it was on to regular birding. Almost all the expected birds were there today in their expected places. See my list. On the east dike I saw an American Oystercatcher on the island where the Osprey platform is and then a shorebird I couldn't figure out until I realized that it was a fairly large oystercatcher chick feeding in the mud and the adult seemed to be keeping an eye on it like a mother with her kid down the shore.   I drove around to Jen's Trail and parked and then walked from there to the Gull Tower and back getting a nice mix of land birds, including Blue Grosbeak in the usual tree at the start of the road to the Gull Tower, a handsome Orchard Oriole on the old railbed trail, and coming back, I listened to the raucous blatherings of a Yellow-breasted Chat.

Red-necked Phalaropes

After lunch I decided to do one more circuit. I didn't expect to see the Curlew Sandpiper, but I was hoping for some other terns, herons, or shorebirds. When I got a little past GM 4, I looked in the channel and saw the Red-necked Phalarope much closer to the road and then I saw two! Fortunately, they were close together so I could photograph the pair. So far, I'm the only one to report two for the day. 

But other than adding 10 Great Black-backed Gulls to the day list, all the second trip around accomplished was to add more dust to the car. 

Day list:

68 species
Canada Goose  50
Mute Swan  12
Mallard  25
American Black Duck  16
Ruddy Duck  2     Tower
Mourning Dove  5
Clapper Rail  2
Black-necked Stilt  1     
American Oystercatcher  2
Black-bellied Plover  1
Ruddy Turnstone  30
Dunlin  25
Least Sandpiper  10
Semipalmated Sandpiper  750
Red-necked Phalarope  2     
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Willet  10
Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  20
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Least Tern  2
Gull-billed Tern  1
Common Tern  1
Forster's Tern  30
Black Skimmer  15
Double-crested Cormorant  4
Great Blue Heron  5
Great Egret  11
Snowy Egret  5
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  12
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  10
Bald Eagle  2
Northern Flicker  1     Heard
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2     Heard
Willow Flycatcher  2     Heard
Eastern Phoebe  1     Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  1     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  3     Heard
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  2
Tufted Titmouse  1     Heard Jen's Trail
Purple Martin  10
Tree Swallow  9
Barn Swallow  4
House Wren  3     Heard
Marsh Wren  6     Heard
Carolina Wren  5     Heard
European Starling  8
Gray Catbird  15
Northern Mockingbird  1     Atop Visitor's Center
American Goldfinch  1     Flyover
Field Sparrow  2     Heard
Seaside Sparrow  5     Heard
Song Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  3     Heard
Yellow-breasted Chat  1     Heard upland section
Orchard Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  70
Ovenbird  3     Heard
Common Yellowthroat  10
Yellow Warbler  5     Heard
Pine Warbler  1     Heard
Northern Cardinal  2
Blue Grosbeak  1

Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve 5/17--Acadian Flycatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, Prothonotary Warbler

Red-headed Woodpecker, South Park Road

I thought it was going to be another of those "all ear" mornings, where my new year birds were all "just" heard. But if I stand on the bridge long enough at the Huber Preserve, eventually one of the singing birds will show itself. I had previously heard from there an Acadian Flycatcher ("Pizza!") and a Louisiana Waterthrush, the latter one being a bird I had forgotten was a possibility there. I spent some time walking down near the creek looking for the waterthrush. The water isn't really fast running there, which is where I think of Louies being, and this bird was especially frustrating since it sounded like it was high up in the trees. The foliage is pretty dense in there now; I couldn't find it. 

I walked along the White Trail, which, from experience is the only trail where you're relatively safe from ticks--relatively. The birdsong in there was reaching cacophonous levels, particularly from Ovenbirds, but I also picked out Hooded Warbler, redstart, Pine Warbler (a gimme), Prairie Warbler (of course), 3 different vireos, a Wood Thrush, a Veery (infrequent in the Pine Barrens) and even a distant Wood Duck. Some of these birds I even saw. 

Prothonotary Warbler, Huber Preserve

Back at the bridge on the way out I stood around and pished and pished, even though I don't think Prothonotary Warblers respond to it. Eastern Phoebe, which nests beneath the bridge kept flying out to find out who the fool was. I heard the Protho, but it took a long time before I got eyes on it. And then it flitted all around the creek, never sitting still for more than a few seconds. A laughably bad photograph was produced, the result of just pointing the camera where I saw a yellow dot in the trees. 

Afterwards, I drove over to South Park Road, a few minutes away, just to see if I could track down the resident Red-headed Woodpeckers that frequent the dead trees about 3/4 of mile down the road. Just as in Colliers Mills, I had given up on them and was making my way back to the car, when I first heard one call, then saw two in the back. They came fairly close and then flew back & forth over the road. South Park Road is one of the few places in Burlco that you can find this (rare for the county) bird. The other spots are a lot harder to get to. It's a case of "I wanna see the bird, but I don't wanna see it that bad." 

The Huber list:

31 species
Wood Duck  1     
Wild Turkey  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Acadian Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  4
White-eyed Vireo  3
Yellow-throated Vireo  1    
Red-eyed Vireo  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Veery  1     
Wood Thrush  1
Eastern Towhee  4
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Ovenbird  25
Louisiana Waterthrush  1
Black-and-white Warbler  3
Prothonotary Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Hooded Warbler  4
American Redstart  1
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  8

Great Bay Blvd 5/14--Red Knot

Continuing my shorebird weekend, I drove down to Tuckerton this morning in search of Red Knots. While the big gathering of this endangered species is along the Delaware Bay shoreline in Cape May, I know that few reliably show up at the beach at the end of the road. So I made my way down the 4 mile stretch, stopping at the spots where I usually have luck. The first stop, up before the first bridge in the cedar allee, got me a couple of county species for the year--the biggest flock of Black Skimmers I've ever seen on Great Bay Blvd, and 11 Gull-billed Terns, which breaks eBird's filter for the county--exact count, though. Shorebirds & waders were abundant, (albeit not Brig abundant in the thousands) though all were expected species--dowitchers, Dunlins, plovers, peeps, egrets, ibises...In the marsh after the second wooden bridge two Least Terns alighted, another county bird for the year. 

By the time I got down to the inlet, the tide was dropping. At first, it appeared there were no shorebirds feeding on the mud flats, but a quick scan revealed them to be just up a little farther than usual--and among the Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers, there was one Red Knot. I walked north into the mucky part of the marsh where a few Least Sandpipers were feeding, then saw a big flock of shorebirds lift off and fly back to where I'd started. When I got back there, the numbers had increased and there were Ruddy Turnstones mixed in with 6 Red Knots. That seemed like a pretty good number to me and though I couldn't make the 40 species mark (not much in the way of passerines in the gusty conditions), I was satisfied with my tallies.

4.5 mile(s)
39 species
Canada Goose  4
Mute Swan  2
Mallard  5
Mourning Dove  3
Clapper Rail  10
American Oystercatcher  1
Black-bellied Plover  60
Semipalmated Plover  12
Ruddy Turnstone  9
Red Knot  6
Dunlin  35
Least Sandpiper  15
Semipalmated Sandpiper  10
Short-billed Dowitcher  35
Greater Yellowlegs  8
Willet  30
Laughing Gull  60
Herring Gull  30
Least Tern  2
Gull-billed Tern  11     
Forster's Tern  3
Black Skimmer  75
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Egret  35
Snowy Egret  20
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  45
Osprey  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
Tree Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  25
Gray Catbird  2
Seaside Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  3
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Boat-tailed Grackle  75
Common Yellowthroat  2
Yellow Warbler  2
Northern Cardinal  1

Red Knot with Black-bellied Plover

Cattus Island CP | Brig 5/13--Whimbrel, Least Tern, Common Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Black Skimmer, Saltmarsh Sparrow

Black Skimmers, Brig

Saltmarsh Sparrow, Cattus Island

Maybe I'm not bending my neck back enough, but I am not having much luck finding warblers where I want them to be. I'd seen reports from Cattus Island yesterday that looked promising, but when I arrived this morning, after what looked like a great migration night, according to BirdCast, I came up with the proverbial bupkus. Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Ovenbird, and that was it. Had I hazarded Reed's Road this overcast morning, it appears I might have had more success, but then, maybe it's me, not the lack of birds. I did, however, add one year bird to the list, a Saltmarsh Sparrow, way out on the peninsula. It even teed up for me for a while. I heard, then saw a couple of Seaside Sparrows in the marsh, but this one caught my attention because it stood out so well against the overall grayness of the day. 

Whimbrel, Brig

I didn't have time to go to Reed's anyway, because Shari & I had planned a Brig trip for the afternoon. I figured looking at shorebirds in open impoundments would be a relief from peering into foliage. And I was right, because there were thousands of shorebirds in the impoundments and fairly close in--Dunlins, dowitchers, sandpipers, plovers, but best of all, Whimbrels. Not thousands of them, but first one, then a scattering of them, then a couple of small flocks, all on the north dike. 

Our other new species for the year were all in the tern family. My main target for the afternoon was Black Skimmer and we had four fly by as we drove along the south dike, then came upon some roosting on a sandbar. None of them were in our favorite posture, where they lay their big beaks flat on the sand and look as if they're too depressed to move, but it was a pleasure to see them. Shari spotted our first Least Tern and our first Gull-billed Terns, and the two Common Terns we saw were in the usual place, the sluice gate at the northeast corner. 

We were there a little over 2 hours. Our list for our 8 mile loop:

46 species
Canada Goose  50
Mute Swan  10
American Black Duck  2
American Oystercatcher  2
Black-bellied Plover  6
Semipalmated Plover  16
Whimbrel  30
Ruddy Turnstone  15
Dunlin  1500
Least Sandpiper  15
White-rumped Sandpiper  7
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1000
Short-billed Dowitcher  750
Greater Yellowlegs  15
Willet  25
Laughing Gull  60
Herring Gull  10
Least Tern  1
Gull-billed Tern  10
Common Tern  2
Forster's Tern  40
Black Skimmer  10
Double-crested Cormorant  40
Great Blue Heron  4
Great Egret  11
Snowy Egret  13
Turkey Vulture  2
Osprey  6
Great Crested Flycatcher  1     Heard
American Crow  1     Heard
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2
Purple Martin  15
Tree Swallow  2
Marsh Wren  2     Heard
Gray Catbird  1
American Robin  1
House Finch  1
Chipping Sparrow  2     Heard
Seaside Sparrow  2
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Boat-tailed Grackle  1
Common Yellowthroat  3
Yellow Warbler  3
Indigo Bunting  1     Heard

Double Trouble SP | Cranberry Bogs 5/12--Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, American Redstart

In current sociological jargon the noun "privilege" has morphed into a verb, as in "We privilege seeing over hearing." (Given a choice, would you rather be blind or deaf?) At any rate, I privilege my seeing a bird over merely hearing one--unless of course it's a nocturnal bird like our whip-poor-will.  I started out birdwatching, and I want to see the birds. So, it never seems quite legitimate to me when my year birds are found with my ears, as has been the case with the last 4. (That's not totally correct. Last night, Shari & I had our annual Chuck-will's-widow date where we have a nice dinner in Lacey and then drive down to Collinstown Road in Barnegat and digest our meal while waiting for the chucks to start singing as darkness descends. This year, for the first time, we actually saw one, sitting on the ground and then flying up into a low branch. Not a great look, naturally, since it was about 80% dark at the time, but a look nonetheless.)

I've been in a mood, the last few days, where I don't feel like going to where the birds are dense but want the birds to be where I want to be. This is not a good formula for building up your list, but I figure if I'm going to be frustrated, I may as well be frustrated somewhere I like. I was hoping for more than two year birds at Double Trouble this morning, but that was all I got, 2 American Redstarts and one Eastern Wood-Pewee, by ear. 

Little Blue Heron

Then, for the third day in a row, I went to the cranberry bogs on Dover Road. The recent heavy rains cause a blow out of one of the bogs, draining it down to mud, creating terrific shorebird & wader habitat--much like Whitesbog in the summer (when the bogs are intentionally drawn down). Birds not frequently seen in South Toms River are in the bog now, like Solitary Sandpiper (patch bird for me), Least Sandpipers, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron and others. Of course, what I'm hoping for is a true rarity which is why I keep checking. The blow out also disrupts my usual route, so I have been trying out a couple of alternatives to get around it. Today I walked through a lot high grass (thank you, whoever developed permethrin) and wound up walking a trail in the back that runs along the woods. I heard, at first distantly, but soon fairly loudly and consistently, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. That's a bird that's hard to see, anyway, which makes it all the more desirable. But, hearing counts. You can't compete in the World Series of Birding (which is tomorrow) without being a good ear birder. Doesn't make it satisfying though. 

Here's the Cranberry Bog list:

37 species
Canada Goose  2
Mallard  3
Mourning Dove  2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1     Recorded
Least Sandpiper  15     Blow out bog
Solitary Sandpiper  4     Blowout bog + 3 on mud flats
Greater Yellowlegs  1     Blow out bog
Laughing Gull  3
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  7
Little Blue Heron  1     Blow out bog
Glossy Ibis  12     Blow out bog
Osprey  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Eastern Phoebe  1     Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  1     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  3
White-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
Blue Jay  1
Tufted Titmouse  1     Heard
Barn Swallow  10
House Wren  1     Heard
Carolina Wren  1     Heard
Gray Catbird  1     Heard
American Robin  1
American Goldfinch  1     Flyover
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  1     Heard
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Brown-headed Cowbird  1     Heard
Common Grackle  2
Black-and-white Warbler  1     Heard
Common Yellowthroat  20
Pine Warbler  1     Heard
Prairie Warbler  5
Northern Cardinal  1

Cedar Bonnet Island 5/8--White-rumped Sandpiper, Northern Waterthrush, Cerulean Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler

 A rare day when Shari's schedule was clear, and we could bird together. The original idea was to track down the Gray Kingbird at Barnegat Light, but that went by the board when it disappeared Sunday. Still, we thought Barnegat Light was a good place to go because we could make a stop at Cedar Bonnet Island first. I thought a quick look around, then onto the Light. That plan got derailed as we kept finding nice birds, most of them new for the year for Shari, like the tanagers, the orioles, and the different vireos, but we also added 4 species to my year list, one of them a real rarity.

Two of my new birds I owe to Shari and the other two to Chris, who is, as they say on the Wall Street, the axe of Cedar Bonnet--that is the top guy for that spot. When we first got there, Shari spotted a warbler that, like warblers do, wouldn't stay still long enough to get a great look at, but she saw the different parts of the bird as if hopped among the oak leaves and then sat down with app and built a bird--it turned out to be a female Blackburnian Warbler--once she showed me the picture on the app I knew from my brief looks, that she was correct. 

Even though Cedar Bonnet is a migrant trap, you wouldn't expect to find a Northern Waterthrush there as there are no freshwater ponds or streams, yet, once Chris called our attention to it, we distinctly heard one singing multiple times from a wet area off the trail, behind a dense wall of trees and brush. We surmised that this one just dropped down any old place in the morning, exhausted from flying all night.

Shari & I finally tore ourselves away from the alley of trees where the passerines all are, to walk a little bit in the restoration area. At the Fisherman's Trail, we finally saw the Willet that had been calling the entire time we'd been there, and then Shari spotted a sandpiper in the grass, right along a little rivulet. My first reaction was semi sand, but looking more closely, it seemed to big and then seeing the crossed feathers at the rear, I knew we had a White-rumped Sandpiper. 

Now we were ready to leave, but walking back to the entrance, through the alley, we saw Chris again, who said they'd just had a Cerulean Warbler. Whoa! Ceruleans are rare in the state almost everywhere but in the extreme NW. You expect to find them very high up in trees, not on a little reclaimed dredge spoil. But then again, when you're migrating, and you're tired, you plop down wherever. It took a little while to get back on the bird, but we did manage to see it clearly, with a Northern Parula making it more difficult as it followed the Cerulean from tree to tree. "There it is! No, that the parula." Interestingly, Cedar Bonnet was involved in my last sighting of a Cerulean, 4 years ago. Mike & I were birding the island when another birder told us about the Cerulean at Barnegat Light. I was dubious, but Mike was driving, so we went up there and got it without much difficult. I still remember the tree it was in--a very small, low tree, that doesn't seem to have grown much over the years. I could have picked that warbler off the tree like it was a piece of fruit. Shari said today, after we got our looks at the bird, "Good, now we don't have to go all the way up to Old Mine Road (at the Delaware Water Gap) to see one." 

We finally did make it up to Barnegat Light. Aside from getting Shari her American Oystercatchers, it wasn't all that interesting. But how were we going to top a Cerulean anyway? 

Our Cedar Bonnet list:

41 species
Mute Swan  2
Mallard  17
American Black Duck  4
Mourning Dove  20
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
White-rumped Sandpiper  1     
Willet  2
Forster's Tern  2
Double-crested Cormorant  50
Great Egret  2
Snowy Egret  1
Glossy Ibis  22
Osprey  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  1
Yellow-throated Vireo  1
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  4
Purple Martin  2
Barn Swallow  1
Carolina Wren  1
Gray Catbird  10
American Robin  2
American Goldfinch  4
Song Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Baltimore Oriole  4
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Brown-headed Cowbird  3
Boat-tailed Grackle  5
Northern Waterthrush  1     
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  1
Cerulean Warbler  1     
Northern Parula  1
Blackburnian Warbler  1     
Yellow Warbler  1
Scarlet Tanager  3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  5

Jumping Brook Preserve | Colliers Mills 5/7--Warbling Vireo, Orchard Oriole

Orchard Oriole

I have been too much with people the last few days so today, knowing I wouldn't find anyone else there, I walked around the Jumping Brook Preserve in New Egypt, wearing plenty of tick repellent. Even with m permethrin pants and muck boots, some of the trails have grown too high to sensibly walk through them, so I walked way back on one trail that I hadn't explored too much in the past. Aside from the usual warblers, there wasn't much back there--I was hoping the oak trees would be attractive to them. Out on the bogs I did get one year bird, a pair of Orchard Orioles. Reading up on them, I was surprised to find that they are the smallest of the icterids. Which is why a female Orchard Oriole can be mistaken, at first glance, for a Pine Warbler. 

My last few trips to Colliers MillsI hadn't heard Warbling Vireo (it is such a nothingburger of a bird, that I don't spend time actually looking for one), so I drove over to there and hung around the parking lot for a few minutes until one sang. And sang. And sang.    There was a lot of dog training going on there and the firing of shotguns, so I wasn't too inclined to spend much time in the fields. In the woods I came across a Palm Warbler. According to eBird, they should be gone by now, but Palm Warbler is being reported all over the county, so, this year, at least, something odd is going on with their migration. 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

When I got home, turkeys were gobbling on the lawn and kept it up for 3 hours. Big, fat birds strutting around your house making noise is entertaining for the first 5 or 10 minutes, then it gets to be a nuisance. More unusual for the yard, though, was a Brown Thrasher I that was picking up seeds under the feeder, and then, later in the day, Shari called from the patio that a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was on the suet. We get the grosbeak almost annually, but thrasher hasn't been in the backyard in almost 5 years. Later, it was singing, if you want to call it that, high up in a tree. It was background noise until it penetrated, then, like the turkeys, it stopped being entertaining.

The Jumping Brook list:

41 species
Canada Goose  2
Wood Duck  2
Mallard  8
Mourning Dove  3
Chimney Swift  1
Killdeer  1
Herring Gull  40
Great Blue Heron  2
Red-shouldered Hawk  1     Heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  2
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  3
White-eyed Vireo  3
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  4
Tree Swallow  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  2
Gray Catbird  10
Wood Thrush  2
American Robin  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  2
Orchard Oriole  2
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Common Grackle  2
Ovenbird  10
Black-and-white Warbler  6
Common Yellowthroat  10
Northern Parula  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  3
Prairie Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  1