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