June Review--Doldrums Edition

Snowy Egret, Forsythe-Barnegat

Six, count 'em, six year birds for the month.  June is a doldrums month, granted, but even last year, when I had COVID, I managed eight new birds for the year. The birds I decided to seek, I found--Cliff Swallow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Brown Pelican, and of course, the rarity for the month Bar-tailed Godwit at Brig. The effort I made to find Worm-eating Warbler this year, at the Evert Trail on Ong's Hat Road, was a failure because a tornado had come through a few days earlier and knocked trees down there, blocking the boardwalk. I was unaware of that before I went there. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 

I found myself gravitating to the same few spots this month, places I like to walk and places that I hope (hope is a thing with feathers according to Emily Dickinson) will have something rare or at least unexpected. The only bird qualifying this month was the Least Bittern at Reeves Bogs and that was thanks to my informant who'd heard it and relayed the location to me. 

July doesn't look like it's going to be much better. It is a strange time when I have to consult the air quality index to find the least polluted place in the area--today it was Tuckerton, where the AQ was "moderate" as opposed to here, where it was "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" or Pemberton, where it was just plain "Unhealthy." 

Red-headed Woodpecker, Cloverdale Farm

123 species for the month. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean
Species    First Sighting
Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan   Lake Como
Wood Duck   Jumping Brook Preserve
Mallard   Laurel Run Park
American Black Duck   Whitesbog
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   Seaside Park
Mourning Dove   Island Beach SP
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Laurel Run Park
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Plover   Island Beach SP
Killdeer   South Park Rd
Bar-tailed Godwit   Brig
Red Knot   Island Beach SP
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Dunlin   Brig
White-rumped Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
Willet   Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull   Wawa South Toms River
Ring-billed Gull    Belmar
Herring Gull   Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Least Tern   Brig
Gull-billed Tern   Brig
Common Tern   Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Shark River Inlet
Black Skimmer   Great Bay Blvd
Double-crested Cormorant   Island Beach SP
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
Least Bittern   Reeves Bogs
Great Blue Heron   Colliers Mills WMA
Great Egret   Island Beach SP
Snowy Egret   Island Beach SP
Little Blue Heron   Island Beach SP
Tricolored Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Glossy Ibis   Island Beach SP
Black Vulture   Meadowview Lane
Turkey Vulture   Laurel Run Park
Osprey   Island Beach SP
Bald Eagle   Great Bay Blvd
Red-shouldered Hawk   Jumping Brook Preserve
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Burrs Mill Brook
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Burrs Mill Brook
Northern Flicker   Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Colliers Mills WMA
Acadian Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Willow Flycatcher   Island Beach SP
Eastern Phoebe   Colliers Mills WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird   Island Beach SP
White-eyed Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Laurel Run Park
Purple Martin   Laurel Run Park
Tree Swallow   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Bank Swallow   Burrs Mill Brook
Barn Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
Cliff Swallow   Wesley Lake
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   South Park Rd
House Wren   Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area
Marsh Wren   Island Beach SP
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Wawa South Toms River
Gray Catbird   Island Beach SP
Brown Thrasher   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Mockingbird   Wawa South Toms River
Eastern Bluebird   Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Thrush   Colliers Mills WMA
American Robin   Island Beach SP
Cedar Waxwing   Cedar Bridge Tavern County Park
House Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Island Beach SP
Grasshopper Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Seaside Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Song Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Swamp Sparrow   Jumping Brook Preserve
Eastern Towhee   Island Beach SP
Orchard Oriole   Colliers Mills WMA
Baltimore Oriole   Burrs Mill Brook
Red-winged Blackbird   Island Beach SP
Brown-headed Cowbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Common Grackle   Island Beach SP
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Black-and-white Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Prothonotary Warbler   Dot and Brooks Evert Trail
Common Yellowthroat   Island Beach SP
Hooded Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
American Redstart   Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow Warbler   Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Prairie Warbler   Laurel Run Park
Scarlet Tanager   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   Island Beach SP
Blue Grosbeak   South Park Rd
Indigo Bunting   Colliers Mills WMA

Double-crested Cormorant, Wesley Lake

Island Beach SP 6/27--Brown Pelican

I figured it was time to get my Brown Pelicans for the year, so even though the weather looked a little iffy, I walked the beach at the southern end of Island Beach SP. I made a first stop at the Winter Anchorage, scoping whatever I could see on the sand bars, which wasn't much, but did include a dozen Royal Terns, my first for the county this year. It took a while for me to determine their identity--from that distance they could have been Caspian Terns--but in time a few gave me looks at their tonsured heads and I knew I had the species I wanted. 

Walking south from A23 I almost immediately saw 4 pelicans fly by. I could have turned around and looked for a trail with more possibilities, but I didn't, deciding that the "back" of the inlet was going to productive. That meant a mile and a half walk. Along the way I didn't come across much--oystercatchers, Common Terns, the usual gulls. But, at the end of my walk I hit the pelican bonanza--on the sand bars between the peninsula I was on and the Sedge Islands about 4 dozen pelicans were roosting. Probably this little area in Barnegat Bay is the best place to reliably see pelicans. Even at the northern end of the park they're more scarce and practically rare at Manasquan Inlet and north.

I noticed while I was scoping the bar that the wind was freshening and looking up, the skies weren't just cloudy, but ominous. A glance at the weather map on my phone was an "Uh-oh." It appeared I had about a half hour before the yellow and red on the map made its way across the bay--I didn't. I'd gotten about a third of the way back to the dune crossing by the parking lot when the rain started to pelt me. Fortunately, it was just showers. I did not want to be walking with a metal scope on an open beach in a lightning storm. 

Only 15 species for my walk, but that's birding when you're looking for one species.

American Oystercatcher  5
Laughing Gull  150
Herring Gull  45
Great Black-backed Gull  20
Common Tern  25
Double-crested Cormorant  15
Brown Pelican  55
Great Egret  1
Glossy Ibis  3
Osprey  3
Northern Mockingbird  2
American Goldfinch  1
Song Sparrow  3
Boat-tailed Grackle  1
Common Yellowthroat  1

Reeves Bogs | Brig 6/19--Least Bittern, Bar-tailed Godwit

Because it is still cool, we slept last night with the windows open, so when, at 4:17 this morning, the whip-poor-will in the weeping cherry tree in the backyard began to sing, it woke me up, so I was at Reeves Bogs at 5:20 AM, which meant that by the time I got my 5 miles in around the bogs, it was still early, so when I saw that at Brig a Bar-tailed Godwit, reported yesterday, continued today around Goose Marker 4, I decided I had nothing better to do than drive down there. I hadn't seen the species since 2018 in Australia, and not since 2015 in the United States (at Brig, of course). 

It was my second day in a row at Reeves Normally, I only go there on Sundays since it almost guaranteed that the only person I'll run into is my friend known here as "my informant." While I didn't see him yesterday because our paths didn't cross, he noted my car and called me to tell me that he'd been hearing a Least Bittern since the middle of the week. By the time I made my way to the relatively inaccessible spot, it was late in the morning and the bird had stopped calling. 

Today I walked straight there, or rather directly there, since there is no straight route you can take, stopping and listening at various points in the abandoned bogs. I heard nothing and was feeling a bit discouraged when I reached the spot where I he'd heard the bird. I stood around for what seemed a long time but was really only a few minutes before I heard the "chuckling" sound that Least Bitterns make, out beyond where I stood. And chuckling is a good description, because, heard, more than seen, you get the sense that the bird is laughing at you. There was absolutely no chance of getting any closer to the bird, since, even with muck boots, the water pouring out of a breached bog is too deep and actually too swift to stand in, like mini-rapids in a mini-river. 

I continued my walk around this old cranberry farm--I'd already passed Milton's Reservoir and eventually made my way back there after walking around Bear Hole and along Muddy Road, past the Atlantic White Cedar Restoration Area.  The most amusing sight was the momma Wood Duck with 6 ducklings. 

I went home, got the scope, and was at Brig by 11. Finding the bird was no problem. There were M.obs near Goose Marker 4. Seeing the bird was a problem since it had, with a large dowitcher flock, gone behind the reeds and was hard to see through the screen of phragmites. It didn't help that while all the dowitchers seemed active, the godwit was mostly still with its beak tucked into its feathers. For a moment it shifted position and I was able to see its long bi-colored beak, but mostly identification was based on it much larger size compared to the dowitchers and to a large extent it was an "if you say so" bird. I took a digiscope shot. The best it does is show relative size difference.
My best look was when it upped and flew with about 20 dowitchers. 

I went around the drive half-heartedly--there wasn't really much to see or else I wasn't seeing much. Not feeling like a second trip around but still hoping for a better look at the godwit, I parked at the beginning of the drive and walked up to marker 4. The godwit had returned but was now completely hidden unless you happened to have a cherry picker attached to your car. Many people were waiting for it to emerge. They were mostly photographers. Having seen the bird well enough to say I saw the bird, I, who am not blessed with great (or any) patience, walked back to the car and went home. Two year birds for a June day is pretty good, albeit one with a lousy look and one only softly heard. 

Proofreading on Great Bay Blvd.

 

Captain Mike would have been better off sticking with the abbreviation. I'll let the lack of apostrophe go. 

A Contradiction in Terms

Somehow, with all the trips I've made to Colliers Mills, I missed this sign until today.  First of all, it impressed me that we have sometimes had over $10,000 worth of turkeys feeding in our backyard. But the $500 replacement fee made me ponder. If the Department of Fish & Wildlife charges to replace a Wild Turkey...how wild is the turkey? 

The sign also seems to me to misplaced--in the over 300 times I've been to Colliers Mills, I have seen turkeys there exactly once. You'd have better luck poaching in my backyard. 

Laurel Run Park 6/3--Grasshopper Sparrow

I can't hear you.

The award for Most Frustrating Bird of the Year (so far) goes to...Grasshopper Sparrow. Time was when I could simply walk Success Road at Colliers Mills and come up with a couple of these shy, elusive sparrows but they've disappeared from there, one theory (mine) being that the constant dog training in the fields has pushed them out. You can still get them at the Lakehurst base (I see that 29 were reported today) but getting on the base is not easy now that the former naturalist there has retired. A trip to Assunpink in May didn't turn up any. So that leaves Laurel Run Park in Delran, Burlington County, as the one place you're most likely to find the species. 

It was frustrating just getting in there this morning. First Rt 38 was closed for unknown reasons, so I had to improvise to get there, and when I arrived, the gates were closed because they don't open until 8 AM. I saw also that the name of the park has been changed to Rainbow Meadows which sounds like the name of a children's book that is sure to be banned by right-wing mommies. Fortunately, Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area is only a mile away, so I turned the car around and went there--the gates were open despite it also supposedly opening at 8. My time there was not unfruitful for my Burlco year list--Marsh Wren, Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, but I was just killing time. 

Knowing that gatekeepers can be lackadaisical, I didn't go back to Laurel Run/Rainbow Meadows until about 8:30 and the gates were indeed open. In the past, I've always found the Groppers on the west side of the mile long loop, so that's where I headed. The field was high with grass and small pushes and one very attractive purple flowering plant which turned out to be Hairy Vetch. Grasshopper Sparrows have a very soft song that is just on the cusp of my auditory capabilities. I thought I heard one call. I opened up the Merlin app and it too heard one, so I knew I was in the right place. But I didn't come all that way just to hear a whispered "pfft." Looking at the taller stems in the field I found one sitting, waving back and forth in the gentle breeze. I took a long-distance picture which more or less showed the bird--a doc shot. 

I circled the field and found pretty much what I'd expect (though not as much as I would hope) and started a second go-round. Again, I heard the little call, but no song. It sounded comparatively loud, and two steps into the field, the sparrow flushed. It teed up on a stem and then to my left, I saw another land on an old traffic cone that is used when the trail is muddy or wet. Okay, that was fine, and really, you only need one, but after my second circuit I still wasn't satisfied so I started loop #3. Same place, maybe same bird(s). This time, though, one of them decided to cooperate and sat on a stem singing. I know it was singing, because I have pictures of the bird with its mouth open, but, even though I was fairly close, I couldn't actually hear the song. I heard one "note." Maybe the birds had been singing all along and what I took for a call was the one part of the song I could hear. It is an eerie feeling to see a bird as if it were mouthing its song. 

I dog walker stopped me and asked what I was looking for and I told him though Grasshopper Sparrow meant nothing to him. As we were talking, another flew from the field behind us to the field where I'd been looking, so for the day, I counted 3. 

Three times around that field pretty much exhausted the entertainment possibilities of the park. I left unfrustrated...for the day, anyway. 

29 species
Canada Goose  1
Mallard  1
Mourning Dove  2
Chimney Swift  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1     
Willow Flycatcher  1
Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Purple Martin  18
Tree Swallow  2
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  50
Northern Mockingbird  2
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  5
House Finch  1
Grasshopper Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  2
Yellow Warbler  2
Prairie Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  1