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