July Wrap-up: And I Thought June Was Dull

Seaside Sparrow, Manahawkin WMA

Aside from a couple of trips to Brig, where I was happy to add American Avocet to the Jersey year-list, I spent July traipsing through cranberry bogs--Whitesbog, Reeves Bogs, Jumping Brook Preserve, Double Trouble and the unnamed bogs on Dover Road. And in all those bogs I saw pretty much what I'd expect to see this time of year. The weather makes a difference. Last year we were in such a drought that the old bogs at Whitesbog were evaporating pretty quickly and then, because the farmer needed the water, he started to pump them out. Consequently, there were plenty of shorebirds to look at. This year, the bogs remain full and thus, no shorebird activity. In fact, aside from a Spotted Sandpiper at Reeves, I didn't see one shorebird at any of the bogs. They're all high with water (Jumping Brook, thanks to beavers, is impassable unless you have thigh-high boots), except for one breached bog on Dover Road which had shorebirds in the spring, on their way north, but none have stopped on the southbound trip. 

Green Heron, Cranberry Bogs

So, my two new birds this month were the long-staying Black-bellied Whistling Duck at Cedar Point (as of yesterday, still hanging around) and the Sandwich Terns in Point Pleasant Beach, which also seem in no hurry to leave. I avoided the ocean this month, so I had no shot at shearwaters. To keep myself entertained, I made a little game of finding birds that, while not rare, are only in a few locations--Red-headed Woodpecker a few times at both Colliers Mills and South Park Road (on the side of another old cranberry bog), Hooded Warbler at Colliers Mills, and Virginia Rail a couple of times at Reeves Bogs. I was also lucky with owls--one morning at Whitesbog I saw a Great Horned Owl chased by a blackbird and last week, getting to Reeves just at dawn I heard an Eastern Screech-Owl. And our whip-poor-will has not sung since early in the month which I take with some consternation, since in the past they have been reliable through the middle of September. 

For the month, 124 species.

Counties Birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean

Species                                      First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck   Cedar Point
Canada Goose   Reeves Bogs
Mute Swan   Cedar Point
Wood Duck   Jumping Brook Preserve
Mallard   Reeves Bogs
American Black Duck   Brig
Wild Turkey    Whiting
Rock Pigeon   South Toms River
Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Reeves Bogs
Common Nighthawk   Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Jumping Brook Preserve
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Brig
Virginia Rail   Reeves Bogs
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Brig
Black-bellied Plover   Brig
Killdeer   Brig
Whimbrel   Brig
Stilt Sandpiper   Brig
Least Sandpiper   Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Spotted Sandpiper   Reeves Bogs
Greater Yellowlegs   Brig
Willet   Brig
Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig
Laughing Gull    Tabernacle
Ring-billed Gull   Brig
Herring Gull   Cedar Point
Great Black-backed Gull   Brig
Least Tern   Brig
Gull-billed Tern   Brig
Caspian Tern   Brig
Common Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Cedar Point
Royal Tern   Baltimore Avenue
Sandwich Tern   Baltimore Avenue
Black Skimmer   Brig
Double-crested Cormorant   Cedar Point
Great Blue Heron   Reeves Bogs
Great Egret   Cedar Point
Snowy Egret   Brig
Little Blue Heron   Manahawkin WMA
Tricolored Heron   Brig
Green Heron   Jumping Brook Preserve
Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig
Glossy Ibis   Brig
Black Vulture   Pond on Schoolhouse Road
Turkey Vulture    Tabernacle
Osprey   Brig
Bald Eagle   Brig
Red-shouldered Hawk   Jumping Brook Preserve
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Screech-Owl   Reeves Bogs
Great Horned Owl   Whitesbog
Belted Kingfisher   Cedar Point
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Jumping Brook Preserve
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Double Trouble SP
Northern Flicker   Jumping Brook Preserve
Merlin   Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Jumping Brook Preserve
Willow Flycatcher   Brig
Eastern Phoebe   Reeves Bogs
Great Crested Flycatcher   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
White-eyed Vireo   Jumping Brook Preserve
Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay   Jumping Brook Preserve
American Crow   Jumping Brook Preserve
Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee   Jumping Brook Preserve
Tufted Titmouse   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
Purple Martin   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters
Tree Swallow   Reeves Bogs
Bank Swallow   Brig
Barn Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
White-breasted Nuthatch   Jumping Brook Preserve
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Reeves Bogs
House Wren   Colliers Mills WMA
Marsh Wren   Brig
Carolina Wren   Jumping Brook Preserve
European Starling   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters
Gray Catbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Brown Thrasher   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Mockingbird   South Park Rd
Eastern Bluebird   Reeves Bogs
Veery   Double Trouble SP
Wood Thrush   Jumping Brook Preserve
American Robin   Jumping Brook Preserve
Cedar Waxwing   Jumping Brook Preserve
House Sparrow   Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Jumping Brook Preserve
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Seaside Sparrow   Brig
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Brig
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow   Reeves Bogs
Eastern Towhee   Jumping Brook Preserve
Orchard Oriole   Cranberry Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Brown-headed Cowbird   Reeves Bogs
Common Grackle   Jumping Brook Preserve
Boat-tailed Grackle   Brig
Ovenbird   Jumping Brook Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat   Jumping Brook Preserve
Hooded Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow Warbler   Manahawkin WMA
Pine Warbler   Jumping Brook Preserve
Prairie Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Scarlet Tanager   Reeves Bogs
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak   Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting   Colliers Mills WMA

Hatching

On July 21 

Today, July 30.

Baltimore Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach7/26--Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Terns in the middle and on the piling, along with Royal Tern, Common Terns, etc.

I got a bad case of the "can't stand it-s" today. For the last week or so, Sandwich Terns have been reported up in Pt Pleasant, first at the inlet, and lately, at Baltimore Avenue which overlooks the Manasquan River just before it empties into the inlet itself. I've always wanted to find my first New Jersey (and it follows Ocean County) Sandwich Tern along a beach, like IBSP or Barnegat Light, somewhere I'd naturally be in the summer. But by mid-afternoon today, after more reports kept rolling in, I decided I had to make the long drive up Route 70 to see if I could find these birds--one an adult, the other supposedly a juvenile. 

It took me 45 minutes to get there. I set up my scope and started sorting through the gulls and terns roosting on the abandoned pier. They were far away and there was glare. The Royal Terns were easily recognizable, the Common Terns were too. I saw a couple of birds that looked like small Royal Terns (the tonsure "haircut" is a field mark), but from the distance I wasn't sure if their bills were black or orange. I didn't want to identify a Royal Tern as a Sandwich--size can be hard to judge from a quarter mile away. Finally, one of the terns turned sideways and I could see that its bill was black and that its tip was yellow--the classic "nose dipped in mustard" mark. There were two, though they didn't seem to associate as closely as others had seen. I was satisfied with the one I was absolutely sure of, because you only need one. 

It's been a slow month. This was only my second year-bird of the July, but it was my 375th NJ Bird, and my 327th in the county. 

More Insects: Metamorphosis Stage 1

 
I found a monarch butterfly caterpillar beneath our awning this morning. By 6 PM it had turned itself into a chrysalis. My brother says that it isn't in a very good spot, since it isn't camouflaged, so I don't really expect stage 2 of the metamorphosis to take place. 

Two-lined Spittlebug

Since there has been a dearth of birds this month to write about, I'm switching, for a moment, to insects, of which I have only a cursory understanding & interest. However, my brother is a semi-pro entomologist, so whenever I find an interesting "bug" I shoot him a photo. Sometimes he even wants a specimen and I have to (eyew) snuff it out and put it in the freezer. (Were I to have a 2nd animal interest, it would be turtles: There aren't that many of them [at least around here], they're either immobile or slow, which makes them easy to identify, and, aside from the readily recognizable Snapping Turtle, they pose no danger.)

This morning on the door of my car I found a Two-lined Spittlebug, which aside from everything else, struck me as yet another great insect name. I have found, on the whole, that insects have much more interesting and entertaining common names than birds, some of them far more amusing than the cliched "Yellow-belled Sapsucker." My brother, of course, mostly uses their scientific names, so half the time it's Greek (and Latin) to me.

He told today, after viewing the photo, two interesting things about spittlebugs. First of all, this species--Prosopia bicincta--was originally subtropical but has been moving north--can you say "climate change" boys & girls? 

The second thing he told me cleared up a minor mystery. Last week I noticed, on our lawn, that clumps of grass were enveloped in a foamy substance that disappeared as soon as it was touched. I thought it was either dew or condensation, though neither really made sense to me. It turns out that a nest of nymphs of a common species of spittlebug around here, the Meadow Spittlebug, attaches to the stems of plants and looks like someone spit on them--hence the name. I only noticed them for a day, but they were all over the lawn.  They are considered an agricultural pest and this may explain the sudden brown patches on our grass. Apparently, according to the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, there can be so many on a lawn that it "squishes" when walked upon. It's bad enough I have to worry about lanternflies, now I have to consider the damage bugs spitting on my lawn can do. 

Cedar Point 7/7--Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Late in the afternoon on July 4th, I saw an alert for Black-bellied Whistling-Duck at a marina in an obscure (to me) part of South Toms River. This is one of those goofy species that never fail to amuse me. The marina was only about 20 minutes away, the alert was fairly fresh, and I could listen to the Mets game on the radio while I drove. 

I hadn't taken into consideration that the 4th of July festivities would be about to begin. The marina, which somehow, I imagined as a small spot, was extensive, and everyone was out in front of their docked yachts, barbecuing. I didn't feel comfortable walking around with binoculars. I was hoping the duck, which was associating with a group of Mallards, both wild and domestic, would be obvious and quick. It wasn't. I spent almost an hour walking around both the marina and the shore of the Toms River, but the only small flock of Mallards I found had no BBWD. I gave up. The Mets game was still on. 

When I got home, more alerts came in, all from the time just before I arrived. One of them mentioned that just before I got there, "some idiots" had thrown firecrackers at the ducks and that they'd flown off. It's the 4th of July in Ocean County. I expect no less. 

Okay, so an hour and a half out of my life and the Mets won. Wednesday, though, more reports. The duck was back. One of the reports mentioned that the duck had, "according to locals" been there for weeks. This isn't surprising. BBWD tend to stick around.  The retention pond in Delaware near Bombay Hook has hosted a flock of them for the last 3 years. 

Yesterday, I awoke at 5 AM and decided to try again. The morning was extremely foggy but I did find a large flock of Mallards, which weren't shy about approaching me for a handout. The BBWD, sadly, wasn't with them. I walked up a path toward what I imagine is the actual Cedar Point, when a South Toms River cop in a patrol car honked at me. I explained what I was doing and he warned me to be careful because homeless people camped back there. I hadn't seen any, but it wouldn't be the first time I trudged through a homeless encampment to find a rare bird (Brooklyn, Western Reef-Heron). After an hour I gave up. 

And still, late in Thursday afternoon, reports came in. I really like Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (just look at it) and I haven't had a new bird for the year list in a few weeks. Today, after my walk at Double Trouble, I made the 10 minute drive again to Crabbe Road (I assume this street is named for the same Crabbe family that once ran Double Trouble both as a sawmill and a cranberry farm), drove to its end, and before I got out of the car, saw a flock of ducks, both wild and domestic, waddling into the water from the boat launch and there, among them, was the BBWD. I took my photos, made my list, and left, fully aware that this isn't birding, it's driving.