September: Stumbled Upon Birds...& Just Plain Stumbling

Great Blue Heron watching cranberry harvest at Whitesbog

Of the measly 6 new species I added to my year list in September, 5 of them were "stumble upon" birds--birds I wasn't even thinking about when I just happened to find them. I don't expect to see a Clay-colored Sparrow beneath the feeders at Cattus Island (there's never been one reported there before), nor do I expect to see a Lincoln's Sparrow jump up from a pile of pallets in an equipment yard along the Union Transportation Trail.  Yet, there they were. A Connecticut Warbler in the road to the Winter Anchorage? Not likely. Broad-winged Hawk was so far from my mind that it took me a moment to register the one flying right over me at the cranberry bogs in South Toms River. I will admit I wasn't completely surprised when I found a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog--I'd seen one before, two years ago very close to where I found it this year, and birding superstition compels one to look for what you've seen before in the same spot, no matter how unlikely the prospect. Sometimes it works. While it wasn't a year bird, I did stumble upon an Orange-crowned Warbler way back in an unnamed pond at Colliers Mills--another bird that was far from my thoughts when I set out that morning. The only bird that I didn't find on my own was a Bay-breasted Warbler at Island Beach on Scott's trip there and I was mildly surprised to find that it was new for year. 

Scarlet Tanager, Colliers Mills

I don't know if migration was good or bad this month. Probably bad if you talk to any birder who looks at BirdCast and takes it seriously. I look at BirdCast occasionally and it only provokes frustration. It will say something like "176,000 birds have crossed Ocean County this evening." I don't care how many birds have crossed Ocean County. Tell me how many have landed. Whatever migration was, I didn't see much of it, stubbornly sticking to my routine of going to places I like and hoping the birds will likewise find it appealing. 

And while we're on the subject of stumbling...One place I really like, but have to think twice, thrice about, from here on out, is Jumping Brook Preserve. Not only have the trails become rivers, thanks to the busy beavers, but with all the rain this month, ditches that were once easy to step over have widened to a precarious width. A couple of weeks ago I was walking around one of the bogs, carefully stepping over the little breaches, when I came to one that has always given me pause. It has been wider than the others, but I could make it across pretty easily with one bold step. However, this time, it appeared even more of a breach than previous, and the hard vegetation that I used to step on, looked soft from the rain. I had just said to myself, "Nope, don't think I can make it across this time," when the bank gave out under my foot and I slipped into the bog, almost up to my waist. My Muck Boots were flooded. I hauled myself out and slapped my left pocket--good, wallet and car fob were dry. Slapped my right pocket: phone was gone. Somehow, it had slipped or floated out of my pocket when I hit the water and was now down in 3 or 4 feet of mud. Let me tell you, folks, even with insurance, replacing a phone is not fun and not easy. And, if you're like me, and have outsourced most of your brain to your phone, for 3 days you feel pretty stupid, if you didn't feel like a complete dope already having skidded into a ditch. 

For the month: 137 species

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose   Cranberry Bogs
Mute Swan   Manahawkin WMA
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Blue-winged Teal   Manahawkin WMA
Mallard   Reeves Bogs
American Black Duck   Brig
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe   Double Trouble SP
Eared Grebe   Brig
Rock Pigeon   Jarvis Sound
Mourning Dove   Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Island Beach SP
Common Nighthawk   Whitesbog
Chimney Swift   Whitesbog
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
Sora   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Great Bay Blvd
Semipalmated Plover   Great Bay Blvd
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Ruddy Turnstone   Great Bay Blvd
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd
White-rumped Sandpiper   Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Island Beach SP
Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Long-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Blvd
Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs   Whitesbog
Willet   Island Beach SP
Lesser Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd
Bonaparte's Gull   Island Beach SP
Laughing Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Ring-billed Gull   Island Beach SP
Herring Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Great Black-backed Gull   Great Bay Blvd
Caspian Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Forster's Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Royal Tern   Great Bay Blvd
Black Skimmer   Brig
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Whitesbog
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron   Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Snowy Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Tricolored Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Great Bay Blvd
White Ibis   Brig
Glossy Ibis   Brig
Black Vulture   Bay Pkwy
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Great Bay Blvd
Cooper's Hawk   35 Sunset Rd
Bald Eagle   Brig
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Broad-winged Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher   Reeves Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Cranberry Bogs
Downy Woodpecker   Cranberry Bogs
Hairy Woodpecker   Cattus Island County Park
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
Merlin   Reeves Bogs
Peregrine Falcon   Island Beach SP
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher   Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Kingbird   Cranberry Bogs
White-eyed Vireo   Island Beach SP
Yellow-throated Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo   Cattus Island County Park
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Whitesbog
Common Raven   Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Purple Martin   Cranberry Bogs
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Barn Swallow   Reeves Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Cranberry Bogs
House Wren   Cranberry Bogs
Marsh Wren   Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Great Bay Blvd
Gray Catbird   Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher   Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird   Island Beach SP
Eastern Bluebird   Cranberry Bogs
Veery   Jumping Brook Preserve
American Robin   Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing   Cedar Bonnet Island
House Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Clay-colored Sparrow   Cattus Island County Park
Field Sparrow   Union Transportation Trail
Seaside Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Savannah Sparrow   Cedar Bonnet Island
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Lincoln's Sparrow   Union Transportation Trail
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   35 Sunset Rd
Baltimore Oriole   Island Beach SP
Red-winged Blackbird   Great Bay Blvd
Common Grackle   35 Sunset Rd
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Blvd
Northern Waterthrush   Island Beach SP
Black-and-white Warbler   Island Beach SP
Orange-crowned Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Connecticut Warbler   Island Beach SP
Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog
American Redstart   Cedar Bonnet Island
Cape May Warbler   Cedar Bonnet Island
Northern Parula   Double Trouble SP
Bay-breasted Warbler   Island Beach SP
Yellow Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Blackpoll Warbler   Island Beach SP
Black-throated Blue Warbler   Cedar Bonnet Island
Palm Warbler   Cranberry Bogs
Pine Warbler   35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler   Cranberry Bogs
Scarlet Tanager   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   Cranberry Bogs

Great Egret, Cedar Bonnet Island

Union Transportation Trail 9/26--Lincoln's Sparrow

The magic pile of junk with 7 species 

Four consecutive days of rain has forced me to become my own weatherman, checking maps to see where the weather might be clear, as least for a few hours. Yesterday, there was a break down in Tuckerton. Today, the rain seemed to be circling around, but not actually falling, in Upper Freehold. I've also had no desire to walk through rain-soaked fields, so the Union Transportation Trail, the Sharon Station Road section, seemed like the obvious choice.  

It can be an interesting walk, as the former railroad bed goes through a few different habitats, including over Assunpink Creek, but I wasn't expecting much. I first walked north and, as I expected, there wasn't much action aside from scaring up a Great Blue Heron from beneath one of the bridges. Walking back south, I stopped to look in the field across from the parking lot, because I was hearing Killdeer. Getting the scope out of the car I found them, and somewhat surprisingly, a few Semipalmated Plovers and Least Sandpipers. Nothing exotic, though, even though this is prime sod farm territory. Walking south, after you emerge from a little allee of trees, the walk can get a little boring with sad-looking cornfields on both sides. Farther south there are equipment sheds and some kind of grain processing silo and a typical farmyard filled with broken down machinery and plain old junk. Along a fence line I found a few Savannah Sparrows, which flew into a pile of pallets just inside the yard. By now, what Scott calls "fool's rain" had started to fall, a mist, hardly perceptible to the eye. I lingered by the pallets and found a couple of Song Sparrows, then another sparrow that didn't look right--at first I thought Field, but the buffy vest and light streaking told me I had my first Lincoln's Sparrow of the year. But the pile wasn't through giving up birds. There was a Field Sparrow hopping around in there, and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a House Wren jump down into the pile from a little tree next to it. Another sparrow came out of nowhere and I saw that it was my second Clay-colored Sparrow of the last week--and in Monmouth County, they're flagged as rare. And bobbing its tail on the next stick over: a Palm Warbler.

Clay-colored Sparrow

That made five sparrow species, a wren and a warbler all seeking refuge among a stack of busted pallets. 

By now the "fool's rain" had turned into idiot's rain--very perceptible and only and idiot would be standing out in it. Unfortunately, I was at least a half mile from my car. I didn't bring my camera, thinking the weather might turn on me, so I took the photos with my phone, and if you think the photo of the Clay-colored is crappy, you should see the one of the Lincoln's--on a scale of 1 to 5 it rates -0. 

25 species in my 2 mile walk and almost a third of them were found in pile of junk. 

Mourning Dove  7
Semipalmated Plover  11     Muddy field across from parking lot
Killdeer  19
Least Sandpiper  5     Muddy field across from parking lot
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Blue Jay  10
American Crow  4
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  100
Gray Catbird  8
Northern Mockingbird  2
House Finch  3
Clay-colored Sparrow  1     
Field Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  3     Buildings
Song Sparrow  2
Lincoln's Sparrow  1
Swamp Sparrow  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
American Redstart  1
Palm Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  5

Cattus Island CP 9/21--Clay-colored Sparrow

I hate being told what to do, to the point where I can't stand it even when I'm the one telling myself what to do. So, even though I told myself what I should do is go to Island Beach, my inner adolescent rebelled--it just wasn't in the right frame of mind to slow walk all those bayside trails peering into leaves at confusing fall warblers. Instead, as a "compromise," I went to Cattus Island CP where I knew I could take a vigorous walk through the marshes and woods and maybe find an interesting bird.   

Well, up until the end of my walk, the last part of that sentence didn't work out very well. In fact, I was astounded that in my 3 1/2 hours there I didn't even see robins or towhees, never mind warblers (though, they were there, according to another list contemporaneous with my visit--I just missed them, of course). On my way out, I stopped again at the feeding station by the Cooper Environmental Center. It doesn't look like anyone is filling the feeders, but there is a little water hole. Earlier in the morning, the area was empty, but I saw as I walked along the deck, that a few birds were now around the water. I spotted the usual finches, a catbird, and, somewhat surprisingly, a Red-eyed Vireo (I guess they gotta drink too), and what I at first took to be a Chipping Sparrow in a bush. However, when the sparrow came out to the water I saw that it was no chippie. There aren't too many other choices for a small sparrow in the Spizzela genus--it wasn't a Field Sparrow--so I was pretty sure I had my first Clay-colored Sparrow of the year. 

But I wasn't certain. Luckily, it was cooperative enough, or thirsty enough, to hang around the water hole while I took some photos. Because of the bright sunlight they were somewhat overexposed, but the more I looked at the bird, the more confident I became--which I consider a danger signal. In the fall, Chipping Sparrows can look a lot different than they do in the summer. I photographed the preview screen of my camera with my phone and sent the crappy photo to Steve, who said it was hard to tell but looked like it might be. 

When I got home, I was able to look at the pictures on the computer and it still looked pretty good to me, but sparrows can be almost as infuriating as warblers or gulls, so I sent 3 pictures to Steve and Scott and when both agreed it was a Clay-colored, I submitted my list. It turns out that the other birder who was there today (somehow our paths didn't cross) also saw the bird in the same spot I did. It isn't rare this time of year, just "infrequent." Interestingly, to me, it was the first time a Clay-colored Sparrow has been listed at Cattus Island. I always enjoy bumping up the list of a hot spot. 

I'm glad I saw it, because if I had looked at the other list that was made while I was there, I would have been really frustrated at what I missed, instead of mildly satisfied with what I saw. 

32 species
Canada Goose  1
Mourning Dove  3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Laughing Gull  2
Herring Gull  15
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  7
Osprey  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  5
Downy Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1     Boardwalk
Merlin  1
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  4
Carolina Chickadee  5
House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  1     Red trail
Carolina Wren  6
Gray Catbird  8
Brown Thrasher  1
Eastern Bluebird  1     First marsh on left
Cedar Waxwing  5
House Finch  6
American Goldfinch  4
Clay-colored Sparrow  1     Feeders
Song Sparrow  5
Swamp Sparrow  1
Common Grackle  16
Common Yellowthroat  8
Pine Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  3

Island Beach SP 9/5--Connecticut Warbler

 A birder once told me to look carefully at the common birds so I would know them well and then could eliminate them fast when I saw a rarity.  I can't say that I followed this advice assiduously over the years, but just by their ubiquity, I know when I'm not looking at a Common Yellowthroat, which was the case this morning on the gravel drive between the main road and the Winter Anchorage at Island Beach SP. I was coming back from scoping the Sedge Islands (American Oystercatchers, Black-bellied Plovers, Caspian, Royal, Forster's Terns, Brown Pelicans, etc...), when I saw a warbler on the ground. Immediately I knew what it wasn't. I only got a few seconds look at it, naked eye (thank you Dr H for the cataract surgery!), but I could see that it was "laterally bifurcated" meaning that the top of the bird, head and back was dark, and the lower parts, flanks and throat were yellow. There aren't too many warblers like that--they don't call them yellowthroats for nothing--and since this is the time of year when Connecticut Warblers migrate through and are reported at Island Beach, I was very confident in what I had. Of course, this ground warbler jumped into the brush at the side of the road, and though I could see movement in the leaf litter, I never could refind the bird.

I'd have to check, but I think that's the first time I've been to Island Beach since Memorial Day (nope, was there 6/1), but the idea is the same...I avoid the greenheads, mosquitoes, and people all summer at the expense of missing some terns, shearwaters and petrels which maybe, maybe, I would get lucky and see from the beach. 

After doing Reed's Road, the Tidal Pond Trail, and Spizzle Creek before the anchorage, I didn't have enough energy to walk the southern end of the park down to the inlet...I got perhaps halfway there before I decided to turn around. Nothing I could see was flying out in the ocean, but the beach itself was surprisingly busy with shorebirds. I spent a little time checking out one Black-bellied Plover hoping it was a golden, but couldn't turn it into one. 

Ring-billed Gull

Laughing Gull, Juvenile

Black-bellied Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Semipalmated Plover

42 species for the day:
Canada Goose
Mourning Dove
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Carolina Chickadee
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Seaside Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Connecticut Warbler