Whitesbog 4/26--Sora, Yellow Warbler

That black bird with red wing patches

I was actually asked a question today that is the punchline of a joke but seems to common one that non-birders ask. I had wandered back past the Upper Reservoir on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog, where I was detained by one of the more long-winded regulars. I saw his pickup truck but there he waved to me before I could make a U-turn. Naturally, he wanted to tell me about the two eagles he'd seen the other day. I told him I was looking for smaller birds, "tweety birds" as my informant calls them. He then asked me what were those "black birds with red patches on their wings." 

A guy with binoculars around his neck goes into a biker bar. A big guy with numerous tattoos comes up to him and asks, "You a birdwatcher?" 

"Yes, I am," he replies.

"Let me ask you a question," the big guy says.

"Of course." 

"What are those black birds with red on their wings?"

"Why, those are Red-winged Blackbirds."

Outraged, the big guy says, "What are you some kind of %&#* wise guy?" 

Which is what I told my interlocutor. He accepted the information without any indication that he saw the humor. 

Brown Thrasher

I had gone to Whitesbog this morning thinking of a number of spots where I might find new birds for the year. I was successful only in the one place in which I felt most confident, around my informant's parking spot, where in the past Yellow Warblers have been known to nest. The area was busy, especially with Tree Swallows and those black birds with red wing patches, along with Common Yellowthroats every 10 feet, as well as a Brown Thrasher high up in a tree out mimicking a Gray Catbird lower down in the branches. And then I heard the Yellow Warbler and with a little searching found it singing in a bush on the far side of a breach. 

The big surprise, though, came about an hour later. I circled around the bogs again and checked out the bogs around the dogleg. This can be a good place for Solitary Sandpipers, but not today, and it is also a spot where I've heard both Virginia and King Rail, but of course, not today. A cormorant flew out of the bog, unusual for Whitesbog, and then I heard the whinny call of a Sora. Played a recording to try to lure it out w/o success. Dismissed it. Walked away and at the other side of the bog heard it again. The second time I did not dismiss it. This is the first record of a Sora at Whitesbog and only the second one I've heard in the county. Of course, it wouldn't whinny when I put on my recorder and of course, like most rails, it was invisible, but the call is too distinct and the habitat too perfect for me doubt myself. Soras have been turning up a bit more frequently in the county of late--there was one at Spizzle Creek this month and one crazy sighting on the jetty at Barnegat Light, proving that any bird can by anywhere. 

40 species
Canada Goose  2
Wood Duck  3
Mallard  4
Mourning Dove  5
Sora  1     I
Double-crested Cormorant  1     
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  1     Antrim Bogs
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  4
Eastern Kingbird  4
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  10
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  35
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  7
Gray Catbird  2
Brown Thrasher  1
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
Swamp Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  15
Red-winged Blackbird  55
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Common Grackle  10
Ovenbird  6
Black-and-white Warbler  8
Common Yellowthroat  50
Yellow Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  4
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Prairie Warbler  2
Northern Cardinal  1