Laurel Run Park 6/2--Grasshopper Sparrow

There was a time I'd go to Colliers Mills, walk dusty Success Road and before too long I'd have Grasshopper Sparrows singing and teed up on sticks in the fields on either side of the road.  Those days are long gone--you can't find hoppers there anymore, probably because it's a popular spot to train hunting dogs. I can think of 3 reliable places in the county for Grasshopper Sparrows, all problematical. The base at Lakehurst has breeders, but getting on the base requires either signing up for a trip or a project and involves a lot of bureaucracy. You can find them, apparently, at the Stafford Reserve, which sounds like a refuge but is actually a housing development next to a shopping center and I've never had any luck finding them, but then, since it creeps me out to be birding on private property, I've never spent a lot of time there. I've seen reports of them from nearby Robert J. Miller Airpark, but the couple of times I've sought them out there, I've had no success--the constant roar of airplane engines makes it impossible to hear them and the sparrows I've seen on the fence line have always turned out to be Chipping Sparrows. 

So, since Sundays seem to be my Burlco day, I drove out to Laurel Run Park in Delran, where there are open fields next to a working farm and where I have never failed to find them, today being no exception. Grasshopper Sparrows have a little quiet lisp--they must have extraordinary ears to hear each other calling in the fields--they are still within my range, but just barely. The Merlin app was picking up them (not that I find Merlin all that trustworthy, but in this case I figured it was probably correct), but I couldn't hear them over the car noise from Creek Road. Then, far back in the field, almost at the edge of the farm, I saw one sparrow perched up. I took a photo, a very distant photo, and blowing it up on the view screen I could see that it was indeed a Grasshopper Sparrow, caught in the act of singing a song I couldn't hear. It wasn't much of a photo, but at least I had confirmed a sighting. 

I walked the loop around the field and on the other side I thought I could actually hear a hopper. I played a song on my phone, which I could barely hear, and one came flying out and sat in a bush on the side of the road. Beautiful bird--I always forget how handsome they are. This one posed like a pro, giving me full face and profile looks. The only thing that would have made me happier was to have found a Dickcissel there--they've been known to frequent the site. 

About a mile away from Laurel Run is Boundary Creek Park. It has a number of viewing platforms and boardwalks along Rancocas Creek, open fields, forest...a lot of different habitats packed in a relatively small parcel. Another place I go once a year. Two of the viewing platforms are connected by a boardwalk and as I was coming back from the second one, I saw a couple looking at the creek. When the man saw my bins he asked the common question, "Seen any eagles?" 

Since he wasn't in a pickup truck and since I was in a pretty good mood I said, "Yes, there's one right there," pointing across the creek to a power line tower on which an adult Bald Eagle sat--and which I had seen earlier from another platform. He was impressed, but his wife thought it might be "just" a hawk. "No, I said," it's an eagle, waggling my binoculars. He asked if he could borrow them and let him, even though I was a little afraid he might drop them in the marsh in front of us, since he didn't put the strap around his neck. 

He finally focused on the bird and yes indeed, it had a white head, just like a Bald Eagle, which, since it was a Bald Eagle, isn't all that amazing. He said, "I've seen them a few times, but I've never seen one fly." Then it flew. I felt like a genie and was just hoping that his third wish wasn't for a Mercedes. So today, for once, I was a good birding ambassador. 

The Laurel Run list: 

26 species
Canada Goose  2
Mourning Dove  5
Chimney Swift  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Warbling Vireo  1
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  1
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  15
Gray Catbird  1
American Robin  2
American Goldfinch  2
Grasshopper Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Common Grackle  10
Northern Cardinal  3
Indigo Bunting  1