Cedar Bridge Tavern CP 5/7--American Redstart

American Redstart

Another warbler. I don't visit Cedar Bridge Tavern (which dates to Revolutionary War times) County Park very often, so I was pleased to see that since my last visit they have hacked out and completed a very good 3 1/2-mile trail through the pines that crosses and recrosses Old Cedar Bridge Road. I was also pleased to find so many warblers along the trail--10 different species including supposedly hard to find Hooded Warblers and Blue-winged Warblers  & my first American Redstart of the year. Finding it was similar to the Blackpoll Warbler yesterday at Whitesbog. When I em
erged onto the road, I thought perhaps I was hearing a distant Veery, so I opened up the Merlin app and let it listen. It never picked up the ethereal call of that thrush (which was one of my motives for going there) but it did list the redstart. I looked around and didn't see the bird at first and redstart is one of those "songs" that isn't emblazoned in my memory. So, I played back what Merlin had recorded, and when it highlighted American Redstart, I looked around again. Suddenly one flew in. Damn, maybe Merlin isn't as unreliable as I think it is. In the shadows of the trees I wasn't able to get much of a picture of the bird, but I was happy to find it. Redstart is one of those birds that I used to see a lot more when I lived in Brooklyn, an easy bird in Prospect Park or at Jamaica Bay. At Jamaica Bay they were so common that Shari & I used to refer to them as YAR--Yet Another Redstart. 

A decent morning with 35 species, but not the target bird. 

Canada Goose  9
Mourning Dove  2
Turkey Vulture  3
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
White-eyed Vireo  5
Red-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  2
Tree Swallow  5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4
Carolina Wren  1
Gray Catbird  20
Eastern Bluebird  1
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  4
House Finch  3
Chipping Sparrow  3
Eastern Towhee  5
Ovenbird  4
Blue-winged Warbler  2
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  1
Hooded Warbler  3
American Redstart  1
Northern Parula  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  4
Prairie Warbler  10
Northern Cardinal  2