Double Trouble SP 5/20--Swainson's Thrush, Blackburnian Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

I had a lot of sugar to walk off this morning and since "only" 50,000 birds, according to BirdCast, passed over the county during the night, walking 15 times up and down Reed's Road didn't appeal, so I drove over to Double Trouble where I can get in 4 miles without passing the same tree twice. It was the usual birds there when I started my walk up to Mill Pond. It wasn't until I started back that I heard a thrush that didn't sound familiar--sort of like a Veery but not as ethereal. It turned out to be my first Swainson's Thrush of the year. Locate it I could not, despite walking around the grassy area next to the spillway. Still, it's on the list for the first time in a couple of years. 

I was walking along Parkway Access Road (where there is no Parkway access, happily, though the roar of the Parkway is only about 100 feet away), when it occurred to me that this was the kind of day when it might be worth exploring a section of the park that I hadn't been to in years--the Yellow Trail, known as the Sworden's Pond Trail. I remembered that the last time I had gone there it was a confusion of firebreaks and that the puddle I found deep in the woods might have been Sworden's Pond, but I couldn't be sure. 

Since that time, the trail has been improved with blazes clearly marking the way. Unlike other parts of the park where cedars and pine predominate, this section seems to be mostly oaks, and I thought it might yield up some different birds. For the first 20 minutes or so, I was wrong, but then I heard a faint whisper that could have been any number of warblers that are normally out of my hearing range. I couldn't place it and then I got distracted as first a female and then a bright male Scarlet Tanager landed on a branch just above my head. Unlike Sunday's tanagers, these were easy to see and close to the camera. The male was chasing the females, so perhaps nesting is in the offing. While I was watching the two tanagers, the whispering warbler made a fleeting appearance--Blackburnian Warbler. And then, as I was hoping, I heard the "gowp gowp gowp" of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. In that spot I had a year bird and two county birds. 

Greater Yellowlegs (note illegible bands)

I moved on, still wondering where the water was when a glance through the trees revealed a small pond. I could see a couple of Mallards and a Greater Yellowlegs on the water, so I moved stealthily to the edge of the pond in case there were any more birds there--there weren't but an immature Bald Eagle flew down to take a look at them, so low that I instinctively ducked my head. I couldn't see any streams feeding the pond, so I'm thinking that it may be what is called in the Pine Barrens a "spung." You won't find that word in the dictionary, but a spung is like a permanent vernal pond--it is a place where, as I understand it, the water table is so high that it reaches the surface and forms a wetland. I was completely wrong. It is just the opposite. A spung sits on impermeable ground like clay so that the water cannot soak into the water table. Thus, it is completely dependent on the amount of snowfall and rainfall throughout the year. This may explain why, the last time I was there, I saw only a big puddle. 

I completed the loop without getting lost, though a couple of times the yellow blazes were far apart and decided that every once in a while, assuming it doesn't get too buggy, Sworden's Pond will be a place to check out. 

Pretty good day, 52 species. I wouldn't do much better at Reed's Road. You probably would, but I wouldn't. 

Canada Goose  4
Mallard  2
Mourning Dove  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1    Banded but can't read bands.
Laughing Gull  3
Green Heron  2     Sweetwater bogs flyover
Great Egret  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Bald Eagle  1     
Belted Kingfisher  1     Mud Dam Road reservoir
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  5
Eastern Kingbird  3
White-eyed Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  3
Blue Jay  2
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Gray Catbird  10
Veery  1
Swainson's Thrush  1     
Wood Thrush  1
American Robin  7
Cedar Waxwing  1
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  5
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  15
Orchard Oriole  1     Sweetwater Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  3
Common Grackle  1
Ovenbird  20
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  15
Hooded Warbler  1
American Redstart  3
Magnolia Warbler  1
Blackburnian Warbler  1    
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  4
Scarlet Tanager  2
Northern Cardinal  1