After an unproductive but enjoyable abbreviated walk around Reeves Bogs with my informant and his dog (abbreviated because the trail along the maple swamp is not only flooded but now iced over, making the leaps over the gaps more treacherous than a couple of old guys are willing to risk--the dog is more sure-footed and doesn't care if he does get wet), I drove over to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters (PPA) on the site of the old Bishop farm, hoping that the previously reported Clay-colored Sparrow was still hanging around.
I had read that the sparrow was being seen between the buildings and that seemed like a limited area to search, but when I got there it was a case of Birding Law #4: Don't look for the bird, look for the birders. I saw two guys at the north end of the parking lot staring intently at a weedy area and a pile of dirt, so I walked over and asked if they had the sparrow. They weren't sure, there was a sparrow kicking around in the grass that they couldn't quite get a handle on, but the bird had been seen in the last 15 minutes. With the usual vague directions ("there's a point of dirt just to the left of the 13th blade of grass") I got on the bird they were interested in. "I see a White-crowned Sparrow," I said, and they immediately agreed that was not the bird we wanted. Then, one of my friends came up, we said "Hello" and he pointed to the left of where we'd been looking, to some grass in front of the concrete parking stops. It's a relatively small sparrow and was easily lost in the weeds but it fed out in the open with some Song Sparrows long enough for me to get a few doc shots. Not only a year bird, but, it turned out, a Burlington County lifer.
Having got my bird within 5 minutes, I walked around the property with my friend, going into the fields where, in the summer, they grow the vegetables and fruits that Shari buys with our membership in the Rancocas Farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Lots of sparrows, finches, waxwings, and so forth, but nothing really exciting. Still, more than twice as many species than I saw at Reeves and in half the time.
22 species
Mourning Dove 2
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 1
Northern Flicker 1
Blue Jay 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1
European Starling 5
Northern Mockingbird 4
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 5
Cedar Waxwing 6 Around buildings
House Sparrow 5
House Finch 25
American Goldfinch 2
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1 Near parking lot
White-throated Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
