July Wrap-up--Zero Year Birds

Red-headed Woodpecker, Cloverdale Road

If June was a quiet month, then July, to make an oxymoronic statement, was deafeningly silent. Through all my wanderings during the month, I wasn't able to add one bird to the year list. True, I wasn't spending my time seawatching, where I might have lucked onto a storm-petrel or shearwater, but even if I had been of a mind to chase, there was nothing to chase. 

The month had its compensations in the places I birded. I spend a lot of time walking around Whitesbog with my informant where I learned the history, cultivation, and processing of the Elizabeth blueberry and got a refresher course on how to separate Virginia meadowbeauty from Maryland meadowbeauty. As the month progressed, we watched the bogs get discovered by Great Egrets, as they always do this time of year, only they are using the flooded Fenwick bogs instead of the 3 bogs to the east, which are no longer drawn down.   With a little luck and some evaporation, I'm hoping that we may get something of a shorebird season in those formerly working bogs (now under water for the last two years to kill girdle worm). So far, only Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers, and Semipalmated Plovers in low numbers have been found feeding in them. 

Turkey Vulture, Whitesbog

And I spent a pleasant morning down at Brig with my buddy Bob Auster. It was only my second trip to Brig this year, and while we dipped on most of the rarities that had been reported there (though we did get the Black-necked Stilts at the Gull Pond), there was a good variety of shorebirds, egrets, and terns to sort through and the greenhead flies were not too bad, with only one painful bite on my elbow. 

I trudged around Colliers Mills, I trudged around the cranberry bogs on Dover Road, I trudged around Double Trouble, I even trudged up and down the Union Transportation Trail by Sharon Station because that day I didn't feel like worrying about ticks. I always say that if the birding isn't productive, at least I got my exercise in. At least I got a lot of exercise in July.

For the month, 112 species in 4 counties: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean.

Species                 First Sighting
Canada Goose    Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Wood Duck    Whitesbog
Mallard    Whitesbog
American Black Duck    Brig
Wild Turkey    35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon    Union Transportation Trail
Mourning Dove    Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Brig
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail    Brig
Black-necked Stilt    Brig
American Oystercatcher    Brig
Black-bellied Plover    Brig
Killdeer    Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated Plover    Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher    Brig
Spotted Sandpiper    Horicon Lake
Willet    Waretown
Greater Yellowlegs    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Stilt Sandpiper    Brig
Least Sandpiper    Cattus Island County Park
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Brig
Laughing Gull    Whitesbog
American Herring Gull    Cattus Island County Park
Great Black-backed Gull    Brig
Black Skimmer    Brig
Least Tern    Brig
Gull-billed Tern    Whitesbog
Caspian Tern    Brig
Forster's Tern    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Common Tern    Brig
Double-crested Cormorant    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
White Ibis    Waretown
Glossy Ibis    Cranberry Bogs
Black-crowned Night Heron    Manahawkin WMA
Little Blue Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Green Heron    Whitesbog
Great Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Great Blue Heron    Whitesbog
Black Vulture    Crestwood Village
Turkey Vulture    Whitesbog
Osprey    Cattus Island County Park
Cooper's Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Bald Eagle    Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk    Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher    Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker    Whitesbog
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Whitesbog
Willow Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Phoebe    Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher    Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Kingbird    Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo    Double Trouble SP
Blue Jay    35 Sunset Rd
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    Whitesbog
Common Raven    Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Chickadee    Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse    Double Trouble SP
Tree Swallow    Whitesbog
Purple Martin    Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
Barn Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    Whitesbog
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Whitesbog
Northern House Wren    Whitesbog
Marsh Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Carolina Wren    35 Sunset Rd
European Starling    Whitesbog
Gray Catbird    Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    Crestwood Village
Eastern Bluebird    Colliers Mills WMA
Veery    Double Trouble SP
Wood Thrush    Cranberry Bogs
American Robin    Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing    Whitesbog
House Sparrow    Crestwood Village
House Finch    35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch    Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow    Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow    Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee    Whitesbog
Orchard Oriole    Whitesbog
Red-winged Blackbird    Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird    Union Transportation Trail
Common Grackle    Whitesbog
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler    Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat    Whitesbog
Northern Yellow Warbler    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Pine Warbler    Double Trouble SP
Prairie Warbler    Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal    35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak    Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting    Union Transportation Trail

Always Read the Directions

We just bought a new washing machine. It comes with a "Pet Pro" option, which, not having any pets, we don't need. However, for those who do have pets, the company's lawyers insisted that this note be appended to the directions:

 But if you missed those directions, I'm sure putting Fido in the microwave is a good way of drying him off.