August Review--One (Count 'em) One Year Bird

Pied-billed Grebe, Whitesbog

 The Third Law of Birding states that "Wherever you are, you should be somewhere else." But what if you don't feel like being somewhere else?  Then you get my August. 

Places like Cedar Bonnet Island, Barnegat Lighthouse, Sandy Hook, Island Beach, were the places where the interesting birds of summer were to be found, but the triple threats of insects, people, and traffic kept me away. 

Purple Martins, Franklin Parker Preserve

Instead, I cycled through my favorite places: Whitesbog, Colliers Mills, the cranberry bogs on Dover Road, Franklin Parker Preserve and hoped that the birds would be where I wanted to be.  Aside from the White Ibis at Whitesbog, the birds I found this month were predictable species. The Purple Martin show at Franklin Parker was spectacular--every dead tree in the reservoir had a couple of hundred martins perched on it, and the Red-headed Woodpeckers at Colliers Mills are always worth looking
for. 

Red-headed Woodpecker, Colliers Mills

I got a little jolt mid-month at Whitesbog when I saw that the Fenwick Bogs (the working bogs that haven't been worked for the past couple of years) had barriers put up.  Since they haven't been growing cranberries there it didn't make sense to put them off-limits but then the explanation came out that the water in the bogs was going to be used in the harvest and that they wanted to keep the dogwalkers out so the dog feces wouldn't contaminate water. Which made sense, on the face of it. And then I thought: and every time an egret takes flight, it ejects a stream of guano into the water, and of course, the deer know enough to wander outside the bogs to do their business, as do the bunny rabbits, the groundhogs, the raccoons, and squirrels. Still, on my last couple of walks there, my trespassing has been discreet--I go in on a trail with no barrier and thus have plausible deniability. One morning I found myself away well before dawn and drove over there just in time to see the Common Nighthawks flying around in the east. It was bittersweet, because back in the days when the bogs would be drawn down, that was just the appetizer for a long day's banquet of shorebirds and waders. 

I made one trip to Brig, where I got my only year bird for the month--the American Avocets, and they made up for the missed birds there. The flies at Brig weren't too bad, though they didn't encourage one to stand in the road and endlessly scope for rare sandpipers 1000 yards away.  I made a couple of trips down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton--early in the month it was a doable walk; last week, the flies drove me away. 

Caspian Tern, Franklin Parker Preserve

For the month 112 species, the last two this morning at Double Trouble--Chimney Swifts and a calling Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a very unusual bird for this time of year. 

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose    Costco parking lot, Brick
Mute Swan    Holly Lake
Wood Duck    Cranberry Bogs
Northern Shoveler    Brig
Mallard    Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Wild Turkey    South Park Rd
Rock Pigeon    South Toms River
Mourning Dove    Cranberry Bogs
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Colliers Mills WMA
Common Nighthawk    Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Double Trouble SP
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Cranberry Bogs
Clapper Rail    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Avocet    Brig
American Oystercatcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-bellied Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Killdeer    Franklin Parker Preserve
Semipalmated Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Hudsonian Whimbrel    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Short-billed Dowitcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Spotted Sandpiper    Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper    Franklin Parker Preserve
Lesser Yellowlegs    Franklin Parker Preserve
Greater Yellowlegs    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ruddy Turnstone    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Sandpiper    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Brig
Laughing Gull    Cranberry Bogs
American Herring Gull    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Great Black-backed Gull    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black Skimmer    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Gull-billed Tern    Whitesbog
Caspian Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Royal Tern    Waretown
Pied-billed Grebe    Whitesbog
Double-crested Cormorant    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
White Ibis    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Glossy Ibis    Brig
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Green Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Great Blue Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Turkey Vulture    South Park Rd
Osprey    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Cooper's Hawk    Brig
Bald Eagle    Cranberry Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk    Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher    Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    South Park Rd
Downy Woodpecker    Cranberry Bogs
Hairy Woodpecker    Cattus Island County Park
Northern Flicker    Whitesbog
American Kestrel    Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Cranberry Bogs
Willow Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Phoebe    Colliers Mills WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird    Cranberry Bogs
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Lake Shenandoah County Park
Red-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Blue Jay    Cranberry Bogs
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee    Cranberry Bogs
Tufted Titmouse    South Park Rd
Tree Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
Purple Martin    Cranberry Bogs
Barn Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    South Park Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Cranberry Bogs
Northern House Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Marsh Wren    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Carolina Wren    Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters
Gray Catbird    Cranberry Bogs
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Bluebird    Cranberry Bogs
American Robin    Cranberry Bogs
Cedar Waxwing    Cranberry Bogs
House Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
House Finch    Cranberry Bogs
American Goldfinch    Cranberry Bogs
Chipping Sparrow    Cranberry Bogs
Field Sparrow    Cranberry Bogs
Seaside Sparrow    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Towhee    Cranberry Bogs
Baltimore Oriole    35 Sunset Rd
Red-winged Blackbird    Cranberry Bogs
Common Grackle    Franklin Parker Preserve
Boat-tailed Grackle    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler    Cranberry Bogs
Common Yellowthroat    Cranberry Bogs
Pine Warbler    Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal    Cranberry Bogs
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    Double Trouble SP
Blue Grosbeak    South Park Rd
Indigo Bunting    Brig