Colliers Mills | Island Beach SP 5/4--Bank Swallow, Eastern Kingbird, Baltimore Oriole, Kentucky Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

 I was filling up a feeder late this afternoon when I got a text from Steve that there was a Kentucky Warbler at Island Beach SP. Normally, I wouldn't go chasing after a warbler, and I wouldn't go so late in the day, but this was practically a life bird for me, since my only record of Kentucky Warbler is a "heard only" at Baldpate Mountain 5 years ago. And I figured I was lucky with the Roseate Tern on Sunday, maybe my luck would continue to hold for this bird, so I jumped in the car and made decent time to the park--discovering when I got there that while I had remembered my phone, binoculars, and camera, I had neglected to put my wallet in my pocket. So, I had no license on me. Yikes, already I was thinking how slowly I was going to have drive home. 

A number of birders were there, hovering around the entrance to Reed's Road, although the bird was originally found on the side of the road just south of the head of the trail, across from the maintenance area. I had seen Steve as he was driving out after seeing the bird and he told me that it was jumping in and out of the brush, sometimes at the entrance of the road, sometimes along the road. When I got out of my car everyone there had already seen the bird and touchingly, it seemed very important to them that I get on the bird. Someone called that it was down the road about a hundred feet and I ran down there. After a few frantic seconds with everyone giving me directions as to where to look, I saw the bird--a beauty, with a black crown and mask, brilliant yellow body and an olive back. It was feeding quite actively--I wonder what sort of bugs it was finding--and with my slow-focusing camera, I was lucky to get the doc shots that I did. I would have loved to hang around and even take a walk up Reed's Road to see what warblers were on the path, but the idea of drving home in the dark with no license seemed like a very bad one, so I left after being there for all of 18 minutes. My drive time back & forth was 3 times that. 

The Kentucky Warbler was my 200th bird for the year and 325th in Ocean County. 

I spent the morning at Colliers Mills, walking a long loop through the woods and around the ponds there. It wasn't as busy as I had hoped, but I did manage to find 53 species, including 3 new ones for the year. A few swallows were aviating over Turnmill Pond, and one of them was small & brown. It took me a while to make certain, but it was my first Bank Swallow of the year and a patch bird for me there. 

In the woods along the pond there was an onslaught of bird song and only one sounded odd to me and of course, using Merlin, it was the one song that it didn't pick up because I recognized all the other ones. I was pretty sure it was an oriole and looking up I found it--a Baltimore Oriole pushing a blackbird out of the tree. 

Spotted Sandpiper

Along the shore there were two Spotted Sandpipers, and at the back of the little pond on Hawkin Road there were two Solitary Sandpipers (and they were being pretty territorial with each other) and 3 Least Sandpipers, which are not all that common at Colliers, along with another spotty. 

Solitary Sandpiper 

Forty Acre Pond in the back was shaping up as a disappointment, with only Wood Ducks and Mallards, no shorebirds on the mud flats. I hadn't heard the Hooded Warbler in it usual spot among the mountain laurel just off Hawkin, but while I was scanning the pond, one began to sing there, so that made it worth the walk. 

Eastern Kingbird

When I first got there, I decided not to walk in the woods north of Success and track down a Red-headed Woodpecker, because I didn't feel like spending the time, but I got lucky, as while I was walking over the hill that separates Success Road fields from the firing range area, one flew right over me and landed in a tree on Success. There was also a Blue Grosbeak in the field. Unfortunately, it began to rain. I walked pretty fast along Success but couldn't resist peeking in the fields to the south of the road. Sitting on one of the warning signs was an Eastern Kingbird, finally. It kept diving into the grass and came up with a rather large insect. By then the rain was pretty steady, and I just fast-stepped the rest of the circuit back to my car. The only negative for the day was Detroit 2, Mets 0.

53 species
Canada Goose  19
Wood Duck  6
Mallard  2
Mourning Dove  2
Least Sandpiper  3     
Spotted Sandpiper  3
Solitary Sandpiper  2
Great Blue Heron  1
Osprey  1
Bald Eagle  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-headed Woodpecker  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  7
Great Crested Flycatcher  3     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  10
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  1     Heard
Common Raven  3      One near parking lot 2 over Forty Acre Pond
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  6
Tree Swallow  2
Bank Swallow  1     
Barn Swallow  4
Red-breasted Nuthatch  2     Heard CM Lake & Hawkin Road
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  8
Carolina Wren  3     Heard
European Starling  6
Gray Catbird  10
Brown Thrasher  3
Northern Mockingbird  1
Eastern Bluebird  1
Wood Thrush  2     Heard
American Robin  10
Chipping Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  1     Heard
White-throated Sparrow  1
Swamp Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  15
Baltimore Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Ovenbird  20
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  30
Hooded Warbler  1    
Pine Warbler  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
Prairie Warbler  4
Northern Cardinal  4
Blue Grosbeak  1

Baldpate Mountain 6/15--Yellow-throated Vireo

Yippee! I drove an hour, walked up a "mountain," slip-sided down a muddy trail, and heard a bird screech "Three Eight!" So, add Yellow-throated Vireo to the year list. Sometimes, when I'm in the wrong frame of mind (and I am, now) all the effort to find a bird seems pretty silly.

Ovenbird

I went to Baldpate Mountain this morning because I've used up all the birds in the Pine Barrens, the shorebirds are mostly breeding near the Arctic Circle, and Baldpate was the nearest place I could think of where I might find birds I haven't seen this year. As it turned out, I only heard one new bird, but if one were looking for Ovenbirds, Wood Thrushes, or catbirds, that was the place to be.

Baldpate isn't a place I visit very often, so today was the first time I ever felt like I understood the trail system and how they hooked up to each other. What I really need is a guide to show me the places the cool birds are, because when I look at the lists of other birders there, I wonder where all these Chestnut-sided Warblers are, not to mention the Kentucky Warbler which seems to be known only to a select few.

In any case, I walked the Ridge Line trail for the most part and found enough birds to make the walking interesting.I would have preferred to have seen more birds instead of just hearing a lot of them. And I wish I could have gotten a better look at that empidonax species, or at least have it utter a call. Maybe then the whole endeavor wouldn't have seemed so silly.

36 species (+1 other taxa)

Mourning Dove  4

Chimney Swift  1

Turkey Vulture  12

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Northern Flicker  2    Heard

Empidonax sp.  1    Pale beak, couldn’t see eye ring if any. Overall gray

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Yellow-throated Vireo  1    Heard

Red-eyed Vireo  3

Blue Jay  1

American Crow  2    Heard

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tufted Titmouse  3    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  3    Heard

Veery  4    Heard

Wood Thrush  25    Heard

American Robin  5

Gray Catbird  35

Cedar Waxwing  3    one at base of mountain, two near old farmhouse

House Finch  1    Fenced in field at top near buildings

American Goldfinch  3

Chipping Sparrow  1

Field Sparrow  2    Heard

Song Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  4

Orchard Oriole  1

Ovenbird  25    all through the woods

Black-and-white Warbler  1    Heard

Common Yellowthroat  6

Hooded Warbler  1    Heard

American Redstart  2    one male and one female on Ridge Trail

Yellow Warbler  1    Near pond

Northern Cardinal  4

Blue Grosbeak  2    fields

Indigo Bunting  4    Male and female in field below lodge

Indigo Bunting

Cedar Waxwing

Baldpate Mt 5/25--KENTUCKY WARBLER

Originally, Mike & I planned to go to Cape May today, where there is a Swainson's Warbler in a restricted trail in Cape May Point SP that had been unrestricted to allow birders to see this southern rarity. It would have been a life bird for both of us. Unfortunately, the unrestricted restricted trail got restricted again on Wednesday, so that put the kibosh on that idea. You're slow, you blow.

The only other warbler that visits New Jersey that I hadn't seen is often reported at Baldpate Mt in Mercer County. It was Mike's idea this morning to go there instead, since it is a warbler hot spot. I've been to Baldpate only a few times and each time never found my life bird there. I don't know many birders in Mercer and from what I understand they tend to be a little protective of their hot spots, so there was no one I could ask for directions, instructions, or advice. It's a big place and little bird.

Yellow-throated Vireo
Point, shoot, get a little lucky

Luckily, today just as we arrived, I ran into a birder I know who works in the area--he lives across the river in Pennsylvania. He told us that there were two Yellow-throated Vireos just beyond the parking lot on the road up to the top of the mountain (which would be a hill anywhere else). Yellow-throated Vireo is always a good bird to find (I'd already heard one in Mexico last month) but what I really wanted to know was where the KENTUCKY WARBLER was.  I'd always been led to believe that this warbler was found in a little spot high on one of the trails, but my friend told us that you could find them along the paved road once you got away from the invasive plant species. With that knowledge, Mike & I set out.

The nickname for Yellow-throated Vireo is "thirty eight" because its song consists of two notes that sound like "three eight!" Almost immediately upon stepping on the road we heard that song ringing out and looked up to find two vireos in the foliage above our heads. I pointed my camera in the general direction of the rapidly flitting birds and actually captured an image of one.

Then, Mike heard the Kentucky Warbler, whose song consists of two notes rapidly repeated--teedle teedle teedle might be a good transcription. I don't like getting a life bird by ear unless it's an owl or nightjar, but at least with this bird it sang constantly and loudly. We looked in the bushes alongside the road for a long time but never even saw movement. A few hours later, on our way back down the trail, in the same spot, the Kentucky Warbler was still singing and still out of sight.

But I got my lifer. It's official if not totally satisfactory. BVD (better view desired) is really AVD (and view desired).

Baldpate, because of the dense foliage and tall trees, is a place where you better accept ear birding because finding the birds up in the canopy is next door to impossible. I did pretty well, only missing the Prairie Warbler that Mike heard. I was able to hear Blackpoll Warbler (one year Bob Auster made me think he was existing in an alternate universe as he raised his finger each time he heard on of about 25 Blackpolls along the road we were walking on) and Black-throated Green Warbler, along with the easier ones like Pine Warbler and Ovenbird. We did actually see some warblers and other passerines too, but a large portion of my list today is "heard." Of course, some birds are so common that you don't even bother to look for them.
49 species
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 4
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 2
Chimney Swift 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 1 Heard
Northern Flicker 2 Heard
Eastern Wood-Pewee 6 Heard
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Heard
White-eyed Vireo 1 Heard
Yellow-throated Vireo 2 at bottom of road
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 1 Heard
Blue Jay 1 Heard
Carolina Chickadee 2 Heard
Tufted Titmouse 1 Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Wren 2
Carolina Wren 3 Heard
Veery 3 Heard
Wood Thrush 15 Heard
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 30
Cedar Waxwing 5
Ovenbird 10 Heard
Blue-winged Warbler 2 Saw one very distantly as it was singing, heard the other
KENTUCKY WARBLER 1 Heard
Common Yellowthroat 5
Hooded Warbler 2 Heard
American Redstart 1
Yellow Warbler 5
Blackpoll Warbler 2 Heard
Pine Warbler 1 Heard
Black-throated Green Warbler 1 Heard
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Eastern Towhee 5
Scarlet Tanager 1 Heard
Northern Cardinal 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 6
Baltimore Oriole 2 At top of the "mountain"
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Top of the hill
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 1

Baltimore Oriole

July Wrap-up--Mostly Brig

Black-crowned Night-Heron, Brig

I went to Brig 9 times this month--more than twice a week by a fraction. I went by myself, with Shari, with Mike, with Bob, and on a couple of NJ Audubon field trips. Most of the birds I saw this month, I saw at Brig and all but one of my year birds were found at Brig this month. Doing the arithmetic, that means 128 miles of birding at Brig. Summer birding in NJ.

I did go other places, particularly early in the month when warblers and other passerines were still somewhat vocal, but once the weather gets really warm, it is hard in the woods to hold up your binoculars and swat away bugs at the same time.

While I had 143 species for the month, a respectable number, I only added 5 birds to the year list, my worst month so far by far. And I won't even go into the incredibly frustrating saga of the Roseate Spoonbill that spent two days eluding all but a handful of birders in Ocean County. And what did everyone say when we couldn't find it in Ocean County? "Oh, it'll probably turn up at Brig."

Counties Birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                  First Sighting

Snow Goose   Brig

Canada Goose   Brig

Mute Swan   Brig

Wood Duck   Brig

American Black Duck   Brig

Mallard   Brig

Blue-winged Teal   Brig

Green-winged Teal   Brig

Red-breasted Merganser   Island Beach SP

Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd

Pied-billed Grebe   Brig

Double-crested Cormorant   Brig

Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP

Least Bittern   Brig

Great Blue Heron   Baldpate Mt

Great Egret   Brig

Snowy Egret   Brig

Little Blue Heron   Brig

Tricolored Heron   Island Beach SP

Green Heron   Union Transportation Trail

Black-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron   Brig

White Ibis   Brig

Glossy Ibis   Brig

Black Vulture   Baldpate Mt

Turkey Vulture   Brig

Osprey   Brig

Mississippi Kite   GSP MM 69

Cooper's Hawk   Rt 539 New Egypt

Bald Eagle   Brig

Red-tailed Hawk   NJ-29 S, Trenton

Clapper Rail   Brig

Common Gallinule   Brig

American Avocet   Brig

American Oystercatcher   Brig

Black-bellied Plover   Brig

Semipalmated Plover   Brig

Piping Plover   Island Beach SP

Killdeer   Brig

Whimbrel   Brig

Marbled Godwit   Brig

Ruddy Turnstone   Great Bay Blvd

Stilt Sandpiper   Brig

Sanderling   Island Beach SP

Least Sandpiper   Brig

White-rumped Sandpiper   Brig

Pectoral Sandpiper   Brig

Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig

Western Sandpiper   Brig

Short-billed Dowitcher   Brig

Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig

Spotted Sandpiper   Great Bay Blvd

Greater Yellowlegs   Brig

Willet   Brig

Lesser Yellowlegs   Brig

Laughing Gull   Brig

Ring-billed Gull   Brig

Herring Gull   Brig

Great Black-backed Gull   Brig

Least Tern   Brig

Gull-billed Tern   Brig

Caspian Tern   Brig

Black Tern   Brig

Common Tern   Island Beach SP

Forster's Tern   Brig

Royal Tern   Island Beach SP

Black Skimmer   Brig

Mourning Dove   Brig

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Brig

Black-billed Cuckoo   Crosswicks Creek Park

Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd

Chimney Swift   Baldpate Mt

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   Brig

Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Baldpate Mt

Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd

Northern Flicker   Baldpate Mt

Peregrine Falcon   Brig

Eastern Wood-Pewee   Baldpate Mt

Willow Flycatcher   Brig

Eastern Phoebe   Bright View Farm

Great Crested Flycatcher   Brig

Eastern Kingbird   Brig

White-eyed Vireo   Baldpate Mt

Yellow-throated Vireo   Baldpate Mt

Warbling Vireo   Mercer Sod Farm IBA

Red-eyed Vireo   Baldpate Mt

Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd

American Crow   Brig

Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Brig

Purple Martin   Brig

Tree Swallow   Brig

Bank Swallow   Brig

Barn Swallow   Brig

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Tufted Titmouse   Brig

White-breasted Nuthatch   Baldpate Mt

House Wren   35 Sunset Rd

Marsh Wren   Brig

Carolina Wren   Brig

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Baldpate Mt

Eastern Bluebird   Bright View Farm

Veery   Baldpate Mt

Wood Thrush   Baldpate Mt

American Robin   Brig

Gray Catbird   Brig

Brown Thrasher   Brig

Northern Mockingbird   Mercer Sod Farm IBA

European Starling   Wawa-Jackson

Cedar Waxwing   Baldpate Mt

Ovenbird   Baldpate Mt

Blue-winged Warbler   Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve

Black-and-white Warbler   Baldpate Mt

Common Yellowthroat   Brig

Hooded Warbler   Baldpate Mt

Yellow Warbler   Baldpate Mt

Chestnut-sided Warbler   Baldpate Mt

Pine Warbler   Whitesbog

Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog

Grasshopper Sparrow   Juliustown Rd

Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd

Seaside Sparrow   Brig

Chipping Sparrow   Brig

Field Sparrow   Brig

Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd

Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog

Eastern Towhee   35 Sunset Rd

Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Rose-breasted Grosbeak   Baldpate Mt

Blue Grosbeak   Crosswicks Creek Park

Indigo Bunting   Baldpate Mt

Dickcissel   Juliustown Rd

Red-winged Blackbird   Brig

Eastern Meadowlark   Mercer Sod Farm IBA

Common Grackle   Brig

Boat-tailed Grackle   Brig

Brown-headed Cowbird   Brig

Orchard Oriole   Brig

Baltimore Oriole   Baldpate Mt

House Finch   Brig

American Goldfinch   Brig

House Sparrow   Wawa-Jackson Green Heron, Union Transportation Trail