BC Fairgrounds 11/5--Rough-legged Hawk

I have been informed that
this is actually a Red-tailed Hawk.
However, I did see the real
Rough-legged in flight later

The universe went back into sync the other day when a Rough-legged Hawk showed up at the Burlington County Fairgrounds. Every year the grasslands of the former Mercer Sod Farm hosts this tundra breeding species, but this winter, one didn't show up. The Fairgrounds are where Shari & I got our lifer Rough-leg, after numerous trips, and almost every year since then, I've stopped by to find one, a kind of sentimental journey. 

This morning, early, I made the trip out there and immediately ran into a couple of birders I know that I hadn't seen in quite a while. I was hanging around the little pond (which has signage around it that says "Meadow Habitat" which is like labeling my lawn a forest), hoping to see the American Bittern that had also been reported. I thought it might be a little early for the hawk to be up and about as there were no thermals yet. We exchanged phone numbers and they went off to search out the hawk while I circled the pond. Just as I had made one turn around it I got a call that they thought they had the bird. I drove over and looked in their scope and saw a preening hawk with a dark belly and the distinctive white at the base of the tail. I put the bird in my scope (ain't official until it's in my scope) and managed a decent digiscope. Great, a really good-looking hard-to-find bird on the list.  (That makes 2 for the month; yesterday the sharp eyes & identification skills of Jason D found a Parasitic Jaeger at IBSP on Scott's NJA trip). 

I then walked the fence line, looking for more hawks and what-not (the what-not turned out to be a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks, always a nice bird to see). A birder stopped and said that the bittern had been showing nicely a few minutes ago, so I quick-stepped it back there only to hear that it had slunk back into the reeds. Then I got a phone call from another birder who told me that he had just seen it--he drove up and said we were in the right place (but it was the wrong time). I hung out for a while, walked halfway around the pond, and the bittern still didn't come out. 

I went back to my car, scoped some more, saw the Rough-legged Hawk soaring over Rt 206, found a Merlin on the weather station tower, then drove back to the pond for a third try at the bittern. While I stood there I thought, "I've seen a couple of bitterns this year. I've seen bittern in Burlington County in the past. Is it going to make a difference in my life if I see an American Bittern in Burlington County this year? Did it make a difference in my life that last time I saw an American Bittern in Manahawkin? In Budd's Bogs?" When you start having these kinds of thoughts, the only thing to do is what I did next: get in the car and go. 

June Wrap-up: COVID Curtailed Edition

Yellow Warbler, Boundary Creek

 A month that started out just ducky, with a Garganey on its first day, lost a lot of its momentum when, after more than two years, COVID finally made its way into the Zirlin household. And it came in just as I always suspected it would: Shari caught it in New York (as best as we can figure) and infected me. Ironically, she was in New York to visit the last doctor she has there. We're quadrupled vaccinated, so the symptoms were mild yet lingering and annoying, like having a cold you can never shake. And while I tried to get out in the field as soon as I could, there was a stretch of days where I had no energy. Unfortunately, for me, that stretch included the days that Roseate Terns were showing up in numbers on Island Beach but there was just no way I could drag myself out there to chase them. 

I spent a lot of time at my favorite cranberry bogs, Whitesbog and Jumping Brook, both before, during, and after (hopefully, I'm in the after stage), and they produced Least Bittern, Common Nighthawk, and Black-billed Cuckoo, all new for the year.  While I was sitting in the house, bored, I got to thinking about how many cranberry bogs I traipse around and, as you can do in eBird, built a "patch list" of all of them to see what my total number of birds was. Impressive at 212 species. And since I like lists, they are:

Bunker Hills Bogs

Budd's Bogs

Cloverdale Farm

Cranberry Bogs on Dover Road

Double Trouble SP

Franklin Parker Preserve

Jumping Brook Preserve

Reeves Bogs and of course

Whitesbog.

I can't guess the total acreage but that's a lot of ground to have covered. 

Only 9 new species for the month, but 138 species in total which is pretty good for a doldrums month.

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose  National Guard Training Ctr
Mute Swan  Sylvan Lake
Wood Duck  Whitesbog
Garganey  National Guard Training Ctr
Mallard  National Guard Training Ctr
American Black Duck  Whitesbog
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon  Shark River Inlet
Mourning Dove  35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  35 Sunset Rd
Black-billed Cuckoo  Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk  Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will  35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift  Jumping Brook Preserve
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail  Great Bay Blvd
Sora  Brig
Black-necked Stilt  Manahawkin WMA
American Avocet  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
American Oystercatcher  Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover  Island Beach SP
Semipalmated Plover  Island Beach SP
Piping Plover  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Killdeer  National Guard Training Ctr
Ruddy Turnstone  Island Beach SP
Ruff  Brig
Sanderling  Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper  Jumping Brook Preserve
White-rumped Sandpiper  Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Island Beach SP
Short-billed Dowitcher  Island Beach SP
Spotted Sandpiper  Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs  National Guard Training Ctr
Willet  Great Bay Blvd
Lesser Yellowlegs  National Guard Training Ctr
Laughing Gull  Island Beach SP
Ring-billed Gull   Belmar
Herring Gull  Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull  Island Beach SP
Least Tern  Great Bay Blvd
Gull-billed Tern  Brig
Common Tern  Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern  Island Beach SP
Royal Tern  Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer  Great Bay Blvd
Double-crested Cormorant  Island Beach SP
Brown Pelican  Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Bittern  Jumping Brook Preserve
Great Blue Heron  Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret  Cranberry Bogs
Snowy Egret  Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron  Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron  Island Beach SP
Green Heron  Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd
White Ibis  Great Bay Blvd
Glossy Ibis  Island Beach SP
Black Vulture  Rt. 70 Pemberton Twp
Turkey Vulture  Cranberry Bogs
Osprey  Island Beach SP
Cooper's Hawk  Reeves Bogs
Bald Eagle  Brig
Red-tailed Hawk  Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher  Island Beach SP
Red-headed Woodpecker  South Park Rd
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Burrs Mill Brook
Downy Woodpecker  35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker  Evert Trail
Northern Flicker  Cranberry Bogs
Peregrine Falcon  Cedar Bonnet Island
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Island Beach SP
Acadian Flycatcher  Double Trouble SP
Willow Flycatcher  Island Beach SP
Eastern Phoebe  Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher  35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird  Island Beach SP
White-eyed Vireo  Island Beach SP
Yellow-throated Vireo  Reeves Bogs
Warbling Vireo  Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo  Jumping Brook Preserve
Blue Jay  35 Sunset Rd
American Crow  35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow  Shark River Inlet
Carolina Chickadee  35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Wesley Lake
Purple Martin  Laurel Run Park
Tree Swallow  Island Beach SP
Bank Swallow  Burrs Mill Brook
Barn Swallow  Island Beach SP
Cliff Swallow  Wesley Lake
White-breasted Nuthatch  Burrs Mill Brook
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Whitesbog
House Wren  35 Sunset Rd
Marsh Wren  Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren  Island Beach SP
European Starling  Island Beach SP
Gray Catbird  Island Beach SP
Brown Thrasher  Island Beach SP
Northern Mockingbird  Island Beach SP
Eastern Bluebird  Cranberry Bogs
Veery  Colliers Mills WMA
Wood Thrush  Jumping Brook Preserve
American Robin  Island Beach SP
Cedar Waxwing  Whitesbog
House Sparrow  Island Beach SP
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  35 Sunset Rd
Grasshopper Sparrow  Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow  Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Saltmarsh Sparrow  Brig
Savannah Sparrow  Jumping Brook Preserve
Song Sparrow  35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow  Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee  Island Beach SP
Yellow-breasted Chat  Brig
Orchard Oriole  Jumping Brook Preserve
Baltimore Oriole  Burrs Mill Brook
Red-winged Blackbird  Island Beach SP
Brown-headed Cowbird  Whitesbog
Common Grackle  National Guard Training Ctr
Boat-tailed Grackle  Island Beach SP
Ovenbird  Whitesbog
Worm-eating Warbler  Evert Trail
Louisiana Waterthrush  Evert Trail
Black-and-white Warbler  Whitesbog
Prothonotary Warbler  Evert Trail
Common Yellowthroat  Island Beach SP
Hooded Warbler  Colliers Mills WMA
American Redstart  Island Beach SP
Yellow Warbler  Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler  35 Sunset Rd
Prairie Warbler  Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal  Island Beach SP
Blue Grosbeak  Laurel Run Park
Indigo Bunting  Colliers Mills WMA

Baby Barn Swallows, Boundary Creek

Budd's Bogs 3/26--Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Louisiana Waterthrush

Any time I'm offered the opportunity of birding a hot spot like Budd's Bogs, which is private land, I jump.  Budd's is one of the largest cranberry producers around here, with a variety of habitats. I met Steve and Matt at 5:45 AM on Big Hill Road and we got in Steve's vehicle, stopping first on Retreat Road for Eastern Screech-Owl which was very cooperative after about 5 minutes of listening. Almost as soon as we were on the bogs, we had Great Horned Owl, so that made it worth getting up well before dawn. 

But I had those birds for the year. The interesting birds, to me, were, first, the Barn Swallow that flew over us fairly early in the trip; easy to pick out against all the Tree Swallows swooping around a gnat hatch over one of the flooded bogs. Whether that was on the only Barn Swallow of the day was hard to tell, since we had another later in the morning over another bog. 

Then, after a fairly long walk along a wooded trail that ran next to a reservoir (lots of Ring-necked Ducks and Wood Ducks) we came to a spot that Steve was fairly confident we would hear Louisiana Waterthrush. And he was, of course, right--helps to bird with an expert. Not one, but two of the birds were singing, establishing territory. Not that I spend a lot of time worrying about early dates for birds but according to my records, this was the earliest in the year I'd ever come across a Louie. What I do pay attention to though is county birds and this was, a slight surprise to me, a Burlington County lifer.  

Finally, back to the swallows. After going through what seemed our third weather front (calm, then, wind and drizzle, then back to sunny but windy) we found a goodly number of Tree Swallows over another water source and among them, hard to pick out at first since they were zipping around pretty good, was my FOY Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Later, over a huge hump of dirt where Steve says they tend to nest (along with kingfishers) we came across a second bird, a much better look for me as it flew directly overhead.

9 species of sparrows and 7 raptors (if you count vultures as raptors) filled out our list. Matt & Steve had 61 species, I only could count 60 because I missed the Blue-winged Teal that flew out of a bog with flock of Woodies. 

Canada Goose  25
Wood Duck  15
Mallard  6
American Black Duck  7
Green-winged Teal  8
Ring-necked Duck  10
duck sp.  3
Wild Turkey  1 Heard
Mourning Dove  7
Killdeer  5
Great Blue Heron  4
Black Vulture  9
Turkey Vulture  16
Northern Harrier  3
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  2
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Eastern Screech-Owl  1
Great Horned Owl  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  3
Northern Flicker  13
Eastern Phoebe  9
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  18
crow sp.  4
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2
Tree Swallow  20
Barn Swallow  1     1+, early, seen at two locations
Golden-crowned Kinglet  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Winter Wren  3
Carolina Wren  6
European Starling  15
Eastern Bluebird  2
Hermit Thrush  4
American Robin  4
House Sparrow  1
American Goldfinch  3
Chipping Sparrow  1     Wells
Field Sparrow  2
Fox Sparrow  2
Dark-eyed Junco  6
White-crowned Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  4
Savannah Sparrow  23
Song Sparrow  25
Swamp Sparrow  9
Red-winged Blackbird  200
Brown-headed Cowbird  15
Rusty Blackbird  40     40+
Common Grackle  75
Louisiana Waterthrush  2     early, normal breeding spot for this species
Pine Warbler  8
Yellow-rumped Warbler  30
Northern Cardinal  4