Huber Preserve | Waretown | Collinstown Road 5/19--Chuck-will's-widow, Semipalmated Plover, Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler

Semipalmated Plover, Waretown

Shari & I have a springtime tradition where we eat dinner at a little restaurant in Forked River, then drive down to Collinstown Road in Barnegat to listen for our yearly Chuck-will's-widow.  Because of our Mexico vacation, our trip was delayed this year (to our 17th wedding anniversary as it happens) and consequently sundown was a little later. To kill some time, we first stopped at Bay Parkway in Waretown, which this time of year can have wading and shorebirds and did. The very first bird we saw was a new one for year--Semipalmated Plover flushed from the roadside. There was a small flock of them interspersed with another small flock of Least Sandpipers (it kind of looked like a gang fight at moments) and a few very noisy Willets flying about, along with both white egrets and a half dozen flyover Glossy Ibis. 

When we got down to Collinstown Road it was one minute before sundown and we were prepared to wait for a while until it got dark, our experience being that this species takes its crepuscular reputation seriously, but we got lucky, since one minute after sundown one began repeating its incessant eponymous call very loudly and very close, though of course, we didn't get eyes on one. It wasn't even dark enough to hope that driving along the road we'd get some eyeshine.  

That ended a very interesting day for me, which started out in Burlington County this morning with a walk through the woods at Reeves Bogs and then a walk along the white trail at the lengthily named Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve where I go each year to look for two species. I had no trouble at all finding Prothonotary Warblers--there were at least three of them, one of which I got good looks at while it hopped around the upper reaches of trees, but I had all but given up on my second target, since I couldn't find it at the bridge where I usually do, nor along the mile or so that I covered along the trail. It wasn't until I was heading out that I finally heard the sharp "Peet-sa!" call of an Acadian Flycatcher. Another bird that didn't want to show itself in the now thick foliage--one of the disadvantages of waiting to go looking for new birds when the trees have leafed out. 

For the day 61 species:

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose    Reeves Bogs
Wood Duck    Reeves Bogs
Mallard    Reeves Bogs
Mourning Dove    Reeves Bogs
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Reeves Bogs
Chuck-will's-widow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Killdeer    Reeves Bogs
Semipalmated Plover    Waretown
Willet    Waretown
Least Sandpiper    Waretown
Laughing Gull    Reeves Bogs
Herring Gull    Waretown
Snowy Egret    Waretown
Great Egret    Waretown
Great Blue Heron    Reeves Bogs
Glossy Ibis    Waretown
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Huber Preserve
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Reeves Bogs
Acadian Flycatcher    Huber Preserve
Eastern Phoebe    Huber Preserve
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Kingbird    Reeves Bogs
White-eyed Vireo    Huber Preserve
Warbling Vireo    Reeves Bogs
Red-eyed Vireo    Reeves Bogs
Blue Jay    Huber Preserve
American Crow    Huber Preserve
Carolina Chickadee    Reeves Bogs
Tufted Titmouse    Reeves Bogs
Tree Swallow    Reeves Bogs
Barn Swallow    Reeves Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    Huber Preserve
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Reeves Bogs
Carolina Wren    Huber Preserve
European Starling    Waretown
Gray Catbird    Reeves Bogs
Eastern Bluebird    Reeves Bogs
Wood Thrush    Huber Preserve
American Robin    Collinstown Road
Cedar Waxwing    Reeves Bogs
Chipping Sparrow    Reeves Bogs
Field Sparrow    Huber Preserve
Song Sparrow    Reeves Bogs
Swamp Sparrow    Collinstown Road
Eastern Towhee    Reeves Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird    Reeves Bogs
Brown-headed Cowbird    Huber Preserve
Common Grackle    Reeves Bogs
Ovenbird    Reeves Bogs
Blue-winged Warbler    Huber Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prothonotary Warbler    Huber Preserve
Common Yellowthroat    Reeves Bogs
Hooded Warbler    Huber Preserve
American Redstart    Reeves Bogs
Yellow Warbler    Waretown
Pine Warbler    Reeves Bogs
Prairie Warbler    Huber Preserve
Northern Cardinal    Huber Preserve 

Double Trouble | Whitesbog | Collinstown Road 5/6--Chuck-will's-widow, Veery, Blackpoll Warbler

 One of the things I like to do this time of year is to stand on a cross-dike at Whitesbog and let the swallows swirl around me. If you've ever done something like that, you'll understand how Twitter got its name.* I had 4 species of swallows swooping over the reservoirs on the Ocean County side--Purple Martin, Northern Rough-wing, Barn, and Tree Swallows. Couldn't find a Bank. 

Ovenbird, Whitesbog

I wound up there after spending the early morning at Double Trouble. I had intended to spend all morning there, but a screw-up with an appointment at the house cut my visit short, so after dealing with that matter, I drove over to Whitesbog where I was pleasantly surprised at how many birds were still active mid-morning. Whitesbog is not the warbler hot spot that Double Trouble can be, and yet I did just as well there as I did at DT, including getting my year Blackpoll Warbler while standing at the spot where Yellow Warblers tend to nest. I also had good looks at Black-throated Blue Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Northern Parula, American Redstart, and finally, after hearing and hearing and hearing dozens of Ovenbirds over the last few weeks, I got more than a fleeting glimpse of one, singing on a branch, eye-high, as they tend to be. You'd think a bird that you don't have induce warbler neck to see would be easier to find. Well, as I used to say to my employer: You'd think that and you'd be wrong. 

Solitary Sandpiper, Double Trouble

Double Trouble just seemed to be getting started when I had to leave. There were a few happy surprises while I was there--a Solitary Sandpiper in the bogs behind the packing house, along with a couple of Glossy Ibises, the singing Hooded Warbler heard in its usual place on Mud Dam Road, and my first Veery of the year, also on Mud Dam Road. 

With the Mets having played a day game (a win that felt like a loss, because the Cards played so poorly the Mets should have beaten them by 10 runs) the evening looked pretty empty. So after Jeopardy (a dismal performance from the challengers), Shari & I drove down to Collinstown Road in Barnegat. Sunset was 7:56 tonight but it wouldn't be dark for 20 or 25 minutes after that. The dimming of the light gives me a chance to use one of favorite words: Crepuscular. About 15 minutes after sunset, we heard Chuck-will's-widow calling from the woods. Unlike our persistent Whip-poor-will, Chucks are crepuscular, calling as the light fades or dawns so the timing is important. A Great Horned Owl also hooted making for an interesting duet. 

*How did a word that, when applied to human speech, means speaking inanely and foolishly, come to be the name of a gigantic communications platform? I understand that the name is apt and appropriate, but I don't believe Jack Dorsey really understood the meaning of the word when they trademarked the name. 

Eno's Pond 3/13--Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

I did a big loop today starting at Cloverdale, running south to Manhawkin, then up Route 9 to Eno's Pond. Eno's Pond was an afterthought since I still hadn't found anything new either for the year or the county, almost everything I found was of the "usual suspects" variety. I'm not complaining about bluebirds or Pine Warblers or the various waterfowl I encountered, but places that I thought should have new inventory didn't until I remembered Eno's Pond. The reason I decided to go there was because I'd noticed how low the tide was at Bay Parkway in Waretown (swans, Brant, 3 kinds of ducks...) and thought that boded well for the "pond" in back which I hoped would be mud flats. It was and it had a small flock of Greater Yellowlegs feeding on it, nothing spectacular but the first shorebirds I'd had all day. I walked into the woods and got a different angle on the pond and noticed that at least a couple of the yellowlegs appeared "daintier" as I once heard Greg describe them and they were feeding on the mud flats, not up to their bellies in water like the Greater Yellowlegs tend to do and so I decided, after looking at the bill length, that I had a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs mixed in. I never could get them to stand next to each other--when they do the difference is so obvious that, as Greg and I were discussing yesterday, you wonder how ever confuse them, but today I only had a moment's comparison before the two birds parted. Not the most spectacular sighting of the year, but a good way to end the day.

Greater Yellowlegs

I made a stop on Collinstown Road as part of the loop. I thought at first there was nothing there of note, but soon birds started popping up and I walked the road which is about a half mile. A portion of Collinstown Road borders Forsythe-Barnegat property, but most of it is private land and while I have exchanged pleasantries with the owner of the big house on the road and petted his dog, I still feel uncomfortable glassing his fields. While I was doing that and older woman in a white sedan pulled up, rolled down her window and said, "I live here." I say an "older woman" but at this point in my life I have to admit she isn't a whole lot older than me--it's just style I suppose that makes me think of her as someone's grandma and me as an old kid. I said she had a  

Pine Warbler, Collinstown Rd

wonderful backyard, full of birds, and she told me she'd been born there, that her mother left the "farm" (there is a chrysanthemum nursery in back) to her daughter and how you had to protect the land and what a shame it was how much development was going on--perfectly sweet and mellow. Then, she shot her arm out the car window and pointed diagonally across her property toward the back and scowled, "But THAT Motherf88cker over there is cutting down trees and filling in the stream, he doesn't give a damn about nature!" Whoa Grandma! I told her that filling in a stream was probably illegal and she could report him to the DEP but that made little impression. She wants him caught but I think she'd prefer rougher justice. Then she told me to enjoy my day and not to get shot and drove into their driveway. I've been reading a book about how your brain automatically make assessments based on little information and how most of the time it is correct. Most of the time. The sweet little old lady assessment was obviously out of kilter. 

Counting the Brown Creeper that Shari noticed climbing the pitch pine out back, I tallied 48 species in Barnegat, Manahawkin, Waretown, and Forked River, and Whiting. 

Species    First Sighting

Brant   Bay Pkwy

Canada Goose   Cloverdale Farm

Mute Swan   Manahawkin WMA

Mallard   Cloverdale Farm

American Black Duck   Manahawkin WMA

Northern Pintail   Manahawkin WMA

Green-winged Teal   Manahawkin WMA

Ring-necked Duck   Eno’s Pond

Greater Scaup   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Long-tailed Duck   Bay Pkwy

Bufflehead   Cloverdale Farm

Hooded Merganser   Manahawkin WMA

Red-breasted Merganser   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Horned Grebe   Bay Pkwy

Mourning Dove   Cloverdale Farm

Greater Yellowlegs   Eno’s Pond

Lesser Yellowlegs   Eno’s Pond

Ring-billed Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Herring Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Great Black-backed Gull   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Common Loon   Bay Pkwy

Double-crested Cormorant   Bay Pkwy

Great Blue Heron   Cloverdale Farm

Turkey Vulture   Cloverdale Farm

Belted Kingfisher   Cloverdale Farm

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Cloverdale Farm

Downy Woodpecker   Cloverdale Farm

Blue Jay   Cloverdale Farm

American Crow   Bay Pkwy

Fish Crow   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Carolina Chickadee   Manahawkin WMA

Tufted Titmouse   Cloverdale Farm

Red-breasted Nuthatch   Cloverdale Farm

White-breasted Nuthatch   Cloverdale Farm

Brown Creeper   35 Sunset Rd

Carolina Wren   Manahawkin WMA

Eastern Bluebird   Cloverdale Farm

American Robin   Cloverdale Farm

House Finch   Cloverdale Farm

American Goldfinch   Cloverdale Farm

Dark-eyed Junco   Cloverdale Farm

White-throated Sparrow   Collinstown Road

Song Sparrow   Cloverdale Farm

Red-winged Blackbird   Cloverdale Farm

Boat-tailed Grackle   Barnegat Municipal Dock

Pine Warbler   Cloverdale Farm

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Cloverdale Farm

Northern Cardinal   Cloverdale Farm

Northern Cardinal, Cloverdale Farm