Great Bay Blvd 5/8--Saltmarsh Sparrow

Saltmarsh Sparrow, in flight

In baseball, you hit 'em where they ain't. In birding, I go where it ain't raining. A crescent of precipitation was encroaching on my favorite spots this morning from Pemberton to Pt. Pleasant, but Tuckerton, on the radar, looked dry. I didn't expect much warbler activity, but there might be a few interesting birds down there to see. 

I drove the 4+ miles from the first bridge down to the inlet and, while the waders and shorebirds were in good numbers both in quantity and diversity, it wasn't until I was walking the mud flats at the in lets where I kicked up one of the birds I usually find there, a Saltmarsh Sparrow.  The one photo I managed shows the bird flying away, but that's more than I usually get. 

Red Knots

This time of year also provides a good window for Red Knots, and while they were on my list, they were lousy looks from Brig, so when I saw three foraging around the feet of lingering Brant I was happy. Other interesting sights included two Clapper Rails running across the road right in front of my, luckily, slow moving car; an unusual for the spot Blue-winged Teal; and a couple of small groups of Gull-billed Terns. The only warblers I found were the expect Common Yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, and one Magnolia Warbler just before the 2nd wooden bridge. 

I spent over 5 hours at Great Bay Blvd, driving its length and walking from the inlet up to the first wooden bridge and back. I managed 53 species on the cool, breezy, but essentially dry day. 

Brant  122

Canada Goose  4

Mute Swan  1

Blue-winged Teal  1

Mallard  1

American Black Duck  4

Mourning Dove  5

Clapper Rail  9

American Oystercatcher  1

Black-bellied Plover  230

Semipalmated Plover  22

Red Knot  5

Dunlin  280

Least Sandpiper  7

Semipalmated Sandpiper  1

Short-billed Dowitcher  25

Greater Yellowlegs  20

Willet  12

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Laughing Gull  25

Herring Gull  75

Great Black-backed Gull  4

Gull-billed Tern  9

Forster's Tern  50

Common Loon  1

Double-crested Cormorant  19

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  45

Snowy Egret  25

Tricolored Heron  3

Black-crowned Night-Heron  5

Glossy Ibis  8

Turkey Vulture  2

Osprey  8

Bald Eagle  1

Blue Jay  1

Fish Crow  5

Tree Swallow  5

Barn Swallow  25

Gray Catbird  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

American Robin  2

House Finch  2

Seaside Sparrow  5

Saltmarsh Sparrow  2

Savannah Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  6

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Boat-tailed Grackle  30

Common Yellowthroat  7

Magnolia Warbler  1

Yellow Warbler  2

Northern Cardinal  3

Clapper Rail

Franklin Parker Preserve 1/20--Northern Shrike

 I don't get it. Yesterday, I met Mike at the Speedwell Entrance to Franklin Parker Preserve. I've been there plenty of times, but yesterday we were searching an area across the road that I'd never been to, so we were feeling our way in, looking at maps and instructions that previous birders had posted, all in the hopes of finding the latest rarity. When we got to the spot that seemed to match maps & text, I started to scan the tree line without much confidence, but I know that sinking feeling is often a prelude to success. And after a few minutes, I found the Northern Shrike we had come for, far out over the other side of the bog, sitting atop a cedar tree. I got Mike on it, the bird moved to a leafless tree for a moment, then disappeared. Not as exciting as finding the Dovekies this month, but I was impressed I found this little bird in that big area. And that's what I don't get...I can find some relatively nondescript black and gray bird without much effort other than the walk in, but later, when I drove to Pemberton for the umpty-umpth time to search for Sandhill Cranes that have been in the area for a month, I once again had no luck, and twice this year I've gone to Brig, parked at Marker 15, and still haven't found the huge American White Pelican that has been reported there everyday this year (I did see it a couple of times last year). 

So what gives? It isn't skill I'm missing. It doesn't take much skill to find 3 birds that stand 4 feet tall or a gigantic white one. Sometimes I'm diffident about chasing a bird, but I've gone after these two species numerous times, so I can't blame my laziness. So what gives is...find a bird, luck, miss a bird, luck. And try again tomorrow either way. 

A Road in Pemberton 5/1--Great Crested Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler

The day dawned dreary, dank, and damp, a new month, but hard to see any difference from the last month. As I did in April, I started the month off at my semi-secret road in Pemberton. Since I haven't been birding there very long, it is always interesting to see what changes there as the seasons change, what stays the same.

I hit a hot patch very quickly with a mixed flock of warblers--none of them new--and my first Blue-headed Vireo of the year. I was hearing a lot of birds and now that the oaks are starting to leaf out, I didn't spend a lot of time looking for the more common ones that I heard (like woodpeckers, jays, and wrens). I did stop for a singing Common Yellowthroat (a Burlco year bird) and amazingly found it across the muck in a bush. Always like to see the warblers. Always like to see any bird because I apparently will never get past the notion that ear birding is somehow cheating.

Which is how I felt when, near the lake, I heard a harsh call which sounded like the alarm set off when you hit the crash bar on emergency door. I had to think for a moment (more than a moment) until I realized I was hearing a Great Crested Flycatcher. A beautiful bird. I would have preferred to see it.

I was on the way back, thinking my thoughts, when I realized that in the background I was hearing a squeaky wheel. Squeaky wheel=Black-and-white Warbler. Couldn't find that one, but later, while trying to figure out what one bird in tree was (and couldn't) I accidentally found another Black-and-white working the tree limb. Happy moment.

I was glad that I dragged my butt out of bed--the endorphins do kick in once you get walking and it was active enough to keep my mind occupied on birds and not on coronavirus and all other related bad news. I'll keep going back there--there is enough varied habitat to get you a good mix of birds and you don't have to wear a mask or worry very much about encountering anyone else. I was surprised that I totaled 40 species for the 2 miles out, 2 miles back:

Canada Goose  14    Lake

Mallard  2

Mourning Dove  1    Heard

Killdeer  1

Double-crested Cormorant  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Cooper's Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  4    Heard

Northern Flicker  1    Heard

Eastern Phoebe  2    

Great Crested Flycatcher  1    Heard

White-eyed Vireo  5

Blue-headed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  2    Heard

American Crow  5

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  7

Tree Swallow  1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5

Carolina Wren  4    Heard

Gray Catbird  1

Brown Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1    Heard

Wood Thrush  3    Heard

House Finch  2    Heard

Chipping Sparrow  1    Heard

Field Sparrow  1    Heard

White-throated Sparrow  15

Eastern Towhee  5    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird   2

Brown-headed Cowbird  3

Common Grackle  5

Ovenbird  5    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  2

Common Yellowthroat  1

Palm Warbler  2

Pine Warbler  2

Yellow-rumped Warbler  4

Northern Cardinal  3

Adorable

A Road in Pemberton Twp 4/17--Pileated Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin

No problem social distancing here

I've used up the local area over the last three weeks or so...the WMA behind the house, the streets of the village, the little pond, the drained pond, the power line cut..I've walked them left to right, right to left, north to south, south to north, east to west, west to--you get the picture. The problem is where to walk and social distance at the same time and yet not spend a lot of time driving. The solution seemed to me to be a road that I recently started to bird in Burlington County that I was told about by my friend at Whitesbog, who sadly I don't see anymore since Whitesbog is off-limits for the duration. I started going there in late March and each time I'd find something of interest along with getting in 4 miles of walking if took a little spur that goes to the Pemberton Bypass. (Forgive me if I'm a little cagey about the location; while I don't expect all 10 of you who read this blog to show up there when I'm there, word has a way of leaking out.)

Today I finally found the bird that brought me there in the first place. My informant told me that Pileated Woodpecker was found in the tall trees just off the road. "If you get to the pumping station, you've gone too far." The first few times I never saw one, but today, at that muddy area smack in the middle of the photo I heard what I assumed was a flicker until this gigantic woodpecker flew out with a red crown and white patches on its wings. An excellent year bird. And I heard the bird when I was looking at my first year bird of the day, a White-eyed Vireo in the bare branches of a tree on the opposite side of the power lines. The first thing I had heard before the "kuk-kuk-kuk" was some powerful drumming on a trunk.

The road continues through wetlands, past the pumping station, hooks around by the spur and continues into the Pemberton WMA (so I guess it really won't be hard for you to figure out where this is if you really want to). I saw a couple of big swallows as I neared water and thought they might be Purple Martins, which was confirmed once I got to the lake and saw them flying, big and dark, with about 20 Tree Swallows. So 3 year birds and then a Bald Eagle flew over--a month bird.

On my way back, at the same mud hole in the road, I heard again what I assumed was the Pileated; I played its call and almost immediately one flew out like a shot and crossed the road, landing, of course on the back side of a tree. Then another flew out and did the same maneuver. I never could find them to get a picture. Amazing how such a big bird with a red head can disappear in a stand of leafless trees.

Seeing the Pileated accomplished something I've never done before--I've seen all 7 of New Jersey's woodpeckers in one month (really, 17 days) and pretty much locally too. I know people have done it in one day, but these are difficult times.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

31 species

Canada Goose  21

Mourning Dove  4

Great Blue Heron  1

Black Vulture  1

Turkey Vulture  3

Bald Eagle  1    Flyover Pemberton Lake

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  3    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1

Pileated Woodpecker  2

Eastern Phoebe  1

White-eyed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  1

American Crow  2    Heard

Fish Crow  2

Carolina Chickadee  3    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  4

Purple Martin  2    Flyover Pemberton Lake

Tree Swallow  20

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4

Carolina Wren  3    Heard

European Starling  1

American Robin  1

White-throated Sparrow  2    Heard

Eastern Towhee  1    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  3

Brown-headed Cowbird  6

Pine Warbler  2    Heard

Yellow-rumped Warbler  3

Northern Cardinal  2    Heard