Palmyra Cove Nature Park 9/6--Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler

Since I missed so many warblers during the Covid Spring, I've been trying to catch them on their way back south. I could try Sandy Hook, but you have to get there early and it's a haul and it's crowded with people pursuing non-avian activities.  The problem with Reed's Road on IBSP is that once you've walked its quarter mile of marine forest back and forth you're done and what if it's a slow day? So, Palmyra, the Burlco migrant trap, is a good choice for me but only on a Sunday morning when traffic is light and it's just a 55 minute drive. 

But Palmyra is a big place and I only know the main trails and not that well. I was fortunate today to meet in the parking lot a couple of birders I know who are extremely knowledgeable about the park. I started out walking with them and soon had no choice but to stick with them because they were bushwhacking parts of the park I had no idea existed and I would have been hopelessly lost trying to find my way back to my car. 

Green Heron

Groups of birders seem to coalesce and split apart naturally at Palmyra so that at one point there were about 8 of us and then 5 and then 4. The smaller the number, the more comfortable I feel. Warblers were in patches. Yesterday, as I've heard all too often in my birding adventures, was great. Today, they said, was just okay. Still, for someone like me whose steady diet of Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Common Yellowthroat gets a little dull, a Magnolia Warbler is a thrill, as were all the other warblers we encountered, especially my 3 year birds: Cape May, Blackburnian, and Chestnut-sided Warblers. Granted, none of them were in their breeding finery and most of them were high up and flitting about maddeningly, but I was able to clap eyes on them long enough to put them on the list. I did miss, twice, Nashville Warbler. It is excruciatingly frustrating when 4 or 5 other people are talking about the bird's field marks and you can't even find it in the locust tree (one reason being you don't know what a locust tree is but even if you did, you'd still not be able to find in the "hole on the right hand side"). At least nobody said, "In the green tree" today. 

Unlike last week, we didn't spend much time at the cove itself but were mostly in the woods. Despite my frustrations and aggravations, I did wind up with a list of 56 species. Without my friends guiding me through the dark woods and theoretical trails I'm sure my list would only be half that.

Canada Goose  6    Flyovers

Wood Duck  1    Heard, Cove

Wild Turkey  10

Mourning Dove  3

Chimney Swift  2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Laughing Gull  100

Herring Gull  15

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Double-crested Cormorant  7

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  1

Green Heron  3

Turkey Vulture  1

Osprey  1

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Belted Kingfisher  1    Heard

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  4

Northern Flicker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  1

Least Flycatcher  1

Great Crested Flycatcher  1

Warbling Vireo  3

Red-eyed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tufted Titmouse  1

Barn Swallow  1

Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  5

Gray Catbird  3

Northern Mockingbird  1

American Robin  2

House Sparrow  2

House Finch  5

American Goldfinch  4

Field Sparrow  4

Baltimore Oriole  1

Common Yellowthroat  1

American Redstart  6

Cape May Warbler  1

Magnolia Warbler  1

Bay-breasted Warbler  1

Blackburnian Warbler  2

Chestnut-sided Warbler  1

Scarlet Tanager  2

Northern Cardinal  1

Blue Grosbeak  1

Indigo Bunting  1

Manasquan River WMA 5/17--Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Blue-winged Warbler

I couldn't abide the idea of not seeing a Blue-winged Warbler this year, so early this morning I went back to the Manasquan River WMA to find one. Not early enough, judging from the other lists I saw from there today, but I did find my target bird, two of them, just about where I would expect to find them. They too must be out of my hearing range because later, walking around with Steve, he heard them in the same spot I had seen them, but they were auditorily invisible to me.

The unintended consequence of the governor shutting down the state parks for 3 weeks was that it forced everyone to look for open spaces to go to. Since the WMAs weren't closed (which would be ne'er nigh impossible) people gravitated to them. And found out how great they are and didn't stop going to them when the parks were reopened (with all kinds of social distancing restrictions), so by about 10 o'clock, the birding became unpleasant in even the remotest parts of the WMA as guys on mountain bikes came zooming by Steve & me on tiny, hilly, dirt path while we were trying to locate a Worm-eating Warbler we'd heard was around. When I got back to the parking lot there were at least a dozen kids and accompanying adults about to take a bike tour of the WMA.

I thought I'd try the plowed field which hardly anyone walks in, just to finish out the day, but, even there, I came across dog walkers and their Golden Retrievers. Never mind Covid-19--I just don't want all these people around me. I did, however, in that field, finally, hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It kind of seeped into my brain and then I had to stop and listen again, and again for the bird's call, since I'll only count a bird by ear if I hear it two times.

Compared to other lists I've seen from today, mine is paltry, but I got what I was looking for:

47 species

Canada Goose  1    Heard

Mourning Dove  2

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1    Heard

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Glossy Ibis  1    Flyover

Turkey Vulture  2

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard

Hairy Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  1    Heard

Great Crested Flycatcher  5

Eastern Kingbird  18

Red-eyed Vireo  10

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  2

Carolina Chickadee  5

Tufted Titmouse  2    Heard

Tree Swallow  5

White-breasted Nuthatch  3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

Gray Catbird  15

Eastern Bluebird  10

Wood Thrush  3    Heard

American Robin  8

Cedar Waxwing  2

American Goldfinch  8

Field Sparrow  10

Song Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  5

Red-winged Blackbird  4

Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Back field

Ovenbird  12

Blue-winged Warbler  2    Back field

Common Yellowthroat  10

Hooded Warbler  1    Male singing

American Redstart  4

Northern Parula  1

Pine Warbler  1    Heard

Prairie Warbler  4

Northern Cardinal  3

Blue Grosbeak  2

Indigo Bunting  2

Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve 5/2--Red-eyed Vireo, Hooded Warbler

The Bridge at the Huber Preserve

With the state and county parks reopening today, I wanted no part of birding there, figuring they would be overrun with Jerseyans yearning to get out. I thought the Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve would be an obscure enough area to walk around. So I was annoyed to find another car in the dirt turnoff at the entrance.

Fortunately the car belonged to a friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. We met at the T that is just before the bridge--he was making his way back having been there since dawn. He doubled back with me for a while as we caught up--from a distance of 6 feet. I'm almost getting used to having conversations at distance that a few months ago would imply body odor; I pity the hard of hearing.

Once again I missed the Louisiana Waterthrush that he had seen earlier but I was happy to hear my first Red-eyed Vireo and first Hooded Warblers--plural on the warblers. I counted 3; there were probably twice that many. With the trees leafing out and thick brush by the streams, you better accept that you're going to be doing a lot of ear birding.

While we were standing on the trail a jogger came by. Until this year, no one jogged at the Huber Preserve. Then a couple just taking a little hike came by (they gave us a wide berth), the man in shorts. Shorts at what could also be called the Huber Tick Preserve! I parted with my friend and walked on hearing lots of Ovenbirds and of course, Prairie Warblers. Where those three other people went I have no idea, but I wasn't about to depart from the wider trails where you can really pick up ticks.

Coming back I saw another couple walking a dog (they were also in shorts) and then as I approached the parking area where the trail is fairly narrow, there were so many people coming in that I was obliged to put on my mask. I probably saw as many people there today as I have seen combined in all the times I have gone there.  I shudder to think what a popular place was like today.

For the walk I had 24 species. On the way home, on the side of Rt 70, I had my first Burlco turkey of the year.

Mourning Dove  1

Herring Gull  1    Flyover

Turkey Vulture  3

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Northern Flicker  1    Heard

Eastern Phoebe  3    Two at the bridge, heard one at the entrance

Great Crested Flycatcher  3

White-eyed Vireo  5

Red-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  4    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Carolina Wren  2

Gray Catbird  1    Heard

Eastern Towhee  10    Heard

Brown-headed Cowbird  1

Ovenbird  20    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  3

Common Yellowthroat  5

Hooded Warbler  3    Heard

Pine Warbler  9

Yellow-rumped Warbler  3

Prairie Warbler  10    Heard

Manahawkin WMA 4/23--Green Heron, Ovenbird

The last time I was at Manahawkin we were just getting news of the lockdown. I knew it was going to be bad, but I don't think anyone at the time realized all the ramifications. It's like when the electricity goes off--it's hard to break the habit of looking for the light switch in the bathroom even though you know there's no power, or picking up the remote on the TV to see what's going on even though in some part of your brain you know the TV doesn't work, or realizing that the house is really quiet because the refrigerator is off. So when you see someone on the trail, it's difficult to remember to keep your distance and how far is 6 feet exactly? I figure if I could fall down flat on my face and not hit the person across the trail from me that's far enough though I'm far from a 6 footer.

This is the long way of saying I finally had enough ambition to drive down to Manahawkin and see what's down there. Since there are no roads, I was fairly confident it wouldn't be a busy as Colliers Mills that last couple of days I've been there. Yesterday at Colliers, I was on a trail far beyond where I've ever seen anyone--one that I hadn't walked on in probably 5 years, yet, coming back to the berm I ran into three guys with their 6 hunting dogs--on a very narrow trail. Discouraging.

Manahawkin blockage.
As the late Pete Bacinski would have said, "Why?" 

Today, as I was pulling into the parking lot I saw one car, which didn't make me happy, but as it turned out, the car was leaving and I knew the driver--she gave me the dope on what she'd seen, so I had some confidence I'd have a decent bird walk. However, this time I was stymied when I got out to the impoundments by a work crew on the trail that runs perpendicular to Stafford Avenue--they were cutting down trees that line the trail between two impoundments; why, I have not idea. Habitat restoration? Habitat destruction. All I know is that it blocked a larg part of my usual walk.

I turned around and went back toward the upland section after detouring a couple of time on trails that run through the phragmites where I found nothing of especial interest. The main impoundment in the back was loaded with Glossy Ibises and both white egrets, but there was nothing new or exotic among them that I could pick out.

Back in the woods I took a trail that I sometimes explore--it is the same trail where last year I rediscovered the Townsend's Solitaire. A couple of months ago I was walking along there, finding some good pockets of birds when I saw a raccoon behind a bush. Raccoons in daylight do not make me happy so I turned around. This time there were no critters on the trail so I continued on it to see where it went, having a feeling that I already knew where it would lead to. It was there along a little creek that I saw my first year bird of the day, a Green Heron which flushed at the sound of my approach and sat for a while in a tree, then flew off as I approached, rendering any chance of a photo futile.

When the trail came out to the path I thought it would I looked to my left and saw another birder. Using my bins I saw it was a friends. I called out to him that I was socially distancing and we warily approached each other and had a conversation across the muddy trail. If I'd fallen flat on my face I would have missed his shoe tops by 6 inches. He also told me that he'd heard an Ovenbird on the main trail, so I eventually wandered off in search of that warbler. I finally heard it after walking back and forth for a while, but I never could locate it visually.

Had the trail not been blocked, I feel that I would have added a few more year birds. Had I gotten there an hour earlier, I feel confident that I would have added a few more year birds. But I'll take what I got on another cold, blustery day in what seems like the lousiest April on record.

Blue-winged Teal

30 species

Canada Goose  2

Mute Swan  2    Nesting, unfortunately

Blue-winged Teal  4

Mallard  1    with teal

Greater Yellowlegs  3

Herring Gull  3

Double-crested Cormorant  8

Great Egret  11

Snowy Egret  10

Green Heron  1    

Glossy Ibis  128

Turkey Vulture  2

Belted Kingfisher  2

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Blue Jay  2    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

Purple Martin  1

Tree Swallow  1

White-breasted Nuthatch  1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

Brown Thrasher  2

American Robin  4

Song Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  4

Red-winged Blackbird  15

Ovenbird  1    Heard

Common Yellowthroat  3

Yellow-rumped Warbler  3

Where to Bird?

Wranglebrook, deep in the woods

Never have I been so happy to have a WMA behind the house as I have been lately. With all state and county parks closed, along with the state forests and many other sites, I'm lucky that I can just walk out the door and get away from the headlines for a while, find some birds, get my steps in.

I see a lot of discussion as to whether this hot spot or that locale is open or not and if so, how crowded is it? My attitude is, if you have to ask, you shouldn't go there. In a way, closing almost everything is counter productive because it just concentrates the joggers, dog walkers, cyclists in the few remaining area, making it not only difficult to socially distance but it ruins the birding as well so as to make it pointless. And the idea is to keep you close to home.

Now I know some roads that I go to where it is unlikely I'll see a soul, but I'm not saying where they are. I may eventually get antsy enough that I'll want to walk there. For the last week or so I have alternated between the WMA and walking the streets of my development over to the power line cut that runs along one edge of it and back around to home. I would suggest power line cuts as a very good alternative to parks and trails. Birds love edges and the cuts have lots of edges, margins, and streams on either side. Lots of varying habitat. Just don't go on my power line cut.

As to the WMA, I have been exploring it more deeply than I ever have in 8+ years we've lived here. A few days ago I took a walk all the way up to Wranglebrook. This is a stream that starts in what I guess is the Crossley Preserve as something of a trickle and winds up behind an industrial park in South Toms River as a large pond-like body of water that is a tributary of the Toms River itself. A few years ago, I figured that if there was a Wranglebrook Road there must be a Wranglebrook itself and set out to find it. Once I did, I rarely went back. It has changed in the intervening years. Where once it was channeled through a culvert under the dirt road, that culvert has cracked and crumbled and now the stream, much more than the thin stream I remember in the summer, floods over the dirt road.

Then yesterday I took a route in the WMA that on a map looked plausible but that I had never done before. I walked a 4 mile loop from my house, past the the pond then, instead of making a right and walking toward the cul de sac on Congasia and turning around (which would be 2 miles out and 2 miles back, I kept going straight and walked on the dirt roads that are the continuations of Wranglebrook and Schoolhouse Road. It is all pine forest except for a few clearings. The clearings tend to produce the more interesting birds, like Field Sparrow, swallows or hunting raptors. Now that I know my way around (literally) I'm more inclined to investigate those bare squares on the map. But yesterday I did have, in one tree, Pine, Palm, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. You take what you can get under the circumstances. I have a life list of 95 species in the WMA, so eventually I will fill in the some of the lacunae on my year list; I keep hoping something really exciting will show up in some unexplored corner of the woods.

Everybody is getting restless. Shari is restless. I know I'm restless. I don't want to be a hypocrite and look askance at some of the lists I'm seeing and then go out and take a drive to Tuckerton, to finally see some shorebirds and terns and waders, but building up my year list in the midst of what Bernie Sanders so eloquently called "a fucking global catastrophe," isn't uppermost in my mind. Maintaining my sanity is and the only way I have ever found to do that is to walk. And walk. And walk. And maybe find a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in a tree where I thought I saw a titmouse.

Manahawkin WMA 3/14--Blue-winged Teal

Of all the problems caused by the coronavirus catastrophe, social distancing is no hardship for me. Been practicing it all my life. So, instead of going on either of the NJ Audubon field trips scheduled for today, I went birding solo.

I started off at the Manahawkin WMA. May as well go there while the trails are mowed, because once they grow over, it is tick heaven. A perfect combination: Corona with Lyme. I knew that a difficult duck for the county had been spotted there a few days ago, and sure enough, in the back impoundment, there were three Blue-winged Teal. They were the last of the ducks to fly out as I approached, leaving only the imperturbable Mute Swans and a single drake Mallard. Most of the ducks must have flown to the front impoundment, because in there I found lots of teal of the green-wing persuasion, black ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and a lingering pintail. But not Blue-winged Teal. Possibly they were hiding in the phragmites (the front impoundment is fresh water), because later in the day they were reported again.

Bye-bye

I was hoping for more, as spring birds seem to be trickling in, but everything else was what you'd expect to see. I drove down to Tuckerton, thinking perhaps a yellowthroat or Osprey would be there but not yet. However, I was happy to find one Great Egret, since it was a county bird. It's risible--in a couple of months there could literally be 100 Great Egrets along the 4 miles of marsh that Great Bay Blvd transits, but today, I got my first one for Ocean County and it seemed like an event. This one, of course, was not cooperative even though I thought I was stealthily approaching it for a photo. I should have just tried a shot through the phrags from a distance instead of my clumsy stalking.

Again, everything else along the boulevard was what you would expect to find though Red-throated Loon and 5 Greater Yellowlegs were not obvious but the result of scanning. Last week there were hundreds of scaup and Brant in the bays. Today I found no scaup and a paltry 5 Brant. One Bald Eagle was on the nest at the end of the road. Again, an expected bird.

I don't know how long the frivolity of birding will be allowed, but until we're all shut in, watching our feeders, I'm going to get out and get 'em while I can.

Wash your hands, sneeze into your elbow, stay healthy.