August Wrap-up--3 States, 7 Year Birds

Shari with a Rumble Pig

Shari & I birded three states this month (four, technically, if you count the House Sparrows I listed at two rest stops in Pennsylvania). Beside New Jersey and Delaware, we spent a couple of days in the Binghamton, NY area where birding was a secondary consideration. Binghamton is the carousel capitol of the country (six in the area, all free), and the Mets have a Double A minor league team there (the Rumble Ponies, which are what merry-go-round horses are called there), plus a funny little zoo. A late friend of mine & I had a theory that any city is interesting for two days, and so it was for Binghamton. But we did get some birding in. Our hotel was on the Chenango River, not far from its confluence with the Susquehanna River. It was peculiar to see Common Mergansers in August on the river, and one morning we spent birding the Binghamton University Nature Refuge where we found Shari's year Pileated Woodpecker and saw a Red-tailed Hawk with a snake in its talons streaming behind it as it flew before landing in a snag and having a meal of it.

I bookended the month with year birds not documented in the blog--a White-faced Ibis at Manahawkin which I probably would never have found in the huge Glossy Ibis flock without some kindly help, and this morning, at Whitesbog, birding with eyes sharper than mine, a Tennessee Warbler, which is just the second one I've seen there.   

In years past I would have spent virtually every day at Whitesbog with the bogs drawn down, but drought & beavers have made it impossible for the farmer to accommodate the birders. However, Union Pond, to which the water has been cut off, has dried up nicely and over the last few days many rare shorebirds have made an appearance there, including, while I was in Delaware, two flyover Hudsonian Godwits! Yesterday, I went there and was lucky enough to see a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, the second one reported there this month, so my wish to see one at Whitesbog was fulfilled. Now the Lower Bog is being pumped out in anticipation of the cranberry harvest mid-month, so I'll be spending more time there, hoping for a September to remember.    

For the month, 144 species:

Counties birded:

Delaware: Kent

New Jersey: Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

New York: Broome

Sandhill Cranes, Bear Swamp Pool, Bombay Hook
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Species                 First Sighting
Canada Goose   Manahawkin WMA
Mute Swan   Manahawkin WMA
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Blue-winged Teal   Manahawkin WMA
Northern Shoveler   Bombay Hook
Gadwall   Bombay Hook
Mallard   Manahawkin WMA
American Black Duck   Manahawkin WMA
Green-winged Teal   Bombay Hook
Common Eider   Island Beach SP
Common Merganser   Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Promenade
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Promenade
Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk   35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift   Whitesbog
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Bombay Hook
Sora   Bombay Hook
Sandhill Crane   Bombay Hook
Black-necked Stilt   Bombay Hook
American Avocet   Bombay Hook
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Island Beach SP
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover   Manahawkin WMA
Marbled Godwit   Bombay Hook
Short-billed Dowitcher   Manahawkin WMA
Long-billed Dowitcher   Manahawkin WMA
Wilson's Snipe   Bombay Hook
Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Lesser Yellowlegs   Manahawkin WMA
Willet   Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs   Manahawkin WMA
Ruddy Turnstone   Island Beach SP
Stilt Sandpiper   Manahawkin WMA
Buff-breasted Sandpiper   Reed Sod Farm
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper   Manahawkin WMA
Pectoral Sandpiper   Manahawkin WMA
Western Sandpiper   Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Laughing Gull   Manahawkin WMA
Ring-billed Gull   Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Promenade
Herring Gull   Manahawkin WMA
Great Black-backed Gull   Manahawkin WMA
Lesser Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Caspian Tern   Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern   Manahawkin WMA
Common Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Reeves Bogs
Brown Pelican   Island Beach SP
American Bittern   Bombay Hook
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Bombay Hook
Little Blue Heron   Manahawkin WMA
Tricolored Heron   Manahawkin WMA
Snowy Egret   Manahawkin WMA
Green Heron   Manahawkin WMA
Great Egret   Manahawkin WMA
Great Blue Heron   Manahawkin WMA
White Ibis   Manahawkin WMA
Glossy Ibis   Manahawkin WMA
White-faced Ibis   Manahawkin WMA
Black Vulture   Union Transportation Trail
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Double Trouble SP
Northern Harrier   Bombay Hook
Cooper's Hawk   Reeves Bogs
Bald Eagle   Reeves Bogs
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Broad-winged Hawk   Bombay Hook
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Pileated Woodpecker   Binghamton University Nature Preserve
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
Merlin   Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon   Bombay Hook
Eastern Wood-Pewee   35 Sunset Rd
Acadian Flycatcher   Manahawkin WMA
Willow Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher   Manahawkin WMA
Eastern Kingbird   Manahawkin WMA
White-eyed Vireo   Whitesbog
Red-eyed Vireo   Manahawkin WMA
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Black-capped Chickadee   Ross Park Zoo
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Horned Lark   Reed Sod Farm
Bank Swallow   Bombay Hook
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Purple Martin   Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Whitesbog
Barn Swallow   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Beach Ave
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog
House Wren   Whitesbog
Marsh Wren   Manahawkin WMA
Carolina Wren   Whitesbog
European Starling   Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Catbird   35 Sunset Rd
Brown Thrasher   Double Trouble SP
Northern Mockingbird   Manahawkin WMA
Eastern Bluebird   Whitesbog
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
Cedar Waxwing   Reeves Bogs
House Sparrow   Island Beach SP
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Manahawkin WMA
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog
Bobolink   Bombay Hook
Orchard Oriole   Manahawkin WMA
Baltimore Oriole   Whitesbog
Red-winged Blackbird   Manahawkin WMA
Common Grackle   35 Sunset Rd
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Northern Waterthrush   Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Tennessee Warbler   Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat   Manahawkin WMA
American Redstart   Reeves Bogs
Yellow Warbler   Reeves Bogs
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak   Colliers Mills WMA

George Johnson Park

Bombay Hook 8/27-8/29--Black-necked Stilt, Marbled Godwit, American Bittern, Bobolink

Black-necked Stilt
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Shari & I drove down to Delaware on Tuesday, so we'd be on time for Scott's Delaware trip which met early on Wednesday morning at Bombay Hook.  On Tuesday afternoon we made a quick run around three of the impoundments with discouraging results, which is why Scott times the trips to the tides, because Wednesday morning the shorebirds were abundant in Raymond and Shearness Pools.  

It is dizzying to be confronted with a couple of thousand shorebirds. I can tick off the easy ones--Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, and I'm pretty sure those are all Short-billed Dowitichers, but no, hear that "Keek?" That's a Long-billed Dowitcher and I'll let Scott find it, because unless I'm right on top of one, I'm blind to the subtle field marks that distinguish one dowitcher from the other. Same story, only more so, with Western Sandpipers versus the much more common Semipalmated. 

And that's how we spent the first hour or so of the trip. But I did get my first year bird there as a couple of Bobolinks were popping in and out of the vegetation along the edge of the pool. At this time of year, Bobolinks have molted and are not particularly interesting birds, but I'll take it. 

The second year bird was much more exciting.  On the return trip riding along the edge of Shearness, Shari and I saw a big brown bird flying along toward us and before we could get a good look at it, it dived down into the reeds. The whole caravan halted, and Scott came back to say that it was an American Bittern. "What a lousy look," I thought to myself, but as it happened, the bird had landed right where we had stopped the car and someone was able to find it among the reeds--almost perfectly camouflaged, but not quite.  Not only was it a year bird, but it is also flagged as rare, and it was the first American Bittern Shari or I had ever seen in Delaware, adding to our state list (Delaware is #3 behind NJ & NY, of course.) That day we also added to our state list with a Broad-winged Hawk (also rare) seen hovering above the parking lot and, on a trip to Port Mahon Road a little south of the refuge, we saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull, also a state bird. It is surprising that lacunae you can have on your list in a place you go to fairly often.  And of course, we had American Avocets in good numbers and killer looks
at two Sandhill Cranes in Bear Swamp Pool, so it was a pretty successful day. 

American Avocets, Semipalmated Plovers

Sandhill Crane
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Greater Yellowlegs, Sora
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Today was even more productive. After another hour or so sorting through thousands of shorebirds and dipping on a reported Baird's Sandpiper (rare and to me, totally unexciting because of its blandness) we made our way to Shearness Pool where someone pointed out a little bird foraging next to a Greater Yellowlegs at the edge of a mudflat. The little bird turned out to be a Sora, and elusive rail that is always a treat to see. The Sora kept disappearing around a point of grass and no one could get a decent picture of it. Shari, trying to get a better angle, saw another bird standing in a gap in the vegetation, pointed it out to Carol who confirmed her suspicion that it was a Black-necked Stilt--Shari wasn't sure because the legs weren't bubble-gum pink due to it being an immature bird--but still, a year bird and one we always hope to see at Bombay Hook, though they aren't nearly as easy to find as the avocets.

After lunch the tide had gone out, which meant that the shorebirds had dispersed from the impoundments, but there was some action on the Leatherberry Flats across from Shearness. Linda had a peculiar bird but before she could get a good look at it the bird took off--Scott called out Marbled Godwit and I eventually saw it flying and again thought "What a lousy look," but happily the bird set down and, though it was distant, we all get good scope views of it. That was another bird that managed to avoid me this year.  

Three trips to Bombay Hook and an excursion to Port Mahon Road (advice: be careful of the utility pole in the middle of the road) got us 77 species. They were:

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mallard
American Black Duck
Green-winged Teal
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Clapper Rail
Sora
Sandhill Crane
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Marbled Godwit
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Bank Swallow
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Field Sparrow
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Yellowthroat
Blue Grosbeak

Reed's Sod Farm 8/25--Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper with Semipalmated Plover

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.

                  --W.C. Fields

I've always found Fields' advice to be sensible, especially when it comes to chasing birds (which are, after all, I keep reminding myself, just birds), so I must have been feeling damn foolish this morning since I drove up to Reed's Sod Farm for the third time in a little over a week, looking for elusive "grasspipers." My first two tries last week were fruitless, and on my third try this morning the only "interesting" birds I found was a small flock of Horned Larks, on the dirt, no surprising for a species that seems to love the crappiest ground available. I walked the length of Herbert Road and up York Road to look at more harvested dirt when the local bird maven pulled up and told me I was searching the wrong place. The bird I was looking for had been seen most of the time behind me, at the corner of Herbert & York. I walked back there and found a photographer who had seen the bird earlier and was waiting for it to reappear. 

If there is one thing I really hate doing, it's standing on York Road with traffic whizzing within inches of my ass, waiting for a bird to show up. I stood there as long as I could stand it then hoisted my scope and left. "It is only a bird," I said aloud. I walked back to my car, which was parked in the Union Transportation Trail lot on Sharon Road, stowed the scope and walked the trail for a while. Sometimes I find notable birds along that converted railbed, but today was not one of those days. 

So I decided to look again--four times, I'm not usually that persistent. I drove down to the corner of Herbert & York and saw, once again, many, many Killdeer, but not my desired species. But I had passed two birders on Herbert, one with a scope, one with a camera. Looking at the photographer I could tell they had the bird--there is a way photographers look at the preview screens on their cameras that signals a good bird--they peer at the screen and fiddle with the controls. So, I drove back up there and asked the guy with the scope if they'd had any luck--he waved me back toward where I'd been standing. "It must be an angle thing," I thought. The photographer was a little more helpful and with my scope I found the Buff-breasted Sandpiper running along in the relatively high grass--it was an angle thing, since the slightly higher ground I was standing on gave me a view above the sod. But it was too far away for a picture, so I walked down almost to York, again, and there I was able to take the poor photographs you see here. 

With Killdeer in upper left corner.

Now, I would rather have seen this bird at Whitesbog (where, when the bogs are drawn down, they appear annually), but this year the bogs are full because of water worries. Actually, I rather have seen this bird in Ocean County, where I have only recorded it once (on the Ocean County side of Whitesbog when Big Tank was empty). Actually, I'd rather see this bird in my backyard, because, frankly, chasing after birds is losing its appeal. But, with all that, I'm still glad I got the bird, damn fool that I am. 

#100

I went outside to check for the mail (still not here) and heard an unfamiliar cheeping above me. I looked up and saw 3 Purple Martins flying overhead, which explained my confusion, since those are the first martins I've seen or heard at our house in the almost 13 years (August 15) that we've been living here and our 100th backyard bird. Martins like water and the closest water to us is about a mile away in the WMA. We'd been stuck on 99 for more than 2 years since a couple of Laughing Gulls flew over the house in May of '22. It's Even Number Syndrome; #101 won't seem nearly as significant. 

July Recap--A Meager 7 Year Birds

Tricolored Heron, Manahawkin WMA

I was happy to see that a couple of birders went to Whitesbog yesterday afternoon and re-found the Little Blue Heron I reported in the morning, because I hate to report a rarity without any photographic or audio back-up, even if the rarity is not so rare. On one of the lists the birder put in his comments, "Great find by Larry Z." While I appreciate the compliment, it wasn't a such a great discovery. 

A birder standing on a windswept beach in January, going through a huge flock of gulls and pulling out a Glaucous Gull, that's a good find. Identifying a California Gull--that's a great find. Or a birder standing on a dike at Brig in summer, fighting off the greenhead flies, scanning thousands of sandpipers to find a few Western Sandpipers is a good find. Finding a Red-necked Stint or Curlew Sandpiper in the ever-shifting flock--that's a great find. Or a birder on a pelagic spotting an incredibly rare Bermuda Petrel--that's a great find. Or a birder who sees a relatively nondescript flycatcher and realizes that it's a Western Flycatcher in New Jersey--that's a great find.  Those birders have patience and skill in abundance, the former of which I lack completely, the latter of which I have a modicum. So, me coming across a slightly out-of-range bird that I've seen hundreds of times--to paraphrase Bob Dylan, "I just happened to be there, that's all." 

Greater Scaup, Island Beach

Despite only adding 7 birds to the year list, some of those birds were choice, especially yesterday's Broad-winged Hawk, and the Sedge Wren at Laurel Run Park. The other 5 new birds for the year came were the result of two trips to Brig--all shorebirds except for a Least Bittern at the Gull Pond. In the "rare but not new" category there was an out of season Greater Scaup at the Barnegat Inlet, a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks in Burlco & Ocean, and Grasshopper Sparrows at Laurel Run which peculiarly get flagged as rare in the summer. 

For the month I tracked down 135 species, mostly bouncing around my close-by spots--Whitesbog, Reeves Bogs, Double Trouble, the cranberry bogs in South Toms River, Colliers Mills and Island Beach. 

Counties birded: Atlantic, Burlington, Ocean

Species              First Sighting
Canada Goose   Wells Mills Park
Mute Swan   Cedar Run Dock Rd.
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
Mallard   Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck   Brig
Greater Scaup   Island Beach SP
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   South Toms River
Mourning Dove   Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo   Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Blvd
Virginia Rail   Whitesbog
American Avocet   Brig
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Brig
Killdeer   Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover   Brig
Piping Plover   Island Beach SP
Whimbrel   Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Blvd
Long-billed Dowitcher   Brig
Spotted Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper   Franklin Parker Preserve
Lesser Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd
Willet   Island Beach SP
Greater Yellowlegs   Great Bay Blvd
Ruddy Turnstone   Island Beach SP
Stilt Sandpiper   Brig
Sanderling   Island Beach SP
Least Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Pectoral Sandpiper   Brig
Western Sandpiper   Brig
Semipalmated Sandpiper   Brig
Laughing Gull   Cloverdale Farm
Ring-billed Gull   Brig
Herring Gull   Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer   Great Bay Blvd
Least Tern   Island Beach SP
Gull-billed Tern   Brig
Forster's Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Tern   Island Beach SP
Royal Tern   Island Beach SP
Common Loon   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Cranberry Bogs
Brown Pelican   Great Bay Blvd
Least Bittern   Brig
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron   Brig
Tricolored Heron   Cattus Island County Park
Snowy Egret   Great Bay Blvd
Green Heron   Whitesbog
Great Egret   Island Beach SP
Great Blue Heron   Cloverdale Farm
Glossy Ibis   Island Beach SP
Black Vulture   Jumping Brook Preserve
Turkey Vulture   Whitesbog
Osprey   Cloverdale Farm
Cooper's Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Bald Eagle   Brig
Red-shouldered Hawk   Reeves Bogs
Broad-winged Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher   Reeves Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Downy Woodpecker   Wells Mills Park
Hairy Woodpecker   Reeves Bogs
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
Peregrine Falcon   Brig
Eastern Wood-Pewee   Whitesbog
Willow Flycatcher   Island Beach SP
Eastern Phoebe   Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher   Whitesbog
Eastern Kingbird   Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo   Wells Mills Park
Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo   Wells Mills Park
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   Whitesbog
Common Raven   Colliers Mills WMA
Carolina Chickadee   Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse   Cloverdale Farm
Bank Swallow   Brig
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Purple Martin   Cedar Run Dock Rd.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Reeves Bogs
Barn Swallow   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   Whitesbog
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Whitesbog
House Wren   35 Sunset Rd
Sedge Wren   Laurel Run Park
Marsh Wren   Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Wren   35 Sunset Rd
European Starling   Whitesbog
Gray Catbird   Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher   Cloverdale Farm
Northern Mockingbird   Whitesbog
Eastern Bluebird   Wells Mills Park
Veery   Wells Mills Park
Wood Thrush   Whitesbog
American Robin   Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing   Whitesbog
House Sparrow   Cedar Run Dock Rd.
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   Whitesbog
Grasshopper Sparrow   Laurel Run Park
Chipping Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow   Cranberry Bogs
Seaside Sparrow   Island Beach SP
Saltmarsh Sparrow   Great Bay Blvd
Song Sparrow   Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Whitesbog
Yellow-breasted Chat   Brig
Orchard Oriole   Cranberry Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird   Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird   Cloverdale Farm
Common Grackle   Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP
Ovenbird   Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler   Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat   Whitesbog
Yellow Warbler   Island Beach SP
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler   Whitesbog
Scarlet Tanager   Jumping Brook Preserve
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak   Cloverdale Farm
Indigo Bunting   Colliers Mills WMA

Royal Terns, Island Beach

Whitesbog 7/30--Broad-winged Hawk

I saw this bird at 8:22 this morning on a path that parallels the entrance road to Whitesbog. I didn't find out that I had a year bird until 4:17 this afternoon when one of my Burlco friends, looking at my eBird list, pointed out in a message that it wasn't the Cooper's Hawk I assumed it was, but rather, a Broad-winged Hawk. 

The bird was flying through the woods along the path and the only picture I got was the one above. It didn't look quite right for a Coop to me (I had seen one earlier mobbed by crows on the runway near Ditch Meadow) but Broad-winged Hawk is flagged as rare, and, without being able to the band on the tail or the underwings, I defaulted to the "infrequent" bird rather than the rarity.  All this is a roundabout way of saying that I'm pretty lousy when it comes to hawks that I only see once in a while. Every birder misidentifies birds, but it is embarrassing when you're the birder doing the misidentifying. It also leads me to wonder what other rarities I've missed along the way.

But that capped off a good morning at Whitesbog--not as good as I would hope at this time of year, when in the past the bogs would have started to be drawn down. This year, like last year, it doesn't look as if the farmer can afford to do the birding community the favor of turning the bogs to mud---a combination of little rain this summer and beavers damming up the source of a lot of his water has made the water in the bogs too precious to just drain away down Cranberry Run. We might get lucky later in the month if he has to pump out one of the bogs, but as of now, any mud I'm seeing is due to evaporation. So far this summer only the most common shorebirds have been seen there--Least Sandpaper, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, though I did have a Semipalmated Plover fly overhead around Union Pond. 

The two birds that I got excited about before the hawk were a Virginia Rail calling from a wetlands across from the Upper Bog (it's the first Virginia Rail I've had on the Burlco side of Whitesbog) and an immature Little Blue Heron that I saw standing in a Union Pond then watched fly over the road, circle the Middle Bog and then fly back over Union and...gone. Another half mile up the road in Ocean County and LBHE would just be flagged as infrequent--in Burlco it's "rare." 

For the morning, 44 species.

Canada Goose  11
Wood Duck  3
Mallard  7
Mourning Dove  2
Virginia Rail  1     Kek kek kek across from Upper Bog
Semipalmated Plover  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper  4
Little Blue Heron  1     
Green Heron  3
Cooper's Hawk  1     Chased by crows on landing strip
Broad-winged Hawk  1     
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee  5
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  15
White-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  9
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  60
Purple Martin  10
Barn Swallow  6
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  3
Gray Catbird  20
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  6
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  10
Swamp Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  15
Orchard Oriole  1     Corner of Triangle Field
Red-winged Blackbird  15
Common Yellowthroat  8
Prairie Warbler  1

Laurel Run Park 7/24--Sedge Wren

Sedge Wren

I've heard more Sedge Wrens than I've seen and the ones I've seen have been distant, brief, unphotographed looks, so, when the one reported at Laurel Run Park in Burlco stuck around for a third day, I got myself out there early this morning. The bird was being seen in the northwest corner of the park--technically just outside the park on the adjoining farm property and I walked directly there. I heard its bubbly song immediately upon getting in the vicinity. Interestingly, the Merlin app identified it as a Carolina Wren, because I suppose, that's the closest it could get with a bird in the New Jersey "pack" I have loaded onto it (and another example of why to heed Cornell's warning not to take what it returns as gospel). I saw the bird naked eye, then had a bit of a hard time finding it in my bins until I realized I was looking too far out into the field. The bird was singing in a little bush about 15 feet away from me. 

Grasshopper Sparrow on the site of a future soccer field

Laurel Run is one of the few areas of grassland extant around here, the place to go for Grasshopper Sparrow if you can't get onto the Lakehurst base, and home to many grassland loving birds like Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and the occasional Dickcissel, so naturally, there are plans to mow it all down and create lawns and soccer fields. Something there is about a suburban municipality that can't stand to see "unused" land and feels compelled to turn it into an "active" recreational area rather than the passive activity of watching nature take its course. And, as Shari pointed out to me, most of the time lawns and soccer fields go unused too--in the winter, in the rain, at night--while wildlife uses the grasslands all the time 24/7, 365. Habitat loss is a major factor in decreasing bird populations, and I can't understand the rationale of developing land for housing and industry (though not really), but destroying habitat for lawns, which are green deserts? It's just wrong and worse, any argument you make to someone who wants to "develop" a property will sound like Klingon to them. 

I circled the one mile loop 3 times this morning. This is what I found:

24 species
Canada Goose  3
Mourning Dove  15
Green Heron  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Willow Flycatcher  1     Fitz-bew
Blue Jay  2
Sedge Wren  1     
Carolina Wren  2
European Starling  30
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  3
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2
Grasshopper Sparrow  4     Resident here
Chipping Sparrow  4
Field Sparrow  6
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  1
Northern Cardinal  1
Blue Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  1