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Red-headed Woodpecker, Cloverdale Road
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If June was a quiet month, then July, to make an oxymoronic statement, was deafeningly silent. Through all my wanderings during the month, I wasn't able to add one bird to the year list. True, I wasn't spending my time seawatching, where I might have lucked onto a storm-petrel or shearwater, but even if I had been of a mind to chase, there was nothing to chase.
The month had its compensations in the places I birded. I spend a lot of time walking around Whitesbog with my informant where I learned the history, cultivation, and processing of the Elizabeth blueberry and got a refresher course on how to separate Virginia meadowbeauty from Maryland meadowbeauty. As the month progressed, we watched the bogs get discovered by Great Egrets, as they always do this time of year, only they are using the flooded Fenwick bogs instead of the 3 bogs to the east, which are no longer drawn down. With a little luck and some evaporation, I'm hoping that we may get something of a shorebird season in those formerly working bogs (now under water for the last two years to kill girdle worm). So far, only Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers, and Semipalmated Plovers in low numbers have been found feeding in them.
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| Turkey Vulture, Whitesbog |
And I spent a pleasant morning down at Brig with my buddy Bob Auster. It was only my second trip to Brig this year, and while we dipped on most of the rarities that had been reported there (though we did get the
Black-necked Stilts at the Gull Pond), there was a good variety of shorebirds, egrets, and terns to sort through and the greenhead flies were not too bad, with only one painful bite on my elbow.
I trudged around Colliers Mills, I trudged around the cranberry bogs on Dover Road, I trudged around Double Trouble, I even trudged up and down the Union Transportation Trail by Sharon Station because that day I didn't feel like worrying about ticks. I always say that if the birding isn't productive, at least I got my exercise in. At least I got a lot of exercise in July.
For the month, 112 species in 4 counties: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean.
Species
First Sighting
Canada
Goose Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource
Education
Wood Duck Whitesbog
Mallard Whitesbog
American Black
Duck Brig
Wild
Turkey 35 Sunset Rd
Rock
Pigeon Union Transportation Trail
Mourning
Dove Whitesbog
Yellow-billed
Cuckoo Whitesbog
Eastern
Whip-poor-will 35 Sunset Rd
Chimney
Swift Brig
Ruby-throated
Hummingbird 35 Sunset Rd
Clapper
Rail Brig
Black-necked
Stilt Brig
American
Oystercatcher Brig
Black-bellied
Plover Brig
Killdeer Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated
Plover Brig
Short-billed
Dowitcher Brig
Spotted
Sandpiper Horicon Lake
Willet Waretown
Greater
Yellowlegs Lighthouse Center for
Natural Resource Education
Stilt
Sandpiper Brig
Least
Sandpiper Cattus Island County Park
Semipalmated
Sandpiper Brig
Laughing
Gull Whitesbog
American
Herring Gull Cattus Island County Park
Great
Black-backed Gull Brig
Black
Skimmer Brig
Least Tern Brig
Gull-billed
Tern Whitesbog
Caspian
Tern Brig
Forster's
Tern Lighthouse Center for Natural
Resource Education
Common
Tern Brig
Double-crested
Cormorant Lighthouse Center for
Natural Resource Education
White Ibis Waretown
Glossy
Ibis Cranberry Bogs
Black-crowned
Night Heron Manahawkin WMA
Little Blue
Heron Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored
Heron Lighthouse Center for Natural
Resource Education
Snowy
Egret Cranberry Bogs
Green
Heron Whitesbog
Great
Egret Cranberry Bogs
Great Blue
Heron Whitesbog
Black
Vulture Crestwood Village
Turkey
Vulture Whitesbog
Osprey Cattus Island County Park
Cooper's
Hawk Colliers Mills WMA
Bald Eagle Whitesbog
Red-shouldered
Hawk Whitesbog
Red-tailed
Hawk Colliers Mills WMA
Belted
Kingfisher Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed
Woodpecker Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied
Woodpecker 35 Sunset Rd
Downy
Woodpecker 35 Sunset Rd
Hairy
Woodpecker Colliers Mills WMA
Northern
Flicker Whitesbog
Eastern
Wood-Pewee Whitesbog
Willow
Flycatcher Cattus Island County Park
Eastern
Phoebe Whitesbog
Great Crested
Flycatcher Cranberry Bogs
Eastern
Kingbird Whitesbog
White-eyed
Vireo Whitesbog
Eastern
Warbling Vireo Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed
Vireo Double Trouble SP
Blue Jay 35 Sunset Rd
American
Crow 35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow Whitesbog
Common
Raven Cranberry Bogs
Carolina
Chickadee Whitesbog
Tufted
Titmouse Double Trouble SP
Tree
Swallow Whitesbog
Purple
Martin Whitesbog
Northern
Rough-winged Swallow Cranberry Bogs
Barn
Swallow Cranberry Bogs
White-breasted
Nuthatch Whitesbog
Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher Whitesbog
Northern House
Wren Whitesbog
Marsh Wren Cattus Island County Park
Carolina
Wren 35 Sunset Rd
European
Starling Whitesbog
Gray
Catbird Whitesbog
Brown
Thrasher Whitesbog
Northern
Mockingbird Crestwood Village
Eastern
Bluebird Colliers Mills WMA
Veery Double Trouble SP
Wood
Thrush Cranberry Bogs
American
Robin Whitesbog
Cedar
Waxwing Whitesbog
House
Sparrow Crestwood Village
House
Finch 35 Sunset Rd
American
Goldfinch Whitesbog
Chipping
Sparrow 35 Sunset Rd
Field
Sparrow Whitesbog
Seaside
Sparrow Cattus Island County Park
Saltmarsh
Sparrow Cattus Island County Park
Song
Sparrow 35 Sunset Rd
Swamp
Sparrow Whitesbog
Eastern
Towhee Whitesbog
Orchard
Oriole Whitesbog
Red-winged
Blackbird Whitesbog
Brown-headed
Cowbird Union Transportation Trail
Common
Grackle Whitesbog
Ovenbird Whitesbog
Black-and-white
Warbler Whitesbog
Common
Yellowthroat Whitesbog
Northern Yellow
Warbler Lighthouse Center for Natural
Resource Education
Pine
Warbler Double Trouble SP
Prairie
Warbler Whitesbog
Northern
Cardinal 35 Sunset Rd
Blue
Grosbeak Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo
Bunting Union Transportation Trail