Northern Bobwhite 5/23

Northern Bobwhite
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Standing in the kitchen this morning, not too groggy, I heard a piercing bird call and after a second or so, it penetrated to the birding part of my brain. "Let me hear that again," I said to myself. I heard it again, called Shari, told the cat to shut up, and then she heard it--a Northern Bobwhite, very close by.

From inside the house it was hard to tell from which direction the bird was calling, but once Shari stepped outside she said the bird was up the block. A neighbor walking his dog came by. He had wondered what the bird was that he heard and when Shari told him what we were looking for, he joined in. A few moments later, he found a bird sitting in the middle of our neighbor's tree across the street. It sat there for about 10 minutes "bobwhiting," giving Shari an opportunity to run into the house to get her camera. Having sat for its portrait long enough, it flew across the street to our lawn, disappeared around the corner of the house and presumably hit beneath the bushes. Nice plump little quail. We continued to hear it for another half hour or so.

A bobwhite here is a real surprise to me, although I guess it shouldn't be with the WMA behind the house. With pheasant and turkey, it gives us all three game birds found in Ocean County. An excellent way to start the morning (and believe me, the rest of the day has been downhill from there.)