Colliers Mills 4/11--Black-and-white Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Warblers, warblers, where are the warblers? I keep hearing about southwest winds, but the warblers aren't landing around here, except for the rare one: another Prothonotary Warbler was found where I wasn't in Ocean County.

However. There is a stretch of road at Colliers Mills that I know produces warblers in the spring so my route today took me along that stretch first. Aside from a nice breeding plumage Yellow-rumped Warbler and the expected Pine Warblers, it wasn't producing until I was almost at the berm parking lot when I heard the distinctive "weesy weesy weesy" of a Black-and-white Warbler. Now, where was it. I pished, even though pishing for most warblers is useless; it gives you something to do while craning your neck, looking in the tree tops. Finally (with someone as impatient as me, "finally" means 3 minutes) the warbler jumped into sight high in a bare tree. I thought there might be two, but the other warbler I was seeing was yet another Pine.

I trekked a good portion of the WMA, venturing past the power line cut to the pond up there. That's usually a good spot for Common Yellowthroat and I did hear one there, a county bird for the year. It looks like this year yellowthroats are going to be harder to see than hear. I also heard my first "drink your teeeeeeeeeeee" from an Eastern Towhee this year--all the other towhees I've heard this year were merely going "chwink."

I had 37 species this morning, not including the trio of domestic mallards that seemed to have taken up permanent residence at the south end of Colliers Mills Lake.
Canada Goose 12
Mallard 7
Mallard (Domestic type) 3
Pied-billed Grebe 1 CM Lake
Great Blue Heron 1 Turnmill Pond
Turkey Vulture 3
Killdeer 1 Pond on Hawkin
Herring Gull 10 f/o
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
American Kestrel 1
Eastern Phoebe 1 Heard, parking lot
Blue Jay 15
Fish Crow 1
Carolina Chickadee 2 Heard
Tufted Titmouse 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1 Heard, parking lot
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 6
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 3
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1 Heard first pond north of power line cut
Pine Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 2 Heard
Field Sparrow 2 Heard
White-throated Sparrow 5
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard, pond north of power line cut
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 2