Great Swamp NWR 4/1--Rusty Blackbird

Rusty Blackbird, Great Swamp NWR
Photo: Mike Mandracchia

Having dried out from yesterday's soaker, Mike & I went out again today, this time heading north. For the record, we did not play any April Fools jokes on each other.

We went to the Great Swamp with two birds in mind and with a little work got them both: A few Rusty Blackbirds (one of those birds on its way out until winter rolls around again), and Black-capped Chickadee, a bird that rarely crosses south of 1-195 and one that, while I had it for the year, was not on my Jersey list.

Mike found a rusty pretty quickly in a flock of distant icterids at the visitor's center, using the scope of another birder, but, while I saw the bird he was talking about, all it was to me was a dark bird. The lack of epaulets was not enough for me and I couldn't see its pale iris, so I wasn't going to count that one. However, soon enough we found a small flock of blackbirds on the ground and one was close enough for me to see its eye and shape. Mike managed to get a decent photograph of it despite it foraging behind some stalks of vegetation.

The chickadee we heard a little while later, a much slower call, than our Carolinas. Later, at Schermann-Hoffman, we saw a couple at the feeders--they seem to me cleaner and brighter than our southern chickadees and in size, despite being only a 1/2" bigger, they are comparative bruisers.

Then we decided to start working our way south, but first we made a stop in Franklin Township, hoping to get the Sandhill Cranes that have been hanging out there for years. This must have been my 5th or 6th try for those cranes and I'm still batting zero. Those cranes are the reason Shari & I found the lapwings 4 years ago--I was so sick of driving up to Somerset County to look for them that we drove to New Egypt where a couple were reported and stumbled upon the lapwings instead. (And eventually the cranes did fly in; New Egypt is the only place in NJ I've ever seen them.) We did, however see a beautiful little American Kestrel hovering right beside the car.

After that we headed to the coast, working our way down south from South Amboy, where the Northern Gannets were putting on a beautiful show, glowing white in the sky, down to Lake of the Lilies in our home county with stops at most of the little lakes, ponds, and ocean overlooks in between. For the day we came up with 67 species birding 5 counties, not a bad way to start the month.

Species             First Sighting

Brant   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Canada Goose   GSP MM 88

Mute Swan   Lake Takanassee

Wood Duck   Great Swamp NWR

Gadwall   Manasquan

American Black Duck   Great Swamp NWR

Mallard   GSP MM 88

Northern Shoveler   Silver Lake and Ferruggiaro Park

Green-winged Teal   Great Swamp NWR

Ring-necked Duck   Great Swamp NWR

Greater Scaup   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Lesser Scaup   Silver Lake and Ferruggiaro Park

Black Scoter   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Bufflehead   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Hooded Merganser   Great Swamp NWR

Red-breasted Merganser   Allenhurst

Ruddy Duck   Silver Lake and Ferruggiaro Park

Common Loon   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Pied-billed Grebe   Silver Lake and Ferruggiaro Park

Horned Grebe   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Northern Gannet   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Double-crested Cormorant   Sylvan Lake

Great Blue Heron   Great Swamp NWR

Great Egret   Wreck Pond

Black Vulture   Great Swamp NWR

Turkey Vulture   Great Swamp NWR

Osprey   Osborn Pond

Red-shouldered Hawk   Great Swamp NWR

Red-tailed Hawk   Osborn Pond

American Coot   Lake Takanassee

Killdeer   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Sanderling   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Greater Yellowlegs   GSP MM 88

Laughing Gull   Deal Lake

Ring-billed Gull   Seven Presidents Park

Herring Gull   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Great Black-backed Gull   Seven Presidents Park

Mourning Dove   Great Swamp NWR

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Great Swamp NWR

Downy Woodpecker   Great Swamp NWR

Northern Flicker   Great Swamp NWR

American Kestrel   Mettlers Rd.

Eastern Phoebe   Great Swamp NWR

Blue Jay   Great Swamp NWR

American Crow   Great Swamp NWR

Fish Crow   Wawa-Jackson

Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd

Black-capped Chickadee   Great Swamp NWR

Tufted Titmouse   Great Swamp NWR

White-breasted Nuthatch   Great Swamp NWR

Carolina Wren   Great Swamp NWR

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Great Swamp NWR

Eastern Bluebird   Great Swamp NWR

American Robin  Great Swamp NWR

Northern Mockingbird   Seven Presidents Park

European Starling   Wawa-Jackson

Chipping Sparrow   Great Swamp NWR

Field Sparrow   Great Swamp NWR

Dark-eyed Junco   Great Swamp NWR

Song Sparrow   Great Swamp NWR

Northern Cardinal   Great Swamp NWR

Red-winged Blackbird   Great Swamp NWR

Rusty Blackbird   Great Swamp NWR

Common Grackle   Great Swamp NWR

Brown-headed Cowbird   Great Swamp NWR

House Finch   Seven Presidents Park

House Sparrow   Wawa-Jackson