It's a long boring drive back from Heislerville on the Parkway. I got the idea that I'd break it up with a stop at Amasa Landing Road, which is a peculiar corner of Burlington County. Ocean and Atlantic Counties border each other, but you can't get from one to the other without going through Burlington because where their borders touch is just salt marsh. The Parkway veers into Burlington as you pass from Atlantic then after a few miles goes into Ocean. At exit 50 there is a small pier in the salt marsh that is in Burlington County. It is here that you can get all types of birds supposedly rare in Burlington like Boat-tailed Grackle or some shorebirds. So I thought I might be able to build up my Burlington County list. No go on that because it was high tide and thus no shorebirds or herons, but I did hear, and eventually saw, my FOY Yellow Warbler. Tick.
I got home mid-afternoon and was sitting on our patio with Shari, looking at the feeders when a shape zipped by, hovered at hummingbird feeder (the water of which should really be changed) and then zipped away. Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Tick.
It was finally warm today. And it was relatively still. And it wasn't going to rain. It was, thus, a perfect night for Shari & me to go down to Collinstown Road in Barnegat after dinner at the Stafford Diner. We wanted Chuck-Will's-Widow and that is the perfect place to hear them. We arrived just as dusk was falling and were surprised, slightly to hear the beautiful "ee-o-lay" of a Wood Thrush. Chucks are crepuscular (what a great word) and just before it became dark one started to sing, then another. They were distant, but we were able to hear them fine in the stillness. Driving up the road we heard another that sounded like it was on top of us. This is what date night is like when you're a birder--a dark, isolated road, you're honey next to in the car, and a very loud bird that makes you both happy.
Tick. Tick.
(Recordings of the Chuck and the thrush can be heard here)
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