Salem County 3/18--Blue-winged Teal, Horned Lark

Mixed blackbird flock somewhere just to the left of
 the middle of nowhere

Mike and I drove down to Salem County to join Scott's trip, which is the equivalent in distance to driving down to Cape May, but instead of arriving at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, you end up slightly to the left of the middle of nowhere. Or, as I like to think of it: Delaware East.

I hardly ever bird down there, due to a combination of distance and unfamiliarity. Checking my records, I hadn't been down there in 3 years.  It can be a great spot and today ranked as pretty good.  The highlight for me was seeing Sandhill Cranes in NJ for the first time outside of Ocean County. There were 3 of the big birds in the Mannington Marsh and we saw and heard what we assume were the same birds (2 of them) from multiple locations.

After meeting at the Wawa in Woodland (what could be bad?) our first stop, where we picked up Eastern Meadowlarks, was on Compromise Road, probably the 2nd best name for a road in NJ, exceeded only by "Unexpected Road" up in Cumberland County. Then it was on to various viewing points in Mannington Marsh where we had the cranes and 14 species of waterfowl, including Tundra Swans and a single drake Red-breasted Merganser which eBird flagged as "rare" I guess for the "late" date.

The 2 year birds I got were at our last stop at the marsh--a nice-looking drake Blue-winged Teal  in with a larg flock of Green-winged Teal and two calling quickly flying by Horned Larks. Eagles abounded at every stop, vultures were as common as pigeons and pigeons...well, who really cares about pigeons?

We ended the day sorting through huge blackbird flocks around pastures, hoping for a rarity (it is a good spot for both Yellow-headed Blackbird, which I have seen there and Brewer's Blackbird, which I have not), but to no avail.

For our various stops I managed 52 species for the day. To show how underbirded Salem County is, that one day total puts me in eBird's county top 10 for the year (for the moment). They were:

Species             First Sighting

Snow Goose   Compromise Rd.

Canada Goose   Compromise Rd.

Mute Swan   Salem River WMA

Tundra Swan   Salem River WMA

Wood Duck   Salem River WMA

Blue-winged Teal   Mannington Marsh

Northern Shoveler   Salem River WMA

Gadwall   Salem River WMA

Mallard   Salem River WMA

American Black Duck   Salem River WMA

Northern Pintail   Supawna NWR

Green-winged Teal   Salem River WMA

Ring-necked Duck   Salem River WMA

Red-breasted Merganser   Mannington Marsh

Great Blue Heron   Compromise Rd.

Great Egret   Salem River WMA

Black Vulture   Compromise Rd.

Turkey Vulture   Compromise Rd.

Northern Harrier   Mannington Marsh

Cooper's Hawk   Salem River WMA

Bald Eagle   Sunset Dr

Red-tailed Hawk   Mannington Marsh

Sandhill Crane   Salem River WMA

Killdeer   Compromise Rd.

Wilson's Snipe   Mannington Marsh

Greater Yellowlegs   Mannington Marsh

Ring-billed Gull   Mannington Marsh

Rock Pigeon   Featherbed Lane WMA

Mourning Dove   Featherbed Lane WMA

American Kestrel   Sunset Dr

Merlin   Featherbed Lane WMA

Blue Jay   Salem River WMA

American Crow   Salem River WMA

Fish Crow   Mannington Marsh

Horned Lark   Mannington Marsh

Tree Swallow   Salem River WMA

Carolina Chickadee   Supawna NWR

Carolina Wren   Salem River WMA

Eastern Bluebird   Sunset Dr

American Robin   Featherbed Lane WMA

Northern Mockingbird   Wawa Woodstown

European Starling   Compromise Rd.

Fox Sparrow   Supawna NWR

White-throated Sparrow   Salem River WMA

Song Sparrow   Salem River WMA

Swamp Sparrow   Salem River WMA

Eastern Towhee   Supawna NWR

Northern Cardinal   Salem River WMA

Eastern Meadowlark   Compromise Rd.

Red-winged Blackbird   Featherbed Lane WMA

Brown-headed Cowbird   Featherbed Lane WMA

Common Grackle   Featherbed Lane WMA