Double Trouble 4/18--Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Summer Tanager + (Undisclosed Location) Barred Owl

Summer Tanager

Double Trouble is hot even if the weather is not. I went back there this morning, in search of more warblers. I started out looking for the Louisiana Waterthrush I had yesterday, to no avail, though I see that someone else finally saw it later in the day. I was making my way back from Ore Pond when I got an alert that the Summer Tanager, which had been found yesterday, after I left, was still in the same location so I hoofed it over there, meeting up with a group of birders I know. I got on the bird almost immediately, but before I could get the photo above, I had to take a lot of shots, most of which turned out to be interesting abstract studies of twigs and bark. Good thing we don't use film anymore!

Summer Tanager is rare for these parts and beautiful bird to find anywhere. It is on the 2nd one I've seen in the county and, while I've heard them in the last year or so down in Cape May county, I don't think I've seen one since I stumbled on one in the parking lot of Horicon Lake a few years ago.

Yellow-throated Warbler (or: Why There is Warbler Neck)

Yellow-rumped Warblers were practically at plague levels, but mixed in with them were the continuing Yellow-throated Warbler, as well as a Prairie Warbler, and, new for the year, Northern Parula and finally, finally, 4 Black-and-white Warblers. My 8th warbler of the day was a "heard only" Common Yellowthroat as I was walking Gowdy Road for the 2nd (or maybe it was the 3rd) time, on my way out of the park in the early afternoon.

Blue Grosbeak

The continuing Blue Grosbeak (which some think is a young female, others an immature male and I toggle between the two) was seen again on the lawn in the village. I also found out where it goes when it's not there because when I stopped to talk to another birder near the sorting house, she pointed out the bird to me in the bog.

Another oddity today was the large number (7) of Snowy Egrets in the bogs. Great Egrets are common at DT, but according to my records, I've only seen Snowy Egret one other time there and that was a single bird.

The day's birding added 4 more year birds to the list. That's 8 in two days at DT, which tells me that migration is officially on. My bonus bird for the day came in the late afternoon when I got a text from one of the birders I'd been hanging out with, asking me if I "needed" Barred Owl. I sure did. She and her husband had one in the in a box they'd put up in the woods behind their house and had good scope views of it. If I wanted to see it (I sure did), here was their address. Bam, I was out the door and 24 minutes later looking at the owl in its box at an undisclosed location. My 2nd owl of the month and 4th for the year. And all of them seen, not just heard.
My Double Trouble list:
40 species
Canada Goose 2
Mallard 4
American Black Duck 1
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 7
Turkey Vulture 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 1 Heard
Merlin 2 Vocalizing in parking lot
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
American Crow 1 Heard
Fish Crow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 4
Purple Martin 5
Tree Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 10
Carolina Chickadee 3
Carolina Wren 2 Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
American Robin 3
Black-and-white Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 1 Heard
Northern Parula 1
Palm Warbler 20
Pine Warbler 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler 50
Yellow-throated Warbler 1 Along trail from sorting house. Was singing today.
Prairie Warbler 1 Singing.
Chipping Sparrow 10 low estimate
Dark-eyed Junco 3
Eastern Towhee 3
Summer Tanager 1 All red with no black on wings.
Blue Grosbeak 1
Red-winged Blackbird 2 Singing
American Goldfinch 1 Singing