Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve | Reeves Bogs 4/29--Eastern Kingbird, Prothonotary Warbler, Hooded Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler, Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve

Again today I wanted to bird in solitude and a recent post by another birder reminded me that migration quickly slips away, so I better get over to the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve, even if it is in Burlington County and the birds don't do me any "good" in Ocean.

This is a great preserve, deep in the Pine Barrens, yet probably only about 25 minutes from home. As I've mentioned, it is the only place I have been in NJ where, once you're in the middle of it, you can't hear traffic. Last year I started going to it too late, in the summer, and I had promised myself that I'd make it a spring destination this year.

Ovenbird singing

When the cat awoke me at 6 AM, I realized it was raining, so my plans for a dawn visit went away, but by 7 the rain had stopped and I got over there a little after 8. Ovenbirds were cacophonous. They seemed to be singing every 50 feet. I peered into dozens of trees and tangles, but it wasn't until I was making my way back that I finally saw one of the birds.

There is a stream running through the preserve and once I got to that area the birding really picked up. I had reviewed my warbler songs the previous evening, so when I heard "sweet sweet sweet" I started looking for a Prothonotary Warbler and was started when, after a Pine Warbler false alarm, I actually found it. And then I found another, a little distance away at a bridge that goes over the stream. Looking around I saw that this is absolutely perfect Prothonotary habitat, very similar to the spot we always stop at in Belleplain State Forest, with the advantage that no one else is there! Warblers kept me busy; I had 8 species in all, including my first Hooded Warbler (another song with which I refreshed my memory last night), Black-and-white Warblers, and a perfectly plumaged American Redstart male, my first US bird this year (we had one in Mexico last week).

I stick pretty much to the main trail there for two reasons. I don't want to get lost and I don't want to be covered in ticks. The main trail is wide and sandy. Some of the smaller trails are narrow and go through grass and waist-high bushes. I did take the yellow trail on the way back, it horseshoes around from the main trail and back to it, and along it I saw a pair of Wood Ducks briefly splash down into a stream. They flew off when they became aware of my presence. It felt like they were saying, "What the hell is he doing here?"

I walked 2 miles into the preserve and back and managed  26 species:
Wood Duck 2 near box
Turkey Vulture 3
Cooper's Hawk 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
White-eyed Vireo 6
Blue Jay 1 Heard
American Crow 1 Heard
Fish Crow 1 Heard
Carolina Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Ovenbird 20
Black-and-white Warbler 5
Prothonotary Warbler 2 Both singing
Common Yellowthroat 4 All males, a couple singing
Hooded Warbler 1 About 1000 feet beyond bridge
American Redstart 1 Same location as Hooded Warbler, same tree.
Pine Warbler 3
Prairie Warbler 8
Field Sparrow 2 Heard
White-throated Sparrow 1 Heard
Eastern Towhee 10

Eastern Kingbird, Reeves Bogs

I was still feeling energetic, so I drove up to Reeves Bogs, figuring that would give me different sorts of birds. Last time I was there I had figured out where the breaches in some of the dikes were and how to get around them to make a figure 8 walk, but as I made the first loop of the 8, some other habitat looked interesting and I trekked back there. I'm glad I did because into that back bog and Eastern Kingbird swooped and posed on a stick.

Because of the bogs there's more types of habitat there than at Huber, so I had more species in a shorter time, but I certainly wasn't alone. ATV's and dirt bikes were all over the trails. I kept hoping that one wouldn't know where the dikes were broken and fall in but I wasn't lucky enough in that regard. Of course, it is illegal to be running these vehicles on the trails which is part of the state forest, but around here, an off-road vehicle is a sacred as a gun and the rules don't apply. Better, like most places, to be there on a weekday.

My list for Reeves:
29 species
Canada Goose 21 3 goslings
Mute Swan 2
Wood Duck 2 Maple swamp
Mallard 4
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Great Egret 7
Turkey Vulture 4
Belted Kingfisher 2
Eastern Kingbird 1
Blue Jay 1 Heard
American Crow 2
Fish Crow 1 Heard
Purple Martin 1 not mixing with other swallows
Tree Swallow 7
Barn Swallow 3
Carolina Chickadee 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Gray Catbird 2
Ovenbird 2 Heard
Common Yellowthroat 8 all males, chipping, but not singing
Palm Warbler 3 all males, passing through
Pine Warbler 1 male
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Beautiful in breeding plumage
Prairie Warbler 1 On the ground, not singing
White-throated Sparrow 4
Eastern Towhee 2 Maple swamp
Red-winged Blackbird 5 Scattered in bogs and swamps
American Goldfinch 1 Singing