Aside from listing some backyard birds yesterday, just to keep my eBird streak going, I had no desire to go out after the marathon of the WSB. Today, after more pussy cat business in Forked River and a trip to the dump, I decided to take it easy and try to find the King Rail reported for the 2nd year in a row at Mercer Corporate Park. It was just about this time last year that we saw it there. It turned out to be a case of dip on one bird, find another.
When I arrived, Scott and Linda were already there, and they quickly disabused me of any notion of finding the rail. Not heard or seen by them. However, Scott told me that they'd heard the Least Bittern. Least Bittern is the first rarity that was found a MCP. It sort of put the little place on the birding map. Now, I've seen a few Least Bitterns, including one last year at MCP, but I'm sure I've never heard one. So when Scott heard the bird again I listened hard. Apparently, I can hear low sounds because I was able to almost immediately hear the "coo coo coo" of the bittern.
Had I been on my own, I'd have probably thought it was a Black-billed Cuckoo, though I hope that I would also realize that a marsh would be a pretty odd place for a cuckoo. Nevertheless, after hearing it call multiple times at two locations around the marshy pond (as opposed to the open pond in the front), I was willing to count it as a year bird.
For a tiny patch of water and fields, hard by the Turnpike, the "park" gets a remarkable amount of birds. I wasn't really birding very hard there and here's what I came up with just standing in a few place in the road:
28 species
Canada Goose 40
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Least Bittern 1
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Rock Pigeon 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Northern Flicker 1
Willow Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 3
Warbling Vireo 1 Heard
Purple Martin 1
Tree Swallow 15
Barn Swallow 5
American Robin 20
Gray Catbird 2
European Starling 10
Northern Waterthrush 1 Heard
Yellow Warbler 1 Heard
Song Sparrow 1 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Then, because I hadn't been there in a while, I drove over to the northern end of the Union Transportation Trail. It was already 1 o'clock, so I had low expectations, but virtually the first bird I saw there was a Blackpoll Warbler and birds seemed to be present every 100 yards or so on my two mile walk. I always think of the UTT has a good place for Indigo Bunting and they didn't disappoint today. In all I had 39 species, which I consider great for a midday stroll.
Canada Goose 23
Wood Duck 2 Flushed from reeds in Assunpink Creek
Turkey Vulture 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1 In bare field
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
White-eyed Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 1 Heard
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 2
Tree Swallow 2
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
Wood Thrush 1 Heard singing in Assunpink woods
American Robin 8
Gray Catbird 10
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 20
Ovenbird 3 Heard
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 5
Yellow Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 2
Indigo Bunting 4
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
Common Grackle 5
American Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 4
Since I have no photos of birds today, how about some pictures of abandoned cars by the side of the path. It reminds me of my days birding the salt marshes in Brooklyn:
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| VW |
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| Truck |
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