Brig 6/15--Yellow-breasted Chat

I know it's irrational, but my trip down to Brig early this morning felt like cheating, as if I was being disloyal to a birding hot spot. But after three trips to the tick-infested fields around the Assunpink Navigation Field with no Yellow-breasted Chat to show for the miles of walking I put in, I decided to shift venues. In the words of W.C. Fields, "No sense making a fool of yourself." I know there are chats at Assunpink--two were reported today--but this year I just can't find them.

I'd heard from Mike, Pete, and Bob that Yellow-breasted Chats were singing (if you want to call "Blat-blat-blat" singing) in the upland section of the Wildlife Drive at Brig. The directions to the spot were precise. All 3 of them had heard them there, multiple times. But I didn't just want to hear them.

I arrived at Brig at 6:40 AM and instead of driving the loop, I walked the road starting at the exit. It is only about a mile to the grasslands area of the trail. Just as I emerged from the woods, I became aware of a "song," sounding something like a crazed mockingbird, or a mimid with no talent, and I became aware that I'd stumbled on a chat already, about 1/4 mile from where I thought I'd start searching. I heard the constant chattering of the bird and even caught a glimpse of it as it moved around in the small trees in the field. Well, I had it on the list, with a brief sighting, but I wanted more for my efforts.

I walked up the road, past the entrance to the Refuge Overlook (the Experimental Pond to old-timers) to the sign that explains "What Happened Here?" (they took a hydro-axe and cut everything down to make habitat for grasslands birds). Which seems to have worked because I immediately heard another chat, this one higher in an oak. I pished and pished and moved around the tree, peering up at different angles, trying to keep the sun from blinding me. I could see the bird moving around but all I'd catch would be a tail or flank. Finally, after about 5 minutes (it always seems like hours when you're trying to get the bird to come out) the chat perched on a branch, gave me a long sequence of blats and chats and I was happy as I viewed it in my binoculars. Finding it in the view finder of my camera was another, unsuccessful story.

I walked back to the car and started the loop. I figured everything else was going to be gravy today--this is a dull time of year at Brig--plenty of birds, but nothing unusual. Shorebirds, except for oystercatchers and Willets are gone. There are plenty of Willets and they turn up everywhere--in the marshes, on the roads,

on the antennae of the weather station

on signs and flying overhead calling pee-willet constantly.

Common Tern

Terns were around, mostly Forster's Terns, but I had a couple of Caspian Terns at the dogleg, a Common Tern at the Northeast Corner which is the only place you'll find them at Brig, and a couple of Gull-billed Terns toward the end of the north dike.

Gull-billed Terns

I was glad I got the chat early, because when I came to the spot in my car, it was nowhere in evidence. However, when I parked at the Refuge Overlook, I heard and then saw a chat flying in the brush.  Whether this was a third one or the same bird from a couple of hundred yards away I don't know. I left my count at two; I only need one. 

Finally, the other interesting scene I encountered was a flicker nest along the upland section of road, with a begging juvenile sticking its head out of the hole and the adult flying in to feed it. Something I'd never seen before.

Immature Northern Flicker, waiting for food

Because I spend a lot of time walking while I'm there, it took me 6 hours to accumulate 55 species. They were:

Canada Goose 220
Mute Swan 12
Mallard 25
American Black Duck 1 Gull Pond
Double-crested Cormorant 15
Great Blue Heron 2 Gull Pond
Great Egret 30
Snowy Egret 50
Glossy Ibis 4
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 15 each with its own photographer
Clapper Rail 1
American Oystercatcher 2
Willet 50 estimate
Laughing Gull 250
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 20
Gull-billed Tern 2 North dike
Caspian Tern 2
Common Tern 1 NE corner
Forster's Tern 50
Black Skimmer 50
Mourning Dove 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2 Heard
Willow Flycatcher 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 3 Heard
Eastern Kingbird 4 Along upland trail
White-eyed Vireo 2 Heard
Blue Jay 1 Heard
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 3
Purple Martin 15
Tree Swallow 20
Barn Swallow 7 Leeds Eco-trail
Carolina Chickadee 1 Heard
Tufted Titmouse 2
House Wren 1 Heard
Marsh Wren 3 Heard
Carolina Wren 2 Heard
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 17
Common Yellowthroat 6 Singing
Yellow Warbler 3
Pine Warbler 1 Heard Jen’s Trail
Seaside Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 2 Heard
Eastern Towhee 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Northern Cardinal 2 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Upland section.
Boat-tailed Grackle 1 NE Corner
American Goldfinch 2

Eastern Kingbird