Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve | Burrs Mill Brook 5/18--Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatcher, Bank Swallow, Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

I scouted the Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve this morning, because I have an old friend coming down next week leading a trip for the Brooklyn Bird Club and they want to see Prothonotary Warbler. As the Huber Preserve is the best and easiest place to search for one, I suggested we meet there. My records show that I've had PROW there multiple times in late May, and in April I had a couple, but you never know. 

I arrived at 6:06 and before I swung my feet out of the car I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, so I was off to a good start. Walking up the entrance trail I also heard my first Scarlet Tanager of the year, but I couldn't find that one. Along the way all the usual warblers were singing: Hooded, Black-and-white, Prairie (natch), yellowthroats, Ovenbirds...The good news is that the Prothonotary Warblers are still there. They nest in the bushes along the stream. The bad news is that it took some work to get one to come out. 

Red-headed Woodpecker

I met again a birder I know from Whitesbog and he told me that the dreaded Yellow Trail, where I once picked up 28 ticks on my shoes, had been cleared and widened, so after we split up, I took a walk on it and came out apparently unscathed and with an Acadian Flycatcher added to the year list. The Yellow Trail is an horseshoe that begins and ends on the White Trail. It dumps you out just before Gum Spring which flows over the White Trail. Before turning back to the entrance, I figured I might as well look in the swamp that the spring flows into. Immediately I heard a Red-headed Woodpecker and with some patience was able to get one to fly toward me and land on a dead tree. Red-headed Woodpeckers are flagged as rare in Burlco, though I can think of more places there to find one than I can in Ocean County where they are "expected." Another RHWO was calling, and it too soon flew in. Since this is one of the few woodpeckers that is not sexually dimorphic, I don't know if it was a pair or a couple of males vying for territory. As a bonus, as I was leaving the swamp, I heard and finally saw a Scarlet Tanager. For a big, bright, red bird, they can be very difficult to see, high up and hiding in the foliage. Hence the rather unsatisfactory photo at top. 

Summer Tanager

Just before I reached the parking area, I heard a call that was new to me. I opened up Merlin and returned Summer Tanager. Not a completely outlandish identification (I've actually had them there before), but you have to be Reaganesque with Merlin: Trust But Verify. I walked off the path a few feet and happily, this section of the woods hadn't completely leafed out, so I was able to see a pale-yellow bird with a heavy beak flying around. It was a female Summer Tanager and very active. Hence, more unsatisfactory photos. 

As it was still early, I decided to drive back a few miles to Burrs Mill Brook, where I go once a year to find the Bank Swallows that nest in a sand quarry about a mile in from Burrs Mill Road. As I was walking the trail along the brook I heard a tanager-like song that didn't sound like a Scarlet. I saw the bird fly by for a second and once again, Merlin returned Summer Tanager! This one was a singing male. I thought that was pretty amazing to find two Summer Tanagers in the same day, but looking at eBird, I see lots of sightings today and yesterday all over Burlington County. Either there is an influx of this species, or it isn't really rare. 

Bank Swallow flying along the sand quarry cliff

I was wondering if it was too early for the Bank Swallows, since I didn't see any flying over the open parts of the brook, and when I got to the edge of the quarry (I stand just outside the property line), I at first didn't see any activity. But a little persistence (like 3 minutes) yielded first one, then four, then six, then eight Bank Swallows flying along the far face of the quarry, going in and out of holes. 

That made 5 year birds for the day and that was enough for me. 

The Huber List--Bank Swallows and a couple of Baltimore Orioles were the only birds I saw at Burrs Mill that I didn't see at the Prairie Warbler Preserve. 

41 species
Canada Goose  2
Mourning Dove  2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Laughing Gull  1
Red-headed Woodpecker  2     
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Eastern Wood-Pewee  3
Acadian Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  2     Bridge
Great Crested Flycatcher  6
White-eyed Vireo  4
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  1
Common Raven  2     Croaking corvids
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Carolina Wren  1
Gray Catbird  2
Wood Thrush  3
American Goldfinch  1
Field Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  6
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Ovenbird  15
Blue-winged Warbler  1
Black-and-white Warbler  2
Prothonotary Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Hooded Warbler  9     9+
American Redstart  2
Magnolia Warbler  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  3
Prairie Warbler  15
Summer Tanager  1     
Scarlet Tanager  4
Northern Cardinal  2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Cedar Bonnet Island 5/17--Willow Flycatcher, Northern Waterthrush, Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler

Willow Flycatcher

 According to BirdCast, 903,500 birds passed over Ocean County during the night, quite a contrast from the 500 it recorded the night before. Of course, this information doesn't relay how many birds actually landed in Ocean County, but it seemed a good bet that a decent number alighted in county, so just after sunrise I was at Cedar Bonnet Island, walking back and forth on the entrance trail which is an allée of oaks and evergreens. 

At first, I only found the most common of birds there--yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, catbirds, blackbirds...once again I felt like a walking bird-freeze zone. There was one other birder there and I could tell from his body language that he wasn't finding much either but that was no consolation. Walking back to the start of the trail I started seeing activity. Two Chestnut-sided Warblers were chasing each other in an oak and then a couple of Magnolia Warblers were in the same tree, a little lower down. Another birder came up and she saw a Bay-breasted Warbler, but I couldn't find it. And thus started warbler frustration. As more people arrived with the cameras and conversation, I started getting antsy and decided to walk around the open areas of marsh and grass. I heard a sharp call that I had to stop and think about for a moment until I realized it was a Willow Flycatcher, a bird, with warblers on my mind, that I had forgotten about.  I was finally able to track it down and get a photo--I don't even try with the flitty flighty warblers. 

As I ran into more people I knew, I heard more reports of warblers I didn't see--Canada, Tennessee, Cape May--it was like a geography lesson. Going back to the entrance groves a third time I heard a bird I couldn't identify. Another birding acquaintance identified it as a Northern Waterthrush, a warbler I'd given up on this spring and one whose song is not in memory because I usually see them and because my memory is shot. By now, after 4 walks up and down the trail it was getting way too crowded for me--I don't enjoy being in a crowd of cross-talking birders all calling out birds they might be seeing or else talking about birds other birders have seen, so I took my four year birds and went to Manahawkin WMA. 

I didn't expect to see anything new, though I sort of hoped that the Ruff from last week was still around, or at least a Stilt Sandpiper. Instead, I found that the Black-necked Stilt population had tripled since my last visit. Coming up to the back impoundment with my scope, I immediately flushed one from the bank. I'd never heard one call before, and that shouldn't have given me a hint that it wasn't alone. Later, walking back after depositing my scope in the car, I found two in the same spot--I recalled that two had been reported last week. Then I looked to my left and found a third. One more stilt and I think that qualifies as a flock. All three seemed skittish as they flew to the middle of the impoundment next to where a large flock of Lesser Yellowlegs was feeding. Safety in numbers. It was there that I was able to get the doc shot of the trio. I believe that it the largest number of stilts I have seen in NJ. 

The other (ahem) interesting sight was of two Forster's Terns in the front impoundment. As far as I know, Forster's Terns don't nest in Ocean County, and certainly not in Manahawkin, but that didn't seem to stop one of the terns from standing on the back of the other (which had been calling that harsh rattling cry) and...ahem. 

My list for Cedar Bonnet Island. I actually had more birds at Manahawkin, but there was a lot of overlap as you would expect. 

41 species
Brant  1     Channel
Canada Goose  1
Mallard  2
Mourning Dove  9
Clapper Rail  3
Semipalmated Plover  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  30
Willet  2
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Least Sandpiper  4
Semipalmated Sandpiper  6
Laughing Gull  2
Forster's Tern  2
Glossy Ibis  6
Green Heron  2     Flyover channel
Osprey  2
Belted Kingfisher  1     Flyover
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Willow Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  2
Red-eyed Vireo  3
American Crow  1
Barn Swallow  1
Carolina Wren  1
Gray Catbird  3
American Robin  8
Cedar Waxwing  4
House Finch  4
Seaside Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  6
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Common Grackle  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  6
Northern Waterthrush  1     Heard
Common Yellowthroat  6
American Redstart  1
Magnolia Warbler  2
Yellow Warbler  4
Chestnut-sided Warbler  2     Entrance
Black-throated Green Warbler  2     Entrance
Northern Cardinal  4

Great Bird Names

One of the ancillary pleasures of birding is the common names of birds. I've spent hours scrolling through the species list on eBird, finding funny, weird names of birds. Some of them are highly, one might say, overly descriptive, some are opaque. Below is a list, in no special order (except for the cisticolas) of some of my favorites:

Perplexing Scrubwren
Mysterious Starling (Extinct)
Monotonous Lark
Elusive Antpitta
Inaccessible Island Finch
Inaccessible Island Rail (If the island is inaccessible, how do they know about the birds?)
Invisible Rail (sightings: 0)
 
Cisticolas: (Birds with check marks are one I have seen)

Bubbling

Chattering

Chirping

Churring

üCroaking   

Foxy

Piping

üRattling

Siffling

Singing

Tinkling

Trilling

Wailing

Whistling

Winding

üWing-snapping

üZitting

 
 
Happy Wren
Strange Weaver
Obscure Berrypecker
Twite (Banding code: TWIT)
Aberrant Bush-Warbler
Leaf-love
Melancholy Woodpecker
Monotonous Lark
Fearful Owl
Supertramp Fantail
Cinderella Waxbill
Exclamatory Paradise-Whydah
Vampire Ground-Finch 

Graveling Point | Great Bay Blvd 5/11--Red Knot, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Black Skimmer, Least Tern, Common Tern, Saltmarsh Sparrow

Saltmarsh Sparrow

I was in the mood for mud flats, so I headed down to Tuckerton. I thought I'd see what Graveling Point was like in warm weather--on the few occasions I've birded there, it has been mostly for ducks in the winter.  Graveling Point, at the end of Radio Road, is yet another piece of Forsythe NWR. During the winter, when the vegetation is brown, you can walk easily toward the middle of the peninsula or come around the back of the pond that is fed by a mosquito ditch, but today I was forced to walk the edges of the point, which was fine, because I was flushing up shorebirds at a rapid rate. Short-billed Dowitchers were the most common, but I kicked up at least 7 Spotted Sandpipers (according to eBird a new species for the site), along with a bunch of Least Sandpipers and Dunlins. I also had my first Least Tern of the year, a quick flyby, and most amusing to me, my first Green Heron in Ocean County this year. The pond was empty today except for a lone Mallard, or so it seemed, because when I got back to the parking lot, I thought, "Eh, let just look in here for a minute, and there, in the reeds, was the heron. All the usual places I've looked so far this year I couldn't find one, but here, where I wasn't looking for one, I of course find one. 

Green Heron, Graveling Point

I then drove up and around and got onto Great Bay Blvd. I wasn't going to stop at Tuckerton Cove but then I thought of finding the Green Heron in an unlikely spot and it occurred to me that when I've seen Black Skimmers in Tuckerton they've always been roosting in the northern parts of the WMA, so I pulled over, walked through the vegetal entanglements and had barely put up my binoculars when I had 5 skimmers loafing on a sandbar. They got up and flew and they were the only 5 I saw today. 

Red Knots

Ruddy Turnstone

Every stop I made today along the road I had big, mixed flocks of shorebirds, mostly dowitchers and Least Sandpipers. I kept scoping the flocks of leasts concentrating on their legs, but it wasn't until I was more than halfway down that I finally found a sandpiper with black legs that weren't just mud--bigger and grayer too--a single Semipalmated Sandpiper. I was disappointed that neither of the night-herons were roosting in the cedar stands or feeding in the marshes--in fact, the only waders I saw were both white egrets. I got down to the end of the road and went onto the mud flats of Great Bay. I was looking for Red Knots and after walking as far out on the mud flats as I've ever gone, I scoped two of them. Very unsatisfactory--I could list them but, as they're an endangered (sub)species, I'd prefer to get better views while I can. I turned around and walk to the other side of the flats, toward the Rutgers facility. On the pilings terns were roosting--a couple of Least Terns, and my first Common Terns of the year. I went about as far as I could on the mud flat without trespassing onto the Rutgers property. In a shallow there was a small flock of knots, along with more Dunlins and some Ruddy Turnstones. Now I had good looks at these robust sandpipers. 

Least Tern, Great Bay

I then turned my attention to the spartina grass behind me. I was seeing a lot of sparrows flying up and diving down into the grass, but every time I glassed them, they'd turn out to be Song Sparrows. I just knew that Saltmarsh Sparrow was there somewhere, but since its "song" is more of a buzzy whisper, I didn't have much chance of following the sound. So I cheated. I played a recording and bang! one came out to pose for me. In a few months I'll have to do the same thing for Nelson's Sparrow.  Since they stick close to the ground and run around like mice, whether it's better to try for them during high tide or low tide is a debate. Low tide and there is more area to search. High tide and there is less search area but you'll probably get your feet wet stepping into a mud puddle you didn't see while pursuing a fleeting bird. 

45 species on the day:

Brant
Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Clapper Rail
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Short-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
American Herring Gull
Black Skimmer
Least Tern
Forster's Tern
Common Tern
Double-crested Cormorant

Black-crowned Night Heron
Snowy Egret
Green HeronGreat Egret
Osprey
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
Seaside Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal

Northern House Wren, Great Bay Blvd

Cedar Bridge Tavern CP 5/7--American Redstart

American Redstart

Another warbler. I don't visit Cedar Bridge Tavern (which dates to Revolutionary War times) County Park very often, so I was pleased to see that since my last visit they have hacked out and completed a very good 3 1/2-mile trail through the pines that crosses and recrosses Old Cedar Bridge Road. I was also pleased to find so many warblers along the trail--10 different species including supposedly hard to find Hooded Warblers and Blue-winged Warblers  & my first American Redstart of the year. Finding it was similar to the Blackpoll Warbler yesterday at Whitesbog. When I em
erged onto the road, I thought perhaps I was hearing a distant Veery, so I opened up the Merlin app and let it listen. It never picked up the ethereal call of that thrush (which was one of my motives for going there) but it did list the redstart. I looked around and didn't see the bird at first and redstart is one of those "songs" that isn't emblazoned in my memory. So, I played back what Merlin had recorded, and when it highlighted American Redstart, I looked around again. Suddenly one flew in. Damn, maybe Merlin isn't as unreliable as I think it is. In the shadows of the trees I wasn't able to get much of a picture of the bird, but I was happy to find it. Redstart is one of those birds that I used to see a lot more when I lived in Brooklyn, an easy bird in Prospect Park or at Jamaica Bay. At Jamaica Bay they were so common that Shari & I used to refer to them as YAR--Yet Another Redstart. 

A decent morning with 35 species, but not the target bird. 

Canada Goose  9
Mourning Dove  2
Turkey Vulture  3
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
White-eyed Vireo  5
Red-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  2
Tree Swallow  5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4
Carolina Wren  1
Gray Catbird  20
Eastern Bluebird  1
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  4
House Finch  3
Chipping Sparrow  3
Eastern Towhee  5
Ovenbird  4
Blue-winged Warbler  2
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  1
Hooded Warbler  3
American Redstart  1
Northern Parula  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  4
Prairie Warbler  10
Northern Cardinal  2

Whitesbog 5/6--Green Heron, Blackpoll Warbler

Green Heron

 A late-night Mets game in Arizona and early morning rain combined for a delayed start this morning, and as the weather looked iffy along the coast, I just drove over to Whitesbog. This time of year, I usually park at the county line and then decide which way I want to go--this morning it into Burlco to start. Union Pond is low enough to have some mud and said along the edges and close to the road and while I was driving in I saw shorebirds flying about. Walking back to it, I saw 3 Least Sandpipers working the little bit of exposed mud. It's early for them at Whitesbog but I see them as a harbinger of summer if the bogs get drained. I also had a Killdeer fly over and saw at the back of the pond, a Spotted Sandpiper fly from one mud flat to the other. 

Then I went into Ditch Meadow, but unfortunately, the beavers have been at work and the trail requires high rubber boots. I walked around Union Pond to the other entrance to Ditch Meadow, and still didn't see much until I did--my first Green Heron of the year flew right in front of me and posed in a tree. I didn't feel like going into the village, so I stuck to the bogs, working my way back to the county line, and crossing over into Ocean County where I hoped I could find another Green Heron to add to my county list. I searched in most of the likely places without going back to the Antrim Bogs and didn't have any luck. But I did add one more bird to year list.

Normally, I use the Merlin app to confirm what I think I'm hearing because ever since the app "heard" a Prothonotary Warbler in my backyard, I haven't completely trusted its reliability. Today, on the cross dike, I thought I heard the high buzz of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (amazingly, I can hear that bird) but only for a second, so I opened up Merlin and let it listen. It confirmed the gnatcatcher, and then a lot of easy birds started popping up--Common Yellowthroat, Red-winged Blackbird, Gray Catbird...Blackpoll Warbler! Whenever Merlin records a mimid, I tend to not take any of the birds it hears seriously--a couple of weeks ago on Island Beach it "heard" a Tufted Titmouse that a Brown Thrasher was doing an excellent imitation of and there are no titmice on Island Beach. I laugh and groan whenever I see someone's eBird list with the notation "Confirmed by Merlin." 

Not that Blackpoll Warbler is rare per se but since it is out of my hearing range, it a very difficult warbler for me to track down. I played the recording back and even when the sonogram indicated that it was playing the warbler's song, I couldn't hear it. So just as I was shrugging my shoulders, a bird flew into the top of a cedar. I got my bins on it and Holy Smokes it was a Blackpoll. Not the first one I've had there, but you can now count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've listed it at that patch. 

Still didn't get the Green Heron for the county though. 

For both sides of the line, 40 species:

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
American Black Duck
Mourning Dove
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Orchard Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Blackpoll Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Northern Cardinal

Pine Dust on Big Tank

Manahawkin WMA 5/4--White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis, fifth from left

 A hard bird to distinguish, I was lucky today to be with two good birders while surveying a flock of about 175 Glossy Ibis in the first impoundment at Manahawkin. The ibises were very skittish, flying in and out of the pool, going over the road to the Forsythe property where they would bury themselves in the reeds. Eventually though, and fairly close in, D. found a White-faced Ibis, one of the two that had been reported there yesterday. And unlike most White-faced Ibis, this one was obvious, with red legs, a big red eyeball, and significant white around the face. Last year, when there were four of these birds in the same impoundment, I spent a couple of hours with J. (who was also there), looking through the ibis flock up against the reeds on the opposite shore and finally was able to convince myself that one of them was a White-faced Ibis. Today I had no qualms. It is a pretty amazing turnabout that now, White-faced Ibis is rarer in New Jersey than White Ibis. Years ago, I found one White Ibis at Manahawkin and the birders came a-running. Today, they'd just shrug and say, "Yeah, I saw 15 of them at Spizzle Creek." 

Enlarged & cropped

It was a blustery March day on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth etc.), cloudy, windy, cold, and then, after I started to walk up to Hilliard, it started to rain, so I had to turn around before I could complete my route. Thus, a short list. But the "one cool bird a day" requirement was fulfilled. 

29 species
Mute Swan  2
Mallard  3
Green-winged Teal  2     Back impoundment
Solitary Sandpiper  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  30     Close estimate. Most in back impoundment
Willet  2
Greater Yellowlegs  5
Least Sandpiper  10
American Herring Gull  5
Forster's Tern  10
Glossy Ibis  175
White-faced Ibis  1     
Little Blue Heron  1
Tricolored Heron  4
Snowy Egret  5
Great Egret  10
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  1
Gray Catbird  1
American Robin  1
Seaside Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  3
Orchard Oriole  2
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Common Yellowthroat  3

Yellow Warbler  2 

Colliers Mills | Emson Preserve 5/3--Spotted Sandpiper, Orchard Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting

Blue Grosbeak

I got my two target birds this morning plus two bonus birds. Of the four, only one was really a surprise and it was a disturbing example of my sketchy memory. 

At this time of year, Colliers Mills is a good place for grassland birds--it used to be better when the Grasshopper Sparrows nested there, but it's been years since they've been there--too many dogs, I suppose. But you can be fairly certain of finding Blue Grosbeaks in the fields along Success Road and today I found four of them--two in the fields and two by the police firing range.  

Orchard Oriole

Moving on from the firing range area, I was on the berm that forms the southern edge of Turnmill Pond, when I heard a garbled song and saw my first Orchard Oriole of the year, a first-year male, with a black throat and yellow chest. I didn't remember seeing Orchard Oriole at Colliers Mills. I thought it might be a patch bird. When I got home and checked my eBird records, I found it was not a patch bird. I'd seen it there before. Forty-one times before! Why do I even bother birding when the experience is obviously evanescent? I guess in the moment I enjoy it; I just don't recall it all that well. 

Solitary Sandpiper

From there I walked back to the pond that's fed by Borden's Mill Branch. There, I suspected, I would find a Spotted Sandpiper on the mud and eventually I did find one in stiff-winged flight, landing too far out to be photographed, unlike the more cooperative Solitary Sandpiper, closer in. I also heard, closer to Hawkin Road, in the usual spot by the mountain laurels, a Hooded Warbler and finally was able to see this striking bird. Previously, walking through the woods, I saw something new to me--an Ovenbird carrying nesting material. Pete used to say that Ovenbird was the most common nesting warbler in NJ. Judging from the singing birds all along my route, they're pretty ensconced in Colliers Mills. 

Ovenbird

I was still missing one target bird, but I was fairly confident I could rectify that with a five-minute drive to the Emson Preserve. There, in the tree line that runs up the driveway to the parking lot, I was able to see and hear two Indigo Buntings. If I can't find them at Colliers, Emson is my fallback spot. 

Now a digression regarding "indigo." To begin, I don't know why these birds have "indigo" as their modifier. If you look at the color I've used for Indigo Bunting, it is more a purple than the deep blue the bird actually is. In short, Indigo Buntings are not indigo. Which is find because, as a color, indigo is a problem.

In my former life in the printing biz, I had to deal with color a lot. I know color theory. (And believe me, it is really a theory, not a law.) Many of you, in grade school, learned that the colors of the rainbow were ROY G. BIV--red orange yellow green blue indigo violet. That's how Newton described the colors he saw when he separated white light with a prism. There's only one flaw. Indigo doesn't exist in the rainbow. Newton only put it in there because he thought the colors had to have symmetry with the musical notes--there are seven musical notes, thus there had to be seven colors. Genius. 

Let me show you why indigo doesn't exist, using a box of Crayolas. If you put ROY G. BIV on a wheel, you will see that RED & YELLOW yield ORANGE, YELLOW & BLUE yield GREEN, BLUE & RED yield VIOLET. There is no room for indigo on the color wheel. While I love the Indigo Bunting, I hate the name. Let's not even get into the fact that it isn't truly a bunting either!

The Colliers Mills list of 42 species.

Canada Goose  6
Mallard  6
Mourning Dove  2
Chimney Swift  1     Lake
Killdeer  3
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Laughing Gull  20     Flyover
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  5
White-eyed Vireo  3
Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  3
Blue Jay  6
Tufted Titmouse  2
Barn Swallow  4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Carolina Wren  2
Gray Catbird  10
Northern Mockingbird  1
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  7
Chipping Sparrow  3
Field Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  6
Orchard Oriole  1
Baltimore Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Ovenbird  10
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  7
Hooded Warbler  1    
Pine Warbler  3
Prairie Warbler  3
Blue Grosbeak  4

Island Beach SP 5/2--Least Sandpiper, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

I started on Reed's Road today and met up with Steve. Of course, since I was there, the birding was slow. I'm beginning to think I'm a Jonah when it comes to migration at Reed's. However, we walked up to the bowl and there, as I was hoping, we came across my first Black-throated Green Warbler of the year. For some reason, I don't see many of these warblers, and for some reason, when I do, it's usually in the bowl. A couple of minutes later, Steve spotted a Blue-headed Vireo in a tree, another year bird for me, so slow going or not, I was happy. Then I found another Black-throated Green and this one paused long enough and close enough for me to document it. 

Steve had other stuff to do, so I continued south, making my next stop at A15, the Kayak Access trail. Lately, there has been a lot of exposed eelgrass there--I don't know if this is from winter storms or if I just happen to have low tide 3 times in a row--and on the eelgrass shorebirds have been feeding. Today there was a flock of Least Sandpipers picking away at the reeking eelgrass--I know this stuff used to be used as insulation, but how they got the smell out is a mystery. Or maybe people weren't so finicky back then when it came to stuffing insulation in your attic and between walls. But it was also used in upholstery!

My next two stops didn't yield anything new, but I did get all the waders I could reasonably expect and at Spizzle Creek, just before I was leaving, I heard a Baltimore Oriole singing at the "T", but I couldn't find it despite looking in every cedar. The oriole was my first for the county this year. 

Least Sandpiper

Slow birding: 45 species.

Brant   Johnny Allen’s Cove Trail
Mallard   Reed’s Road
Mourning Dove   Reed’s Road
Willet   Johnny Allen’s Cove Trail
Greater Yellowlegs   Kayak access
Least Sandpiper   Kayak access
Laughing Gull   Reed’s Road
American Herring Gull   Reed’s Road
Great Black-backed Gull   Kayak access
Forster's Tern   Reed’s Road
Double-crested Cormorant   Reed’s Road
Glossy Ibis   Johnny Allen’s Cove Trail
Little Blue Heron   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Tricolored Heron   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Snowy Egret   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Great Egret   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Great Blue Heron   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Osprey   Kayak access
Belted Kingfisher   Reed’s Road
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Reed’s Road
Great Crested Flycatcher   Reed’s Road
Eastern Kingbird   Johnny Allen’s Cove Trail
White-eyed Vireo   Reed’s Road
Blue-headed Vireo   Reed’s Road
Carolina Chickadee   Reed’s Road
Tree Swallow   Reed’s Road
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Reed’s Road
Gray Catbird   Reed’s Road
Northern Mockingbird   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
American Robin   Reed’s Road
House Finch   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
American Goldfinch   Reed’s Road
Field Sparrow   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Song Sparrow   Kayak access
Eastern Towhee   Reed’s Road
Baltimore Oriole   Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Red-winged Blackbird   Reed’s Road
Brown-headed Cowbird   Reed’s Road
Boat-tailed Grackle   Reed’s Road
Common Yellowthroat   Reed’s Road
Northern Parula   Reed’s Road
Yellow Warbler   Reed’s Road
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Reed’s Road
Black-throated Green Warbler   Reed’s Road
Northern Cardinal   Reed’s Road
Rose-breasted Grosbeak   Reed’s Road

Manasquan River WMA 5/1--Red-eyed Vireo, Wood Thrush, Blue-winged Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Blue-winged Warbler

For me, Blue-winged Warbler ranks very high on the Warbler Frustration Scale, right up there with Blackpoll Warbler (which I can't hear), and Tennessee Warbler (which can go years between sightings for me). My problem with Blue-wings is that they're so-called song is nothing more than an insect-like buzz and they have a tendency to flit high up in the treetops, making them even more elusive. The best place I know to see them is the Manasquan River WMA in Brick, in the big field toward the back, which is where I went this morning. It's a pretty good spot during migration and it is May. 

I'd already added two birds, by ear, by the time I entered the field--Red-eyed Vireo and Wood Thrush. Quite a contrast in songs with the vireo's annoying, insistent, incessant "Here I am, where are you" and the ethereal song of the thrush. I don't know if it's birder's superstition or if there is a micro-habitat that attracts Blue-wings there, but I always look in the same place in the field, and if I'm going to find them, I find them there. Today, on my way to the spot, I heard a Prairie Warbler, which I took as a good omen, because I remembered that last year I saw Prairie Warblers and Blue-wings squabbling over territory. When I got to my place, I pished and buzzed and eventually one bird came in, predictably high up in tree just starting to leaf out. I couldn't get a picture. Another one came by around 25 feet away but disappeared almost as soon as I identified it. I looped the field and came back about 20 minutes later, pishing and buzzing and this time one of the warblers landed on a branch and stayed stationary while it sang long enough for me to get some pictures of it, bisected by a twig. 

At the start of my second loop around the field I heard my first Northern Parula of the year, another buzzy song. It is my observation that warblers, in general don't warble, and that no one would admire them as songsters. But maybe that's because we're comparing them to thrushes, tanagers, and grosbeaks at the same time. Speaking of grosbeaks, when I ducked into one of the trails off the field, I heard my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The song of this bird is often described as a "robin with a cold." Or is that the Scarlet Tanager? In any case, I don't know what a robin with a cold would sound like so as mnemonic it is useless to me. But I do know the grosbeak's loud song when I hear it. Its call, which supposedly sounds like a sneaker rubbing on a wood floor (think basketball playoffs) does sorta kinda sound like that, but today I got the full song instead. 

Finally, I took the back trail that leads toward the county line (Manasquan River WMA, like Whitesbog, overlaps two counties--here, the northern section is in Monmouth). I sometimes get Hooded Warbler back there, but not today. Instead, my final year-bird of the morning was a singing Black-throated Blue Warbler. While I'm not a big fan of birding by ear, I know that eventually I will see all these birds--it took me until today to see my first Ovenbird after hearing probably 100 in April. I have a sentimental attachment to the Black-throated Blue, because BT BLUE was the license plate of two birders I knew, on in NJ, one in NY, both of them sadly gone. 

For the morning, I had 46 species to start the month. 

Canada Goose  2
Mourning Dove  2
Turkey Vulture  4
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1     Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  12
Red-eyed Vireo  5
Blue Jay  5
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Northern House Wren  3
Carolina Wren  2
Gray Catbird  13
Eastern Bluebird  1
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  6
House Sparrow  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  5
White-throated Sparrow  1     Heard
Savannah Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  3
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Ovenbird  15
Blue-winged Warbler  2
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  10
Northern Parula  3
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Prairie Warbler  3
Northern Cardinal  7
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1