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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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| Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
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