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