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