Island Beach SP 5/16--Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

According to Cornell's BirdCast site, 753,100 (the "100" is amusing) birds passed over Ocean County last night into dawn.  I don't usually pay much heed to BirdCast because I don't care what's passing over, I want to know what's landing, but with three-quarters of a million birds in flight, I figured some of them had to flutter down to spend a day in the county, so with that in mind, I was at Reed's Road as early as I was allowed into Island Beach SP. 

The trees weren't exactly dripping with birds, but there was enough action to keep me walking slowly. The two most interesting birds I saw on the quarter-mile trail to the bay were a Veery (usually just hear them) sitting on a fence rail and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which only the other day I heard but did not see at Whitesbog. Cuckoos too are more often heard than seen, and even this bird was well hidden, such that I could see it's yellow bill and its brown tail, the middle of the bird was leaves. 

I walked north along the bay to the "bowl," and it was there that I notched my three year bird for the day. An oak tree was active with birds and one of them was a beauty of Black-throated Blue Warbler. Parulas, Ovenbirds, Yellow Warblers, and of course, Common Yellowthroats were scattered around. On a second circuit of the area I saw a brilliant red bird in a pin oak and that was my FOY Scarlet Tanager. A female was close by. As I was admiring the pair, out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird flitting in a low-hanging branch above my heard--a Chestnut-sided Warbler I could have picked with my hand. 

Since I almost always manage to hit Reed's Road on a slow day, I was pretty happy with my results. Walks along the trails of Spizzle Creek (where I heard in the parking lot my first New Jersey/Ocean County Royal Tern, first seen this year in Mexico) and Johnny Allen's Cove added a lot of waders and shorebirds to the day list, bringing it up to 61 which is a fair number for a morning on half the bayside trails. 

Brant    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Canada Goose    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Mallard    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Mourning Dove    Reed's Road
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Reed's Road
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Reed’s Road
Clapper Rail    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
American Oystercatcher    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Black-bellied Plover    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Short-billed Dowitcher    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Spotted Sandpiper    Reed's Road
Willet    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Greater Yellowlegs    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Ruddy Turnstone    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Dunlin    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Least Sandpiper    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Laughing Gull    Reed's Road
American Herring Gull    Reed's Road
Least Tern    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Forster's Tern    Reed's Road
Royal Tern    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Double-crested Cormorant    Reed's Road
White Ibis    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Glossy Ibis    Spizzle Creek Blind 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
Turkey Vulture    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Osprey    Reed's Road
Great Crested Flycatcher    Reed's Road
White-eyed Vireo    Reed's Road
Blue-headed Vireo    Reed's Road
Red-eyed Vireo    Reed's Road
American Crow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Carolina Chickadee    Reed's Road
Barn Swallow    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Marsh Wren    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Carolina Wren    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Gray Catbird    Reed's Road
Northern Mockingbird    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Veery    Reed's Road
American Robin    Reed's Road
American Goldfinch    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Seaside Sparrow    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Song Sparrow    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Eastern Towhee    Reed's Road
Red-winged Blackbird    Spizzle Creek Blind Trail
Boat-tailed Grackle    Johnny Allen's Cove Trail
Ovenbird    Reed's Road
Black-and-white Warbler    Reed's Road
Common Yellowthroat    Reed's Road
American Redstart    Reed's Road
Northern Parula    Reed's Road
Magnolia Warbler    Reed's Road
Northern Yellow Warbler    Reed's Road
Chestnut-sided Warbler    Reed's Road
Black-throated Blue Warbler    Reed's Road
Scarlet Tanager    Reed's Road
Northern Cardinal    Reed's Road