August Review--One (Count 'em) One Year Bird

Pied-billed Grebe, Whitesbog

 The Third Law of Birding states that "Wherever you are, you should be somewhere else." But what if you don't feel like being somewhere else?  Then you get my August. 

Places like Cedar Bonnet Island, Barnegat Lighthouse, Sandy Hook, Island Beach, were the places where the interesting birds of summer were to be found, but the triple threats of insects, people, and traffic kept me away. 

Purple Martins, Franklin Parker Preserve

Instead, I cycled through my favorite places: Whitesbog, Colliers Mills, the cranberry bogs on Dover Road, Franklin Parker Preserve and hoped that the birds would be where I wanted to be.  Aside from the White Ibis at Whitesbog, the birds I found this month were predictable species. The Purple Martin show at Franklin Parker was spectacular--every dead tree in the reservoir had a couple of hundred martins perched on it, and the Red-headed Woodpeckers at Colliers Mills are always worth looking
for. 

Red-headed Woodpecker, Colliers Mills

I got a little jolt mid-month at Whitesbog when I saw that the Fenwick Bogs (the working bogs that haven't been worked for the past couple of years) had barriers put up.  Since they haven't been growing cranberries there it didn't make sense to put them off-limits but then the explanation came out that the water in the bogs was going to be used in the harvest and that they wanted to keep the dogwalkers out so the dog feces wouldn't contaminate water. Which made sense, on the face of it. And then I thought: and every time an egret takes flight, it ejects a stream of guano into the water, and of course, the deer know enough to wander outside the bogs to do their business, as do the bunny rabbits, the groundhogs, the raccoons, and squirrels. Still, on my last couple of walks there, my trespassing has been discreet--I go in on a trail with no barrier and thus have plausible deniability. One morning I found myself away well before dawn and drove over there just in time to see the Common Nighthawks flying around in the east. It was bittersweet, because back in the days when the bogs would be drawn down, that was just the appetizer for a long day's banquet of shorebirds and waders. 

I made one trip to Brig, where I got my only year bird for the month--the American Avocets, and they made up for the missed birds there. The flies at Brig weren't too bad, though they didn't encourage one to stand in the road and endlessly scope for rare sandpipers 1000 yards away.  I made a couple of trips down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton--early in the month it was a doable walk; last week, the flies drove me away. 

Caspian Tern, Franklin Parker Preserve

For the month 112 species, the last two this morning at Double Trouble--Chimney Swifts and a calling Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a very unusual bird for this time of year. 

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose    Costco parking lot, Brick
Mute Swan    Holly Lake
Wood Duck    Cranberry Bogs
Northern Shoveler    Brig
Mallard    Cranberry Bogs
American Black Duck    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Wild Turkey    South Park Rd
Rock Pigeon    South Toms River
Mourning Dove    Cranberry Bogs
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Colliers Mills WMA
Common Nighthawk    Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Double Trouble SP
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Cranberry Bogs
Clapper Rail    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Avocet    Brig
American Oystercatcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-bellied Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Killdeer    Franklin Parker Preserve
Semipalmated Plover    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Hudsonian Whimbrel    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Short-billed Dowitcher    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Spotted Sandpiper    Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper    Franklin Parker Preserve
Lesser Yellowlegs    Franklin Parker Preserve
Greater Yellowlegs    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ruddy Turnstone    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Sandpiper    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Brig
Laughing Gull    Cranberry Bogs
American Herring Gull    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Great Black-backed Gull    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black Skimmer    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Gull-billed Tern    Whitesbog
Caspian Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Royal Tern    Waretown
Pied-billed Grebe    Whitesbog
Double-crested Cormorant    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
White Ibis    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Glossy Ibis    Brig
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Green Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Great Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Great Blue Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Turkey Vulture    South Park Rd
Osprey    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Cooper's Hawk    Brig
Bald Eagle    Cranberry Bogs
Red-tailed Hawk    Cranberry Bogs
Belted Kingfisher    Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    South Park Rd
Downy Woodpecker    Cranberry Bogs
Hairy Woodpecker    Cattus Island County Park
Northern Flicker    Whitesbog
American Kestrel    Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Cranberry Bogs
Willow Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Phoebe    Colliers Mills WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Kingbird    Cranberry Bogs
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Lake Shenandoah County Park
Red-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Blue Jay    Cranberry Bogs
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee    Cranberry Bogs
Tufted Titmouse    South Park Rd
Tree Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
Purple Martin    Cranberry Bogs
Barn Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    South Park Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Cranberry Bogs
Northern House Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Marsh Wren    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Carolina Wren    Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling    Pinelands Alliance Headquarters
Gray Catbird    Cranberry Bogs
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Bluebird    Cranberry Bogs
American Robin    Cranberry Bogs
Cedar Waxwing    Cranberry Bogs
House Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
House Finch    Cranberry Bogs
American Goldfinch    Cranberry Bogs
Chipping Sparrow    Cranberry Bogs
Field Sparrow    Cranberry Bogs
Seaside Sparrow    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Towhee    Cranberry Bogs
Baltimore Oriole    35 Sunset Rd
Red-winged Blackbird    Cranberry Bogs
Common Grackle    Franklin Parker Preserve
Boat-tailed Grackle    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler    Cranberry Bogs
Common Yellowthroat    Cranberry Bogs
Pine Warbler    Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal    Cranberry Bogs
Rose-breasted Grosbeak    Double Trouble SP
Blue Grosbeak    South Park Rd
Indigo Bunting    Brig

July Wrap-up--Zero Year Birds

Red-headed Woodpecker, Cloverdale Road

If June was a quiet month, then July, to make an oxymoronic statement, was deafeningly silent. Through all my wanderings during the month, I wasn't able to add one bird to the year list. True, I wasn't spending my time seawatching, where I might have lucked onto a storm-petrel or shearwater, but even if I had been of a mind to chase, there was nothing to chase. 

The month had its compensations in the places I birded. I spend a lot of time walking around Whitesbog with my informant where I learned the history, cultivation, and processing of the Elizabeth blueberry and got a refresher course on how to separate Virginia meadowbeauty from Maryland meadowbeauty. As the month progressed, we watched the bogs get discovered by Great Egrets, as they always do this time of year, only they are using the flooded Fenwick bogs instead of the 3 bogs to the east, which are no longer drawn down.   With a little luck and some evaporation, I'm hoping that we may get something of a shorebird season in those formerly working bogs (now under water for the last two years to kill girdle worm). So far, only Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers, and Semipalmated Plovers in low numbers have been found feeding in them. 

Turkey Vulture, Whitesbog

And I spent a pleasant morning down at Brig with my buddy Bob Auster. It was only my second trip to Brig this year, and while we dipped on most of the rarities that had been reported there (though we did get the Black-necked Stilts at the Gull Pond), there was a good variety of shorebirds, egrets, and terns to sort through and the greenhead flies were not too bad, with only one painful bite on my elbow. 

I trudged around Colliers Mills, I trudged around the cranberry bogs on Dover Road, I trudged around Double Trouble, I even trudged up and down the Union Transportation Trail by Sharon Station because that day I didn't feel like worrying about ticks. I always say that if the birding isn't productive, at least I got my exercise in. At least I got a lot of exercise in July.

For the month, 112 species in 4 counties: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean.

Species                 First Sighting
Canada Goose    Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Wood Duck    Whitesbog
Mallard    Whitesbog
American Black Duck    Brig
Wild Turkey    35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon    Union Transportation Trail
Mourning Dove    Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Brig
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail    Brig
Black-necked Stilt    Brig
American Oystercatcher    Brig
Black-bellied Plover    Brig
Killdeer    Double Trouble SP
Semipalmated Plover    Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher    Brig
Spotted Sandpiper    Horicon Lake
Willet    Waretown
Greater Yellowlegs    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Stilt Sandpiper    Brig
Least Sandpiper    Cattus Island County Park
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Brig
Laughing Gull    Whitesbog
American Herring Gull    Cattus Island County Park
Great Black-backed Gull    Brig
Black Skimmer    Brig
Least Tern    Brig
Gull-billed Tern    Whitesbog
Caspian Tern    Brig
Forster's Tern    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Common Tern    Brig
Double-crested Cormorant    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
White Ibis    Waretown
Glossy Ibis    Cranberry Bogs
Black-crowned Night Heron    Manahawkin WMA
Little Blue Heron    Cranberry Bogs
Tricolored Heron    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Green Heron    Whitesbog
Great Egret    Cranberry Bogs
Great Blue Heron    Whitesbog
Black Vulture    Crestwood Village
Turkey Vulture    Whitesbog
Osprey    Cattus Island County Park
Cooper's Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Bald Eagle    Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk    Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher    Cranberry Bogs
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker    35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker    Whitesbog
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Whitesbog
Willow Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Phoebe    Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher    Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Kingbird    Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo    Double Trouble SP
Blue Jay    35 Sunset Rd
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    Whitesbog
Common Raven    Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Chickadee    Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse    Double Trouble SP
Tree Swallow    Whitesbog
Purple Martin    Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
Barn Swallow    Cranberry Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch    Whitesbog
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Whitesbog
Northern House Wren    Whitesbog
Marsh Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Carolina Wren    35 Sunset Rd
European Starling    Whitesbog
Gray Catbird    Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    Crestwood Village
Eastern Bluebird    Colliers Mills WMA
Veery    Double Trouble SP
Wood Thrush    Cranberry Bogs
American Robin    Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing    Whitesbog
House Sparrow    Crestwood Village
House Finch    35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch    Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow    Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow    Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee    Whitesbog
Orchard Oriole    Whitesbog
Red-winged Blackbird    Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird    Union Transportation Trail
Common Grackle    Whitesbog
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler    Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat    Whitesbog
Northern Yellow Warbler    Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Pine Warbler    Double Trouble SP
Prairie Warbler    Whitesbog
Northern Cardinal    35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak    Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting    Union Transportation Trail

June Wrap-up--Quiet

Green Heron, Whitesbog

Not even doing something wacky like breaking out of my two-county comfort zone and doing a loop at Brig could make June anything other than dull. Migration ended; the warblers are in the boreal forest, the shorebirds are in the arctic, and what we have left, we've pretty much seen. In the whole month I was able to add 4 birds to the year list, 3 of which have been chronicled in entries below. The fourth one was Common Nighthawk which we heard flying over the house a couple of evenings early in the month. All the rare birds--shearwaters, storm-petrels, and really rare birds (a White-tailed Tropicbird was just documented), have been seen from fishing boats and whale-watching trips on neither of which you will ever find me. I'd like to hear a Barred Owl, but not enough to get up a 4 AM or go down to Manahawkin at dusk to hear it. 

Cedar Waxwing, Cranberry Bogs

I spent most of my time at my personal Big Four: Whitesbog, Colliers Mills, Double Trouble, and the Cranberry Bogs on Dover Road. I'm always hoping for the rarities in the places I want to be, instead of chasing them at places I don't particularly want to travel to, and, as I said to Shari today, about 1 time in a 100 it works--like last month at Double Trouble when I found 4 Black-necked Stilts in the Mill Pond. But most of the time it's just like walking through a party attended by old familiar friends. 

For the month a mere 120 species. Because we had to make a trip into New York on June 1, a Blue Jay on Broadway, and a Great Egret in a marsh off the Turnpike were anomalies on the list. The New York trip also explains the entries for the Toms River Bus Station.

Common Name    First Sighting
Canada Goose    Whitesbog
Mute Swan    Waretown
Wood Duck    Cranberry Bogs
Mallard    Whitesbog
American Black Duck    Cranberry Bogs
Black Scoter    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Wild Turkey    35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon    South Toms River
Mourning Dove    35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Black-billed Cuckoo    Whitesbog
Common Nighthawk    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Whip-poor-will    35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift    Whitesbog
Ruby-throated Hummingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Oystercatcher    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black-bellied Plover    Brig
Killdeer    Whitesbog
Piping Plover    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Short-billed Dowitcher    Brig
Wilson's Phalarope    Brig
Spotted Sandpiper    Lighthouse Center
Solitary Sandpiper    Double Trouble SP
Lesser Yellowlegs    Brig
Willet    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Greater Yellowlegs    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Ruddy Turnstone    Island Beach SP
Dunlin    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Semipalmated Sandpiper    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Laughing Gull    Cattus Island County Park
American Herring Gull    Cattus Island County Park
Great Black-backed Gull    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Skimmer    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Least Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Caspian Tern    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Forster's Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Roseate Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Royal Tern    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Common Loon    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Double-crested Cormorant    Whitesbog
White Ibis    Waretown
Glossy Ibis    Island Beach SP
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black-crowned Night Heron    Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron    Cattus Island County Park
Tricolored Heron    Cattus Island County Park
Snowy Egret    Cattus Island County Park
Green Heron    Whitesbog
Great Egret    New Jersey Turnpike N
Great Blue Heron    Whitesbog
Brown Pelican    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Turkey Vulture    Whitesbog
Osprey    Toms River bus station
Cooper's Hawk    Whitesbog
Bald Eagle    Double Trouble SP
Red-tailed Hawk    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-headed Woodpecker    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker    Cattus Island County Park
Downy Woodpecker    Cattus Island County Park
Hairy Woodpecker    Whitesbog
Northern Flicker    Whitesbog
Eastern Wood-Pewee    Cattus Island County Park
Willow Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Phoebe    Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher    Cattus Island County Park
Eastern Kingbird    Cattus Island County Park
White-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Yellow-throated Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Warbling Vireo    Colliers Mills WMA
Red-eyed Vireo    Whitesbog
Blue Jay    2197 Broadway
American Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow    35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven    Island Beach SP
Carolina Chickadee    35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse    Double Trouble SP
Bank Swallow    Thompson-Wright Preserve
Tree Swallow    Cattus Island County Park
Purple Martin    Whitesbog
Northern Rough-winged Swallow    Whitesbog
Barn Swallow    Cattus Island County Park
White-breasted Nuthatch    35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    Whitesbog
Northern House Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Marsh Wren    Cattus Island County Park
Carolina Wren    Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling    35 Sunset Rd
Gray Catbird    Toms River bus station
Brown Thrasher    Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird    35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Bluebird    35 Sunset Rd
Veery    Double Trouble SP
Wood Thrush    Double Trouble SP
American Robin    35 Sunset Rd
Cedar Waxwing    Cranberry Bogs
House Sparrow    Toms River bus station
House Finch    Toms River bus station
American Goldfinch    35 Sunset Rd
Grasshopper Sparrow    Colliers Mills WMA
Chipping Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Field Sparrow    Whitesbog
Seaside Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Saltmarsh Sparrow    Cattus Island County Park
Song Sparrow    35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow    Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee    35 Sunset Rd
Orchard Oriole    Whitesbog
Baltimore Oriole    South Park Rd
Red-winged Blackbird    Cattus Island County Park
Brown-headed Cowbird    Colliers Mills WMA
Common Grackle    Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle    Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Ovenbird    Whitesbog
Blue-winged Warbler    Manasquan River WMA
Black-and-white Warbler    Whitesbog
Common Yellowthroat    Cattus Island County Park
Hooded Warbler    Double Trouble SP
American Redstart    Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Yellow Warbler    Cattus Island County Park
Pine Warbler    Whitesbog
Prairie Warbler    Whitesbog
Summer Tanager    South Park Rd
Scarlet Tanager    South Park Rd
Northern Cardinal    Toms River bus station
Blue Grosbeak    Whitesbog
Indigo Bunting    Colliers Mills WMA
Dickcissel    Juliustown-Georgetown Rd

WARN-DEP

About a month ago I was way back behind the large reservoir at the cranberry bogs on Dover Road when I heard singing. I rarely meet anyone else in this area except for one other birder who goes there often and the occasional jerk on an ATV. A young guy with a large box on his shoulder was coming toward me. I thought it was some kind of animal trap and asked what he was trying to catch, but he told me that it was actually a big battery and that he was living there in an "underground bunker." I left it at that--my mother taught me not to talk to strangers. I didn't know of any underground bunkers there, but I thought he might have found a trench somewhere.  What I did do was text my fellow birder to give her a heads up. She replied that a lot of odd things had been going on out there--including the disassembly of one of the old pump houses which I had noticed. 

The other day she texted me that in the one remaining pump house someone had obviously set up housekeeping, using parts of the wrecked one to cover up the exposed side of the shed. She called the DEP, who referred it to the park police--the cranberry bogs are officially part of Double Trouble SP (though few people realize this) and thus comes under their jurisdiction. 

That was Thursday. Today I went over there and when I came upon the pump house, I saw that it had clothes in baskets on the floor and a couple of shirts hanging on nails. At the entrance of the bogs, on Dover Road, there was a big cart with a garbage can (Property of Berkeley Township) and a half-filled gallon of water) so I wasn't clear on what was going on. I decided to call it in again. I knew that the number for the NJDEP is WARN-DEP and I assumed it was an 800 number, which I "dialed". Imagine my surprise when I was connected with "the hottest talk line in America." I immediately disconnected. My first thought was "Phone sex? There's still phone sex? How quaint!" 

Then I had to actually look up the DEP's number. In case you ever want to report something, it is an 877 prefix. Operator 113 took my information and phone number and said that he would report it to the park police and that I should expect a call. I was skeptical but 10 minutes later a Sgt Callaway called me, took down the particulars, then told me that that park maintenance had cleared out most of the crap from the shed, included a lounge chair and a cart, but that they had left some stuff which they supposedly were coming back for at noon today. The police were still looking for the occupant--they'd like to have a talk with him since nearby, in South Toms River, someone was threatened with a knife, and the descriptions of the perp could match the description of the guy I met a month ago. I was impressed with the response and even more impressed that they took this seriously. And before anyone gets all goo-goo about harassing the unhoused, I know it's a problem; I also know that the solution is not sleeping in a pump house. 

Osprey, large reservoir

Other than that excitement it was fairly quiet on the bogs and in the meadow (where the buildings used to be--which were torn down a few years ago, no doubt to remove temptation). Evaporation is lowering the water in a lot of the bogs, so waders were in abundance and an Osprey was hunting over the large reservoir--that is when it was not being chased by a clueless blackbird expending energy chasing a raptor with no interest in its nest or chicks. 

Cedar Waxwing, large reservoir

36 species
Wood Duck  4     Bogs
Mourning Dove  3
Glossy Ibis  2
Snowy Egret  2
Green Heron  2     Meadow Bog & outer bogs
Great Egret  12
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  1     
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  3
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  8
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2     Meadow
Barn Swallow  2
Northern House Wren  2
Gray Catbird  5
American Robin  18
Cedar Waxwing  1
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  1
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  4
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Common Grackle  8
Ovenbird  3
Common Yellowthroat  6
Pine Warbler  3

March Review--Lion/Lamb Edition

Bald Eagle atop cell tower "disguised" as pine tree,
Bay Head

I have a birding friend who is quite a bit older than me. Exactly how old I don't know because my mother taught me it was impolite to talk about age or weight, but for the sake of this story, let's say he is around 10 years my senior, maybe a little more. When I first met him--well, it was hard not to meet him because he was everywhere, especially where a rare bird was reported. He is in pictures we have from the day in New Egypt when we found the lapwings--this was before I knew him.  He consistently led the state in species seen every year. The joke with we birders who were then clinging to the notion that we were still middle-aged was, "I want to be like D when I grow up." 

I remember once down at the Bridge to Nowhere, about a year after the lapwing sighting so it was January, we ran into each other and were chatting--down the road I saw a small falcon--"There's a Merlin," I said.

"I need Merlin for the year," D said, jumped in his car and raced down the road. 

I caught up to him a few minutes later and said to him, "D, you're gonna see a Merlin this year."

"You know, at my age, maybe not," he replied. 

Having had a significant birthday this month (remember it is impolite to discuss age), I was thinking that I was at least D's age now as he was then. So I asked myself, "Now that I'm grown up, am I like D?" 

Well, in terms of doggedness, in that I bird every day that I won't get soaked, yes, but only in that regard. It's an amusing habit.  I can't get so excited about a common bird that I'm going to race down a bumpy road to see it. My chasing circle gets smaller each year. I want the birds to be where I feel like being. Meanwhile, D is still leading the league in sightings. My wonder knows no bounds. 

For the month, which started off windy and snow-covered and ended in the 70's, I tallied 103 species, 14 of them year birds. That's a pretty low number for March, for me, according to my records, but I didn't get north of Manasquan Inlet nor south of Tuckerton this month--I stuck to Ocean and Burlington. I still haven't come across a catbird, a waxwing, a gnatcatcher, a thrasher--and you know, at my age...

Species   First Sighting
Brant   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Canada Goose   Holly Lake
Mute Swan   Holly Lake
Tundra Swan   Cranberry Bogs
Wood Duck   Whitesbog
American Wigeon   Holly Lake
Mallard   Holly Lake
American Black Duck   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Pintail   Whitesbog
Green-winged Teal   Holly Lake
Redhead   Holly Lake
Ring-necked Duck   Holly Lake
Greater Scaup   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Lesser Scaup   Double Trouble SP
Common Eider   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Harlequin Duck   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Black Scoter   Island Beach SP
Long-tailed Duck   Island Beach SP
Bufflehead   Holly Lake
Common Goldeneye   Cranberry Bogs
Hooded Merganser   Holly Lake
Common Merganser   Lake Carasaljo
Red-breasted Merganser   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Ruddy Duck   Lake of the Lilies
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   West Creek Dock Rd.
Mourning Dove   35 Sunset Rd
American Coot   Bunker Hill Bogs
American Oystercatcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Killdeer   Cranberry Bogs
Piping Plover   Island Beach SP
American Woodcock   Manahawkin WMA
Wilson's Snipe   Cranberry Bogs
Greater Yellowlegs   Manahawkin WMA
Laughing Gull   Horicon Lake
Ring-billed Gull   Lake Carasaljo
American Herring Gull   Holly Lake
Great Black-backed Gull   Holly Lake
Pied-billed Grebe   Double Trouble SP
Horned Grebe   Whitesbog
Common Loon   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Gannet   Island Beach SP
Great Cormorant   Island Beach SP
Double-crested Cormorant   Lake Carasaljo
Black-crowned Night Heron   Bayview Ave Park
Little Blue Heron   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Tricolored Heron   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Snowy Egret   Waretown
Great Egret   Double Trouble SP
Great Blue Heron   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Black Vulture   Bamber Lake
Turkey Vulture   West Creek Dock Rd.
Osprey   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Cooper's Hawk   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Harrier   West Creek Dock Rd.
Bald Eagle   Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Colliers Mills WMA
Belted Kingfisher   Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Downy Woodpecker   Manahawkin WMA
Hairy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Flicker   Whitesbog
American Kestrel   Cranberry Bogs
Eastern Phoebe   Cranberry Bogs
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Fish Crow   West Creek Dock Rd.
Common Raven   35 Sunset Rd
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Tree Swallow   Cranberry Bogs
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Cranberry Bogs
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Bunker Hill Bogs
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Cranberry Bogs
Brown Creeper   Cranberry Bogs
Carolina Wren   Bamber Lake
European Starling   35 Sunset Rd
Northern Mockingbird   Crestwood Village
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Hermit Thrush   Bunker Hill Bogs
American Robin   35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow   West Creek Dock Rd.
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow   Whiting WMA
Field Sparrow   Whitesbog
Dark-eyed Junco   35 Sunset Rd
White-throated Sparrow   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Savannah Sparrow   Barnegat Lighthouse SP
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow   Whitesbog
Eastern Towhee   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird   Holly Lake
Brown-headed Cowbird   Double Trouble SP
Common Grackle   Holly Lake
Boat-tailed Grackle   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Pine Warbler   Whitesbog
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Northern Cardinal   35 Sunset Rd

Common Goldeneye hen with drake Ring-necked Duck, Cranberry Bogs

Cranberry Bogs 3/28--Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Embarrassingly bad photo of 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Winter returned this morning, and aside from a lot of Field Sparrows, I didn't hear much singing this morning trekking through the Cranberry Bogs along Dover Road, nor did I see anything unexpected after walking all the way back past the large reservoir and onto the power line cut.  Turning around, I was curious if I could avoid walking back through the meadow where the buildings once stood; instead, as I was wearing my Muck Boots, I wondered if I could just walk out along the trail that is always flooded from a breached bog. The water in the bigger puddles around the bogs seemed to have receded somewhat so I thought it might be feasible. 

Short answer: No. But I'm glad I tried, because as I was standing in water just one inch below my boot tops, I saw a bird fly out of the brush and swoop over a bog. My first thought was that it was another Tree Swallow, but I quickly saw that it was bigger and it was brown. Then I saw another and another, and altogether 7, zipping right by me and it was obvious that I had my first Northern Rough-winged Swallows of the year, still considered rare here in Ocean County but apparently in their accepted window for migration. 

I have zero chance of photographing a speeding swallow on the wing with my unsophisticated camera, but one decided to take a rest from hunting (what insects it could be finding is a mystery to me) and perch on twig. I took a bunch of shots, but of course, the camera focused on the foliage in front of the bird and not the bird itself. Posted here is the best of a lot of really lousy shots. 

For the morning 25 species:

Canada Goose  4
Wood Duck  1     Heard bogs
Mallard  6
American Black Duck  16     Bogs and large reservoir
Ring-necked Duck  23
Mourning Dove  4
Great Blue Heron  1
Northern Flicker  2
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  7     
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  2
House Finch  5
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  6
Dark-eyed Junco  3
Song Sparrow  3
Swamp Sparrow  1     Bogs
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Pine Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  1

Cranberry Bogs 3/10--Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow

Go looking for one bird, find a different one...and then find the bird you were looking for. That's a decent day in the field even if both birds fall into the "gimme" category. I went to the abandoned Cranberry Bogs in South Toms River this morning, which started out foggy but soon cleared to be a precursor of springtime. At the top of the big hill around the sand pit I came across a nice little flock of tweety birds including a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which I hadn't seen for a while, and a Brown Creeper more visible than usual as the sun was shining directly on the tree it was walking up on.  I thought that bode well for the rest of the morning, but I didn't find any other passerines of note for quite a while. 

Ducks were still abundant--I counted 123 Ring-necked Ducks in 3 different bodies of water which broke the eBird filter, but in March the Ring-necks seem to gather in big flocks before moving north. 5 years ago to the day, I counted 665 Ring-necks on Turnmill Lake at Colliers Mills, so this could be considered a small gathering. Besides Mallards and black ducks, I also had 3 Wood Ducks (including a pair in appropriate habitat), some Hooded Mergansers, 7 Green-winged Teal that made a touch and go, and a couple of Buffleheads. 

Tree Swallow house, 2016

Superstitiously, I stopped at the shell of a pumphouse where I often find my day's target bird as they like to nest there, but it wasn't around. Not until I had walked almost to the far end of the large reservoir did I get my first year bird and not the one I was looking for--a single Tree Swallow perched on a dead tree in the middle of the water. Earlier, on the bogs, with a cloud of midges around my face, I was thinking that this would be a good time for swallows to show up. Years ago, when these were working bogs, somebody had put up two large swallow houses in the middle of that large reservoir and dozens of swallows would nest in them, but time and storms eventually destroyed them both. 

Eastern Phoebe on old pumphouse 2016

Walking back, I decided to take a path that is totally overgrown and that I probably won't walk on again until the winter since in warm weather it is tick-infested to the nth degree. But on that trail is another old pumphouse skeleton and I wanted to look at for the bird I'd originally set out for.  Again, not there, but I did see the Green-winged Teal in an impoundment along the way. And as I was watching them fly off, I heard it--the pissed-off FEE-BEE! "song" of the Eastern Phoebe, the bird I was seeking. It was somewhere off to my right but just then the grassy trail became a flooded one, and by the time I sloshed to the spot where I thought it was "singing" it was gone. I know I'll see plenty of others, but the first one is the most gratifying. 

For the morning 28 species:

Canada Goose  150
Wood Duck  3
Mallard  15
American Black Duck  6     Bogs
Green-winged Teal  7     Landed in bog for less than a minute then flew off. All drakes
Ring-necked Duck  123     Exact count. 83,12,28 in bogs and large reservoir
Bufflehead  2
Hooded Merganser  6
Mourning Dove  2
Killdeer  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Northern Flicker  3
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Common Raven  1     Croaking
Carolina Chickadee  11
Tufted Titmouse  2
Tree Swallow  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1     Big hill
Brown Creeper  1     Big hill
Eastern Bluebird  2
House Finch  5
Song Sparrow  7
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  4

Cranberry Bogs 6/21--Yellow-breasted Chat

Unexpected rarity, unexpected year bird.  On summer weekends, I misanthropically try to go to places where there aren't dog walkers, fishermen, beach lollers, children, strollers, hikers, runners...places like the cranberry bogs in South Toms River where only the occasional moron on an ATV or dirt bike can be found (and that's late in the morning since they're lazy bums too), where I can see and hear the birds undisturbed. As I got out of the car, I heard a Blue Grosbeak singing, so I had the notion it might be a good morning. When I got over the hill, I could hear it singing loud and I determined that I wanted to track it down. It took about 5 minutes, and I had to descend into the borrow pit, but I eventually found it atop a pine tree. 

Then, as I usually do, I walked over to the site where buildings stood until a year ago when they were torn down. It was a cacophony of bird song--House Wren, cardinal, Blue Jay, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Mourning Doves cooing, but in that mélange of sound I heard a discordant "Blatt, blatt, blatt!" I opened up Merlin to check if I was hearing right, but I didn't really need to, because those noises were followed by more churrs, chips, and shrieks, and Merlin "confirmed" that there was a Yellow-breasted Chat in the vicinity. Chats are notorious skulkers. Usually, you're satisfied if you hear one and perhaps catch a glimpse of it buried deep in a bush. I didn't have much hope for locating it, but I did have the recording for proof. Still, I looked around in the low foliage and didn't find it. Looking up, though, in a dead tree, there it was, against type, calling (you can't really say "singing") from a branch. Amazingly, it stayed in one place so I could take photographs. More astounding, it stayed in one place long enough for me to walk around to the other side of the tree to get it at a better angle. 

Finding this bird made disproportionately happy in relation to its rarity. I remember many walks around the FAA Beacon field at Assunpink trying to track one down. It has usually been a bird I go searching for, stopping along the road at the upland portion of Brig to hear one, or walking through the Sandy Restoration site at Double Trouble where they have been off and on. To stumble upon one...that's a gift from the birding gods. 

I continued out to the bogs and then, following the trail that runs along the large reservoir, out to the power line cut. There I came across a guy walking with a three-pronged stick. I had no idea what he was doing. He haled me and said we'd met before, asking me how the birds were. I asked him what he was doing, and when he told me a herpetological survey, I recognized him as a guy I hadn't seen in years. And his three-pronged stick made sense. We talked about some people we knew in common and I told him what reptiles and amphibians I'd seen (painted turtle, snapping turtle, Fowler's toad,) and we went back to our surveys. I'd walked 2 1/2 miles out there before I saw another person. As we were parting, he told me to enjoy every day. It seemed like good advice. It seemed like a blessing. 

My Cranberry Bogs day list:

36 species
Wood Duck  5     Bogs + drake on large reservoir. 4 in Basic plumage
Mourning Dove  9
Green Heron  1     Bogs
Great Egret  6
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  2
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tree Swallow  8
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Northern House Wren  2
Gray Catbird  2
Brown Thrasher  1
American Robin  4
Cedar Waxwing  1
House Finch  6
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  3
Eastern Towhee  3
Yellow-breasted Chat  1     
Orchard Oriole  2
Baltimore Oriole  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Common Grackle  5
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  5
Pine Warbler  2
Prairie Warbler  5
Northern Cardinal  2
Blue Grosbeak  1

Cranberry Bogs 5/26--Olive-sided Flycatcher

It's Memorial Day and not feeling like dealing with traffic, I went to the Cranberry Bogs on Dover Road; they're close and there's usually no one there and if there is, I know her.  I got there very early and spent about an hour investigating the area where the buildings once stood. I had 30 species just kicking around there, including a Wood Duck in a tree, but the exotic flycatcher I was hoping to find, which was reported yesterday, was not among the 30. 

I walked out on to the sand trails around the bogs, which are all flooded now, at least the ones I'm willing to go to, since the high grass is a haven for ticks. In one bog there was a little mud and on that mud was a Glossy Ibis and 6 Least Sandpipers. Tree Swallows were buzzing around and there were a lot of Chimney Swifts, the first time this year I've seen more than one at a time. 

I was surprised to see someone else wandering around out there. He turned out to be a birder whose name I've seen on eBird, but this was our first meeting. We talked for a moment and then I went on, but we ran into each other again in a spot I didn't think anyone else went to. We were walking along the large reservoir in the back when we saw a flycatcher sitting atop a dead tree. We both immediately thought it was an Olive-sided Flycatcher, the bird that had been reported yesterday at the demolished buildings site. It was pretty distant, but we could see the "vest" and chunky appearance, and the clincher, for me, when I looked at my photos in the viewfinder, was the white patch on the side--diagnostic as we birders like to say. 

For the morning, 48 species. 

Canada Goose  2
Wood Duck  1     
Mallard  4
Mourning Dove  5
Chimney Swift  5
Least Sandpiper  6     
Laughing Gull  3
American Herring Gull  1
Glossy Ibis  8
Green Heron  1     Chased by blackbird
Great Egret  6
Black Vulture  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  1     Flyover
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Olive-sided Flycatcher  1    
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  4
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tree Swallow  12
Barn Swallow  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Northern House Wren  2
Gray Catbird  4
Brown Thrasher  1     Old building site
Cedar Waxwing  20
House Finch  3
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  5
Field Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  2
Orchard Oriole  2
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Brown-headed Cowbird  3
Common Grackle  2
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  10
Blackpoll Warbler  2
Prairie Warbler  6
Northern Cardinal  

Showing white patch