Meadowview Lane | Evert Trail 6/8--Pileated Woodpecker, Louisiana Waterthrush, Summer Tanager

 A number of years ago, my informant told me about the power line right-of-way in Pemberton, an extension of Meadowview Lane. It has woods on one side and wetlands on the other and is a good place to find Pileated Woodpecker. I don't go there too often, but a few days ago, on S. Park Road, I ran into a Burlco birder and we talked about the spot, especially because we heard what we suspected was a Pileated, but it didn't call long enough for us to be certain. So, this morning, early, I was there, starting at the parking lot of Pemberton Lake and walking about two miles and back. In that walk I found most of the birds I'd expect and did indeed track down a very noisy Pileated which cooperatively flew over my head twice, but non-cooperatively, didn't land on tree for a photo. 

Indigo Bunting

While I was listening to the woodpecker, I also heard a somewhat familiar song which I was pretty certain was a Summer Tanager. The non-always reliable Merlin confirmed this, but listening to other songs on my phone clinched it. Which was good because I could never put eyes on the damn bird--you'd think a fairly large all red bird would stand out in the greenery, but you would be wrong. I was also pleased to find at least 3 Indigo Buntings along the way. In all, 34 species. 

I had a funny email exchange with the Burlco birder. I told him that after listening, recording, and seeing the Pileated, I was pretty certain the woodpecker we heard on S. Park was also the same species. I also told him about the Summer Tanager. He asked where it was, and I said that if you start at the parking lot and walked past the pump house that was the area where both the woodpecker and tanager were. He responded, "You walk from the Pemberton Lake parking lot?" I didn't realize it was odd--there are closer places to park your car on Coleman's Bridge Road, but then I wouldn't get my four miles in. 

Prothonotary Warbler

Afterwards, I headed a few miles back to Ong's Hat Road (who Ong was and what his hat was doing in the road is the source of many apocryphal stories) and decided to walk on the Dot & Brooks Evert Nature Trail through which Stop the Jade Run flows (what a Jade is and why you'd want to stop it is another font of dubious folklore). It was both late in the season and late in the day for this spot famous for its skulking warblers, and there is sign saying that the trail was closed because of high water--the trail is mostly wooden slats covered in chicken wire. But I decided to see how bad it was--answer: for the first half mile it was fine, though the only interesting singing birds were a couple of Prothonotary Warblers and my first Louisiana Waterthrush of the year; then the undergrowth became overgrowth and the wooden slats seem to sink just below the water and I turned around--it's all pretty much the same habitat so I'm just as likely to find a bird going backwards as I am forwards. I think Burlington County is more interesting to me this time of year because I sense that more birds breed in the forests there than they do in Ocean, plus I don't have to "share" the space with cyclists and dog walkers. 

The Meadowview Lane list:

Canada Goose  3
Wood Duck  1
Mourning Dove  6
Turkey Vulture  3
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4
Downy Woodpecker  1
Pileated Woodpecker  1     
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
White-eyed Vireo  2
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  5
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  5
Wood Thrush  3
Cedar Waxwing  3
Chipping Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  1
Ovenbird  4
Common Yellowthroat  3
Pine Warbler  4
Summer Tanager  1     
Northern Cardinal  4
Indigo Bunting  3

Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve 5/17--Acadian Flycatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, Prothonotary Warbler

Red-headed Woodpecker, South Park Road

I thought it was going to be another of those "all ear" mornings, where my new year birds were all "just" heard. But if I stand on the bridge long enough at the Huber Preserve, eventually one of the singing birds will show itself. I had previously heard from there an Acadian Flycatcher ("Pizza!") and a Louisiana Waterthrush, the latter one being a bird I had forgotten was a possibility there. I spent some time walking down near the creek looking for the waterthrush. The water isn't really fast running there, which is where I think of Louies being, and this bird was especially frustrating since it sounded like it was high up in the trees. The foliage is pretty dense in there now; I couldn't find it. 

I walked along the White Trail, which, from experience is the only trail where you're relatively safe from ticks--relatively. The birdsong in there was reaching cacophonous levels, particularly from Ovenbirds, but I also picked out Hooded Warbler, redstart, Pine Warbler (a gimme), Prairie Warbler (of course), 3 different vireos, a Wood Thrush, a Veery (infrequent in the Pine Barrens) and even a distant Wood Duck. Some of these birds I even saw. 

Prothonotary Warbler, Huber Preserve

Back at the bridge on the way out I stood around and pished and pished, even though I don't think Prothonotary Warblers respond to it. Eastern Phoebe, which nests beneath the bridge kept flying out to find out who the fool was. I heard the Protho, but it took a long time before I got eyes on it. And then it flitted all around the creek, never sitting still for more than a few seconds. A laughably bad photograph was produced, the result of just pointing the camera where I saw a yellow dot in the trees. 

Afterwards, I drove over to South Park Road, a few minutes away, just to see if I could track down the resident Red-headed Woodpeckers that frequent the dead trees about 3/4 of mile down the road. Just as in Colliers Mills, I had given up on them and was making my way back to the car, when I first heard one call, then saw two in the back. They came fairly close and then flew back & forth over the road. South Park Road is one of the few places in Burlco that you can find this (rare for the county) bird. The other spots are a lot harder to get to. It's a case of "I wanna see the bird, but I don't wanna see it that bad." 

The Huber list:

31 species
Wood Duck  1     
Wild Turkey  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Acadian Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  4
White-eyed Vireo  3
Yellow-throated Vireo  1    
Red-eyed Vireo  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Veery  1     
Wood Thrush  1
Eastern Towhee  4
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Ovenbird  25
Louisiana Waterthrush  1
Black-and-white Warbler  3
Prothonotary Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Hooded Warbler  4
American Redstart  1
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  8

Barnegat Municipal Dock 3/20--Laughing Gull

I had the Year Bird Jones today. Yesterday, I spent my birding time at Colliers Mills looking, for probably the 15th time this year, for Red-headed Woodpecker. The absence of a post here about that species tells you the result. Today, I figured I may as well look at my other supposedly reliable spot, South Park Road in Tabernacle. This is usually a good place for Red-headed Woodpeckers; I believe I have a higher "hit rate" for them there than I do at Colliers Mills, but a back forth walk of 1.9 miles on the gravel and dirt road turned up none of the birds today. Plenty of other birds, including the first Wood Ducks I've ever seen there and a Pine Warbler every 100 feet, but the target bird remains elusive. 

And I still wanted a year bird.  So, I did something I rarely do. Usually, after a long walk, I'm pretty much done birding. As I've said, I bird every day, but I don't bird all day. And I'm especially averse to taking a long drive from one spot to the other but that's what I did this morning, driving 28 miles from South Park Road up 70, across 72, down Bay Avenue, to the Barnegat Municipal Dock parking lot. Because that parking lot is always full of gulls and I figured it would be the obvious spot for Laughing Gull, despite my earlier vow to just let that bird come to me. 

When I got there, it was full of gulls, but just Herring and Ring-bill Gulls, it seemed. Then a few gulls shuffled about and revealed my FOY Laughing Gull. A couple of minutes later a second one appeared at another spot in the lot and was quickly joined by a third. And there, along with decent pictures, is my accomplishment of the day. 

A quick scan of the bay turned up a pair of Horned Grebes and then a couple of American Oystercatchers on an island, both flagged as "Infrequent" on eBird. The "Infrequent" designation is a little mysterious. It could just be that the area isn't birded as much as it might be and thus the reports are sparse, or it really could be that the species doesn't turn up there much. For the most part when I encounter this flag, I assume the former. 

A couple of more stops on the way back home turned up semi-interesting birds: Greater Yellowlegs off the observation platform at the Barnegat Impoundments (hadn't seen them this month) and a Pied-billed Grebe in a channel along Bay Parkway in Waretown (again, "Infrequent," and maybe so, because it is the first time I've seen one there).

September Summary--11 Year Birds

Roseate Spoonbill, Bombay Hook

 After nailing myself down to Whitesbog for the month of August, in September I feel like I was all over the place, including a trip to Delaware at the end of the month (and the beginning of this one). More on that trip later. 

Migration means warblers and as usual I didn't do as well as I'd like--never had much luck on a couple of trips to the Island Beach bay side trails, though my one trip on the other side of the state to Palmyra was a success. As an honorary Burlco birder I was gassed to finally get a chance to explore Budd's Bogs where we started in the rain and dark and ended in sunshine with 62 species on a "slow" day. Plus, the American Bittern we flushed was a county bird for me. 

I made one trip to South Park Road in Burlco with an agenda and checked off all three target birds there before it was much past 7: Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl and Red-headed Woodpecker. 

I even made it as far north as Sandy Hook where I had a so-so day. I realized there that you have to really love a place to bird it well, and walking along the trash-strewn beaches, trying to find a parking lot that wasn't either a construction site or a reserved for Boy Scouts, trying to find a rest room that wasn't arbitrarily closed, it dawned on me that I don't love Sandy Hook

Whitesbog continued to produce for me when I went there: The American Golden-Plover finally showed up and over on the Ocean County side on one of the first cool days of the month I found my year Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. 

I did a couple of trips to Brig, one with Mike, one solo. Shari & I spent the last day of the month at Bombay Hook in Delaware. Comparing the two, I prefer the latter. There's more variety down there than Brig and, while I don't know this for a fact, I get the feeling that everyone isn't always bitching about the water levels in the various impoundments. There are four Roseate Spoonbills down there that have been hanging in the same spot for about two months now. They are not hard to find. While we were looking at them I spotted a Common Gallinule nearby and a Sora was whinnying off and on the whole time we were at the Daly Overlook. That's what I call fun. 

The Sora brought me to 282 for the year, one more species than I had all of last year. A pandemic makes for easy comps. 

Counties Birded:
Delaware: Kent, New Castle

New Jersey: Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean

177 Species

Species                           Location
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  Brig
Snow Goose  Brig
Canada Goose  Whitesbog
Mute Swan  Island Beach SP
Wood Duck  Whitesbog
Blue-winged Teal  Brig
Northern Shoveler  Brig
Gadwall  Brig
American Wigeon  Brig
Mallard  Whitesbog
American Black Duck  Whitesbog
Northern Pintail  Budd’s Bogs
Green-winged Teal  Whitesbog
King Eider  Island Beach SP
Common Eider  Island Beach SP
Black Scoter  Island Beach SP
Common Merganser  Whitesbog
Wild Turkey  35 Sunset Rd
Pied-billed Grebe  Whitesbog
Rock Pigeon  Budd’s Bogs
Mourning Dove  Whitesbog
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  Sandy Hook
Common Nighthawk  Budd’s Bogs
Eastern Whip-poor-will  35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift  Budd’s Bogs
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  Whitesbog
Clapper Rail  Sandy Hook
Virginia Rail  Brig
Sora  Bombay Hook
Common Gallinule  Bombay Hook
American Avocet  Brig
American Oystercatcher  Sandy Hook
Black-bellied Plover  Sandy Hook
American Golden-Plover  Whitesbog
Semipalmated Plover  Whitesbog
Killdeer  Whitesbog
Marbled Godwit  Bombay Hook
Ruddy Turnstone  Island Beach SP
Stilt Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Sanderling  Sandy Hook
Dunlin  Brig
Least Sandpiper  Whitesbog
White-rumped Sandpiper  Brig
Pectoral Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Western Sandpiper  Brig
Short-billed Dowitcher  Brig
Long-billed Dowitcher  Brig
Spotted Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Solitary Sandpiper  Whitesbog
Greater Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Willet  Bombay Hook
Lesser Yellowlegs  Whitesbog
Laughing Gull  Budd’s Bogs
Ring-billed Gull  Island Beach SP
Herring Gull  Sandy Hook
Lesser Black-backed Gull  Island Beach SP
Great Black-backed Gull  Sandy Hook
Caspian Tern  Whitesbog
Common Tern  Island Beach SP
Forster's Tern  Island Beach SP
Royal Tern  Sandy Hook
Black Skimmer  Brig
Double-crested Cormorant  Budd’s Bogs
Brown Pelican  Island Beach SP
American Bittern  Budd’s Bogs
Great Blue Heron  Whitesbog
Great Egret  Reeves Bogs
Snowy Egret  Sandy Hook
Little Blue Heron  Budd’s Bogs
Tricolored Heron  Great Bay Blvd
Green Heron  Whitesbog
Black-crowned Night-Heron  Island Beach SP
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  Great Bay Blvd
White Ibis  Great Bay Blvd
Glossy Ibis  Brig
Roseate Spoonbill  Bombay Hook
Black Vulture  Budd’s Bogs
Turkey Vulture  Whitesbog
Osprey  Whitesbog
Northern Harrier  Whitesbog
Cooper's Hawk  Whitesbog
Bald Eagle  Whitesbog
Red-shouldered Hawk  Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk  Budd’s Bogs
Eastern Screech-Owl  South Park Rd
Great Horned Owl  South Park Rd
Belted Kingfisher  Whitesbog
Red-headed Woodpecker  South Park Rd
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Downy Woodpecker  Whitesbog
Hairy Woodpecker  Budd’s Bogs
Northern Flicker  Whitesbog
American Kestrel  Budd’s Bogs
Merlin  Island Beach SP
Peregrine Falcon  Budd’s Bogs
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Whitesbog
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  Whitesbog
Acadian Flycatcher  Budd’s Bogs
Willow Flycatcher  Cedar Bonnet Island
Least Flycatcher  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Eastern Phoebe  Whitesbog
Great Crested Flycatcher  Whitesbog
Eastern Kingbird  Whitesbog
White-eyed Vireo  Whitesbog
Warbling Vireo  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Red-eyed Vireo  Whitesbog
Blue Jay  35 Sunset Rd
American Crow  Whitesbog
Fish Crow  Whitesbog
Common Raven  Whitesbog
Carolina Chickadee  Whitesbog
Tufted Titmouse  35 Sunset Rd
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Whitesbog
Purple Martin  Whitesbog
Tree Swallow  Whitesbog
Bank Swallow  Whitesbog
Barn Swallow  Whitesbog
Cliff Swallow  Whitesbog
Red-breasted Nuthatch  Double Trouble State Park
White-breasted Nuthatch  Whitesbog
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
House Wren  Whitesbog
Marsh Wren  Brig
Carolina Wren  Whitesbog
European Starling  Whitesbog
Gray Catbird  Whitesbog
Brown Thrasher  Whitesbog
Northern Mockingbird  Budd’s Bogs
Eastern Bluebird  Whitesbog
Swainson's Thrush  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
American Robin  Whitesbog
Cedar Waxwing  Sandy Hook
House Sparrow  Sandy Hook
House Finch  35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch  Whitesbog
Chipping Sparrow  Whitesbog
Field Sparrow  Budd’s Bogs
Seaside Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Nelson's Sparrow  Great Bay Blvd
Savannah Sparrow  Brig
Song Sparrow  Whitesbog
Swamp Sparrow  Cedar Bonnet Island
Eastern Towhee  Whitesbog
Bobolink  Whitesbog
Baltimore Oriole  Island Beach SP
Red-winged Blackbird  Whitesbog
Brown-headed Cowbird  Brig
Common Grackle  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Boat-tailed Grackle  Island Beach SP
Ovenbird  Whitesbog
Northern Waterthrush  Whitesbog
Black-and-white Warbler  Budd’s Bogs
Tennessee Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Connecticut Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Common Yellowthroat  Whitesbog
American Redstart  Whitesbog
Cape May Warbler  Island Beach SP
Northern Parula  Bunker Hill Bogs
Magnolia Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Bay-breasted Warbler  Island Beach SP
Blackburnian Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Yellow Warbler  Island Beach SP
Chestnut-sided Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Blackpoll Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Palm Warbler  Brig
Pine Warbler  35 Sunset Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler  Cedar Bonnet Island
Prairie Warbler  Whitesbog
Black-throated Green Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Canada Warbler  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Scarlet Tanager  Island Beach SP
Northern Cardinal  35 Sunset Rd
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Blue Grosbeak  Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting  Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Dickcissel  Island Beach SP

PPA HQ 6/17--Dickcissel

Dickcissel, PPA HQ

To amuse myself I sought--and found--three different kinds of rarities in Burlco today. The first one is what I'd consider a rarity in the pure sense, a bird that doesn't show up much in these parts (NJ). The Dickcissel is mostly a mid-western grasslands birds. There are many grasslands extant in NJ anymore, but Burlington County has some patches and today at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance Headquarters (PPA HQ) three of as many 6 reported Dickcissels were present. I arrived early and started walking around the deer fence enclosing the fields. I heard the characteristic "dik dik sssssssssss" and was thinking I might have to be satisfied with that when one flew in, and, as advertised, alighted on the fence and continued singing. In the sunlight it was just gorgeous. Then I saw another a little farther down the fence line and finally, walking on the other side of the field I heard another one singing that managed to stay unsighted. Pretty good for me who has never encountered more than one at a time. I have an extra-avian fondness for Dickcissels because on the same day that Shari & I first viewed the house we live in we also made a trip up to Negri-Nepote and got our life Dickcissel there, so the bird is always connected with that life change from Brooklyn to NJ in my memory. 

Red-headed Woodpecker, 
South Park Rd

My second stop was South Park Road in Tabernacle. There I found a Red-headed Woodpecker, which to my mind is not so much rare as "localized." I can think of 3 or 4 places off-hand in the county where you can find the bird--the habitat they like is surprisingly sparse in the county--but Burlington is a big place (the largest county by area in the state) and those areas where the woodpeckers are found are relatively small and three of them fairly close to each other. So it is rare only in the sense that there just aren't a lot of them in Burlington County

The third so-called rarity is a "seasonal" example. At Whitesbog, ever since the end of May, there has been a drake Bufflehead in the Middle Bog. In the winter you wouldn't look twice at this bird. Obviously, he should be long gone and north of here yet here he is mid-June and seeming pretty comfortable. I've been watching the bird for a couple of weeks now (I'm at Whitesbog two or three times a week lately) and at first there was speculation that the bird was ill or injured as it seem to spend a lot of time preening itself or just sitting atop the water with its head tucked in. But today it was actively diving. There's plenty of pickerel in the bog but it may also be eating the vegetation at the bottom along with worms, snails and other invertebrates. So it won't starve. I'm interested to see how long it stay and if it will still be there in August when, I hope, the bog will be drawn down. I don't know if it can fly, so it may have to waddle over to Union Pond. 

Bufflehead, Whitesbog