Manahawkin WMA | Stafford Preserve 5/23--Willow Flycatcher, Bank Swallow

. "Fitz-bew!" 

Back to looking for birds that have been avoiding me. I don't keep records of my earliest sightings in the year for particular species, but I know I should have encountered a Willow Flycatcher by now--everybody else has--so I was kicking around Manahawkin WMA this morning looking and listening for one. I can tell you that will be my last outing to that WMA for a while--the vegetation is high and while I was Muck booted, permethrin clad with permethrin socks stuffed into permethrin pants with arms and face slathered with repellent there were sections I was just not willing to walk into because of the high tick density. I came away tick-free (almost sure) but I don't like the odds there and until they mow the paths, I'm avoiding the place. 

I did find a Willow Flycatcher when I got out of the woods and fields and onto the impoundments. I heard the "Fitz-bew" clearly then found the bird atop a dead tree. It was the first of 4 Willows that I saw and heard. 

The water was extraordinarily low--whether intentionally or because of the recent lack of rain I don't know--and the mud attracted hundreds of shorebirds (Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, a few Willets) but I wasn't carrying my scope so that intriguing russet sandpiper with the long straight bill will go unidentified by me. 

After that I went to what is undoubtedly the most unattractive birding spot in Ocean County, the construction site cum wasteland in Stafford Township with the bucolic name of Stafford Preserve. It is a seemingly endless project of building condominiums atop the old landfill, though I don't think they've made much progress in the year or so since I was last there. The mountains of dirt scattered around the cracked mud are the reason to go there--I counted 10 Bank Swallow holes punched in one mound and saw four of the swallows flying around. Since I am very bad at identifying fast-moving birds at a distance, this is the sure-fire way for me to see Bank Swallows, though even there, Tree, Barn, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were also in the mix. 

Interestingly, the nests seem to be in the same hill of dirt as they were last year, or at least a hill of dirt that is, as I recall, in more or less the same spot. That's one of the reasons I say it doesn't look like much has happened in the last year. Now, will the nests be let alone? I understand that in the sand quarries that pepper the Pine Barrens the workers leave the swallows alone when they nest in a hill, but I don't know if that tradition will extend to this project. 

As a species, we have evolved to look for faces. Its a survival instinct though sometimes it goes awry which is why the Virgin Mary appears on refrigerators or in bowls of oatmeal. Or why a couple of Bank Swallow nests and a horizontal stick suddenly grabs my attention. 

Stafford Preserve 6/5--Bank Swallows

I went to Stafford Preserve today, which, despite its bucolic name, is nothing more than a condominium development behind a shopping mall both of which are built on a former landfill. I have gone there on occasion in the past for some specialties that are attracted to crappy land like Horned Lark but I haven't been there in a few years and, where in my previous visits the condos were in a small area in relation to the open grasslands and sand pits of the former dump, the housing has become much more sprawling and the grasslands are confined to an acre or so between the Costco Parking lot and the main entrance to the Preserve.

Bank Swallow nest holes

It was there that I was looking for Grasshopper Sparrow this morning, since they appear to be a no-show at Colliers Mills this year. I didn't have any more luck there than I did at Colliers that last couple of times I've been there, but I still considered the trip a success because back in the wastelands, walking through wet, sticky clay, I headed toward a huge sand pile that looked like it had a number of holes punched in it. They were Bank Swallow nests and Bank Swallows were flying around them. Swallows on the wing can be difficult, at least for me. Sure, I can pick out a Barn from a Tree, but another, less frequent swallow, zipping by me at speed, doesn't often give me a chance to discern any field marks. 

But when I see swallows around holes in a big hill, I know what they are. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a picture to document your sighting. 

I realized that, while I have of course managed to pick out a Bank Swallow or two in flight while living in New Jersey, this was the first time I'd seen a nesting site in the state. Shari & I always used to go to Great Kills Park on Staten Island where they nested in 10 foot high cliff face facing the bay that was washed away by Superstorm Sandy. So it had to be the year before the storm that I last saw nesting Bank Swallows. 

After I saw the swallows I looked once again for the Grasshopper Sparrows but only came up with a number of Field Sparrows instead. A parking lot, condos clustered together, and acres of empty clay flats punctuated by mountains of sand and scattered construction machinery do not combine for a scenic walk in the wild, so, while I'd like to see some Grasshopper Sparrows, I don't know how much time I want to spend in an area clearly not set aside for natural pursuits. Especially in these times of upheaval, I can just imagine the Manahawkin Police Department investigating a suspicious character walking past row after row of "luxury housing" with binoculars and camera.