Bunker Hill Bogs 5/6--Green Heron, Magnolia Warbler, Orchard Oriole

Bunker Hill Bogs from cross dike

Back to the woods today. My avian alarm clocks (whip-poor-will at 4:11 AM, turkeys at 5:30) got me up and I was at Bunker Hill Bogs in Jackson, eating breakfast by 6:30. While I don't closely follow the radar and the winds to see how optimal the migration conditions will be next morning, I gathered that the winds weren't right for another big push, so I wasn't expecting a fall out. I was hoping for new birds, though the 3 birds I added to the list were not the ones I had in mind. I will take them, obviously.

As I started my walk in the woods I heard the by now usual warblers--Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-white Warbler. Between the whining of the catbirds and the lispy buzz of the gnatcatchers, it was hard to hear much else. There were warblers flitting high in the trees and I managed to isolate long enough to see that it was a Magnolia Warbler. That's a striking bird, just not one I had in mind today. (For the record, I was thinking: redstart, Black-throated Green, Red-eyed and/or Blue-headed Vireo, none of which I have for NJ yet.)

I made my way out onto the cross dike and saw at the top of small tree a first-summer Orchard Oriole singing. Here's a bird that can be confusing since it all yellow with a black throat (as opposed to the blood red of the adult) and not especially large--one might think warbler if one one wasn't thinking too hard.

On some of the mud flats shorebirds were dancing around. I knew they weren't Killdeer and I was pretty certain they were Spotted Sandpipers, but I would have to wait for the next stop to see the bird I was hoping they were. Just as I was about to give up on the dike I turned around and glanced at the adjoining bog where I'd seen a couple of Mallards. A bird was flying which I first took for a duck, then for a crow, then for what it was: A Green Heron (which are crow-like), followed by another. They both landed in some high evergreens and I wasn't able to relocate them but that was 3 new birds in the space of about 10 minutes.

And that was it for that stop. I continued walking all the way up to Butterfly Road, crossing my favorite improvised bridge over the breach in two bogs

and found some good birds in the back bogs including the resident Wood Ducks. It is similar to Colliers Mills--if they're not in the first bog, they'll be in the 2nd, and if not in the 2nd then they're in the 3rd. They were in the 3rd. 

Even though today was much cooler than the last couple of days, after the first burst of energy in the morning, the bird activity quieted down pretty quickly after about 9 o'clock. I managed a good list there though:

37 species
Canada Goose  10
Wood Duck  2     furthest bog back by power line cut
Mallard  5
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Green Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  3
Laughing Gull  1     heard, f/o in clouds
Mourning Dove  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     Heard
Downy Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  2     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  4
White-eyed Vireo  1     Heard
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  5
Fish Crow  2
Tree Swallow  10
Carolina Chickadee  5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  10
Eastern Bluebird  2     Back bogs
Wood Thrush  1     Heard
Gray Catbird  15
Ovenbird  10
Black-and-white Warbler  6
Common Yellowthroat  10
Magnolia Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  3
Eastern Towhee  10
Northern Cardinal  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Common Grackle  6
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Orchard Oriole  1     
American Goldfinch  1     singing

Great Bay Blvd WMA 5/5--Gull-billed Tern, Seaside Sparrow

Gull-billed Terns

I'd had enough of woodland trails which seemed to be all that I had walked the last week, so after the Blue Grosbeak excitement, I drove down to Great Bay Blvd to scout out the what was in and on the marshes.

Forster's Tern

I stopped, as I usually do, at the new bulkhead, right after the first bridge and while I was eating my snack I heard the buzzy song of a Seaside Sparrow, so my first bird there was FOY. My initial plan was to go all the way to the end of the road and scan the beach, but I stopped because I was hungry. I'm glad I did, because I walked north a little along the boardwalk, scanning the muddy channel. I saw some terns, figuring they were Forster's Terns, and most were, but standing on a point were two Gull-billed Terns, another FOY. Somehow, Gull-billed Terns have eluded me in Ocean County so there's another species added to my county life list.

Shorebirds were abundant, particularly , Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlins and Short-billed Dowitchers. There were a couple of dowitchers I was sorely tempted to turn into the long-billed variety, but the long-bill don't arrive for at least another few weeks. Besides, many a birder has been reduced to dribbling fool trying to distinguish LB from SB at a distance.

The only ducks I saw was a peculiar pair that I believe I saw last year in the same spot, at the old boat launch, just before the fifth bridge. It is comprised of a drake Mallard and what I believe to be a hen hybrid MALL/American Black Duck. It is possible that it is just a hen black duck and they are making their own hybrids, but there is something about the hen (and after seeing this pair for a year, I'm pretty certain it isn't a bromance) that doesn't fit a pure (if such a duck exists) American Black Duck. Whatever they are, I wish them well.

My explorations yield 5 more county birds. My only regret is that I wasn't able to find a Whimbrel; they've been reported there but I haven't stumbled on one this year.
34 species (+1 other taxa)
Brant (Atlantic)  100
Mallard  1     
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid)  1     
Double-crested Cormorant  105     Counted 100 flyovers then a few scattered around the marshes
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  15
Snowy Egret  5
Glossy Ibis  4
Osprey  15
Clapper Rail  6
American Oystercatcher  5
Black-bellied Plover  100
Semipalmated Plover  8
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Willet  8
Dunlin  100
Semipalmated Sandpiper  10
Short-billed Dowitcher  75
Laughing Gull  5
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  20
Gull-billed Tern  2     
Forster's Tern  25    
Fish Crow  4
Tree Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  25
Gray Catbird  2
European Starling  1
Common Yellowthroat  4
Yellow Warbler  3
Seaside Sparrow  3     Heard
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1     After 5th bridge
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Boat-tailed Grackle  50

Backyard 5/5--Blue Grosbeak

I spent the morning at Colliers Mills, fruitlessly looking for something new for the year and especially the county. I particularly looked for grosbeaks and buntings in the spots I've seen them before with no luck.

Came home, started writing up yesterday's sightings, looked up at the branch that holds the thistle feeder and saw a dark bird. First reaction: Red-winged Blackbird. Second reaction: NO!

The bird flew off the branch and back toward the suet cage, landing on a crooked tree and I saw clearly that it was our first backyard Blue Grosbeak. What a great bird to have!  Of course, Shari isn't home to see it. As I was emailing her that I had seen the bird, it came back, landed on the tree right in front of the window and gave me a fantastic look. Even if my camera hadn't been in the car, I doubt I'd have had enough time to get a picture.

Wells Mill Park 5/4--Eastern Wood-Pewee

Not much to say about this stop. Yesterday was the first hot day of the year--the temperature reach over 80 degrees, and by the time I got to Wells Mill Park, around 9:30, it was already in the mid 70's and the birds were already getting quiet. This is why I've been rising just before dawn (and I probably should be getting up even earlier) so that I can get to a place at the optimal time to find birds. The problems is, of course, that I want to be everyplace at once.

The new bird I added for the year was Eastern Wood-Pewee, near the Nature Center. A very easy bird to pick out by ear. I walked my usual route there, which is about two miles of hilly terrain and it was more about the exercise than the birding by the time I got on the flat part of the trail, returning to the parking lot.

22 species
Canada Goose  5
Turkey Vulture  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Mourning Dove  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     heard
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1     heard, near Nature Center
Great Crested Flycatcher  1     heard
Blue Jay  1     heard
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5
American Robin  3
Gray Catbird  5
European Starling  5
Ovenbird  15     heard
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  10
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  4
Eastern Towhee  15
Chipping Sparrow  3
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  10

Forsythe--Barnegat 5/4--White-faced Ibis, Marsh Wren, Black-throated Blue Warbler

View from "Karmela's Kut"

I drove down to the impoundments along Bay Avenue in Barnegat to see if I could find the rare ibises reported there over the weekend when I was busy up in Jackson and Middlesex County. As soon as I arrived I saw one White-faced Ibis with my binoculars, but by the time I got my scope adjusted and set up it flew off, naturally, so the look was brief. I scanned the other ibises for a while and in the meantime heard my FOY Marsh Wren right next to me. I was joined by Karmela (who lives across the street) and while we exchanged news and views I saw another ibis with a red eyeball and pink knees. This turned out to be the "other" WFIB. It had a pink face and was probably a non-breeding adult. Good bird to see--I hadn't seen one in a couple of years, but I was able to get photos--even as close as they birds were, they were out of range for my camera.

While everyone knows Forsythe for its Brigantine (Brig) division, and many know it for the Barnegat Impoundments, the refuge is actually an archipelago of marsh and wood land extending from Galloway up into Brick Township, a distance of well over 50 miles.  There are nooks and crannies of the refuge all along Barnegat Bay. After about 50 minutes of viewing the birds in the impoundment, I drove over to Collinstown Road, which runs along another part of the refuge. Collinstown Road is my "go to" spot for our crepuscular birding when we want Chuck-will's-widow. I'd never birded it in daylight. Catbirds were noisy, which cut into my ear birding practice. The best bird I found there was my FOY Black-throated Blue Warbler high in a very large, drooping evergreen. I got excellent looks at it while it also sang, so that song is much more firmly in my memory--at least for this year.

That area has a parking lot for some of the refuge's work vehicles. I'm not an off-road enthusiast, but I have to say that this baby looks like it might be fun to drive:

Naturally, the license plate on the trailer is from Louisiana

Forsythe--Barnegat
21 species
Canada Goose  2
Mute Swan  12
American Black Duck  10
Mallard  5
Blue-winged Teal  3     Close in
Double-crested Cormorant  6
Great Egret  5
Snowy Egret  2
Tricolored Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  8
White-faced Ibis  2     
Greater Yellowlegs  15
Lesser Yellowlegs  5
Least Sandpiper  10
Laughing Gull  2
Forster's Tern  2
Fish Crow  1     heard
Tree Swallow  10
Marsh Wren  1     heard
Common Yellowthroat  1     heard
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Collinstown Road
17 species
Turkey Vulture  1
Laughing Gull  1     f/o
Mourning Dove  1     heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
White-eyed Vireo  3
Blue Jay  1
Carolina Chickadee  2     heard
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5
Wood Thrush  1     heard
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  5
Ovenbird  2     heard
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1     
Eastern Towhee  2     heard
Chipping Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  5

Jackson Twp 5/2--Yellow-throated Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Northern Parula, Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore Oriole, Lake Enno
Photos: Shari Zirlin

We spent the day roaming the 100+ square miles of Jackson Township with Mike and a few other local birders. We met at Jackson Memorial High School where we got our first year bird of the day--the famous "three-eight" bird, Yellow-throated Vireo. "Three-eight" is the mnemonic for its song and we heard it clearly and multiple times though we didn't see the bird. This was also a life county bird for me, so I was immediately feeling good about the day.

Our first official stop of the day was at FREC (Forest Research Education Center) on Don Connor Blvd. There we had over 30 species just walking through the woods, the highlight for me being the sweet song of the Wood Thrush. Ear birding does have its points. The Wood Thrush's song is much more beautiful than the bird itself.

We made a quick stop at Butterfly Bogs. The water was too high to get any sandpipers, but there were a couple of Killdeer on a nearby mud flat, along with Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, and a pair of Wood Ducks way in the back.

Driving along Butterfly Road, Mike pulled over when he heard a parula. I kind of heard it too, but I didn't feel comfortable counting it, given my "hear it twice" rule, especially since what I heard was really only the first half of the song. I did hear, after Mike pointed it out, a Black-capped Chickadee, a supposedly rare bird for Ocean County. There are probably more of them here than anyone suspects. The Raritan River is the rule of thumb dividing line between Carolina Chickadee and Black-capped, but it isn't exactly an ocean that birds can't cross and since that part of the county is part of the Eastern Deciduous Forest and not in the Pine Barrens, there's no reason a BC couldn't be there. I know that song from years of listening to it in NY and Massachusetts. I've probably heard it down here before except I wasn't really listening. You see (and hear) what you expect.

I've only visited Lake Enno twice. Both times I've had my FOY Baltimore Oriole there. We heard it calling as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. It took a couple of minutes for me to find it. I figured, hey, it's a big, bright bird, there aren't many leaves on the trees (which kept our day's warbler count down), I ought to be able to find this bird and after a brief search I saw it fly into the tree where Shari took its picture.

We stopped at Prospertown Lake where there wasn't anything we hadn't seen before. That is, birds I could count. As we pulled in we saw two Swan Geese associating with the Canadas. What with Great Adventure's safari attraction just down the road, there is no way you can make the case that these are wild birds and not escapees. Cool looking bird though. I have to admit that had I seen these birds in any other county, I would have listed them (I listed Egyptian Goose in Monmouth) but I take my Ocean County list too seriously to pollute it with exotics.

Our penultimate stop was Colliers Mills. At the parking area, as I hoped, the Blue-winged Teal I found yesterday at the north end of the lake could be viewed with a scope. We also heard my FOY Warbling Vireo. Here's another example of a bird it is just as well to hear as to see, since it is such a nothing, gray bird once you've tracked it down. The mnemonic for this bird goes something like "If I see you I will seize you and squeeze you til you squirt." It doesn't sound anything like that when you hear the bird, but I'm proud I've memorized the mnemonic without needing another mnemonic for it.

Then we did something I've wanted to do since the first time I visited Colliers Mills: we drove the length of Success Road, 5.9 miles, exiting on Route 571. The road gets very rough in spots and it isn't advisable to drive it after a big rain, but there were no problems today and deep, deep in the woods we had one magic cedar tree that had in it a Northern Parula, a Yellow-throated Warbler (a life county bird for me) along with a Black-and-white Warbler.

Our final stop was a new place for, the Silver Stream Trail on Frank Applegate Road. (Jackson is very big on naming streets after residents.) We found a lot of skunk cabbage. Perhaps in a week or two, when the trees have finally leafed out, it will be a haven for warblers, but today the best we could do was Eastern Bluebird to the day list.

That day list consisted of 64 species for me, 4 years birds, 7 county year birds and 3 county lifers.
Herewith, the list:

Canada Goose   19

Mute Swan   1

Wood Duck   3

Mallard   9

Blue-winged Teal   1

Double-crested Cormorant   1

Great Blue Heron   1

Great Egret   1

Turkey Vulture   3

Cooper's Hawk   2

Red-tailed Hawk   2

Killdeer   2

Greater Yellowlegs   2

Rock Pigeon   1

Mourning Dove   1

Red-bellied Woodpecker   4

Downy Woodpecker   4

Northern Flicker   3

Eastern Phoebe   2

Great Crested Flycatcher   2

Eastern Kingbird   1

White-eyed Vireo   14

Yellow-throated Vireo   1

Warbling Vireo   1

Blue Jay   4

American Crow   1

Fish Crow   2

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   2

Purple Martin   5

Tree Swallow   2

Barn Swallow   3

Carolina Chickadee   5

Black-capped Chickadee   1

Tufted Titmouse   2

White-breasted Nuthatch   1

House Wren   2

Carolina Wren   3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   22

Eastern Bluebird   2

Wood Thrush   2

American Robin   4

Gray Catbird   9

European Starling   2

Ovenbird   7

Black-and-white Warbler   6

Common Yellowthroat   14

Northern Parula   1

Pine Warbler   7

Yellow-rumped Warbler   2

Yellow-throated Warbler   1

Prairie Warbler   6

Eastern Towhee   4

Chipping Sparrow   7

Song Sparrow   1

Swamp Sparrow   2

White-throated Sparrow   2

Northern Cardinal   2

Red-winged Blackbird   19

Common Grackle   2

Brown-headed Cowbird   2

Baltimore Oriole   1

House Finch   1

American Goldfinch   2

House Sparrow   1

Colliers Mills WMA 5/1--Great Crested Flycatcher

There was a good report from Greg yesterday about Colliers Mills--lots of warblers in the woods. I planned to go there anyway today, so it was with anticipation that I arrived at 6:13 AM, a little after dawn. Unfortunately, a lot of the birds seemed to have moved on, and although I did pretty well, I wasn't able to find any new warblers for the year. Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroats were the predominant warblers--they were everywhere I walked and I walked well over 3 miles.

I walked all around Turnmill Pond, concentrating on the hillside where Greg found most of his birds, but it was cooler than yesterday morning so no bugs were out and hence, fewer birds. It wasn't until I started looking at Colliers Mills Lake that I found anything that interested me. I have an algorithm for birding the WMA: if there are Wood Ducks in the back of the lake, then I don't have to walk past the power line cut. If there are no Wood Ducks, proceed to first bog on the left after the cut. If there are no Wood Ducks there, continue to 2nd bog. If there are no Wood Ducks there, give up--no sense making a fool of yourself.

Scanning the north end of the lake I saw a couple of Mallards and smaller ducks that might be Woodies, but it was hard to tell from the distance. I had an instinct they weren't and were something more unusual for the lake, so I continued on the winding paths to the back of the lake and there, to happy surprise, were a drake & hen Blue-winged Teal, not a year bird but a long-sought county bird.

Since those weren't Wood Ducks, I proceeded to walk the path to the cut and beyond. No woodies at the first bog. The 2nd bog has been reliable all year and there were 4 ducks in the bog, along with a lonesome goose. The Wood Ducks always manage to stay as far away from you as possible but I was able to snag one decent photo:

I had by this time given up on finding anything FOY, so naturally, on my way back, just before crossing over from one trail to one that runs south along the lake, I heard the "song" that I think of as the alarm on a fire door, "wheep, wheep, wheep"--the dulcet tones of a Great Crested Flycatcher. I might even have seen it fly, but I  heard it multiple times and there is no mistaking that noise.

I would have liked more new birds, warblers and vireos especially, but they'll come. Whether they'll be in Ocean County is another story.
40 species
Canada Goose  8
Wood Duck  4     
Mallard  2     North end of Colliers Mills Lake
Blue-winged Teal  2     
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Mourning Dove  5
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4     Heard
Downy Woodpecker  1     Heard
Northern Flicker  2     Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  1   Heard  
Eastern Kingbird  1
White-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  6
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  1
Tree Swallow  10
Barn Swallow  2
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
House Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  5
Ovenbird  15     Heard
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  15
Yellow Warbler  1
Palm Warbler  2
Pine Warbler  4
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Prairie Warbler  5
Eastern Towhee  10
Chipping Sparrow  25
White-throated Sparrow  10
Northern Cardinal  5
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Brown-headed Cowbird  20