Negri-Nepote Grasslands 6/23--Henslow's Sparrow

Henslow's Sparrow
Photo: Mike Mandracchia

Although I've only been there 4 or 5 times, I have a fondness for the Negri-Nepote Grasslands up in Franklin Township.I don't bird Somerset County all that much. But 8 years ago, after first looking at the house from which I write this, Shari & I went up there and got our life Dickcissel.

And yesterday, Dickcissel was the bird of the day, as Mike and I went over to Laurel Run Park in Burlco so he could get it for the year, which we did, pretty easily. As we were leaving, I checked the rare bird reports and saw a report of Henslow's Sparrow up at Negri-Nepote. The only Henslow's I've ever seen was in Ohio and, remarkably, considering his list, it would be a lifer for Mike, so despite having to take a rather roundabout route to get there, we went, arriving mid-afternoon. Because of diminishing habitat (read: grasslands) Henslow's has become a rarity in NJ. The closest place to reliably find them is in central Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for us, by the time we got there the bird had gone to ground and while we were happy to find our buddy Bob Auster there along with a couple of other birders we knew, the bird never showed for us. Of course, after we left it showed up again around 6 PM.

Bob texted me that he was going back early today and Mike and I decided to do the same. By the time I arrived at Mike's house, at around a quarter after six this morning, Bob texted that he already had seen the bird. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and 6 minutes to walk to the back field where the bird was being seen. We joined a long stream of birders headed in the same direction. We were lucky to get a parking spot--as we were leaving I saw many northern and central Jersey birders I know already leaving and still the parking lot was congested.

Just because Henslow's is rare doesn't mean it is a particularly interesting bird to look at--there are not astonishing field marks as there are on say a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. And its "song" if you will is just a stifled sneeze. Still, hard for me to get a Jersey lifer and even harder for Mike to get a lifer in Jersey, so there was great relief when the bird, which everyone assured us would "pop up" on a certain little bush in the field, actually did pop up, sing, and give great views, especially if someone kindly lent you his scope. My pictures came out smallish, but Mike's photo shows the bird to good advantage.

Coming in and going out we built up a pretty good list without really birding hard--most of the typical grassland birds can be found there, like Grasshopper Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, etc. We found 'em all and then some, including one flycatcher which we could swear was calling "Free Beer" like an Alder Flycatcher, but, considering the rarity of that bird and the fact that everyone else was reporting Willow Flycatcher (common) we relented and defaulted to the "Fitz-bew" bird. Since both birds look exactly alike (and were once conspecific) you can only really separate them by voice. Too bad, still need Alder for the year.
The list, covering a 1/2 mile to the sparrow spot:

35 species

Mourning Dove  3

Chimney Swift  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Willow Flycatcher  1    

Great Crested Flycatcher  1    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  5

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  2

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Tree Swallow  20    Feeding young

Barn Swallow  6    Nesting in blind

House Wren  4

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Eastern Bluebird  1

American Robin  2

Gray Catbird  5

Brown Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

European Starling  4

Cedar Waxwing  4

American Goldfinch  7

Grasshopper Sparrow  1

Chipping Sparrow  1

Field Sparrow  1    Heard

Henslow's Sparrow  1    

Song Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  1    Heard

Orchard Oriole  2

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Brown-headed Cowbird  2

Common Grackle  4

Common Yellowthroat  4

Yellow Warbler  1    Heard

Blue Grosbeak  1    Heard

Indigo Bunting  2

Island Beach SP | Toms River HS East 6/17--Brown Pelican, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

I was eating lunch at home when the first somewhat vague report came in of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at a high school in Toms River. I slapped the table in frustration--45 minutes previous I was in Toms River, on my way back from Island Beach SP where I finally was able to see a dozen Brown Pelicans, one flock of seven looking like, to jam a couple of similes together, a squadron of prehistoric flying boats.

Brown Pelicans

I was hesitant to just burst out the door for a couple of reasons--first of all the report was second-hand from a Facebook group (I don't have a Facebook account) and secondly because schools and binoculars don't mix. I had to run an errand anyway and figured that in the time the errand took, more information would come through. After some back and forth in the group it was determined that school was out, so it was safe to go even if the location was still in doubt as to which high school in Toms River it was. As I was pulling out of the parking lot of CVS, left would take me to Toms River, right would take me home. I made a left, what the heck, and just as I did, my phone pinged again--bird was there.

It took me about a half hour to get there and by the time I did more messages had come in that gave more precise location directions--from the Google map the high school looked like it was on a big campus. I parked in the first lot and hoped for the best, walking toward the athletic fields, since I knew that would be a likely area for the flycatcher. As soon as I turned the corner to get to the back of the school I saw the cream of Ocean County birders standing at the fence line and rushed to join them. There was no need for me to run. The bird was in plain sight, sitting on a fence, occasionally making sorties to hawk a bug. And it was spectacular. It would almost be worth living in Oklahoma, just to have this be a common bird. Maybe not. But the bird, aside from its incredible form, is beautifully and subtly colored in shades of gray and salmon.

More birders kept showing up--the power of social media. I took a few photos (like 50) and was going to leave but before I did, I texted Mike to see if he was available. The bird was putting on quite a show, I told him. He was able to get away, so I hung out until he got there--there's this bizarre concept of handing off a rarity--and it took him around a half hour to get there. Still more birders arrived; I count right now 26 reports on eBird and not everyone uses eBird and not everyone gets their reports in immediately.

This flycatcher was found by a teacher at the school who is not a birder but just happened to notice the strange bird on the fence and posted it to Facebook. I was talking to another birder about how randomly some rarities are reported--the Mississippi Kite in Waretown is a perfect example of a bird that would have gone overlooked if a birder didn't happen to live across the street from where it roosted. Birders go to the "hot" spots, but who knows what rarities are in the marshes on the Parkway that we can't access, or the playing fields of schools where we'd be considered creeps, or the waste treatment plants that are off limits due to "security" (and, well, the smell)? I remember there was a Prothonotary Warbler at the NY Public Library for a week before a birder noticed it--the guards thought it was canary and were feeding it corn chips!

And yet, 99% of the time, stopping at random field will yield you exactly nothing, never mind something rare. Sometimes you can look at acres and acres of open land and not see even a starling. You'll look at a lake and say, "How can there not be one duck on this water?" But 1% of the time, someone (a few times that someone has been me) will see something and say "What the hell is that?" and we all come running.

The last report, at 8:25 tonight, was that the bird had flown off, whether to find a place to sleep for the night or to continue its out of range wanderings we'll only know tomorrow.

Burlco Birding 6/16

Red-headed Woodpecker, New Lisbon

It seems like, lately, all the interesting birding for me has been in Burlington County, and today continued that trend. I started off at the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve just because I like walking in there (providing my shoes and pants are sprayed with permethrin and everything else is coated in Off), especially on a Sunday when anywhere else is going to be full of people walking dogs or riding bikes. Immediately upon exiting the car I heard a bird singing in an oak across the road. I knew I should know what bird it was, but after determining that it sounded neither like a robin with a cold or a robin on crack, I had only eliminated two species. So I decided to practice a birding skill that can be damn difficult this time of year: Find the singing bird in the foliage. I circled the tree, peering up from all angles, following the song until it sounded like it was right above my head and then saw a bird fly out, all red without black wings and without a crest--Summer Tanager, a very nice bird to start off the day. But wait. The singing continued above my head, so unless that bird was a ventriloquist, there were two and indeed there were as the second came flying out of the tree chasing the first. Territorial protection or just plain orneriness?

I stuck to the main trail for the most part today because I didn't feel like dealing with ticks on the side paths, though I did walk a larger trail past 4 Mile Creek that used to go to a spung (sort of a permanent vernal pond). But that trail ended in overgrowth that I didn't feel like pushing through. I found most of what I'd expect to find--hearing about half the species on my list, but getting good looks at Cedar Waxwing, Pine Warblers, pewees, and Black-and-white Warblers.

Cedar Waxwing

                            Pine Warbler                                                     Eastern Wood-Pewee

Before I left I took a brief walk on Sooy Place Road itself, mostly in the hopes of seeing a Red-headed Woodpecker in one of the dead trees that stand alongside the road. No luck there, but just as I was about to turn back, I heard another couple of birds that I couldn't quite place so I played Find the bird in the foliage again, this time coming up with a duo of squabbling Baltimore Orioles. Thinking that I'm getting pretty good at that game, I walked back to the car. About halfway there, on my left was a commercial hunting preserve that abuts the Huber property. From there I heard "Three Eight!" My second Yellow-throated Vireo in two days. But this one I couldn't find--so I guess I'm not as good as I thought.

On the way back home I thought I'd stop in New Lisbon, the historical home of Red-headed Woodpeckers in Burlco. The eBird hotspot is listed as 4 Mile--Tornado Damage Site. When this tornado hit I have no idea, but whatever damage it did is overgrown now. Many birders access the area by walking the fence line on Employee Road of the New Lisbon Developmental Center, but I always feel like I shouldn't be there. Instead, there is a path 3 utility poles to the west of the entrance. Someone told me that the trail was overgrown and inaccessible but if anything, it seemed an easier walk that the last time I used it, 3 or 4 years ago. It did seem a little longer than I remembered, but after about a quarter of mile I came to spot I recognized with a few slim, dead trees sticking up toward the east. Just as I said to myself, aha, there's the tree I saw the woodpecker on last time, the woodpecker flew in. It (Red-headed Woodpeckers are not sexually dimorphous) stayed for a few minutes, gave a couple of loud "Queer" calls, and flew off. With the Purple Martin I saw flying overhead, I had 5 year birds for the county, two of them (the tanager and the vireo) county lifers. A very successful day and one that compensated for yesterday's rather unsatisfactory birding.

My Huber list:

25 species

Mourning Dove  3

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  2    Heard

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Eastern Wood-Pewee  4    Scattered through woods

Eastern Phoebe  1    At red bridge. Saw them nesting there in May

Great Crested Flycatcher  2    Heard

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Red-eyed Vireo  3    Heard

Blue Jay  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  1

Tufted Titmouse  6    Saw young birds just past red bridge

White-breasted Nuthatch  3    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Gray Catbird  2

Cedar Waxwing  1    White trail before turn

Chipping Sparrow  2    Heard

Eastern Towhee  10

Ovenbird  15    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  2

Common Yellowthroat  6

Hooded Warbler  3    Heard

Pine Warbler  7    All along white trail

Prairie Warbler  3    Heard

Summer Tanager  2    

Northern Cardinal  1    Heard

Baldpate Mountain 6/15--Yellow-throated Vireo

Yippee! I drove an hour, walked up a "mountain," slip-sided down a muddy trail, and heard a bird screech "Three Eight!" So, add Yellow-throated Vireo to the year list. Sometimes, when I'm in the wrong frame of mind (and I am, now) all the effort to find a bird seems pretty silly.

Ovenbird

I went to Baldpate Mountain this morning because I've used up all the birds in the Pine Barrens, the shorebirds are mostly breeding near the Arctic Circle, and Baldpate was the nearest place I could think of where I might find birds I haven't seen this year. As it turned out, I only heard one new bird, but if one were looking for Ovenbirds, Wood Thrushes, or catbirds, that was the place to be.

Baldpate isn't a place I visit very often, so today was the first time I ever felt like I understood the trail system and how they hooked up to each other. What I really need is a guide to show me the places the cool birds are, because when I look at the lists of other birders there, I wonder where all these Chestnut-sided Warblers are, not to mention the Kentucky Warbler which seems to be known only to a select few.

In any case, I walked the Ridge Line trail for the most part and found enough birds to make the walking interesting.I would have preferred to have seen more birds instead of just hearing a lot of them. And I wish I could have gotten a better look at that empidonax species, or at least have it utter a call. Maybe then the whole endeavor wouldn't have seemed so silly.

36 species (+1 other taxa)

Mourning Dove  4

Chimney Swift  1

Turkey Vulture  12

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Northern Flicker  2    Heard

Empidonax sp.  1    Pale beak, couldn’t see eye ring if any. Overall gray

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Yellow-throated Vireo  1    Heard

Red-eyed Vireo  3

Blue Jay  1

American Crow  2    Heard

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1

Carolina Chickadee  3

Tufted Titmouse  3    Heard

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  3    Heard

Veery  4    Heard

Wood Thrush  25    Heard

American Robin  5

Gray Catbird  35

Cedar Waxwing  3    one at base of mountain, two near old farmhouse

House Finch  1    Fenced in field at top near buildings

American Goldfinch  3

Chipping Sparrow  1

Field Sparrow  2    Heard

Song Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  4

Orchard Oriole  1

Ovenbird  25    all through the woods

Black-and-white Warbler  1    Heard

Common Yellowthroat  6

Hooded Warbler  1    Heard

American Redstart  2    one male and one female on Ridge Trail

Yellow Warbler  1    Near pond

Northern Cardinal  4

Blue Grosbeak  2    fields

Indigo Bunting  4    Male and female in field below lodge

Indigo Bunting

Cedar Waxwing

Laurel Run Park 6/11--Dickcissel

Dickcissel

It's the time of the year to look for avian anomalies. For the last few days a Dickcissel has been reported at Laurel Run Park in Burlco, but today was the first day I had a chance to get over there. It's a grasslands bird and there aren't a lot of grasslands left in NJ for vagrants to plunk down in, but Laurel Run, which used to be part of an adjacent farm, is one such spot. 3 years ago, to the day, I saw a Dickcissel there.

The bird was reported to be in "the phragmites near the creek," the creek being the Rancocas. I thought it a little odd that a grasslands bird would be in reeds, but if that's where it wanted to be, fine. I started down the path toward the creek--the grasslands were wonderfully overgrown especially with a plant with purple blossoms that another birder there called "cow vetch." It was in this area 3 years previous that I saw the Dickcissel. A photographer there was being coy about whether or not I knew about the rare bird there, so when I told her I did know and come to look for it down by the creek, she told me that it was actually not there, but in the phragmites in the field. Sure enough, there was a big patch of reeds growing up in the grasslands, which struck me as exceedingly odd. Why allow an invasive plant like phragmites to propagate in a grasslands? Left on its own, it will soon take over the field.

She and her friend told me that they couldn't find the bird today because it was too windy. I didn't think much of that, considering how many other birds were up and about, but I walked to the other side of the patch, out of the wind to look. It wasn't there. I doubled back and heard it singing. Dickcissel is one of those birds, like phoebe, or pewee, that is named after its song, but it doesn't like dick-dick-cissel to me. Still, it didn't take me long to find it, perched up on a stick, away from the phrags.


I admired it for a while then, seeing another birder down the trail, waved her over. She was looking for it too, so naturally, just as I was pointing it out, it flew. However, this bird was more than cooperative and popped up a few moments later where she was able to get great views of it. Turned out to be a lifer for her, so I did my good deed for the day.

I did two circuits around the field. I wanted to get a good look at Grasshopper Sparrow. I saw a lot sparrows diving into the deep grass with starlings, but none of them perched up on top to be seen and none of them were singing. I saw a couple of birds fly by giving me okay looks, but it wasn't until the end of the second loop that I heard the buzzy little song and then, looking at a sign post, saw the sparrow perched atop, singing.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Finally a successful foray--my last couple of trips seeking out target birds have been dips. Because the habitat isn't too varied there and we're in the doldrums already, I "only" found 22 species for the spot. I later went over to Boundary Creek Park, about a mile away, and added a few more birds to the day list, the most interesting ones being Marsh Wren and Orchard Oriole.

The Laurel Run list:

Mourning Dove  15

Chimney Swift  1

Turkey Vulture  1

Willow Flycatcher  1

Blue Jay  2

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2

Bank Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  5

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

American Robin  2

European Starling  50

American Goldfinch  2

Grasshopper Sparrow  3    singing

Field Sparrow  3    Heard

Song Sparrow  2

Red-winged Blackbird  15

Yellow Warbler  1

Northern Cardinal  1    Heard

Blue Grosbeak  1    Singing near parking lot

Indigo Bunting  1    Singing

Dickcissel  1    

House Sparrow  2

Warning to Contestants in The Darwin Awards Competition

Island Beach SP

https://darwinawards.com/

Brig 6/3--Western Sandpiper (?), Yellow-breasted Chat

Looks like a Western Sandpiper

If you can't find 'em...give up and look somewhere else.

Yesterday, I was at Brig about 6:30 AM. I had a 3 part plan as to how I was going to bird the refuge and it required being there early.

The first two parts of the plan involved walking--I wanted to get my 4 miles walking in too--so I started out by walking down to the Gull Pond tower with my scope over my shoulder. I was hoping to find a couple of Black-necked Stilts that had been reported on Sunday and their last location was east of the Gull Pond where they could only be observed from the tower. I got about 25 species just walking the 1/2 mile or so from the parking lot to the tower, including a couple of singing Willow Flycatchers, but, as I half-suspected would be the case, no stilts.

After putting the scope back in the car (and booking a mile in total steps), I then went to part two of the plan, which meant walking up to the Refuge Overlook from the parking lot. Since I haven't been able to find a Yellow-breasted Chat at Assunpink, I decided to look for the one that has been heard singing in that area. Last year I had pretty good luck find a couple around there. So I walked the mile or so through the woods out to the open fields, picking up a lot more expected birds. As soon as I got out of the woods, I started listening and thought I heard the "blat blat blat" of a chat. Couldn't be sure though an besides, this is a bird I want to see, not just hear. I got to the overlook area (it used to called the Experimental Pool for obscure reasons) and this time I heard bird singing a crazy song as chats do. I was sure it was the chat and thought preceded visual confirmation by about one second as the  yellow & olive bird with spectacles popped into view, scolded me a for a couple of seconds and disappeared back into a bush, never to seen again. But I pumped my fist in happiness. Goodbye Assunpink for the summer.

By the time I got back to the parking (after also notching an Orchard Oriole at the overlook), I had a pretty good number of steps in and knew where I'd make up the balance. Part three of my plan was now in effect--do the traditional drive around the impoundments and look for the stilts. I never found them, despite stopping at every goose marker along the drive and scanning all the shorebirds--most of which were Semipalmated Sandpipers, though only numbering in the hundreds, not the thousands that sometimes can be found there. A few Least Sandpipers, a Dunlin, a Ruddy Turnstone, etc.

It wasn't until I was on the north dike that a bird seemed interesting to me. I was scanning a small flock of Glossy Ibises, hoping to find one with red knees and a red eyeball (White-faced Ibis) when I noticed some sandpiper scattered in among the taller birds. About a dozen Short-billed Dowitchers were in that section, plus some Dunlins, plus a few semis. Plus a really white sandpiper that I first thought must be a Sanderling (which would be very weird for that habitat), but it didn't really appear to be one. It was mostly white on the body, with a black scallop pattern on its wings and a slightly curved bill. Smaller than the Dunlins, about the same size as the semis. I looked through my Sibley's and the only bird I could come up with was Western Sandpiper--none of the exotics were feasible. I a picture from camera's view screen to Mike and he concurred. Normally, I am extremely hesitant to list Western Sandpiper on my own unless I'm standing right on top of one (or I'm in California), but this one stood out enough from the surrounding birds that I put it down, even though at this time of year it would be a rarity. Haven't heard from the eBird review one way or the other. So, if this section of the blog has strike-throughs in it, you'll know I was wrong. Either this is a leucistic sandpiper (which I always think is the last refuge of the confused birder) or a juvenile, though a juvenile at this time of year seems unlikely).

Dunlins with the very white sandpiper

At Jen's Trail I got in the rest of my mileage for the day and added a couple of more species to my list which totaled 73 for the day. That's an excellent tally for me, being on my own.

Canada Goose  120

Mute Swan  20

Wood Duck  2    One flushed from Gull Pond, the other flew over upland side

Mallard  17

American Black Duck  1

Mourning Dove  4

Clapper Rail  3    Heard

American Oystercatcher  3

Semipalmated Plover  2

Ruddy Turnstone  1

Dunlin  8

Least Sandpiper  10

Semipalmated Sandpiper  250

Western Sandpiper  1    

Short-billed Dowitcher  12

Spotted Sandpiper  2

Greater Yellowlegs  1

Willet  25

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Laughing Gull  125

Herring Gull  50

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Gull-billed Tern  3

Common Tern  1

Forster's Tern  50

Black Skimmer  15

Double-crested Cormorant  12

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  20

Snowy Egret  10

Glossy Ibis  27

Osprey  12

Bald Eagle  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Northern Flicker  1

Willow Flycatcher  2    Road to Gull Pond

Great Crested Flycatcher  2

Eastern Kingbird  2

White-eyed Vireo  6

Blue Jay  6

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  6

Purple Martin  20    Conservative count

Tree Swallow  15

Barn Swallow  4

Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  2    Heard

House Wren  1    Heard

Marsh Wren  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Eastern Bluebird  1

American Robin  4

Gray Catbird  10

Cedar Waxwing  1

House Finch  1    Heard

American Goldfinch  3

Chipping Sparrow  4

Field Sparrow  3

Seaside Sparrow  20

Song Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  3    Heard

Yellow-breasted Chat  1    

Orchard Oriole  1    Overlook

Red-winged Blackbird  80

Common Grackle  1    Flyover upland

Boat-tailed Grackle  1    At NE corner

Ovenbird  3

Common Yellowthroat  25

Yellow Warbler  3    Heard

Prairie Warbler  1    Heard Jen’s Trail

Northern Cardinal  4

House Sparrow  1    Parking lot