Whiting WMA 5/12--Ovenbird

Field of Golden Heather

It was Ovenbirds! I mentioned a few blogs ago that I've been hearing a bird sing that I knew I should know but couldn't place it. I've been hearing them a lot and it's been bothering me--an insistent (to me) chef-chef-chef-chef that seemed to be coming from high up in the trees.

Today I saw my first Ovenbird. The Ovenbird's song is transliterated as either "teacher teacher teacher" or "teach teach teach." I wondered if I'd been them for the last week or so. I saw around four of them today. And when I got home and played the song of the Ovenbird, realized I'd probably heard 10 more.  What's more, they're good ventriloquists, because my Thayer Birding Software says that they sing from low branches. No wonder I couldn't find them! On the one hand, I'm embarrassed to miss such an easy bird. On the other hand, I'm happy to add one more song to my repertoire and I know I'll never forget it now. Just shows the problem with trying to put bird song into syllables.

I walked for more than 3 1/2 hours today, farther into the Crossley Preserve than I have before. In fact, I may have passed through the preserve and on to some other property--the boundaries are vague out there. Five warbler species is the most I've had in a day this year.

36 species for the day.
Canada Goose  2
Mallard  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Mourning Dove  7
Downy Woodpecker  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4    Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  2    Heard
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  2
Tree Swallow  4
Carolina Chickadee  15
Tufted Titmouse  10
White-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard on Crossley Preserve
House Wren  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3    Crossley Preserve
Eastern Bluebird  3
Wood Thrush  1    Heard on Crossley Preserve
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  3
Ovenbird  10    Conservative number--heard many more than the 4 I saw
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  5    Heard
Pine Warbler  7    One was a very gray female
Prairie Warbler  3    Heard
Eastern Towhee  25
Chipping Sparrow  15
Song Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  4
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Common Grackle  11
Brown-headed Cowbird  5
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  5

Another common Pine Barrens plant blooming now, Golden Heather is not actually heather as in Scotland. It is actually a plant called Hudsona. My little camera phone doesn't do it justice, but all along the sandy trails it grows, amazing considering how few nutrients are in sand. 

Double Trouble 5/11--Great Crested Flycatcher, Brown Thrasher

Drained Cranberry Bog

For a change of pace, I got up early this morning and drove over to Double Trouble State Park to see if I could turn up anything different than what I've seen in the WMA.  I think this was the first time that I've seen the cranberry bogs drained. That's a hopeful sign that this year, unlike last year, someone has leased the bogs from the state.

Catbirds, robins, Chipping Sparrows, grackles, were all in abundance. The first new bird for the year was the Brown Thrasher I sighted in the trees opposite the bog pictured here. Good to get that bird; the joke between Shari and me is that she always spots one, it jumps into the foliage (as this one did) and I never see it. She probably see about 10 thrashers to my one.

Drained Cranberry Bog with Great Egret

The other new bird for the year was the Great Crested Flycatcher I spotted in the woods. This is a fine looking bird, hefty, with a lot of yellow on its breast and stomach. And it has a voice like the alarm on an emergency door. I'd heard one of these the other day (not sure where) and didn't know what it was but now the association will be unmistakable. I was also pleased to hear Black-and-white Warblers and have my hearing confirmed by seeing one on a branch, singing. I want to get good at ear birding before I get old and deaf.

Because the Bird Stayed Still Long Enough for Me to Take Its Picture

Lesser Yellowlegs were feeding in one of the bogs that was still draining and many blackbirds, including more females than I usually notice, were around too.

And I finally saw a Common Yellowthroat instead of just hearing them. Saw two actually.


28 species for the morning.
Canada Goose  1
Mallard  10
Great Egret  3
Turkey Vulture  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
Mourning Dove  5
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  1
Tree Swallow  7
Barn Swallow  10
Tufted Titmouse  2
Carolina Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  15
Brown Thrasher  1
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  10
Pine Warbler  2
Eastern Towhee  4
Chipping Sparrow  10
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  1
Red-winged Blackbird  15
Common Grackle  25

Horicon Lake 5/10--Least Tern

A late afternoon trip to Horicon Lake in nearby Lakehurst turned up a Least Tern where I would least expect it. (That's not strictly true--I certainly wouldn't expect to find one in the woods or in a desert, but a fresh water lake is pretty unusual.) Other good sightings were a flock of Cedar Waxwings (lots of white cedars in the park) and lots (26 by my count) of adorable goslings with their very protective parents and surrogate parents--geese will often heard together a few different broods and put them in the care of one pair of geese. We also heard a lot of birds--probably heard as many species as we saw.
Horicon Lake, 
22 species
Canada Goose  34
Turkey Vulture  2
Laughing Gull  2
Least Tern  1
Mourning Dove  1
Chimney Swift  1
Belted Kingfisher  1    Heard
Eastern Phoebe  1
Tree Swallow  10
Barn Swallow  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  1
Carolina Wren  1
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  2
Cedar Waxwing  10
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Prairie Warbler  1    Heard
Northern Cardinal  1    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  2
Brown-headed Cowbird  3

Whiting WMA 5/10--Black-and-white Warbler

After a full day of rain, I was happy to get back out to the WMA this morning. Warbler activity was just a bit more lively today--saw the most Pine Warblers I have all year. The new bird for the year is Black-and-white Warbler, which I found when I crossed over to the Crossley Preserve. I heard it first, a song I couldn't identify, a soft zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz, but luckily I found it circling a thick branch and now I'm able to put song and bird together.

Now that I know the song of the Prairie Warbler, I was able to list a couple of them, and of course, I still haven't seen a Common Yellowthroat yet, though I keep hearing them. Other happy sightings: a Great Blue Heron flying off a roost high in a tree at Crossley, and two Wild Turkeys (one of them the bird with a limp) crossing the trail as I was heading home.

Those of you with allergies: stay away from the Pine Barrens right now. The pine pollen coats everything with a yellow dust. I was wondering why the trails looked two toned until I realized they were yellow from pollen and the light gray sand only showed through on the footprints. Bodies of water have a yellow film on them. Cars are coated in yellow. I was scanning a field when the wind picked up and I saw a huge yellow cloud blow out of a stand of pitch pines. A couple of times this week I thought my eyesight was growing dim, only to find that I was looking through thousands of pollen grains that had settled on both my glasses and the lenses of the my binoculars. Happily, I have no allergies.

27 species for the walk:
Wild Turkey  2
Great Blue Heron  1    Flushed from bog @ Crossley Preserve
Turkey Vulture  2
Mourning Dove  8
Northern Flicker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  3    Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2    One on WMA lake, the other on Crossley Preserve
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  2
Tree Swallow  8
Barn Swallow  2
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  6
House Wren  1
American Robin  14
Gray Catbird  4
Black-and-white Warbler  1    Crossley Preserve
Common Yellowthroat  2    Heard
Pine Warbler  6    One female gathering nesting material on trail.
Prairie Warbler  2    Heard
Eastern Towhee  20
Chipping Sparrow  17
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1
Common Grackle  15
House Finch  5
American Goldfinch  1

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak Returned

It played peek-a-boo with me while on the feeder:

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5/9/12

Later, he returned and through a watery window screen, I got this full-frontal view on the grass:

Look at that schnozz! I guess we know why they're called grosbeaks.

Backyard 5/9--Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Pouring rain this morning limited my birding to window watching. Five Wild Turkeys picking seeds from under the feeders started the day from the kitchen window. One of them was limping, which I found distressing. Later, looking out the back window I saw a bunny on the lawn and behind it, a towhee. Odd-looking towhee, didn't seem to have much rufous coloring on the side. When I put my binoculars on it I immediately called Shari to come see, because it wasn't a towhee, rather our first backyard (and FOY) Rose-breasted Grosbeak! I've wanted a Rose-breasted Grosbeak on our lawn since we moved here and thought we had a decent chance when I saw them reported around the county earlier this month. Shari said she'd seen the bird the other day but thought it was a towhee since she only saw it from the rear. So I guess it's hanging around, which is good, because by the time Shari was able to get out her camera, it had flown into the bushes at the edge of the yard.

Window list:
8 species
Wild Turkey  5    
Mourning Dove  1
Chipping Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1
Common Grackle  2
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
American Goldfinch  4

Whiting WMA 5/7--Warbling Vireo

I got a late start this morning so I wasn't really expecting much and when I saw a Prairie Warbler fairly early in the walk I thought I might beat the mid-day avian siesta. But I didn't. I did, however, learn the Prairie Warbler's song today (zee-zee-zee-zee-zee on an ascending scale) so that was an accomplishment and I did see my first Warbling Vireo of the year.

I had caught sight of a small drab bird jumping branch to branch when I was walking toward the lake, but I couldn't make it out and had to let it go. On my return trip, in just about the same area, I saw it again and was able to study it, from a distance, for a minute or so. I also heard its song, which was unlike anything else I was hearing--like a warbler, but a lot more complicated. The bird's field marks were that it had virtually no field marks. Put that together with the song and I had my second vireo of the year and the first one since January, when we saw the Bell's Vireo in Cape May (a rarity).

I don't know why, but the sand trails were crowded with robins and Chipping Sparrows today. A few towhees and a cardinal also jumped onto the path as I was walking along. There were lots of butterflies along the trail, but those birds, for the most part, are not insectivorous. It was actually sort of nuisance because I think the bird up the way is going to be something different and it turns out to be yet another chippie.

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When I walk through the woods, I look at all the plants, grasses, mosses, lichens, bugs, trees, stones, dirt and I think: Everything has a name! I don't know what just about anything is called (my brother does) but,still, it has probably been scientifically described and cataloged, with specimens tucked away in drawers in museums all over the world. Sometimes, though, I get curious.

Sarracenia purpurea

I found this plant growing in what I take to be an old cranberry bog on the Crossley Preserve. I thought it was really attractive and of course, I had no idea what it was.

But, if you do a Google search for "red flowers new jersey bog" a few of the hits look like this photo. It turns out to be Sarracenia purpurea, a pitcher plant. Pitcher plants are carnivorous, like the Venus Flytrap you might have had as a kid. This is by no means a rare plant, but hey, it's the first time I've seen one in 61 years. And I'm pretty pleased that I figured out what it was. Only approximately one million more examples in the woods to identify. 
Like this one:

28 species this morning, not bad for a mid-day hike.

Canada Goose  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Mourning Dove  10
Northern Flicker  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1    Heard
Warbling Vireo  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  1
Tree Swallow  4
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  5
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  1
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  25
Gray Catbird  2
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard on Crossley Preserve
Pine Warbler  1
Prairie Warbler  4
Eastern Towhee  20
Chipping Sparrow  25
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Common Grackle  5
House Finch  4
American Goldfinch  2