The Incidental Day 5/23

4:52 AM: Whip-poor-will wakes us up. Shari, in her half-sleep, thinks it's a car alarm going off. The tendrils of the city never truly release their grasp.

5:43 AM: Shari thinks she hears an owl. "No, that's a cuckoo." "What kind?" "Yellow-billed."

7:06 AM: I step outside onto the patio as the hummingbird buzzes by.

1:35 PM: Wild Turkeys in the middle of the road on our way back from the drugstore--the notorious "Gang of Four."

3:59 PM: 2 Great Crested Flycatchers in the side yard. One is a male, the other I don't know--either male & female looking for a nesting hole (plenty of dead trees nearby) or two males vying for territory?

Manahawkin WMA 5/22--Marsh Wren

Having resigned myself to missing migration this year because where all the warblers are all the birders are and having no desire to do seawatches the last few blustery days, looking for the various rarities that have been blown inshore (nothing I like more than an east wind in my face for a few hours of looking for the one bird that seems different), I decided that the place with the most potential today was the Manahawkin WMA. Usually at this time of year the paths are overgrown to waist height and if you are foolish enough to walk through the high grass, you're sure to be attracting ticks. But this year, for some reason, the DFW has been working in there, cutting down brush and trees along the impoundment edges, laying down gravel over muddy parts of the trail, and, keeping the grass relatively low.

Orchard Oriole (female)

I was hoping for a rarity in the impoundments--in the past I've found White Ibis there, seen Black-necked Stilt, and then, of course, there was the Townsend's Solitaire last year. While I found a lot of species (51), nothing was rare, and the only new species for the year was Marsh Wren; I heard a couple and actually saw one in a little bush. That's probably as late in the year as I've gone before Marsh Wren was on the list.

I did do a little bushwhacking on one trail that I recently discovered--last month it easy walking, today there was lots of thorny plants. And I picked up one tick there which fortunately I found and flicked away.

Tricolored Heron

I did find two species that were more or less out of place--Yellow-throated Vireo and Orchard Oriole. 3 Orchard Orioles--one beautiful male, then two what I assume were females (no black throat as in young male Orchards). The photo shows a dark face but I think that's shadows. 

Other favorite birds were Tricolored Heron, Cedar Waxwing, and two Willow Flycatchers. Catbirds, as they have been all spring, were everywhere. I'm starting to think they're crowding out all the other species. Pish and one, two, three curious catbirds emerge from the tangles. I keep upping my estimates for catbirds on my eBird lists, wondering when I'm going to break the filter. 75 hasn't done it and 75 is a conservative number.

Canada Goose  10

Mute Swan  14

Mallard  9

Mourning Dove  2

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1    Heard

Chimney Swift  4

Clapper Rail  1    Heard

Greater Yellowlegs  4

Willet  3

Laughing Gull  2

Herring Gull  20

Forster's Tern  1

Great Egret  9

Snowy Egret  4

Tricolored Heron  3

Glossy Ibis  25

Turkey Vulture  1

Osprey  1

Red-tailed Hawk  2

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Northern Flicker  3

Willow Flycatcher  2

Great Crested Flycatcher  5

Eastern Kingbird  2

White-eyed Vireo  2    Heard

Yellow-throated Vireo  1    Along Stafford

Red-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  1

Tree Swallow  10

Barn Swallow  2

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Marsh Wren  3

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

European Starling  1

Gray Catbird  75

Wood Thrush  2    Heard

American Robin  1

Cedar Waxwing  1

Seaside Sparrow  3

Song Sparrow  3

Eastern Towhee  1

Orchard Oriole  3    Along Stafford 1 male, 2 females

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Ovenbird  10    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  1    Heard

Common Yellowthroat  15

Yellow Warbler  6

Great Bay Blvd 5/18--Semipalmated Plover, Least Tern

Semipalmated Plover

Another unpleasant day weather-wise for birding as Tropical Something Arthur pushed clouds and winds up our way. Had I been at Barnegat Light, I would have had the opportunity to miss seeing a Sooty Shearwater that was blown close to shore by the storm. As it was, I was down at Tuckerton scoping shorebirds in a stiff breeze.

There were two I was interested in seeing and I found them both. Semipalmated Plover had gone too far into the year without being listed. They weren't hard to find today as they seemed to be part of every shorebird flock I saw.

While Shari & I had seen Red Knot last month at Brig, it was single bird, at distance.

I think the best place to see Red Knots, north of Cape May county, is the inlet at Tuckerton. But I knew it was getting late in the season and I'd already missed them once earlier this month. Today they were there in numbers. As soon as I walked out onto the beach I saw what I thought was about 15 birds. Getting a little closer, and eliminating the Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers, and Semipalmated Sandpipers feeding with them, there were a good 50 birds feeding on the mud flat.

Red Knots

With that, I could have turned around and gone someplace less windy--like home, but instead, I was greedy and moved east where there were even more shorebirds and most of them were Red Knots. They seemed very fat to me, as they should since they are only about halfway through their journey to their breeding grounds in the Arctic from their wintering grounds in Argentina.

Plump

My theme this year has become to find what does not belong, so I was happiest when I got back in the car to drive north and found a late White-crowned Sparrow. Its beak is very dark; it should be orange or pink, but I don't know what they're supposed to look like outside of winter, when we see them in NJ.

White-crowned Sparrow

The other year bird, which I more or less expected to see, was a Least Tern, flying too fast for any shot at a shot. I did take an unusual amount of photographs for me. The birds were surprisingly cooperative today.

Black-bellied Plover

Dunlin

Ruddy Turnstone

Snowy Egret (at Holly Lake)

Because of the wind, I didn't take my usual walk from the inlet to the first wooden bridge and back. So warblers and other land birds probably got overlooked, although they likely were hunkered down in the reeds.

42 species

Canada Goose  1    Bulwark

Mute Swan  2

Mourning Dove  1

Clapper Rail  5    Heard

American Oystercatcher  1

Black-bellied Plover  20

Semipalmated Plover  25

Ruddy Turnstone  20

Red Knot  100

Dunlin  75

Least Sandpiper  4

Semipalmated Sandpiper  40

Short-billed Dowitcher  5

Willet  3

Laughing Gull  4

Herring Gull  30

Great Black-backed Gull  2

Least Tern  1

Gull-billed Tern  1

Forster's Tern  2

Double-crested Cormorant  3

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  50

Snowy Egret  20

Black-crowned Night-Heron  2    North of 2nd wooden bridge in roost

Osprey  2

Bald Eagle  1

Fish Crow  3

Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  15

European Starling  2

Gray Catbird  9

Northern Mockingbird  2

American Robin  1

White-crowned Sparrow  1    End of the road. 

Seaside Sparrow  5

Saltmarsh Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  8

Red-winged Blackbird  25

Boat-tailed Grackle  30

Yellow Warbler  1

Northern Cardinal  2

Manasquan River WMA 5/17--Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Blue-winged Warbler

I couldn't abide the idea of not seeing a Blue-winged Warbler this year, so early this morning I went back to the Manasquan River WMA to find one. Not early enough, judging from the other lists I saw from there today, but I did find my target bird, two of them, just about where I would expect to find them. They too must be out of my hearing range because later, walking around with Steve, he heard them in the same spot I had seen them, but they were auditorily invisible to me.

The unintended consequence of the governor shutting down the state parks for 3 weeks was that it forced everyone to look for open spaces to go to. Since the WMAs weren't closed (which would be ne'er nigh impossible) people gravitated to them. And found out how great they are and didn't stop going to them when the parks were reopened (with all kinds of social distancing restrictions), so by about 10 o'clock, the birding became unpleasant in even the remotest parts of the WMA as guys on mountain bikes came zooming by Steve & me on tiny, hilly, dirt path while we were trying to locate a Worm-eating Warbler we'd heard was around. When I got back to the parking lot there were at least a dozen kids and accompanying adults about to take a bike tour of the WMA.

I thought I'd try the plowed field which hardly anyone walks in, just to finish out the day, but, even there, I came across dog walkers and their Golden Retrievers. Never mind Covid-19--I just don't want all these people around me. I did, however, in that field, finally, hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It kind of seeped into my brain and then I had to stop and listen again, and again for the bird's call, since I'll only count a bird by ear if I hear it two times.

Compared to other lists I've seen from today, mine is paltry, but I got what I was looking for:

47 species

Canada Goose  1    Heard

Mourning Dove  2

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1    Heard

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Glossy Ibis  1    Flyover

Turkey Vulture  2

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1    Heard

Hairy Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  1    Heard

Great Crested Flycatcher  5

Eastern Kingbird  18

Red-eyed Vireo  10

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  2

Carolina Chickadee  5

Tufted Titmouse  2    Heard

Tree Swallow  5

White-breasted Nuthatch  3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

Gray Catbird  15

Eastern Bluebird  10

Wood Thrush  3    Heard

American Robin  8

Cedar Waxwing  2

American Goldfinch  8

Field Sparrow  10

Song Sparrow  1

Eastern Towhee  5

Red-winged Blackbird  4

Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Back field

Ovenbird  12

Blue-winged Warbler  2    Back field

Common Yellowthroat  10

Hooded Warbler  1    Male singing

American Redstart  4

Northern Parula  1

Pine Warbler  1    Heard

Prairie Warbler  4

Northern Cardinal  3

Blue Grosbeak  2

Indigo Bunting  2

Reeves Bogs 5/16--Solitary Sandpiper, American Redstart, Blackpoll Warbler

Solitary Sandpiper

I did well at Reeves Bogs today, finding a couple of year birds in spots that I don't normally visit. It is hard to get around there on my usual route because one of the paths has tree across it, a couple of the rudimentary bridges are gone and parts of the bogs are overflowing the dams making walking treacherous if not impossible. At one point today I realized that I knew where I was, I just couldn't remember exactly how I got there!

I started off looking for one species I'm not at liberty to name because we don't want to disturb possible breeding with a lot of onlookers (how would you like it?). I found them right away, so I considered the day a success. My walk was uneventful, if slippery, until I got way back on a trail that led around one of the remoter bogs. There were a few Prairie Warblers, including one with a white feather in its mouth that I assume it would use for a nest. I'd seen one Black-and-white Warbler earlier; at first I thought I had #2, but it conveniently flew right in front of me and turned out to be a Blackpoll Warbler, a bird I don't see that much, partially because it's song is out of my hearing range.

What is it about intersections and birds. I've noticed that where two trails intersect, it is often a good place to find birds. The Blackpoll was at one. At the next crossing of the trail I was on I came upon my first American Redstart of the year and then, as I turned the corner, there was a mudflat with 2 sandpipers on it. They were distant and in glare, but one was clearly bobbing its tail and when it came to the edge of the water I got glimpse of its breast, so I knew it was a Spotted Sandpiper. I assumed the other bird was too, though it wasn't bobbing and I couldn't find any spots. It wasn't until I got home and looked at my pictures that I realized I finally seen my year Solitary Sandpiper. The big eye ring I could see when I blew the photo up was the clincher.

Red-breasted Merganser

I had one oddity while there. I flushed a duck from the shore of one of the bogs and saw that it was a hen merganser. I assumed Red-breasted from the  size impression I got, but RBME would be rare, while Common Merganser would be just odd. The shagginess of the crest looks better, to me, for Common, so until someone tells me different, that's how it's listed.

Actually, after review by a number of birders and the reviewer for Burlington County, it was a Red-breasted Merganser, a rarity for date & place.

I didn't really feel like doubling back the way I'd come to get back to my car, especially since I was fairly close where I was--the only problem was another Crazy Crossing. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I figure, no way. Today I made it. The water didn't look too high and the bridge looked almost sturdy.

I was happy to see pitcher plants on my walk. This is a carnivorous plant--sarracenia purpurea--its pitchers have a scent that attracts insects. They fly in, but due to the structure of thin filaments in the pitcher, cannot climb back out. They eventually fall into the bottom are absorbed by the plant for their nitrogen. Feed Me Seymour!

I had 36 species on my walk. Other places are recording big numbers, but I'm happy (or at least at peace with) finding a couple of new birds every day.

I spoke to a friend today who was at Sandy Hook today: Great birds, but a mob scene. Not where I want to be. I'll stick to my quiet places.

Canada Goose  23

Mallard  15

Red-breasted Merganser  1    

Mourning Dove  4

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Laughing Gull  10    Flyover

Herring Gull  5    Flyover

Great Blue Heron  1

Turkey Vulture  2

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard

Northern Flicker  1    Heard

Eastern Wood-Pewee  2    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  8

White-eyed Vireo  2    Heard

Red-eyed Vireo  2    Heard

crow sp.  1

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

Tree Swallow  5

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  6

Gray Catbird  25

Brown Thrasher  1

American Robin  1

White-throated Sparrow  1    Late

Song Sparrow  2

Swamp Sparrow  1    Singing

Eastern Towhee  5    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  25

Common Grackle  7

Ovenbird  5    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  1

Common Yellowthroat  25

American Redstart  1

Yellow Warbler  2

Blackpoll Warbler  1

Pine Warbler  1    Heard

Prairie Warbler  5

Manasquan River WMA 5/15--Chimney Swift, Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

Today was the first day this year I was able to bird in a tee-shirt. Manasquan River WMA is pretty close to my Subaru dealer where I had an appointment this morning.

A Digression Which Will Only Have Meaning to Ocean County Residents to Who Watch Television

At the end of every commercial for this complex of dealerships, including my Subaru dealer, the spokeswoman put up her two hands palms up at right angles to her arms and says, "Between Lakewood and Brick." There is nothing between Lakewood and Brick other than the border line separating the two towns. It is an insidious message devised to distance the company from its Lakewood address and all that Lakewood implies--Orthodox Jews.

To confess my own bias: Because the spokeswoman in those commercial appears so amateurish, I always assumed nepotism was involved in these DIY spots, that she was the girlfriend, daughter, or niece of someone at the company. It turns out, according to my salesman there, that she is charge of the corporation's IT department! She should stick to her day job.

With that out of the way, the late start at the WMA probably didn't help me with finding warblers, which were scarce to my eye and ear. It looks like I won't see a Blue-winged Warbler (among many other species) this year, since this is my go-to spot for them and I've gone to it twice with no sightings.

I did however come across another favorite bird, Indigo Bunting, singing in the first field which has been cut down and plowed. It is just a couple of acres of dirt now making it a bird desert. This is one of the places I've seen the Blue-winged Warblers, but the trees around the field still exist so I can't blame the land management.

A Chimney Swift flew overhead, another new bird. I like them for the optical illusion they present when zoom by of their wings alternately flapping instead of together like all other birds. They too fly with their wings coordinated, but for some reason (and this I remember first reading in my Peterson Guide), they look like they're going left right left right left right. I'd like to know how the illusion is created, but have never found an explanation.

33 species

Canada Goose  2

Mourning Dove  4

Chimney Swift  1

Glossy Ibis  1    Flyover

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Downy Woodpecker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3    Heard

Great Crested Flycatcher  4    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  3

Red-eyed Vireo  2

Blue Jay  6

American Crow  1

Carolina Chickadee  4

Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  4

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Gray Catbird  25

Eastern Bluebird  5    Back field

Wood Thrush  4    Heard

American Robin  7

Chipping Sparrow  1

Field Sparrow  15

Eastern Towhee  5    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  2

Brown-headed Cowbird  1    Back field. Looking for someplace to lay eggs?

Ovenbird  4

Common Yellowthroat  5    Heard

Yellow Warbler  1

Prairie Warbler  3

Northern Cardinal  6

Blue Grosbeak  2

Indigo Bunting  2

Bunker Hill Bogs 5/13--Prothonotary Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler

"Sweet Sweet Sweet," it was this morning in Bunker Hill Bogs, a site I haven't visited for quite some time. I went in from Butterfly Road, what I think of as the "back way" after first visiting FREC and Butterfly Bogs. I had just seen a striking Scarlet Tanager in a pine tree as I came out on to the abandoned bogs. I first heard it singing but didn't know what it was or where it was; then, with my head swiveling in all directions I saw the brilliant red against the green tree. A few more steps brought me to the edge of the bog where I usually find Wood Ducks. I had just been thinking that I hadn't seen a Yellow Warbler and would expect to when I heard a song. "Oh, there's one," I said to myself and immediately corrected myself when I realized the song wasn't a Yellow's "Sweet, Sweet, I'm so sweet," but the "Sweet sweet sweet" etc of the Prothonotary Warbler. I could see the bird flitting about in the thicket but it wouldn't come out to show any field marks. I was very confident in my i.d. since the bird and song on my phone app were identical, to the point where I wasn't sure when my phone was playing and when the real bird was singing.

I walked through the boggy area and into the forested area. I wasn't see that much until, as so often happens, I came to one spot where all the birds seemed to be congregating--Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Black-and-white Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and my first Black-throated Green Warbler of the year. Usually, I find this species in the "bowl" north of Reeds Road on IBSP, but I'm avoiding that narrow path right now--too popular--so I was happy to find the bird in another spot.

On the way back I was surprised by 4 Glossy Ibises flying out of the back bog. Never see them in this area of Ocean County.

FREC and Butterfly Bogs were also spots I hadn't visited in a long time. Both had enough birds to keep me occupied but nothing of note.

The day list for the 3 spots which are all within a mile of each other yet have very different habitats.
Number of Taxa: 45
15 Canada Goose 
1 Wood Duck 
2 Mallard 
1 Mourning Dove
1 Great Egret 
4 Glossy Ibis 
3 Turkey Vulture 
3 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker 
5 Great Crested Flycatcher 
6 White-eyed Vireo 
1 Warbling Vireo 
1 Red-eyed Vireo 
2 American Crow 
2 Fish Crow 
5 Carolina Chickadee 
1 Tufted Titmouse
35 Tree Swallow
2 White-breasted Nuthatch 
8 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
3 House Wren 
2 Carolina Wren 
4 European Starling 
27 Gray Catbird
5 Eastern Bluebird 
3 Wood Thrush
10 American Robin 
2 House Finch 
2 American Goldfinch 
3 Chipping Sparrow 
1 Song Sparrow 
6 Eastern Towhee 
30 Red-winged Blackbird 
10 Common Grackle 
7 Ovenbird 
5 Black-and-white Warbler 
1 Prothonotary Warbler
12 Common Yellowthroat 
1 Northern Parula 
2 Pine Warbler -
3 Yellow-rumped Warbler 
1 Black-throated Green Warbler 
1 Scarlet Tanager 
5 Northern Cardinal