Winter Coastal Birding on New Year's Eve

After an uneventful day yesterday at the Raritan Estuary CBC, I decided to do some birding along the NJ coast today. I started at Manasquan Inlet near Point Pleasant, NJ. This is a great spot in winter for loons, gulls, and alcids. A few Black-headed Gulls had been seen here recently and I wanted to see one. Unfortunately, today would not be my day. One had been seen around 8:00 AM, but had flown far away by the time I got there. As a nice consolation prize, there were quite a few Bonaparte's Gulls in extremely close as well as many Northern Gannets and loons.

From there I headed north to Sandy Hook to look for some rarities that had been hanging out since late November - a Townsend's Solitaire and a Western Kingbird. Neither of these are life birds or state birds for me, but I thought they'd be nice to see. The Hook was extremely windy. I looked in vain for the Solitaire for quite a while, but I didn't manage to find many birds at all. The only thing I scared up was a few Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Brown Creeper. I then moved to the North Beach pavilion to look for the Western Kingbird. As I stepped out of my car, a bird alighted on a perch to my right and, sure enough, it was the Kingbird!


One out of three ain't bad. I ran into another birder who had been looking for the Kingbird for a while and I was able to get him on it. The wind and the cold were beginning to get to me. I made a few more stops along the way out, but then headed home. Not a bad morning out birding on New Year's Eve. Happy New Year!

Great Swamp Birding

As I've mentioned on here a few times before, I spent some time birding as a kid at the Great Swamp NWR with my family. When I picked up birding again 7 or so years ago, it became a regular stop for me. I took a drive down the main access road, Pleasant Plains Road, today to look for some previously reported Rough-legged Hawks.

At the heron rookery parking lot, I observed a dark bird fly and perch on top of a lone snag. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk. I don't think I've ever seen a dark morph perched and I was surprised at how dark it looked - almost black. Unfortunately, a young Red-tailed Hawk came by and chased it away to claim the perch. I got to see the shape and field marks in flight.

I ran into a friend who pointed out an immature Red-headed Woodpecker working a group of distant dead trees. The Great Swamp is one of the best spots to see these in NJ. I spent a short time looking around for other birds and found some Black Vultures, more Red-tails, three more species of woodpecker (Red-bellied, Hairy, and Downy) and a group of Eastern Bluebirds. The local parking lot Mockingbird made his presence known too.

I needed to head home from my short trip but not without first finding a group of about 25 Rusty Blackbirds sitting in some trees close to the road. I think this was a year bird for me and I know the Rough-legged Hawk was. The weather couldn't have been better for a day in late December. It was almost balmy. Happy New Year and Happy Birding!

Trip Results: NJ Reservoirs and Alpha Grasslands

On Sunday, I led a group of hardy, friendly birders to Hunterdon and Warren counties to explore three of NJ's reservoirs and the Alpha grasslands in western NJ. Our first stop was Merrill Creek Reservoir. Although the weather was quite cold, the wind was down so the water on the reservoir was like glass. Waterfowl materialized as our time there progressed. We were treated to nice views of Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, and a very distant Long-tailed Duck. A few Common Mergansers and a Pied-billed Grebe also made an appearance. A fly-over Purple Finch didn't stick around for the group to see unfortunately.

In an effort to warm up, we hopped in the cars and headed to the Alpha grasslands. These preserved farm fields are a haven for threatened grassland nesting species including Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, and Eastern Meadowlark. When the fields are cut, they provide a wintering ground for Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, and various raptors. As we turned onto the famous (in NJ anyway) Oberly Road, a huge flock of gulls was loafing in a farmer's yard. Now, I don't claim to be a "larophile" by any means, but I picked out a nice adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in with all the Ring-billed Gulls. We were lucky to find the big flock of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings which were nice and close to the road. A "Grey Ghost" Harrier was also a feast for the eyes.

The next stop was Spruce Run Recreation Area, about 20 miles from Alpha. The reservoir here held a very large raft of Common Mergansers swimming along in unison - about 150 birds. Hooded Mergansers added a new species for the day and a flock of Cedar Waxwings (I searched for Bohemians!) delighted our group. With Spruce Run relatively quiet, we headed over to Round Valley about 10 minutes away.

We had our lunch at Round Valley, which seemed pretty quiet. A Common Loon and a ton of Coots were about it. A Red-breasted Nuthatched tooted from a pine, but didn't show. After lunch we moved to the "scuba diving area" where an adult Bald Eagle soared past us and perched next to its (potential) mate in a tree. It's never a bad day when you see a Bald Eagle. We searched the nearby pines for finches and owls, but were only blessed with a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A trip to the nearby swimming beach held a nice selection of ducks: Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and a solo Common Goldeneye. We wrapped up the trip here and got back into our warm cars. Thanks go out to a super group of participants.

"Birding for Beginners" at Sandy Hook

On Saturday, I led my quarterly free "Birding for Beginners" walk at Sandy Hook for NJ Audubon. We had 4 participants signed up, but only 3 attended. Beth and I brought our 7-year old niece with us for her first birding experience. My mom joined us as well.

Beth and I woke up to an extremely foggy morning which concerned me. Lucky for us, the fog burned off quickly and it turned into a really nice, but hot, day. Migrants weren't abundant but we did find some really nice birds.

Showing the group a bird in my Sibley guide

At Spermaceti cove, we observed a perched Great Blue Heron, always a crowd pleaser. We also had distant Royal Terns, several Double-crested Cormorants, various gulls, and a few Black-bellied Plovers. I briefly saw a Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, but it disappeared before I got the group on it (as they are wont to do).


Distant Great Blue Heron

On a brief walk along the nearby bike path, we found a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Black-capped Chickadee. The group needed a bathroom so we headed over to the beach pavilion. A trip to a nearby bathroom yielded a nice group of migrants with White-crowned Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, lots of Palm Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Black-throated Green Warbler.

Our next stop was the area known as "Raccoon Alley" - a paved path through some woods. It was pretty quiet in there, unfortunately. I played my "other nature" card and pointed out butterflies and plants to supplement the lack of birds. Sandy Hook is working to eliminate the large Ailanthus and Japanese Knotweed populations. It was interesting to see the areas where they had obviously applied herbicide to kill these species. The only birds we managed to actually see were Cedar Waxwings and a Red-eyed Vireo.

Out last stop was the far north end. There we found our only raptors of the day - a Cooper's Hawk and a Kestrel, but not much else.

The day turned out to be pretty nice. Thanks goes out to our great group! Our niece also really enjoyed her day. She became quite adept at using her binoculars by the end of the day and she's looking forward to her next trip.

Spoonbill Search at Forsythe

Beth and I have taking a little mini vacation this weekend. We did some day trips to some New Jersey wineries and visited some antique markets looking to be inspired for decorating our house. While visiting some of the south Jersey wineries yesterday, we had the opportunity to take a detour to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, known to NJ birders as "Brigantine" or just "Brig." A Roseate Spoonbill has been seen on and off here for the last two weeks. This is the second record for NJ, the other being a single observer. I felt like the last NJ birder to not see this bird.

Upon arriving, we immediately headed to the "Gull Tower" area where the bird had been seen most often. Another birder, who had been there for over an hour, said that the Spoonbill had not been seen in about 4 hours. I searched the area a bit seeing a Caspian Tern and some Glossy Ibis, along with many Great and Snowy Egrets. A Green Heron called overhead and a flying Least Bittern was a great find. No Spoonbill yet!

We decided to take the "wildlife drive" around the wetland impoundments which is a great experience during any season. The whole area was swarming with gulls, terns, Black Skimmers, and thousands of shorebirds. A typical scene looked something like this:

The sky was pretty overcast and many of the birds were far, but I was able to identify MANY Least and Semi-palmated Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers, as well as some Western Sandpipers, Whimbrels, Pectoral Sandpipers, and a few Stilt Sandpipers. There were many Semi-palmated Plovers, both Yellowlegs, and Willets sprinkled in as well.

We continued around the loop where I got great photos of a Snowy Egret, but I missed a photo of a very bald Red-winged Blackbird.



On the last leg of the wildlife drive, we were following another car when suddenly something large and pink was spooked up from the marsh close to the road. It flew towards our car and landed directly next to it in a small channel between the road and the marsh. The Roseate Spoonbill was gorgeous in all of its pink-ness. It posed for moments, before it took off not to be seen by us again. I was able to get a few crappy pictures. Beth got to see her life Roseate Spoonbill and I got to see a great bird on NJ land.



The highlight for me though was a pair of young kids, no older than 12 or 13, who were in the car in front of ours. They hopped out of the car and were so amazingly excited to see the Spoonbill. They were jumping up and down, trying to catch their breath, and just saying, "Oh my gosh, it's a Roseate Spoonbill!" over and over again. It was really fun to watch and it's always great to see some young birders.

We finished up our day by driving through the lovely NJ shore traffic and having dinner at one of our favorite spots: Harold's New York Deli - home to gigantic, fantastic pastrami sandwiches.

Results of Saturday's Butterfly/Dragonfly Walk

This past Saturday I led my now-annual "Beginner's Butterfly & Dragonfly Walk" for NJ Audubon. The trip visited Willowwood Arboretum and Fairview Farm, both in the Bedminster area. The trip started a little earlier than I would have liked. NJAS booked it for 8:30 and it was too late to change it by the time I realized it. Anyway... the cool morning made me worried that we wouldn't see much, but a bright sun helped the bugs warm up and come alive.

We had 7 participants, all of whom were relatively new to this pastime. After some introductions to lepidopterans and odonates, we began our trip along the meadow at Willowwood. I pointed out many wildflowers and commented on which were caterpilar host plants, invasive plants, or good nectar plants (or a combination of these). We encountered Joe-Pye Weed (good for nectar), Bird's-foot Trefoil (invasive), and Milkweed (good for nectar and a host plant). Our first butterfly was a Red Admiral followed quickly by a Great-spangled Fritillary.

This Great-spangled Fritillary has a chunk taken out of it, probably by a bird

We then visited the large flower garden that was being set up for a wedding later in the day. Unfortunately, the beautiful flowers there were only being visited by bees and wasps. We left the garden and continued on a trail into the wooded areas of the arboretum. The group admired the interesting trees such as Japanese Cedar and NJ's largest Dawn Redwood. A patch of Echinacea (Coneflower) held the star of the day - a gorgeous, fresh-looking American Lady who posed for many pictures.


This can be separated from Painted Lady by the two large eyespots on the hindwing vs. 4 smaller eyespots on Painted Lady

Further along the trail business started to pick up. We encountered several Silver-spotted Skippers nectaring and fighting with each other.


Silver-spotted Skipper

After seeing both species of Hummingbird moths in NJ (Snowberry Clearwing and Hummingbird Clearwing), I decided to take the group to the nearby Fairview Farm, part of the Upper Raritan Watershed Association. There is a nice pond and a great butterfly garden there as well as many wooded trails. Plus, I wanted to get out of there before the wedding began!

Fairview Farm was gorgeous as always. The pond held many species of dragonfly and I started calling out names: Widow Skimmer, Eastern Amberwing, Common Whitetail, Eastern Pondhawk, and Blue Dasher.


Widow Skimmer

I tried fruitlessly to net some of them but they possessed amazing evasion skills. The group moved around the pond and I was finally able to net a few dragonflies after many embarassing tries. The group got close-up views of Blue Dasher, Widow Skimmer, and a lovely Halloween Pennant. Several participants commented on how neat it is to see them breathe through their abdomens.


Male Halloween Pennant with sperm packets under the thorax

We ended the day at the butterfly garden where we were treated with visits by several Tiger Swallowtails, a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and a nice old black lab who slobbered on Beth. A few of those dastardly grass skippers made an appearance to bewilder the participants. I always like to compare skippers with gulls or shorebirds in birding. I tell the beginners to just learn the common butterflies first and then work on the skippers. We saw Dun Skipper, European Skipper, and Least Skipper for those keeping track. We said our goodbyes while a Brown Thrasher took a dirt bath. Thanks to all of those who participated in the walk! As always, thanks to Beth for taking awesome pictures!

Butterflies & Dragonflies at Fairview Farm

Beth and I took a trip to the butterfly garden at Fairview Farm yesterday to scout for a "Beginner's Butterflies and Dragonflies" trip I'm leading there this weekend. Here are some pics that Beth took.

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) love is in the air. The one on the bottom is a more yellow variation of this common critter.


A Northern Broken-dash (Wallengrenia egeremet) on some Purple Coneflower.


Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) hanging out on parsley


Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) - a small, common dragonfly of ponds and streams


White Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

July 3: East Brunswick Butterfly Park

Beth and I visited the nearby East Brunswick Butterfly Park yesterday. This place is a real treat to have locally. The variety of plants is spectacular and they attract lots of nice butterflies and other interesting insects. Beth took some excellent pictures, as usual!

The sign at the entrance to the park

Daisy with a bee on it

A large patch of White Lizard's Tail (I think) attracted the most action.

I *think* this is a Crossline Skipper - any takers?

Red Admiral

Silver-spotted Skipper

Other butterflies we saw included Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, Eastern Tailed Blue, Summer Azure, and tons of Cabbage Whites.

Red Milkweed Beetle - Tetraopes tetraophthalmus

I think the action is just beginning to pick up there. We're looking forward to going back later in the summer.

Bog Plants: Orchids and others!

On Saturday, Beth and I made our second visit of the year to Webb's Mill Bog (map) in Ocean County, right in the heart of the Pine Barrens. This bog is home to many rare plants including several species of orchids and representatives of most of NJ's carnivorous plants. The weather couldn't have been better for our trip.

After finding the slightly hidden entrance to the bog, we were quickly greeted with several species we had never seen before. Light-pink and dainty Rose Pogonia orchids were everywhere. Interspersed among them were Calopogon, or Grass-pink, with its groups of blush flowers with yellowish lips.

Rose Pogonia


Calopogon, or Grass-pink

Hundreds of yellow flowers of various species speckled the landscape. Bladderworts (Utricularia) of several species poked through the surface on their threadlike stems. Bladderworts are one of the more unique species of plants (definitely read the link above). They use the bladder-like sacs on their roots to capture tiny zooplankton in a sort of lightning-fast gulping action.


I believe this is Horned Bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta)

Other yellow flowers present included Golden-crest (Lophiola aurea) with its fuzzy yellow flowers and fuzzy white buds.


Golden-crest - very fuzzy

The last yellow flower we saw was Bog Asphodel (Narthecium americanum), a NJ endemic species restricted to the Pine Barrens. Its bunch of yellow flowers with feathery centers rounded out the sprinkling of sunshine color in the bog.


Bog Asphodel

Thread-leaved Sundews (Drosera filiformis) were also in bloom with their pink flowers. The other species of sundews did not appear to be blooming and seemed less numerous than on our last visit in May.


Here's the sundew with its flowers

In addition to the flora, there was one very interesting insect that Beth was able to photograph. Below is a photo of an Elfin Skimmer (Nannothemis bella), the smallest dragonfly in North America! This little guy is about an inch long, smaller than most damselflies. There were tons of them here.



For excellent reading about bog and swamp plants, check out John Eastman's The Book of Swamp and Bog: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of the Eastern Freshwater Wetlands. We're hoping to go back to Webb's Mill a few more times this year to see what other blooming seasons will present. Thanks to my woman, Beth, for the photos!

NY State Birding Adventure - Day 2

The second day of our four blogger birding extravaganza began not too long after the first day ended. Shortly before 2:00 AM, after 2.5 hours of sleep, we woke up and headed for our destination - Wakely Mountain. It was a little over a two hour drive northwest to get there. We picked up Will on our way and we were off to search for boreal breeders - specifically Bicknell's Thrush. This specialized breeder of spruce-fir habitat is only found at high elevations from the Catskills north to a few points in southeastern Canada. It would be a life bird for both Mike and me.

We drove traffic-free through the night and found the dirt road that would take us to Wakely Mountain. Along the road, we tried to avoid hitting deer and toads while trying our best to stay awake (kudos to our driver Corey for being good at being awake). We encountered a Porcupine sauntering off the road (a life mammal for me) and a Luna Moth coursing across the headlights of Corey's car. Around 4:15, we arrived to the base of Wakely Mountain for our 6+ mile roundtrip hike. All of us secretly prayed that the potentially strenuous hike would reward us with our quarry.

I'd never hiked in the dark before, but it was really fun. By the light of our flashlights, we proceeded up the trail only to be met by a HUGE beaver dam blocking our way. After a moment of fear that we'd need to find a new mountain, we were able to find a trail around the dam. We moved on with Corey being sure to make loud noises to scare away bears as we progressed. The terrain was flat for the first 1.5 miles or so. Birds began singing before daylight with Blackburnian Warbler, American Redstart, and Swainson's Thrush being some of the first I remember hearing. The trail also had what to me was an abnormal amount of toads. There seemed to be one every 100 feet or so and some of them were HUGE! As we moved along gradually gaining elevation, more birds chimed in - Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, and Hermit Thrush among others. Daylight could be seen periodically poking through the canopy, but it was still pretty dark in the forest.

The trail up the mountain

We reached a fork in the road. One fork led to another beaver dam and a beautiful lake, the other led steeply up. No time to enjoy the lake now... we had a mission. Up we went! The climb was pretty steep, but did not require hand over hand climbing (to my relief). As the daylight increased, I could really see the beauty of this forest. Hemlocks, spruces, and firs dominated with aspens and maples sprinkled in. Lichen and moss-covered rocks and trees created a very different feel from the oak and poplar-dominated forests I mostly see in NJ. The ascent was strenuous and a bit tricky in spots where the trail was comprised of large smooth, exposed rock. A few slips by each of us, but we were all no worse for wear. As we reached higher and higher elevations, we frequently stopped in hopes of hearing the Bicknell's. Each stop yielded the same results... no Bicknell's singing or uttering their "VEER!" call. All was not lost though. We heard Sapsuckers doing there irregular tapping rhythms, encountered a probable nesting Red-breasted Nuthatch and even had a flock of Red Crossbills fly over. Flora was plentiful too. I saw two new wildflowers: Yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis) and, finally, my first trillium - Red Trillium (Trillium erectum).


Red Trillium, AKA Purple Trillium, AKA Wake-robin

We climbed higher and higher and made more frequent stops to listen. No luck yet. The bugs were getting pretty bad as daylight increased. Black flies and mosquitos forced us to re-apply our repellent on a few occasions. For me, they weren't biting, but they were a real nuisance. With no Bicknell's yet, I could sense a collective concern growing in our group about whether we had made the right choice of mountains. I still trusted my NYers though.

After several hours, we reached the summit. A fire tower, the tallest in the Adirondacks at almost 90', stretched into the clouds. Visibility from the summit was limited to the whiteness of the cloud that had encroached the mountain top. We explored the area which also housed a cabin, an outhouse, and a sleeping deck for workers. A flock of Pine Siskins paid us a brief visit and several Yellow-bellied Flycatchers gave their "chu-wee" calls. One even posed right in front of me. Even with all these great birds, it was difficult to forget our original goal which we had not achieved.

Corey and I climbed the tower about halfway to look at the tops of the trees. Around this time, the sun started to poke through the clouds and the fog started to burn off a bit. The gorgeous view from the summit made a few brief appearances before the fog covered it again. This sun must have triggered something in the birds because we suddenly heard a loud "VEER!" come from within about 20' of the base of the tower. We listened intently and heard it again. "VEER!" It called a third time, but this time it was followed by an unmistakable song with an upward slur at the end - the song of a Bicknell's Thrush. We searched the trees, but couldn't find it. Corey and I bolted down the tower and we all gathered to peer through the trees. Corey was the first to spot the bird sitting on a branch about eye-level. Mike and I were able to get on it for spectacular "life" looks at this endangered species. We were able to watch it call and got excellent looks at the large amount of yellow at the base of its bill. Our fears of not seeing the bird instantly washed away and all was right in the world. Will appeared from the trail (he smartly took his time on the trail instead of racing up it like we did) and confirmed that he had heard a few on the way up and reported a few other bird sightings he had.


The fire tower

We celebrated briefly, then began our descent. Going down wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It was a little rough on my knees, but I didn't fall on my butt. We tried to make quick time because we had other spots in the 'Daks that we wanted to see. The best sighting on the way down was a Ruffed Grouse that was obviously trying to distract us from a nest. Will even saw it do a broken wing display in front of him.

At the bottom of Wakely, we rested and refueled on coffee. It was only about 9:45 and there was still some birding to do. We got back on the dirt road that took us to Wakely and continued on for another 30 miles or so. At a roadside pond, we encountered an Alder Flycatcher and a Great Blue Heron, but few other new birds.


A serene roadside stop

Our final destination was Ferd's Bog, which aside from a Winter Wren with his amazing song and a few other birds we'd previously seen, was incredibly quiet. I still enjoyed being out on a boardwalk in a really gorgeous bog. The local birders, Corey and Will, were pretty disappointed that this spot didn't produce the hoped-for birds like Black-backed Woodpecker and Olive-sided Flycatcher. I could live with it though. We had done an amazing hike in the wee hours of the morning with a tremendous payoff. I had a real satisfied feeling about the hike and a little birdless territory couldn't take that away. I got to spend a few splendid days birding with some great people too. Will and Corey really know their area - not just the birds, but the geography and history of the area too. It's always fun birding with Mike too and I enjoyed getting some lifers together.


Ferd's Bog

We headed home to Mike's in the Bronx and I traveled on to Piscataway, NJ. To end this, I need to apologize to my girlfriend, Beth, because I quickly fell asleep for the next 13.5 hours.

NY State Birding Adventure - Day 1

On Friday, Mike from 10,000 Birds and I traveled to the Albany, NY area to meet up with Corey from Lovely Dark and Deep and Will from The Nightjar. Our mission was simple: see a Bicknell's Thrush on one of the Adirondack mountains where it breeds. But that was for Saturday... we still had some birding to do in Friday's stifling heat.

I picked up Mike in "da Bronx" and we hopped on the NY thruway for our 150 mile drive up to Albany. The AC was cranked and we cruised up the highway with visions of boreal breeders dancing through our heads. Corey and Will were waiting for us when we arrived around 4:15. Enough with the pleasantries... we had some birding to do! Our targets for Friday were grassland species and marsh birds. Will and Corey are completely wired in to the local birding and they knew some great spots. We headed west (I think) to the farmlands of Schoharie and Montgomery counties.

We stopped at our first field and ticked off Savannah Sparrow and a distant singing Vesper Sparrow, both of which are tough breeders to find in NJ. Our next stop was the one I was most looking forward to. It was a field of tall grass with some small shrubs that hosted a small sparrow which uttered a small "Tslisk" that it calls a song - a Henslow's Sparrow. This bird has elluded me on several occasions, but this guy was very abiding. After a few moments of searching, he perched on a shrub and gave some excellent scope views - ABA bird #498!

We piled in the car and continued our search for grassland species. Bobolinks called from every open field. Another field held a pair of circling Upland Sandpipers - a lifer for Mike. They didn't stop and pose for us, but they did make their "wolf whistle" call which is always neat to hear. Continuing on to other fields, we found more Savannah Sparrows, Harrier, Kestrel, and Eastern Meadowlark. We were racking up the grassland specialties, but the regularly-occurring Grasshopper Sparrow was peculiarly missing. We finally did find one calling, but the views for Corey and Mike were less than spectacular.

The grasslands had produced well for us and we headed to our next habitat - Black Creek Marsh. Our target: Virginia Rail (a lifer for Mike) and other marsh birds. Most of the great marshes close to me are closed at night to the public. This marsh was very accessible. A path along railroad tracks leads to some awesome marsh habitat where we did hear, but not see, Virginia Rail. We also heard Marsh Wren and Swamp Sparrow and had a Willow Flycatcher circle our heads in the waning daylight. We returned to the car in the dark and finalized our plans for the next day. It must have been our inhalation of too much marsh gas, but we decided to return to Corey's house (after dropping off Will at his house), eat dinner (at 10:00 PM), sleep for a few hours, and then leave for Wakely Mountain at 2:00 AM. That's exactly what we did... we drank a beer, ate some great prosciutto and mozz sandwiches, and got a little sleep. Tune in tomorrow for our phenomenal adventure up the mountain.

Be sure to check out Corey's poetic rendition of Friday's birding, as well as Mike's and Will's versions of the day. It's interesting reading to get everyone's perspectives.

Webb's Mill Bog Walk

This weekend must have been "bog weekend." Laura, from Somewhere in NJ, posted a report and some great pics from Webb's Mill Bog, located in the Pine Barrens of NJ. Beth and I also visited this location yesterday. Webb's Mill is the most accessible place in NJ to see unique plants such as Pitcher Plants, Sundews, Bladderworts, and several rare orchids. The prime time to go is in late June or early July, but this time of year is full of pleasantries in its own right.

Webb's Mill Bog

Beth and I had been planning to visit here for a long time and we finally made it down. The bog is accessible due to the existence of a terrific boardwalk that lets you get close to the habitat without disturbing it. Upon entering the bog, we quickly discovered Pitcher Plants and the only orchid of the day - Arethusa (aka Dragon's Mouth). The Arethusa were a little too far away to get descent pics. Among the sphagnum moss, we quickly found the three species of sundew: Thread-leaved Sundew, Spatulate-leaved Sundew, and Round-leaved Sundew. We had some trouble separating the latter two, but I think we saw both. None of them had flowers yet, but they should relatively soon.


Pitcher Plant Flower


Thread-leaved Sundew

Interesting shrubs abound in the bog. Sheep Laurel, Leatherleaf, Highbush Blueberry, and Swamp Azalea are all over the place. The Sheep Laurel are just beginning to bud and we managed to find one in bloom. Leatherleaf just finished blooming and some Blueberry bushes had flower buds and one or two had flowers (one even had some young berries).


Sheep Laurel in bloom

The dominant tree here is the Atlantic White Cedar. At one time covering a good portion of NJ, this tree is now restricted to a few areas of the state. Pitch Pine and Black Jack Oak round out the dominant trees.

Bird-wise we heard Pine Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, lots of Common Yellowthroats, and Blue-winged Warbler among the more common birds. On the entomology front, we observed several Odonates including White Corporal, Blue Corporal, Common Whitetail, and Pine Barrens Bluet. Pine Barrens Bluet is a damselfly endemic to the pine barrens habitat.

Thanks to Beth for taking the pictures while I was hunting dragonflies. We can't wait to go back and we plan to before the end of June.

Monday Hawk Counting

I spent all day today as a volunteer hawk counter at Sandy Hook. A few of us volunteer each year to give the paid hawk counter a few days off. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a slow day as far as hawks go. A good migration day means winds out of the southwest or south to push the birds to the coast, but the winds today were easterly. Hawk numbers were low, but I made the best of a gorgeous day.

Here's a sample of the gorgeous view from the hawk watch platform. Today was exceptionally clear and you could see New York quite well. That's the Empire State Building on the left there. I used the panoramic mode on my camera to take this really cool picture (3 MB download).



The white flowers above are beach plums in full bloom. They will have fruit in the fall and I hear it makes a great jam. I tried eating one raw and found it pretty sour.



Ospreys, Red-winged Blackbirds, Eastern Towhees, Tree Swallows, and Barn Swallows kept me company all day while waiting for the raptors. My total numbers for the day were 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Cooper's Hawks, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 20 Turkey Vultures, and 2 Black Vultures. I've had a run of bad luck in my times as a volunteer hawk counter. I hope that one of these days I will volunteer and see a monumental hawk flight!

Another new yard bird

Sorry for the shortage of posts recently, I spent 4 days last week at a big corporate meeting. It was one of those meetings right out of a sitcom, complete with drumming, singing, tons of food, and lots of "rah-rah-rah."

We got another new yard bird on Friday - a White-crowned Sparrow! He/she was feeding under our feeder and then perched on the neighbor's fence.

I didn't get to do too much birding this weekend due to a friend's wedding and being pretty darn sick on Sunday (bad seafood I think). A quick trip this evening to the Delaware & Raritan Canal got me some year birds including Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Warbling Vireo.

I'll be covering the Sandy Hook hawk watch on Monday. The hawk watch had a Crested Caracara fly over on Friday. That's just crazy. Who knows what will show up at the Hook on a given day?

Friday Night Sounds

Well, prior to just hearing the sound of my beloved Rangers losing in overtime, Beth and I enjoyed some night sounds at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Our intention was to use our newly acquired knowledge from our recently purchased book The Calls of Frogs and Toads by Lang Elliott. The core of the refuge is closed at dusk, but the roads on the perimeter allow for some listening. The most vocal frog of the night was the ubiquitous Spring Peeper. While listening to the frogs, I finally added a Woodcock to my year list. Beth had never heard the peenting of a Woodcock. Unfortunately, this guy just peented and we never got to hear his courtship display flight.

We drove to another area to listen. We were rewarded with our only other frog species of the evening - Northern Gray Treefrog (pictured). I've heard Cricket Frog, Southern Leopard Frog, and Chorus Frog at this refuge in the past, but tonight was not our night.

With the frogs being relatively quiet, I decided to try out my Barred Owl impression. I gave a few calls which elicited some laughs from Beth. She said that it sounded like a Barred Owl, but with the tone of my voice. Well, regardless of this, it seemed to work because a distant Barred Owl called back several times. Way cool! With that, we called it a night!

Sunday: Garret Mountain with Mike

Mike from 10,000 Birds and I birded Garret Mountain this morning. Garret has become somewhat of a legendary migration trap on the east coast. Its geographic location along a ridge whose northern end drops off into the city of Paterson helps concentrate migrants. It's also heavily birded which helps in finding birds.

Mike and I met bright and early to start our birding adventure. The place was crawling with White-throated Sparrows, with about 1 per square yard. We quickly found two lovely male Baltimore Orioles singing from the treetops and several Ruby-crowned Kinglets practicing their bubbly songs. Barbour Pond hosted a group of Northern Rough-winged Swallows that Mike tried to photograph. Those buggers are fast and I'm not sure how successful he was. My first Spotted Sandpiper of 2007 was there too.

Warbler-wise the day started slow. A tip on an Orange-crowned Warbler and Nashville Warbler didn't work out for us, but the spot held many Hermit Thrushes and several Brown Thrashers. We made our way towards the upper areas of Garret to the old "castle" where we could look down into the canopy of trees. Here we found a nice group of birds: Blue-headed Vireo, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, and Yellow-Rumped.

We worked our way back towards the parking lot. We paused for a moment and scanned the trees. I noticed a big blob in a tree that turned out to be a young Great-horned Owl! Cool! Here's my cruddy picture of it. Check Mike's blog for a better picture of it (if he posts it).



Our approach down the trail scared up the Pileated subspecies of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. :) One of us must have smelled like peanuts because we managed to attract the world's friendliest White-breasted Nuthatch. He landed on a tree within 5 feet of us and "ank-ank"-ed at us while posing for some close-up photos. We walked down the trail and for the next 50 yards or so the nuthatch kept following us and landing very nearby. Here's a pic of Mike photographing the nuthatch. This is probably the furthest it got from us.



We visited nearby Rifle Camp Park, but the birding was pretty slow there. A Cooper's Hawk and a Hairy Woodpecker are the only birds of note that I really remember seeing there. We ended another great morning of birding with 5 species of Woodpecker, 3 raptors, 7 warblers, and 59 total species (according to my list). Check over to 10,000 Birds. Mike will put up his own report with much better pictures.

Saturday: More Sandy Hook Birding

On Saturday I led a trip for the National Parks Service to Sandy Hook. I was filling in for the usual guy who runs this trip. In a short 2.5 hour trip, our group saw 64 species - not bad considering we didn't really bird the wooded areas there. We had a group of 9 people, from beginners to more experienced birders. Since we had limited time, I decided to bird Spermaceti Cove (a boardwalk overlooking the bay) and the northern end where the hawkwatch platform is.

Spermaceti Cove always delivered and the participants were amazed at the diversity of birds that come to this spot if you just stand and wait. We had wonderful views of Green Heron, Great and Snowy Egrets, both Yellowlegs, Willet, Red-breasted Merganser, and Belted Kingfisher. We also had an opportunity to compare the vocalizations of Fish Crow and American Crow. Here I am showing the physical differences between the two species, which isn't much:



The north end delivered as well. We had excellent comparisons of Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were everywhere, but were really difficult to get everyone on. The hawk flight was decent with fly-by Merlins, Sharp-shinned Hawks, a Cooper's Hawk, and a really nice perched Peregrine Falcon. For a short walk, we had great weather, nice participants, and some outstanding birds.