Birding Salem County, NJ

     On Wednesday (6/25/14), my mom, my brother and I went to Salem County, NJ to hunt for a previously reported Dickcissel.  About 30 seconds after we arrived at the field that a male and a female were said to be breeding in, we heard the male Dickcissel call.  A minute after that, the female jumped up to a close shrub, and the male flew up onto the telephone wire.  We stayed for about 40 more minutes watching my lifer male and female Dickcissels fly to different perches. 

Male Dickcissel

Male Dickcissel

Male Dickcissel

Male Dickcissel

 

 

 

     After getting great views of one of my major nemesis birds, my mom suggested that we take a five minute drive to Mannington Marsh.  As we arrived there, we slowly drove across a little bridge.  I told my mom to stop because I saw a pair of Common Moorhens with babies; another lifer and nemesis bird.  Since there were not many people on the road, she pulled over and we got to watch them swim around through the marsh.  Later, she pulled off of the road further down and in a safer spot, so we walked back to the bridge to see what else was there.  While standing on the bridge, we also saw Great Blue Herons, a Green Heron, a Black-crowned Night-heron, a few Great Egrets, and we even saw a few Cattle Egrets fly over.



              

Common Moorhen with one baby

 

 

 

     After I got my second and unexpected lifer, we headed to Featherbed Lane and saw two American Kestrels, and a few Eastern Meadowlarks.  Finally, to end the day, we went back to the field with the Dickcissels, and watched them again for another ten minutes.