Bayonne, NJ Rails

  On Sunday (8/3/14), I met up with my birding friend to look for the American White Pelican in Richard W. DeKorte Park and to look for a King Rail in Bayonne, NJ.  We met up at DeKorte park at around 8:45 AM.  We went up a trail and saw the American White Pelican and a few Least Bitterns.  We were informed by another group of birders that if you don't go at low tide to see the King Rail, you won't see it at all.  It was two and a half hours past low tide, so we changed our plans and headed straight to the spot in Bayonne where it was seen.  As we got there we were walking by groups of birders that were saying, you probably won't see it because you missed low tide.  We went anyway to check it out and not only did we see the King Rail, we saw the King Rail mating with a Clapper Rail.  We also saw an immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron

King Rail

King Rail

King Rail mating with Clapper Rail

 

 

 

     After that, we waited for them to come back out, but they never did.  So we walked down the bridge and trail some more to see if we could find a Sora that had been seen there recently.  We did not see it, but on the way back my friend spotted another family of clapper rails.  They were being very cooperative and staying close.

Adult Clapper Rail

Adult Clapper Rail and Chick Head

Clapper Rail Chick

 

 

 

     When we got back to the King Rail spot, another birder pointed out to us another rare bird: a Saltmarsh Sparrow.  It was being very cooperative and giving us great looks.

Saltmarsh Sparrow

Saltmarsh Sparrow

Saltmarsh Sparrow

 

 

 

     We finished up the day looking at an adult and immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron sitting close on the rocks next to an immature Black-crowned Night Heron.

Adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron



 

  



Bombay Hook NWR

    On Saturday July 12th, 2014, I went to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.  As soon as we pulled in to the parking lot for the nature center to meet up with the rest of the birding group, I got my first lifer and nemesis bird of the day, a Northern Bobwhite.  He was singing away back in a thicket behind a large field.  Soon after, we saw many Blue Grosbeaks and my second lifer of the day and my number one bird on my nemesis list, a Yellow-breasted Chat.  The chat was singing his crazy song and popping up to the tops of the trees every once in a while.  I didn't get the greatest looks of him, but luckily just when we started to drive the dike loop, a much more cooperative Yellow-breasted Chat was posing at the top of another tree in a neighboring brushy field.  He was a bit far, but we got great looks. 

Yellow-breasted Chat

Blue Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

 

 

 

     When we started the drive, we immediately saw American Avocets, Snowy Egrets, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers,  and Semipalmated Sandpipers.  We also heard many Marsh Wrens singing in the reeds.

Marsh Wren Silhouette

American Avocet

Various Shorebird Species on the Mud Flats

 

 

 

     Later in the loop we saw more Marsh Wrens, Forester's Terns, a few Black-necked Stilts, a Tundra Swan, an immature Bald Eagle, and many Ospreys.  In the sections of forest along the drive, we heard Alder Flycatchers, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Marsh Wren

Marsh Wren

Marsh Wren

 

 

 

     After lunch, we finished the drive in the grassier and more forested areas.  In one of the first fields we drove by I heard my last lifer of the day, a Grasshopper Sparrow singing its distinctive insect-like song.  Soon after, I spotted it in the grasses.  We watched it for a few minutes and then we kept driving by the field.  At the end of the field there was another Grasshopper Sparrow on top of a bird box.

Grasshopper Sparrow on top of Bird Box

Grasshopper Sparrow in the Grasses

 

 







      We finished up the day with around 90 species, and I got three more lifers.

Birding the Beaches of Strathmere

     Throughout the week of July 5th - 12th, I am going to be birding the beaches of Strathmere, a town on the southern coast of NJ. 
     On the first and second day I woke up early to take a walk on the beach to look for any shorebirds around.  I saw a few American Oystercatchers, three Least Terns, and many hunting Ospreys along with the common beach gulls: Great Black-backed, Herring, and Laughing.  I also saw two other Tern species: Forester's and Royal.

Least Tern

Osprey

Osprey coming close to check me out

American Oystercatcher peeping

American Oystercatcher

 

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.

An Unexpected Lifer

     On Friday afternoon (5/30/14), I wanted to see what I could find towards the end of migration, so I headed over to Bowman's Hill with my mom and my aunt.  While trying to identify a species of flycatcher, I heard an owl call "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?".  Without thinking, I assumed that it was just a Great-horned Owl.  However, after it called a few more times and I actually thought about it, I realized that it was actually a Barred Owl.  I have never heard or seen one of these owls before, and I was dying to.  I crept over to where it was calling and searched for almost half an hour.  However, just before I gave up, I looked straight above me just to see the Barred Owl looking right back at me. 
     I went back on Saturday evening at around the same time (7:00 PM) to see if it was still there.  Soon after we arrived, I heard Blue Jays going crazy near the same spot that it was in last time.  My mom then spots it flying across the river.  After it being scared off from a few different perches by the Blue Jays, it finally stood it's ground in a large Redwood tree.  While my mom was keeping an eye on it, I walked back to and over the bridge to get a better look from the other side.  However, while I was doing that, my mom saw another fly across the river.  Without knowing, I kept walking, and was lucky enough to get great views of this elusive lifer.

Barred Owl

Barred Owl



Neighborhood Migration

       Throughout the entire month of May, there has been incredible migration at one patch of woods in my development, especially for warblers.  On the first and second day I went down there, I got a lifer warbler, a Wilson's Warbler.  With the Wilson's, there were also many Northern Parula's, many Black-throated Blue Warblers, a few Magnolia Warblers, many Yellow-rumped Warblers, many American Redstarts, many Black-and-White Warbler, many Common Yellowthroats, a few Chestnut-sided Warblers, and a Black-throated Green Warbler. 

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

American Redstart

Common Yellowthroat

 

Black-and-White Warbler

 

 





 

     The next few days added on a few more warbler species for us.  Those were Northern Waterthrush, and Bay-breasted Warbler.  We also got a new neighborhood bird and life bird, a Least Flycatcher.

 

Northern Waterthrush

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

 

 

 

     Towards the end of May, the numbers of Blackpoll and Canada Warblers greatly increased.  We also got a new neighborhood bird and life bird for my mom, a Black-billed Cuckoo. Along with these birds, the number of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds had also increased. 

Canada Warbler

Canada Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-billed Cuckoo

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 

 

 

     So far it has been a great May with 16 warbler species and a few life birds.



Migration at Churchville Nature Center and Baldpate Mountain

    On Saturday (5/3/14) my mom, my aunt, and I went to the bird walk at the Churchville Nature Center.  We got a total of 71 birds beating our previous record of 70 birds.  The highlights were a Horned Grebe, a Worm-eating Warbler, many Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green Warblers, a few Northern Parulas, two Blue-headed Vireos, and five Orchard Orioles.

One of the two Blue-headed Vireos

One of the five Orchard Orioles

Horned Grebe

Ovenbird

 

 

 

     After the walk, we went to Baldpate Mountain.  There we immediately heard and saw multiple Blue-winged Warblers, many Black-and-White Warblers, a Yellow-throated Vireo, a few Yellow Warblers, and a few Black-throated Blue Warblers.

Blue-winged Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler singing

Black-throated Blue Warbler