Hi everyone! It’s time for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)! This annual event takes place this weekend from February 16-19. It’s easy to participate, so check out https://www.birdcount.org/ to join the fun!
Today Dave, Baby Birder, and I made our way out to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge for the first day of the count. It was a fairly chilly and windy morning. As expected there was waterfowl galore and lots of gulls. We observed 27 species. Highlights included a Northern Harrier, two Bald Eagles, and a large amount of Gadwalls.
Gull Pond
Edwin B. Forsythe NWR (27 species, 2098 individuals)
450 Snow Geese
70 Brant
255 Canada Geese
9 Tundra Swans
200 Northern Shovelers
160 Gadwall
24 Mallards
150 American Black Ducks
60 Northern Pintails
7 Green-winged Teals
35 Bufflehead
14 Hooded Mergansers
55 Ruddy Duck
470 Dunlin
8 Ring-billed Gulls
87 Herring Gulls
2 Double-crested Cormorants
2 Great Egrets
7 Great Blue Herons
9 Turkey Vultures
1 Northern Harrier
2 Bald Eagles
11 American Crows
1 Carolina Wren
3 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Common Grackle
5 Yellow-rumped Warblers
Dunlin flock (Image by David Horowitz)Hooded Merganser male (Image by David Horowitz)
We had an unexpected surprise on the wildlife drive today. Baby Birder, being well into toddlerhood now, isn’t super into birding. He likes birds just fine and is fairly familiar with ducks, geese, and eagles (my favorite was when he saw a Wild Turkey and called it a “duck-eagle” 😂). However, his true passion (obsession lol) is vehicles, so while he likes to see the birds his favorite part of visiting Forsythe is the other vehicles on the wildlife drive. And special for bird count weekend we had…a backhoe!
A GBBC first…a backhoe!
He was quite thrilled to see a backhoe laying gravel out on the road today, so we all had a lovely morning for GBBC Day 1. It’s supposed to snow 2-5 inches tonight into tomorrow so we’ll see what happens for Day 2.
October 22 is a special day for Dave and I. It’s our anniversary date. So we thought what better way to spend our 9 year anniversary than at one of our favorite birding locations: Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.
We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather. It ended up getting quite warm today, but in the mid-morning it was cool and breezy. Even though the weather has been kind of strange lately, you can tell that winter will be on it’s way in a few months from the flocks that were hanging around.
The flocks of Black Skimmers, Forster’s Terns, Laughing Gulls, Great Egrets, Glossy Ibis and other summer visitors have been replaced by waterfowl. I did end up seeing 2 Forster’s Terns and a few Great Egrets, but it was clear the winter crowd is slowly starting to take over. There were still plenty of Snowy Egrets wading through the water and a large flock of Tree Swallows scooping up the flies that are still hanging on to the warm weather.
Waterfowl observed included Wood Ducks, Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Black Ducks, Canada Geese, and over 40 (!) Mute Swans. We didn’t add any new birds to our life list overall, but we did add someone new to our park list: Pied-billed Grebes! We saw at least 6 in different parts of the refuge, sometimes in pairs. This was the first time we’ve seen them at Forsythe although we have seen this grebe species elsewhere (like this surprise one at Strawbridge Lake. There were a few raptors hanging around as well: 2 Cooper’s Hawks, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a female Northern Harrier.
The highlight of the trip for me were the Boat-tailed Grackles. I’ve seen one or two from a distance before, but this was the first time we saw a flock and we were able to get close to them. They were really fun to watch and very noisy. Boat-tailed Grackles and Common Grackles are similar, but do have some distinct differences. Boat-tailed Grackles are larger, have longer tails, have larger bills, and are more of a bluish iridescence. We saw both male and female Boat-tailed Grackles. The females are rufous brown with dark tails and wings. They were really beautiful.
Boat-tailed Grackle male singing (Image by David Horowitz)
Boat-tailed Grackle female (Image by BirdNation)
Boat-tailed Grackle on sign (Image by BirdNation)
We even got a few videos of their calls. Their common songs is a jeeb-jeeb-jeeb sound but like other grackles they make a variety of calls, whistles, guttural noises, and clicks. I like that after the grackle in the first video calls it makes a wing flutter that makes an interesting sound. (These videos were taken on my Iphone, so please excuse the quality :-), I was more concerned about the sounds).
Overall we saw 29 species on our Forsythe trip. I’m glad we got to spend our special day at one of our favorite birding areas. Here’s to many more years of birding together! ❤
This weekend Dave and I went to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on Long Beach Island for our final birding trip of the winter. Barnegat Light is at least an hour away from us, so we usual go there in the mid-morning, but for this trip we went in the late afternoon/early evening. It was quiet as far as people go, but busy with birds, which is just how I like it.
We started our trip on the paved walkway near the lighthouse, where we spotted a group of 6 Red-breasted Mergansers. It was our second time seeing this kind of merganser (first was at our last Forsythe trip) , but our first time seeing them at Barnegat Light. Red-breasted Mergansers look similar to Common Mergansers, but there are a few key differences. Red-breasted have long slender bills, are smaller, and both male and female have crests. Red-breasted Merganser are also more likely to be found in saltwater habitats than Common and Hooded Mergansers. The ones we saw were busy preening while floating along in the ocean. I love seeing their cute feather “hair-dos” :-).
Male Red-breasted Merganser (Image by BirdNation)
We spent awhile walking on the jetty. There were hundreds of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls along the rocks. They were resting, standing, preening, pulling muscles from the rocks, and calling to each other. They didn’t seem phased that we were so close to them and continued with their normal routines. Out in the ocean Black Scoters flew by, Red-breasted Mergansers swam, and Long-tailed Ducks dove in small groups. The best part of walking on the jetty was seeing all the loons. There were about 25 Common Loons all spread out along the jetty. We always see Common Loons at Barnegat Light in the winter, but we don’t usually see that many (no more than 4 or 5 in past trips). It felt lucky to see such a high number of loons in one day.
Gulls hanging out (Image by David Horowitz)
Common Loon (Image by David Horowitz)
The strangest bird of the day was a lone Black Skimmer. It flew by low to the water, and had the distinctive longer lower mandible/black and orange bill. It was quite a bit early to be back on LBI, but it was an interesting surprise. I wonder where it was headed.
We also added a new addition to our life list while standing on the jetty. A sparrow landed on a small rock on the beach. At first I thought it could be a Song Sparrow; I just heard one and this little guy was pretty streaky. Upon closer examination we noticed that his breast was whiter and he had a yellow streak before his eye. We found a Savannah Sparrow! It’s possible that this bird is an “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrow, a subspecies that breeds on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. They spend the winters on the mid-Atlantic coast and can be found along the Jersey Shore.
At the end of the jetty there was a large sandbar covered with gulls and a group of Dunlins. A lone Red-throated Loon dove close to the shoreline. We could tell it was a Red-throated and not a Common Loon because it was a pale gray and white, had a smaller, sharper bill, and lacked the white “neck collar” that a Common would have.
Red-throated Loon (Image by BirdNation)
The tide was pretty low at the end of the beach, so Dave and I were able to walked farther out than usual. Because of the low tide, a lot of seaweed, shells, and other interesting objects washed onto the beach. We took a little break from bird watching to do some shell collecting! We collected some moon shells, a small conch-looking shell, small pieces of coral, and some sort of marine vertebrae (maybe? I’m not sure it was just cool-looking!). In the picture below Dave’s shell collection is the left side and mine is the right. We also stumbled upon a starfish! I’ve never seen one on the beach before. As usual, we had another successful Barnegat Light trip.
Starfish on the beach (Image by BirdNation)
Our shell collection (Image by BirdNation)
Well friends, in less than 12 hours here on the East Coast of the United States it will finally be spring! The Vernal Equinox starts at 6:28am, so winter is almost over! It was another great winter birding season, but I’m also looking forward to the Spring migration. What was your favorite winter birding moment? Tell me about it in the comments 🙂
Happy New Year, everyone! Did you observe a “first bird” of 2017? A lot of people in bird internet groups I’m on like to share what the first bird they saw of the year was. Mine was a Blue Jay. I think that’s a fun was to start a new year of birding :-). On New Years Day, Dave and I took our first hike of the year at Palmyra Cove Nature Park.
If I had to choose one word to describe January 1, 2017 I would have to say: peaceful. It was a lovely morning. It was sunny and cool but not too cold. Our usual route when we go to Palmyra is the forest, the beaver ponds, then the cove. On this trip we worked backwards and headed to the cove trail first.
The trail to get to the cove was pretty quiet, while flocks of gulls flying high overhead. At one point there was a trilling sound coming from the understory. It was hard to track where the sound was coming from because it seemed to be moving around. Then suddenly one of the nearby bushes shook; and there was a Carolina Wren.
Male Carolina Wrens can have 30-40 songs in their repertoire, but females have a “chatter”. Her chatter sounds insect-like, so sometimes it’s easy to overlook her chatter for something else. Even though the female doesn’t “sing” per se, the male and female will duet, where the male with sing a song and the female will respond with different degrees and intensity of chatter. (Fun fact: female Carolina Wrens are the only wrens of the genus Thryothorusthat don’t sing melodious songs like the males). I recently learned this from the book The Singing Life of Birds by Donald Kroodsma, so I was excited to recognize the female chatter in the field. Another bird quickly showed up after she did, so I’m guess that’s her mate since pairs stay together year-round. It ended up being the “Day of the wrens” because we ended up seeing a few more pairs of wrens throughout the hike in different territories.
Carolina Wren (Image by David Horowitz)
We also saw a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. I’m always excited to see my first Junco every winter; these little birds are fun to watch. They zip around the forest, hopping on the ground, trees, and everything in between. I love the flash of their black and white tail as they rise into flight. To me, Dark-eyed Juncos are like the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers of the winter.
Dark-eyed Junco (Image by BirdNation)
If you’re at the cove at high tide, you usually see different kinds of waterfowl. It was low tide though, so the only waterfowl around were the American Black Ducks. We did get a good view of a beaver dwelling that the ducks like to sit near and found some tracks in the mud. The area were were standing in also had a lot of gnawed beaver trees, which were cool to see. Upon standing in that are for a few minutes, other birds started to appear. Crows flew by and a juvenile Bald Eagle soared above us.
Mystery tracks…possibly mink (Image by David Horowitz)
Beaver Tree (Image by David Horowitz)
Juvenile Bald Eagle (Image by David Horowitz)
That’s when I spotted an unexpected visitor: a male Red-winged Blackbird. To me there are 2 possibilities of why he’s still here: 1. He didn’t leave with the rest of the flock for the winter or 2. he’s back 2 months too early. I certainly didn’t expect him in the area. It started getting windy at the cove so we made our way to the beaver ponds.
The beaver ponds were fairly quiet as well. A small group of Wild Turkeys strutted by, possibly the same female/juvenile group we saw on our last trip to the Cove (remember when we did the turkey trot?). We saw a Northern Cardinal pair, some Mallards, Canada Geese, Downy Woodpeckers, and…a Sharp-shinned Hawk taking a bath?
A pretty pair (Image by BirdNation)
He was at the far side of the lake and really difficult to see. All we could see was a tiny bird, with a white belly that seemed to be stripey. What was it?? Every once in awhile it would splash but it was just slightly too far to identify. We could tell it was some sort of a raptor, maybe a juvenile? After a few minutes it flew up onto a tree to reveal a dark back and a square tail. Mystery solved: Sharp-shinned. But it’s definitely not every day you see a hawk bathing in a pond, now is it?
Instead of walking through the forest we took the Perimeter Trail back to the entrance. The perimeter was pretty uneventful, but that’s ok. Like I said earlier, it was a peaceful morning that ended up staying peaceful throughout the rest of the day. I hope that mood is a sign for what’s to come in 2017. I thought visiting Palmyra Cove was a refreshing was to start the new year.
Did you take a “first hike” this year? If you did let me know in the comments.
My final birding trip of 2016 was to Haddon Lake Park, my original birding “hotspot”. I usually walk with my mom and sister at Historic Smithville Park, but if we ever have extra time we head down to Haddon Lake instead to visit the waterfowl. It was a nice way to end the year, because we attended a party of sorts while we were there.
It all started with spotting an unusual duck. As I mentioned in my last post, ducks often hybridize, so there’s an assortment of ducks in addition to Mallards at Haddon Lake. The duck in the middle of the picture below has features of both a Mallard and one of the white ducks that reside at the lake. We stopped to take a look a him. He was swimming by with a few friends and when they noticed we stopped they got out of the water and started walking towards us.
So there we were, the 3 of us and a small group of ducks. We were admiring how cute they were when we realized that more ducks were coming over to where we were standing. It started to get noisy with females quacking and males giving their little raspy quehp calls (When you hear a duck “quack” you are actually hearing the females; male’s don’t quack, they just quehp).
Mallards with a hybrid in the middle (Image by BirdNation)
And before you know it, that’s when the party started. As you know, Mallards don’t tend to party alone, they like to hang out in flocks. So within a minutes time we went from a small gathering to a full out Mallard Party (with the hybrids being the special guests) with the entire flock flying in from all sides of the lake.
Mallard Party (Image by BirdNation)
Even Pretty Lady Duck, a lighter female, who I blogged about a few months ago made an appearance. I was happy to see her.
Pretty Lady Duck (Image by BirdNation)
Now let’s be real for a quick second. We all know what they wanted: food. Unfortunately, people feed these ducks, so they expect a handout when visitors stop to look at them. (We interrupt this lighthearted duck story with an important PSA: please DO NOT feed waterfowl. It’s bad for their health, the surrounding area, and encourages unwanted behaviors. Thank you. And now back to our regularly scheduled story). Of course we didn’t have food for them, but it was cool to get to see them up close.
The party last for a few minutes. We giggled and observed them while they quacked and observed us. A Mallard party tends to be a little chaotic though, with lots of quacking, running, and even a small fight breaking out. They then realized that we weren’t going to feed them, so the ducks started making their way back to the water.
We said are goodbyes and continued to walk the loop. But it seemed like the Mallards weren’t ready to say goodbye just yet. For about a minute or two, the flock decided to swim next to us. It was like we were the leaders of the Duck Parade.
Leading the Duck Parade (Image by BirdNation)
We eventually lost them, but the moment was fun while it lasted. During the walk we also observed some Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls, Dark-eyed Juncos, a Blue Jay, and a Red-tailed Hawk. But I though having a Mallard Party was a fitting way to celebrate the end of another birding year. I look forward to the fascinating birding adventures that await in 2017. Happy New Year, friends. See you in 2017!
On Wednesday, Dave and I made our way down to Cape May for the second time. We went to two locations: Cape May Point State Park and South Cape May Meadows. The two parks actually connect, so it was easy to explore both locations.
We arrived at Cape May Point mid-morning. It was in the low 4os, which to me is perfect winter birding weather. The first stop was the Hawk Watch platform, which I sometimes see listed on as a location on the NJ Rare bird list. No rare birds today, but the lake was full: Mute Swans, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Hooded Mergansers, 2 Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants, Northern Pintails, Ruddy Ducks, Canada Geese, and even a male Gadwall (the first life list bird of the day).
Double-crested Cormorants (Image by BirdNation)
There are a few small ponds that dot the trail. At one of them we found 4 Mallards swimming together. One looked a little unusual though. He had some Mallard features; such as the curly black tail and yellow bill, but he only had a partial green head and lacked the white neck ring. He clearly is some sort of hybrid, which is common among ducks. Upon further investigation on the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds website, I found that he may possibly be a Mallard and American Black Duck hybrid. This hybrid features darker plumage and a partially green head.
Possibly Mallard x American Black Duck hybrid (Image by BirdNation)
The next pond over was a small group of Bufflehead (who I just featured for Waterfowl Wednesday). Buffleheads tend to stay in small groups as opposed to large flocks. They were swimming closely together and sometimes would seem to dive at the same time. There were also 4 American Widgeons (life list bird #2). Males have white and green heads while females have gray-brown heads with a dark smudge around the eye. They kept going over to the 2 Mute Swans, almost swimming into them at times.
Male American Widgeon (Image by BirdNation)
While watching the Widgeons and Buffleheads, a small gull flew overhead. It was a graceful and skillful flyer. Everyone once in awhile it would dive down to the water, and just as easily maneuver its way back into the air. I finally got a good look at it, and it wasn’t our usual gull: it was a non-breeding Bonaparte’s Gull (life list #3)! It had a small black dot on each side of its head. This gull was a 1st winter Bonaparte’s. It had black wing tips and narrow dark patches on its upper wings. He gave us a pretty cool flight show, before flying off to a new pond. We continued on our way to the connector of the Point and South Cape May Meadows.
1st winter Bonaparte’s Gull in flight (Image by BirdNation)
Bonaparte’s Gull (Image by David Horowitz)
We didn’t spend too much time in the Meadows, but we did get to explore some of the same ponds that we saw on our last Cape May trip. As expected there were large flocks of waterfowl: Mallards, Shovelers, Pintails, Ruddys, Buffleheads, and more Swans. The was a species that we didn’t expect to see: Tree Swallows. I though they would all be gone by this point, but there were a decent amount of them flying over the pond. There were also a large number of Turkey Vultures. They found a carcass of a gull, so they were having a feast across the pond. We did find one other gull at this pond: over on the side we were on. He looked pretty worn and a little chubby. I’m not sure what kind of gull it was, but we joked that maybe he looked kind of sad because his friend was being eaten by vultures.
The “chubby” gull (Image by BirdNation)
As we were listening to some Carolina Wrens sing, a flock of quick, small birds flew into nearby trees. It was a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers. They were eating little white berries. They were quick, but Dave ended up getting a really great picture of one.
Male Yellow-rumped Warbler (Image by David Horowitz)
We didn’t see anything new on the trip back to the car, but we saw a nice variety of species on our trip. It has been a great month for waterfowl: we added 6 new species to our life list over the past couple of weeks. I’m glad we had a chance to return to Cape May for some winter birding. I hope to visit Cape May again for the spring migration.
Have you gone winter birding yet? If you have tell me about it in the comments.
Last Sunday was about 35 degrees, making it perfect weather to look for waterfowl. To find them, Dave and I decided that we should go to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on Long Beach Island, NJ.
It seems that going to Barnegat Lighthouse SP in December has turned into somewhat of a tradition. This is the 3rd year in a row that we’ve made a December trip, but the difference this time: it was 35 degrees, not 75 degrees. Somehow it’s always really warm when we were able to go, so I was really excited about the cold, seasonal weather we were in for. The night before on one of my Facebook bird groups I saw that NJ Audubon took a trip to LBI on Saturday. They saw all sorts of waterfowl, Ruddy Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers, and more that day, so I was hoping that we would be lucky on our trip. Turns out we were.
We started our trek on the cement walkway right outside the lighthouse. This area is usually swarming with tourists, but thanks to the cold weather it was just us. This is where we got our first glimpse of Long-tailed Ducks. Long-tailed Ducks spend their summers breeding in the Arctic and spend the winter all along the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts of North America. We get to see them in their winter plumage. Males are striking with a mix of white, black, and gray and a pink spot on the tip of the bill. Females are duller, but stockier with a thick bill. And of course, they have distinctive long tails that stand out even from a far distance. Unfortunately they were too far away for us to get any pictures, but they were cool to see. Life list addition #1 for the day.
From the cement walkway you can walk onto the jetty. The jetty stretches all the way down to the south end of the beach and out into the ocean. During the summer it’s covered with fishermen, but today it was covering in Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. While standing on the rocks were were able to watch gulls flying out over the ocean as well as Double-crested Cormorants, Brants and Common Loons bobbing in the water.
Herring Gull with a crab (Image by BirdNation)
Usually in December we see Ruddy Turnstones hanging out on the jetty but instead we had a surprise guest: a Merlin. Merlins are small falcons, not much larger than American Kestrels. They usually spend time in open woodland, so I certainly wasn’t expecting to see on at the beach (although according to e-bird you can find them in this location). We watched him for a bit before he flew off. We decided to get off the jetty and walk down to the southern tip of the beach.
Merlin on the jetty (Image by David Horowitz)
The south end of the beach is usually where we see different kinds of gulls wading around. We did see many Herring and Ring-billed Gulls on the way, but there was also a small flock of Ruddy Ducks floating around. The tide seemed lower in this area, and there was a smaller jetty leading out into the ocean that we normally don’t see.
That’s when we hit the jackpot. Everything we were looking for that NJ Audubon mentioned was in this location. There were Harlequin Ducks (Life List #2), Common Eiders (Life List #3), Ruddy Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers (Life List #4), Dunlins, and a Black Scoter (Life List #5). They were all scattered around the area; swimming, diving, walking around the rocks. There were different kinds of gulls and Ruddy Ducks mixed in too. Every December I go to this location looking for these species but usually don’t see them since it’s always unseasonably warm when we’re able to go. But this day was special, and am so happy I was able to experience some of these winter species for the first time.
Harlequin Duck (Image by BirdNation)
Common Eiders (Image by David Horowitz)
The excitement wasn’t over however. The Merlin reappeared on the jetty and we were able to sneak our way a little closer to see him before he flew off. We also observed a flock of Snow Buntings. I only ever saw one Snow Bunting before. We were at Amico Island at the end of October last year, and there was a single bunting in a field. I didn’t know what it was at the time and didn’t have a camera, so it remained a mystery until I saw a picture of one a month later. When I went to add it to my checklist, E-bird didn’t believe me! But this time I was positive, and was getting to see a flock of about 80. They flew around erratically, landing for a second before taking flight again. They were extremely hard to follow, so my pictures turned out pretty badly, but they were awesome to see. (Below is the best picture I was able to get, still pretty bad, but at least you can see their colors).
Snow Bunting Flock (Image by BirdNation)
The annual December Long Beach Island birding trip was a success, with 5 new birds added to our Life List. I’m excited to see more winter visitors over the next few months. What’s the most exciting winter bird you’ve seen so far? Tell me about it in the comments.
Dave and I took a trip to Edwin B. Forsythe NWR on Saturday.
It wasn’t our normal trip however.The wildlife drive is under construction. A few years ago Hurricane Sandy hit the shore hard, so the refuge is finally being revitalized the way it should be. The wildlife drive was only accessible up to Turtle Cove Tower and up Gull Pond Road (which is a very small part of the 8 mile drive). We were hoping that there would see be a lot of birds to see despite being limited.
As usual, the refuge was filled with thousands of birds. Now that the weather cooler, the waterfowl have returned! There were large flocks of Canada Geese, Brant, Mallards, American Black Ducks, Buffleheads, and Northern Pintails. Large flocks of Dunlins and various gulls were present as well. Some other birds we saw included Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Song Sparrows, European Starlings, Northern Harriers, Ruddy Ducks, American Coots, and Mute Swans. There were even a few Horseshoe Crab shells on the beach.
Ring-billed Gull on a Hazy Day (Image by David Horowitz)
Horseshoe Crab shells (Image by David Horowitz)
Song Sparrow (Image by David Horowitz)
We decided to drive up Gull Pond Rd, a first for us. When we arrived there was a small crowd (about 8 people) gathered by the reeds snapping pictures excitedly. I heard someone talking about Ruddy Ducks and Hooded Mergansers as we approached. So I started to wonder, “Is everyone taking pictures of a duck?”
We stopped by to investigate, but…it seemed like nothing was there. I searched the water. There must have been something, or people wouldn’t have been so excited. I was at a loss. So after a minute I turned to a lady who was standing behind us on top of her truck and asked:
“Excuse me… what are we looking at?”
She replied, “An American Bittern. It’s right in front of us in the reeds. See it now?”
And I did! There it was! Hiding in plain sight.
American Bitterns are part of the heron family. They are brown with strong stripes on their underparts. They look similar juvenile Night Herons. American Bitterns live in meadows and marshes with grassy or reedy vegetation. They are very inconspicuous. Spotting one is extremely difficult because their bold stripes help them blend into the reeds perfectly.
American Bittern (Image by David Horowitz)
This bird was standing at the edge of the reeds. It was beautiful. We watched it for a few minutes as it watched us back. We took a few pictures then moved on. The American Bittern was a new addition to our life list.
You know the saying, “When one door closes, another one opens”? In our case when one road closed, another opportunity opened. Having most of the drive closed forced us to explore a different area, so we were able to find something new. That’s my favorite thing about birding, never knowing what amazing bird you’ll find. Maybe you’ll even find a bird hiding in plain sight.
We’ve had some beautiful warm weather here in New Jersey the past couple of days.Dave and I decided to take advantage of the warmth by going to Palmyra Cove Nature Park on Sunday evening.
Palmyra Cove Nature Park is 250-acres and there are a ton of trails to explore. We can easily spend hours there, but since we were competing with the sunset we decided to check out the meadow and the beaver pond.
There were a lot of Tree Swallows gliding over the meadow. Tree Swallows can migrate south as early as July and August. The East Coast population migrates to Florida, Central America, and Cuba. I was surprised to still see so many Tree Swallows around at this point, but I guess since it’s still so warm they are continuing to feed before they leave. Towards the end of the meadow is a small pond. We saw a Lesser Yellowlegs, Great Blue Heron, some sandpipers, and Eastern Phoebes.
The next destination was the Beaver Pond. You have to pass through the forest to get to the beaver pond from the meadow. Along the way we saw Carolina Chickadees, different woodpeckers, American Robins, Carolina Wrens, some deer, and 2 Wild Turkeys. I’m always delighted to see the Turkeys at Palmyra. I know that there are a decent amount that live there, and we usually see a few at a time.
Wild Turkey (Image by BirdNation)
There are a lot of little trails interspersed throughout the forest. It’s easy to “trail hop” from one to another without realizing it. We know the paths pretty well, but weren’t paying attention and took a “wrong” turn (there’s not technically a “wrong way”, we just missed the trail we wanted). We should have already been at the pond, but decided to continue and explore this new path.
And I’m glad we did. Because suddenly a group of Turkeys jumped out onto the trail in front of us. It started with about 5 or 6, but as we watched more and more ran from the bushes. By the time the whole flock ran past there were about 24 of them! They were apparently headed in the same direction as us, so we trailed behind at a distance.
What an experience! Just Dave and I and 24 Turkeys strolling along on a warm Sunday evening. I’ve never been that close to that many Wild Turkeys before. In the past we’ve watched a large group of Turkeys in a field doing mating displays (you can watch a video of it at that link), but it’s quite different being so close. They eventually caught on that we were following them, so a few started to trot and the other followed. The group ended up going back into the bushes to forage. It made me happy knowing that pretty soon all 24 of them were going to climb up into the trees to roost. You wouldn’t expect to see a bird that big sitting in a tree, but they do roost in trees at night. I unexpectedly discoveed that last year; it was quite amusing to me (you can read the story here).
Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler (Image by BirdNation)
We always have a wonderful experience at Palmyra Cove, and Sunday was no exception. How can you beat spending some time trotting around with Wild Turkeys? 🙂
Have you ever experienced a large flock of Turkeys? Tell us your Turkey stories in the comments.
One thing I enjoy about birding is that you can do it anywhere. There are no specific places you need to be. You can find all sorts of interesting birds, and don’t even have to leave your own backyard.
I don’t actually have a “backyard” but I because I live in an apartment complex. But I do have a nice large balcony that looks out over a lawn with some trees and live next to a wooded area, so I see a decent amount of birds.
I don’t really know my human neighbors that well, but I certainly know my avian neighbors. Over time I get to know the resident birds and their habits and am excited when new species move into our area. This spring/summer a new couple has moved into the neighborhood: the House Wrens.
Every morning, one the the wrens (I like to call him my “little friend Wren” haha) sings out from my balcony. I was honored that Wren chose our balconies of all the ones he could have chosen from. Then I noticed that Wren had a plan, and it was sneaky. (Below is a fuzzy cell phone picture of Wren on my balcony)
My little friend Wren on my balcony 🙂 (Image by BirdNation)
Wren is trying to take over my nest box. He likes to sneak in but doesn’t succeed for very long. The male House Sparrow who resides there always kicks him out. Wren is pretty persistent though and usually will try multiple times before flying off. He’s not afraid to put up a fight either. It makes for quite a spectacle.
This has been the summer of the wren for me. I have been seeing Carolina, House, and Marsh Wrens pretty frequently, but my neighbor House Wrens are my favorite so far. So in honor of my little friend Wren and his mate, here are some fun facts about House Wrens.
Despite being a plain-looking brown bird, House Wrens are anything but dull. House Wrens are energetic and bubbly little birds. They move quickly, fluttering about with their tails straight up in the air. Their songs are just as lively as their personalities. They let out an exuberant, trilling song that ascend then descends. (If you’ve never heard a House Wren, I suggest you look up their songs. It’s delightful!)
House Wren (Image via animalia-life.com)
They may only weight about the size of two quarters, but if you’re a bird you better watch out! House Wrens are fierce competitors when it comes to looking for nest sites. If they want a certain spot they will harass larger birds, sometimes even killing the young that is already in the nest.
Breeding House Wrens choose new mating partners each season. To persuade a female to court with him, a male will prepare multiple nests. Single males may try to steal a female from another male after nesting has already begun. If the single male succeeds, he will get rid of the former male’s eggs so he can have his own. Females may leave the male to take care of the chicks to start a nest with a new male.
House Wrens have the largest range of any New World songbird. Their range extends from Central Canada and all throughout North/Central America and can go down to the southernmost tip of South America.
(Map via the Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
House Wrens earned their names because they tend to live close to humans and in man-made structures.
Who is your favorite avian neighbor? Tell me about them in the comments.
BirdNation 