Central Park 5/24

On the day before setting off on my Louisiana conference trip I took a morning and birded Central Park for almost certainly the last time this spring migration. Spring migration started with a bang in late April where everything seemed early, then stalled with bad weather in the traditional peak window.

So here we are on May 22nd, and there's still a fair number of adult males singing in the trees: Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Blackpoll Warbler (inevitable), Canada Warbler, American Redstart, one or two Magnolia Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warbler. Adding to the warbler list was Northern Waterthrush and Yellow Warbler. But most species were heard singing, although it was a mix of males and females seen. Migration may have some legs yet, but I'll be away for close to two weeks and I anticipate things will be pretty slow by the time I get back out.

Best bird of the day was a Lincoln's Sparrow at Tanner's Spring.

Chimney Swift
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Great Crested Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Delaware Bay Shore, 5/22

It was heavy overcast and drizzle, with non-migration-inducing winds on Saturday night, so I gave up on any idea of going into Central Park and went in the opposite direction to the NJ Delaware Bay shore instead.

I got a slow start, the light rain not being much of an inducement, but it was merely overcast when I made it to Belleplain State Forest at 10am. Along the usual stretch of Sunset Road I hard a distant Prothonotary Warbler, a closer (but equally elusive) Louisiana Waterthrush, and a Yellow-throated Warbler in the pines there. All were heard-only as was a Worm-eating Warbler and a probable distant Kentucky. Birds I actually did see at Belleplain were Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on its nest.

Belleplain SF was not my main target, which was instead saltmarshes and coastal ponds. I went to Jake's Landing and on getting to the parking lot the first sparrow I put my eyes on was a Saltmarsh (Sharp-tailed) Sparrow - not something I see each trip there, although this was the site of my life bird. Shortly afterwards the first of several Seaside Sparrows and Marsh Wrens doing little song flights. The species were the usual selection (Willet, heard Clapper Rail, Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, Osprey, Forster's Tern) and since it was both breezy and overcast I left before too long - I did see one Northern Harrier which suggests they might be nesting there again.

My main interest for the day was migrating shorebirds at the impoundments along Matt's Landing Rd at Heislerville. I got there a little before noon with a projected high tide of something like 1:30pm and there already were a lot of shorebirds in the pool. Hundreds per minute were coming in as the tide rose. There was a multi-thousand swarm of Semipalmated Sandpipers (year bird) but I was lucky enough to find the female Curlew Sandpiper within the first 30 seconds. They prefer the mud and shoreline rather than wading, so despite being similar to Dunlins (but longer-legged) they don't spend much time with them. A little later on the brick red (but still a little mottled) male was found. The female showed remarkable site fidelity and kept feeding on the same 50 yard stretch of mud. Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher were also numerous. The Black-bellied Plovers were more elusive on the other side of the pond. The Black Skimmers were also present, along with Forster's Tern and a couple of Least Terns. I spent some time sorting through sandpipers and came up with three White-rumped Sandpipers - birds I don't see in alternate plumage all that often. Large numbers but not a lot of diversity - this habitat doesn't favor the Ruddy Turnstones (I saw 1) or Red Knots (zero) that hang out along the sandy beaches of the bay. The shorebird flocks were pretty nervous, and at one point a female Purple Martin was flushing them as it dove for insects over the mud.

Although there was a little sun down on the shore, back at home it was still solid overcast. A little migration had happened - as I was doing yard work I heard a singing male Blackpoll Warbler feeding amongst my spruce trees (which along with my big oak prove to be a favorite with migrant warblers).

Sterling Forest, May 21st

Back up to Sterling Forest on the first sunny day for a over a week, and as it transpired the only sunny day of the weekend. Getting there around 7:30am I checked Blue Lake, where there was little singing activity, so I spent the entire morning along the power line cut at Ironwood Road.

A relatively cool start after a week of rain, and there wasn't that much active singing. In particular I heard no singing Golden-winged until I turned around on the trail, which is where I saw my first male. By that time I'd already seen two singing Blue-winged and photographed a female that was paired with the first "Blue-winged".

I say "Blue-winged" because it was this bird - almost certainly the one that was singing in the same tree as the Golden-winged 10 days perviously - that had pretty obvious Golden-winged genes in it. From underneath it's an unremarkable Blue-winged, but when I saw it from the side the upper wingbar had yellow in it, and the lower wing bar was both broad and solidly yellow. The face was perfect Blue-winged, so it wasn't an obvious "Lawrence's" Warbler. Some sort of back-cross that was 3/4 Blue-winged and 1/4 Golden-winged. Based on tail feather shape (and wear?) it was a first spring bird. The only good thing about all of this is that it was at least paired with a Blue-winged female, not a Golden-winged.

I had three singing Golden-winged on the day, plus a good mix of other warblers: Cerulean (singing male, also seen), Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird (heard), Hooded Warbler (heard). That's down from my previous trip here, but a pretty good total given that there was little migration ongoing with another in a series of winds out of the east.

Other passerines: Indigo Bunting, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (heard), Eastern Wood-Peewee and Great Crested Flycatcher. I also had an Empidonax-sp that looked a lot like a Least Flycatcher but I wasn't totally sure of it based on incomplete looks (but not Acadian or Yellow-bellied). Not a bad day and I stayed a little later there due to the slow start.

Of note were a young Snapping Turtle crawling up the hill, and a large (5+ ft!) Black Rat Snake sprawled across the trail and really quite sluggish in the lower temperatures of the morning.

Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
Veery
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole

Migration trickles on, between downpours

Even though the deluge is scheduled to continue for the first half of the week, it's nevertheless obvious that some birds are still moving in undesirable conditions.

Monday (17th): large 70++ flock of Cedar Waxwings on campus in Princeton; smaller flock of Cedar Waxwings at the yard in Ewing; Northern Parula singing late in the day at Ewing - a new yard bird.

Tuesday (18th): faint Blackpoll-sounding call from the trees in the yard, and an odd-sounding warble that transpired to be a Magnolia Warbler singing an underperforming song while resting in my spruce trees (probably still quite dry). Magnolia Warbler was also a new yard bird.

I am nervous what this cold-wet stretch of weather will do to tired migrants and early breeders, but at least some are finding food and shelter. It should start drying out and warming up on Thursday.

Baldpate Mountain

On the first morning of a week's rainy spell I assuaged some restlessness by hiking up Baldpate Mountain through some good eastern hardwood forest habitat after the latest line of storms had come through, although there was still light drizzle and quite a lot of water dripping from the trees. I started at the parking lot off Fiddler's Creek Road and decided to walk uphill on the road rather than slip on wet rocks along the trail.

Yellow Warbler, Eastern Towhee and Eastern Wood-Pewee were around the parking lot. On the walk up Wood Thrush, Ovenbird sounded off. Much of the birding today was by ear since the viewing conditions were pretty bad. I heard a distant Veery in the forest. But overall it was quiet, and it being cool and wet you really can't blame the birds. Towards the top of the road as the forest started to thin I added more Wood-Pewees, then Indigo Bunting, Field Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow and Yellow-throated Vireo. Up at the grassy meadow behind the house complex (the alleged visitor center that is never open) there were more Field Sparrows, Indigo Buntings, Common Yellowthroats and a couple of unenthused Blue-winged Warblers.

Hiking an upper section of the Summit Trail before it drops off steeply downhill I could hear Worm-eating Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler (migrant), more Ovenbirds but no Hooded Warblers. Going back down the hill on the road again I added Rose-breasted Grosbeak (a singing mail), possibly another distant Worm-eating, and on getting back to the parking lot once more there was a Northern Parula. Parula's sometimes breed around here, but this one was just as likely to be a migrant.

Before I went home I decided to check on the entrance on the other side of Baldpate, at Pleasant Plains Road, however once I found the trail head at the powerline cut the drizzle had really cut down below tree-top level. This entrance is worth exploring more, particularly since the powerline cut might attract more warblers (like Blue-winged), although it's not really quite the right habitat for Golden-winged or Chestnut-sided.

Central Park 5/14

Overcast skies made for difficult birding in Central park on Saturday morning. Initially in Strawberry Fields the going was pretty slow as well, and continued that way through the Maintenance Field. En route the Upper Lobe was a little better with a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a few warblers, including a very vocal Northern Waterthrush.

On reaching the Evodia Field, however, things lit up a lot. Within five minutes I found a singing Tennessee Warbler, a Blackburnian Warbler, and two Cape May Warblers chasing each other. Tennessee Warbler had become a mini-nemesis bird since I had systematically missed them for several springs in the park, but this one was belting out its song near the source of the Gill and impossible to ignore (that is, if you know the song). Later on the Cape May male was singing at the Azalea Pond. It was also my first of the year, as was the Eastern Wood-Pewee that was flycatching in the lower canopy.

Elsewhere, on the Point etc, the birding returned to relatively slow. Catharus thrush numbers continue to be low, with a couple of Swainson's adding to the now-resident (non-Catharus) Wood Thrushes.

There was a burst of migration in early spring in late April and the first few days of May, but the standard peak window of May 5th-12th has been much slower with less conducive weather patterns. Saturday was the start of some quite wet weather with predominantly east-originated winds and rain every day that may last this whole week and are especially non-conducive to spring migration birding. If migration doesn't go right past us (to the west of us) it could make for a strong migration burst next time the weather is more migration-friendly.

Sterling Forest

May 11th is the earliest I have ever been to Sterling Forest - when I first went there I favored early June although more recently I've been more likely to go there at the end of May. So this was somewhat of an experiment. The novel experience was the presence of some migrants in what otherwise would be considered classic northern deciduous breeding habitat (Yellow-rumped Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow). The female Black-throated Blue was probably a migrant too. In the end I racked up quite a decent total of warblers, although some species were heard-only, and unquestionably my best for this site.

The main targets at Sterling Forest are Golden-winged Warbler and Cerulean Warbler. I heard two Ceruleans and saw/heard about six Golden-winged. All males. I didn't see any sign of females but perhaps since this is mid migration they are en route. Unfortunately I also saw four Blue-winged, a personal high total, which doesn't bode well for this little enclave of Golden-winged. In fact one Blue-winged was singing in the same tree as a Golden-winged without territorial exclusion, which illustrates how this sort of hybridization can so easily come about.

My usual initial spot for Golden-winged has been trashed by the power line company, which likes to destroy habitat of endangered species by chemical and mechanical means. Looks like that will take a few years to bounce back, assuming it ever does. I've also seen these jackasses prune trees in breeding season, including destroying an American Redstart nest in the process and right next to a Golden-winged nesting site. Of course the power line cut itself is providing niche habitat for Golden-winged, especially after habitat encroachment or succession of its more usual sites. Golden-winged is essentially extirpated in NJ, at least from any publicized spots - the last site that I knew of near Layton has gone too far in succession. Although Cerulean is relatively rare, Golden-winged is much rarer as a regional breeding species.

However at least the most prominent spot for Golden-winged at Ironwood Road is mostly intact. Here Golden-winged, Prairie, Chestnut-sided, Yellow and Common Yellowthroat were on territory. I felt that the numbers of Prairie and Chestnut-sided were on the low side, but this may reflect ongoing migration especially of the latter species.

Here's the list, with 17 warbler species:
Green Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch

Scarlet Tanager as new yard bird

While making tea I heard a familiar song - one which I often describe as "a Robin on speed" - and tracked it down after a little while to a Scarlet Tanager that was singing from the top of my big oak in the back yard. It was just singing, not singing-while-feeding as a lot of warblers do, and in fact there were two Scarlet Tanagers with the other one singing from a distance to the north. A little later I heard a nearby Northern Parula sounding off. Despite the cool start to the day and what appears to be a north wind, some local migration must have happened.

Very gratifyingly, not only is Scarlet Tanager a new yard bird, but I also got to watch it sing for a while.

Sunday 5/8

This was a slower day, both measured in terms of the numbers of warblers but also the extent to which they quieted down by late morning. I did find a Cape May Warbler at Strawberry Fields, singing, but missed the Blue Grosbeak (a lingerer, presumably) and Bay-breasted Warbler. Cape May has been moderately numerous again this spring. Birds like Blackpoll Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler were notably absent today.

By late morning I decided to pack it in and get some brunch at one of my old UES haunts. I had driven into the city and had parked at 79th/Madison.

After brunch I decided to hit a couple of birding spots and my preferred nursery before getting home. First stop was DeKorte Park in the Meadowlands Lyndhurst. DeKorte has great potential as a spring shorebirding spot if only they would draw down the water a little and expose a little more mud, even in one small section. In the event I saw Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper (one quite advanced, very rufous, with a prominent white eye ring), and one Spotted Sandpiper. Also present were Gadwall, American Black Duck, Mallard (with ducklings), Tree/Barn/Bank Swallows. Passerine migration was also in evidence, with the trees and pond edge containing Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow Warbler and Common Yellowthroat.

After a visit to Belle Mead C0-op for grass seed, I went down to nearby Griggstown Preserve (Franklin Twp, NJ) to check for Bobolinks. Someone had reported quite a few near the parking lot. I found one, a male that still had a rather subdued plumage - either in mid-molt or a young bird. As often happens here, the Bobolinks drop in but don't seem to stick for very long. Also there was Orchard Oriole, Tree Swallow, Warbling Vireo and many Red-winged Blackbirds.

Saturday 5/7 - good migration

A pretty good migration happened overnight Friday-Saturday although the numbers were not huge in Central Park. In Strawberry Fields the diversity was decent and I picked up Blackpoll Warbler for the year (a singing male, one of a few that day and not atypical for the end of the first week in May). On the way into the Ramble I heard/saw Blackburnian Warbler and Northern Waterthrush and then shortly thereafter I found my first Swainson's Thrush for the year. It's not been a good year for Catharus-type Thrushes and Saturday was no exception with only a couple of Veeries and a Wood Thrush to add to the total (and Wood Thrush isn't even a Catharus). Still it's too early to expect Gray-cheeked so it may yet pick up.

Still, it was a decent mix of earlier and mid spring birds - Black-throated Green Warblers were in a couple of places, but there was also Canada Warbler. Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos. Along the point there was my second Summer Tanager for the year - certainly the only year when I've seen two in the park. There were also tame Canada and Magnolia Warblers, American Redstart - the relatively warm area along the Point was the most active part of the Ramble, perhaps reflecting a cool start to the day. Two good birds were in the Evodia Field area: a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a Black-billed Cuckoo. I was alerted to the Cuckoo by other birders and was frankly amazed when it was chased out of the tree by another Cuckoo ! We rarely see multiple Cuckoos in the park, and when we do we really don't see that sort of territorial interaction. I assume the second Cuckoo was also Black-billed but I wasn't able to relocate it. Turns out this was my first Black-billed Cuckoo in a few years. I usually have better luck with Yellow-billed, although they really aren't that much more common.

Following up on a sighting of more than one Cape May at the Bethesda Fountain I wandered south of the boathouse - something I rarely do now but it used to be part of my regular route into the park when I lived on the UES in Manhattan. I was lucky enough to hear a singing male and after a little search did get onto it. A park employee showed me two roosting Raccoons, and later in the day I saw two more near the Upper Lobe - 4 being the most I've ever seen in one day in the park. Despite culling due to rabies infection they still seem to be present.

There was also a Blue Grosbeak - another park rarity - that I didn't see after it was initially found at Cherry Hill. At that point in time (early afternoon) the crowds would probably scare away most wild birds. (Probably the same bird was found the subsequent day at Strawberry Fields).

Black-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole

CPK 5/3 (Acadian, Cape May)

I often feel like Accuweather let the 16-year old interns play with the forecast, so I wasn't totally surprised on Monday evening to see that Sunday's forecast for the week was wrong and Tuesday had prospects for a good migration day.

And so it was.

Entering Strawberry Fields at 7:15am I saw three Great Blue Herons migrating north. Isn't that a little late for them ? I had Great Blues migrating over the ocean on 3/26. Also in Strawberry were a lot of Gray Catbirds (as in: 7 in one small tree, many elsewhere). Outnumbering the Catbirds were White-throated Sparrows, which were there in the hundreds. Common Yellowthroat also put in a strong showing today too, and I saw at least twenty.

There were rarities about, but I only put my eyes on a few really interesting birds. The high point for me was an Acadian Flycatcher in Strawberry Fields (greenish, long-billed, long-primary projection). Acadian was my #1 park nemesis bird for many years - I've heard a few over the years - but compared to the Least Flycatchers I saw later the difference was quite marked. Marked, that is, for an Empidonax. Other nice birds included multiple singing White-crowned Sparrows (never common there), Cape May Warbler, Hooded Warbler. I also picked up Rose-breasted Grosbeak and American Redstart as year birds along with the Cape May Warbler, Acadian and Least Flycatchers. One of the better nn-FOY birds was Louisiana Waterthrush which stood out since the supercilium was indeed "the whitest thing on the bird". Lots of Northern Waterthrushes too. 17 warber species in all - pretty good going for a day originally forecast as rainy.


Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Chimney Swift
Acadian Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Backyard Monday

Watching the yard in Ewing on Monday morning was quite productive: the Yellow-rumped Warbler(s) were singing their unmusical warble and I could hear a distant Black-throated Blue Warbler song and hints of an even more distant Northern Waterthrush (uncertain). Then I spied an Ovenbird, only a few feet from my property line (and therefore sadly not on my full yard list). Finally two Pine Siskins turned up at my feeders, which I'm still running as I get through the last of the season's seed. Sadly from the way the House Wren is singing it still lacks a mate, but with migration ongoing perhaps one will arrive soon.

Good Weekend Part 2, May 1st

Following on the heels of Saturday, Sunday was slower but still pretty good. First interesting bird of the day was a Worm-eating Warbler at Balcony Bridge. I got a brief glimpse of what I believed to be the Varied Thrush (flushed by birders approaching too closely, yet again), then I got a tweet about a Bay-breasted Warbler in the Ramble. I got a brief look at that, and while trying to relocate it found a Blackburnian Warbler. After Nashville being a first-of-year bird the previous day there were several singing males in the Ramble and I saw a few individuals. While at the Bay-breasted I heard of a Yellow-throated Warbler elsewhere, and while unsuccessfully pursuing that I was told of a Summer Tanager. Summer Tanager is pretty rare in Central Park since it's north of the breeding range, but after a little searching it proved to be very active and not all that difficult to observe.

As the time approached noon I decided to check out Tanner's Spring which was initially quiet but had a brief flurry (N. Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler) followed by another quasi-rarity - an Orange-crowned Warbler. Hermit Thrush and Veery were here (I saw Wood Thrush near the Varied Thrush spot). Then after leaving Tanner's intending to go home I spent at least an hour along the south side of Turtle Pond where the Summer Tanager was flycatching bees in the tall oaks and giving excellent views. I also added Eastern Phoebe and Canada Warbler for the day here.

First of year birds: Summer Tanager, Bay-breasted Warbler, (Varied Thrush), Canada Warbler

Black-crowned Night-Heron
Peregrine Falcon
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Blue-winged Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole