Today was predicted to be a nice day weather-wise, or at least a big improvement over the chilly weather that we’ve been having, so I decided to head out with brother Rich to Franklin Parker Preserve in Burlington County. FPP is a large (9,400 acre) preserve consisting of former cranberry and blueberry bogs that I like to visit a few times each year. A major attraction for coming here is that it is under-birded and you are unlikely to bump into too many people out on its trails, so its a great combination of nice habitat and few people. During this time of year, it seems like an excellent area to scan the small scattered trees that are taking over the abandoned bogs, searching for shrikes or out-of-place flycatchers. Today we wanted to walk to a grove of birches that is ~ 2.5 miles from the trailhead, hoping that some Common Redpolls might be enjoying them as a food source.
We were having a pleasant walk, enjoying numerous views of Eastern Bluebirds, sorting through the sparrows, and searching for raptors. Nice finds were a colorful juvenile Northern Harrier floating over the field that perched for great scope views, and nice looks at late Pine Warblers and yellow (eastern) Palm Warblers. The birds were active, presumably encouraged by the warming weather. About 400 yards after we rounded a bend on the western end of the main reservoir, we stopped to find the source of some chip notes that were coming from the leatherleaf. We were then surprised when a buffy-colored bird appeared at the top of the bush less than 10 ft. away. SEDGE WREN! We saw a Sedge Wren earlier this year at Bombay Hook in Delaware, but this was our first sighting of this species in NJ. Of course, the day that I see a great bird is usually the same day that I leave my camera in my car. Ugh. Luckily, we spotted two other birders (Lisa Ryan and Dave Larson) approaching, so we alerted them to the wren, and fortunately Lisa had a camera and was able to document this bird for us.
Sedge Wren at Franklin Parker Preserve 11/23/2014.
Photo by Lisa Ryan.
Our route through Franklin Parker Preserve. The red pin marks the starting point, the wren was seen on the left (western) end of the reservoir, and the birches are at the northern tip of this hike.