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A Pair of Sandwiches

Aug 212017

Today was the day for the solar eclipse. Unfortunately, we are not located anywhere near the path of totality, and here in NJ only 74% of the sun was going to be eclipsed by the moon. To ‘celebrate’, Jeanine and I headed out canoeing into the Sedge Islands, which were nearly devoid of people. Right on schedule, the skies darkened somewhat and then started brightening again. (A sidetrack: are you as amazed as I am that we can predict these astronomical events with such stunning accuracy? Thank you, scientists!) Shortly after finishing our post-ecliptical lunch, we found ourselves at the inlet where a sizeable congregation of birds were scattered on the exposed flats. We were scanning the flock, hoping for one of the rarer terns. After all, tomorrow would be one year since we found our first Sandwich Tern here in NJ. Sometimes it feels somewhat pointless to sort through Common Tern after Common Tern, hoping for something different. Yet there it was: after scanning a hundred-and-one Common Terns, we found a tern slightly larger than the numerous Commons, yet smaller than the nearby Royal Terns, with a black crest on back of its head. And to clinch it all, it had a long black bill with a yellow tip. Sandwich Tern!

An adult Sandwich Tern. The black bill with a yellow tip makes it very distinctive.

That was great, but right next to it was another tern of the same size, with a black crest on back of its head and a long black bill. TWO Sandwich Terns!! Yowza!. An adult and an immature side-by-side. As if to confirm that they were unusual, both of them had silver bands on their right legs, although the bands were too small to get any identifying code, and my scope was at home.

Adult and immature Sandwich Terns side-by-side. Seeing one of these in New Jersey is a treat; seeing two of them together is more than I could have hoped for.

It was interesting to speculate if we would have recognized the immature bird if the adult wasn’t nearby. Occasionally they would fly off and it wasn’t so easy to re-locate the immature tern even though we knew it was somewhere in the flock.

The two Sandwich Terns in the midst of the flock of Forster’s and Common Terns. Could you pick them out? Note that they are slightly larger and lighter and longer-legged than the more numerous mid-sized terns

A size comparison of Sandwich Tern, which is intermediate between the larger Royal Terns, but larger than the Common Tern resting far in the background.

The adult Sandwich Tern in flight.

The immature Sandwich Tern. The black crest is distinctive, and it is a little bit larger than the more numerous Common Terns. But would we have been able to find it without the adult nearby? Would you?

The immature Sandwich Tern in your classic field guide pose.

That sighting by itself made it a great tern day, but as is usual for this location, we had great views of the more ‘regular’ species, so in the interest of equal time, I thought I’d share photos of some of the others.

Here’s an adult Royal Tern, with its shaggy crest. That huge orange-yellow bill easily distinguishes it from the Sandwich Terns. Sandwich Terns like to congregate with Royals, so anytime I see a flock of Royal Terns, my antenna goes up.

Caspian Tern. Like the Royal Tern, it has a huge bill and towers over the mid-sized terns. But its bill is on the red end of the orange-red spectrum, and has a smudgy tip to its bill. this time of year, it has a full black cap, unlike the Royals.

This is a Forster’s Tern. Immature and non-breeding Forster’s Terns have a black eye patch that easily distinguishes from the otherwise similar Common Terns.

Black Skimmer feeding. OK, maybe this is cheating, but Black Skimmer is in the same family of birds as the Terns and Gulls (Laridae), although it is in a different genus (Rynchops) from any terns.

Common Tern. The black carpal bar is distinctive for this immature bird.

Banded bird bonanza

Aug 152017

In the past I have described the pleasure derived from reporting the banded Tundra Swan T207 and from reporting banded Snow Geese. Yesterday Jeanine and I took a long yet delightful walk in the North Brigantine Natural Area located just north of Atlantic City. The beach was full of birds. Here’s a view of a small part of the shoreline to give an idea of how packed it was, and this was fairly typical of what we saw along much of the shoreline. Only the southernmost part of the beach was open to vehicles, so once we got past the vehicle barrier, the beach was all ours. Well, ours and the birds. It was a wonderful feeling.

Here’s a view that was not unusual today: a shoreline full of birds. Most of them are Semipalmated Plovers, with good numbers of Sanderlings and Red Knots, and a smattering of Semipalmated Sandpipers.

We didn’t find any rare or unusual species today, but the sheer number of birds overcame the lack of rarities. Highlights were 170 Royal Terns, 450 Red Knots, 9 Piping Plovers, and a conservative estimate of 3,000 Semipalmated Plovers. Near the end of the day, as we were scanning the flock, we started noticing a few banded birds. Then more. And then more. Eventually we tallied eight banded Red Knots and four banded Piping Plovers. The birds have different bands, depending on where they were banded. Five Red Knots had green flags with white codes, and three had orange flags with black letters. The Piping Plovers had either an alphanumeric flag or a series of color-coded bands. Examples of these banding strategies are shown below.

Here’s a nice Piping Plover with an alphanumeric band (85).

Here’s a Piping Plover that has only color bands, without any alphanumeric flags. The bands are not always easy to see. This bird has a yellow band above a silver band on its upper right leg and a blue band can be seen on its upper left leg.

We saw five Red Knots with green flags and white alphanumeric codes. Here’s Red Knot NKN.

Three Red Knots had orange flags with black lettering. This bird (E6) has supplementary color-coded bands on its lower left leg and a federal metal band on its upper right leg.

As soon as I returned home I assembled the information and reported it to the US banded bird website, which allowed me to access the banding location and where the birds subsequently were re-sighted. So what did we learn from reporting this information?

Let’s start with the Red Knots. The flags indicate the country where the birds were banded. Green flags with white lettering indicate that they were banded in the US. Birds with orange flags with black lettering were banded at sites in Argentina!! Unfortunately, the researcher who banded the Argentinian birds doesn’t share her information, so we don’t know precisely where and when in Argentina those birds were banded, but the likely banding site is at least 5,600 miles away from where we spotted it. Wow! But it does serve as a great reminder of the distances that these birds migrate. Four of the US-banded birds were banded in the Delaware Bay region, perhaps not surprising based on the importance of that stopover site for their migration strategy, while the final Knot was banded in Massachusetts.

Here’s an example of the report showing the history of sightings of Red Knot E6. This bird was banded in Argentina, and over the past 10 years has been sighted in NJ, Georgia, and Brazil. It’s quite the traveler.

The Piping Plovers all have a rich New Jersey history too. Two plovers bred in the Holgate division of the Forsythe NWR (which is across the channel from where we spotted them), and two others were just fledged from that region. One of our breeding birds was initially banded in Andros Island in The Bahamas, which is an important wintering region for these plovers.

An intrepid birder / photographer trying to capture photos of the banded birds. I love barefoot birding!

We’ll be heading back to North Brig very soon to enjoy the fall shorebird migration up close and personal, and you can bet that we’ll be looking for more banded birds there too. Keep an eye out for any banded birds when you are out on the beaches or mudflats this fall and get good documentation of their banding pattern. Photos are best, but note the alphanumeric codes (if present), which leg the bands are on, what color the lettering is, and whether the bands are on the upper or lower legs.

More Pinelands plants

Jul 222017

Three weeks ago I stopped by Wells Mills Bog to view some of the unique Pine Barrens plants, including orchids and carnivorous plants that can be found quite easily in this location due to the accessible boardwalk. Today I returned to see if I could find a few more of the unique pinelands plant species. The orchids and Bog Asphodel that were here on my last trip have finished blooming, but as I had hoped, a few new plants were now visible, even to my untrained eye.

This is Curly-grass Fern. It’s tiny, and so very easy to overlook. I love the namesake curly leaves.

Thread-leafed Sundew. A few white flowers can be seen, but the delicate sticky leaves of this carnivorous plant are the star of the show here for me.

This is Short-leafed Milkwort. It was one of the more common flowers visible today. It is such an unusual flower, but the small clusters are easy to overlook.

A little bit further up the road one of the late summer wild orchids was starting to bloom.

This is White-fringed Orchid, a nice ~5 inch cluster of pure white flowers.

A Poor Man’s Pelagic

Jul 052017

Today I joined my friends Bob and Jeanine for a ‘Poor man’s pelagic’. Instead of signing up for a previously scheduled pelagic tour, complete with guides and spotters and chum and a boat dedicated to chasing birds at sea, and hoping that the weather and seas are favorable, we simply picked a day with great weather and a calm ocean and hopped aboard a local fishing boat that was scheduled to go as far as 20 miles away from land. We were hoping to see Wilson’s Storm-petrels and a variety of shearwaters, some of which were being spotted even from shore by landlubbers with scopes and skilled eyes. I am not that good at identifying sea birds at a distance, so we were taking the easy route by going out to get closer to them.

Leaving Manasquan Inlet.

It was a great trip. The fishermen remained on the bottom level while we were up alone in the penthouse suite. On the trip out we were looking at every bird, hoping that it would turn into something ‘good’, but ultimately they were the familiar Laughing and Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. Eventually we learned to look for something that was not gull-like, and Jeanine spotted our first tiny Wilson’s Storm-petrel, looking like a swallow dancing above the water’s surface. During the course of the trip we were able to spot at least 15 of them, almost always as singletons. When we were only six miles or so from shore the captain dropped anchor and gave the fishermen the signal to drop their lines. It was a nice diversion for me to watch them haul in fish (mostly Sea Bass and an occasional fluke) at a fairly high rate when I wasn’t scanning the horizon for birds. Eventually the captain decided to move on to another site where they were expecting to catch some tasty Ling, and as we approached the 10 mile area, Bob spotted a pair of large brown birds on the water being flushed by our boat. Our first Shearwaters of the day! With their yellow bills the identification was clear that these were Cory’s Shearwaters. This was a bit unexpected for me because both Sooty and Great Shearwaters were being spotted by others from land, so I thought that they would be our most likely sightings. I guess nobody told the Cory’s. We eventually went up to 16 miles from shore, and spotted a total of at least a dozen shearwaters, although we could only identify half of them with any confidence. One turned out to be a Great Shearwater, but unfortunately my camera shifted to a 1/30 sec shutter speed at that point, so the documentation shot was less-than perfect. (in other words…trash) We never did find a clear Sooty, so perhaps a return trip is in our future.

A gliding Cory’s Shearwater.

A pair of Cory’s Shearwaters. We saw pairs of shearwaters a few times during the trip, but Wilson’s Storm-petrels were nearly always solo birds.

Here’s what a shearwater and a gull look like at 1/30 sec exposure from a bouncing boat. I should teach a course: How to photograph like Monet.

If you are in the mood for seeing some pelagic species and there are not any scheduled trips, consider using the poor man’s option. Contact the captain of a local fishing boat, ask how far they plan to go out and if they accept non-fishing passengers. He might even be able to tell you if they have been seeing any interesting birds. Since we weren’t taking up fishing space on the railing, we got a reduced rate as non-fishing passengers. The advantages of this approach are that you can pick a day with great conditions and that the cost is minimal. On the negative side, there is no expertise on board to help with identifying the birds, and they don’t chum to bring the birds in or chase them across the water. I’ll take that trade-off once in a while.

A happy fisherman lands a fluke.

A Day for Flowers (mostly)

Jul 032017

After a morning stop at Brig that was highlighted by a pair of Common Gallinules, a singing Yellow-breasted Chat, and the largest concentration of Glossy Ibises that I can remember ever seeing in New Jersey, I decided to spend some time looking for interesting wildflowers. It was a brutally hot day, so it turned into a one-stop search at the Webbs Mills bog and boardwalk within the Greenwood WMA. The highlights were three species of carnivorous plants and two of New Jersey’s wild orchids. Let’s let the photos do the talking today.

Part of the large group of Glossy Ibises at Brig today. The flock was so dense in some areas that it was not possible to count them accurately. I estimate that at least 300 Ibises were there today.

Spatulate-leaved Sundew, which captures prey on those sticky leaves.

The flower of the Pitcher Plant, one of three carnivorous plants seen today.

This is the base of the Pitcher Plant.

Horned Bladderwort is a carnivorous plant that was flowering all over the bog.

Golden Crest. Its flowers are small but gorgeous. It was very common in the bog.

This is Rose Pogonia, which was the most common orchid that I saw today.

Grass Pink, one of our wild orchids here in New Jersey. I only saw a few of these today.

This is Bog Asphodel or ‘Bog Candle’, which is in the lily family. This plant, which is endemic to the Pine Barrens, was found in a very dense grouping, relatively distant from the boardwalk.

And since we’re on an orchid theme, here’s one that we found in another part of New Jersey this past May: Showy Orchis.

This was a ‘lifer’ orchid that we stumbled upon this past spring: Showy Orchis.

High Point cabin and Shawangunk Grasslands NWR

Jun 092017

This week Jeanine, Pete, and I headed upstate to search for birds that breed in the northwest highlands of New Jersey but not here in the southern part of the state. Our home for the past four days was a splendiferous cabin in High Point State Park. Let’s start with the cabin, a three-bedroom, five-bed home with a wood-burning stove, kitchen, picnic tables, firepit, and fully covered porch just 200 ft. from Steeny Kill Lake, located a short distance downslope from the High Point monument.

The front of High Point State Park Cabin #2. Our home for four days.

The interior of the cabin contained three bedrooms, an expansive living area with two tables and a wood-burning stove, a kitchen, and a spacious bathroom with a shower. Heavenly.

The kitchen was more than adequate, with an electric stove and refrigerator/freezer.

Pete and Jeanine on Mexican night at our cabin, featuring chips and salsa, beef and bean burritos, guacamole, rice, corn, and lemonade. Topped with a generous dollop of sour cream. And don’t forget the strawberry shortcake dessert. Yum yum. We ate very well on this trip.

A trio of happy campers re-living the day’s adventures in front of the wood-burning stove. It was chilly this week, with nighttime temperatures dipping into the low 40s, so the warmth from the fire felt great.

We were greeted immediately by a pair of Eastern Phoebes nesting on the porch, singing Acadian and Least Flycatchers, and Yellow-throated Vireos, later joined by Cerulean Warblers. It was an excellent start. For the following three days we made stops along the major roads of both High Point State Park and Stokes State Forest and explored their side trails. The birding was good, as we were able to find breeding Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Brown Creeper, Blue-headed Vireo, and Louisiana Waterthrush, and multiple Cerulean Warblers that inhabit the neck-straining upper canopy. A highlight from Stokes was a great day strolling along the Big Flat Brook near the NJ School of Conservation, eating lunch on a hillside above the brook while being serenaded by Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers. Also in Stokes, we happened upon a Ruffed Grouse crossing the road, followed by four chicks. The hen paused in the thick underbrush, waiting for the chicks, enabling a documentation shot.

This Ovenbird was not pleased with us. Apparently we were close to its nest, and it wanted to bring food to its young.

A Ruffed Grouse gathering up her chicks in the thick undergrowth.

At the entrance to the Kuser Bog trail

Jeanine photographing wildflowers along a typical High Point trail.

Wild Coffee, a plant that I had not seen previously, with its distinctive flower.

Some rain was predicted on the second day, so we drove nearly an hour away and across the NY border, to the 600 acre Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge. The grasslands provided a pleasant contrast with the forest birding that we had been doing at High Point, plus a few great species were being reported there, and I wanted to see how the refuge had changed since it was modified a few years ago. The refuge was great. This site used to be a military airport (Galeville Airport), but the long-abandoned cement airstrips were removed, replaced with a nice trail that wound through and near the outskirts of the property, and a viewing platform, gazebo, and a few well-spaced blinds were installed. Overall, it was a great improvement. We were unsure of where our target birds were being sighted, which made it a daunting needle-in-a-grassland-haystack visit, but the birding gods were smiling upon us. We were about to give up at the first blind and move onto the more distant next one, when Pete stepped outside and said “I got it”. There just a few yards in front of us was a singing Dickcissel, bringing a smile to our faces.

One of the new blinds at the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge

The lemony breast and supercilium made this Dickcissel easily recognizable.

The smiles were partly from seeing a Dickcissel, which I don’t see often enough, and partly because now we knew that our next target should be nearby. Indeed, a mere 25 yards or so away we heard a short wheezy hiccup ‘song’, and a sparrow popped up onto a stalk and continued its song. This was a Henslow’s Sparrow, a new life bird for me. Although Henslow’s are typically skulkers, this generous individual remained perched in sight and singing for at least five minutes, only a few yards away from the trail, giving ample opportunity for photos. This is cooperativity with a capital ‘C’.

My lifer Henslow’s Sparrow.

The remainder of the refuge was a pleasure to walk through, with dozens of Bobolinks calling and flying back and forth, Eastern Meadowlarks popping up occasionally, infrequent Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows singing and flitting about, and two pairs of American Kestrels hunting near their nest boxes.

The Bobolinks were abundant and delightful in the refuge.

After returning back to the cabin and finishing dinner on our final evening, we took the two-minute walk to the lakeshore and sat on ‘our’ bench. On the opposite shore a Great Horned Owl perched on a tall snag, providing a fitting finale to the evening and to the adventure.

Our lakeside bench. A great place to enjoy sunset.

A Great Horned Owl silhouetted to end the trip.

Black-bellied Whistling-ducks!

May 242017

Jeanine and I planned a full day of birding in Cape May today, as it will probably be the only day this week without rain. On our wish list were Sooty Shearwaters, Wilson’s Storm-petrels, Yellow-breasted Chats, and Mississippi Kites (clearly, we have big wishes). We didn’t do so great with finding our targets, but sometimes the birding gods throw a wrench into your plans, and sometimes it’s actually a good wrench. As we were driving down to the Meadows, anxious to get started, we passed by a small private pond on Shunpike that held quite a bit of waterfowl. The thing that caught my eye, though, were a couple of Helmeted Guineafowl that were on the grounds. We stopped to take a look, and after picking up our bins, we noticed something different in the background. Mixed in with the usual common birds, we spotted a stunning group of nine Black-bellied Whistling-ducks on the edge of the pond.

The nine Black-bellied Whistling-ducks that we found today in Cape May.

With a species like this I wonder about whether they are wild birds, but will leave that determination to the NJ Bird Records Committee, who presumably will contact the resident and others in the area. Initial reports, however, are that the birds are unbanded. Black-bellied Whistling-ducks are very uncommon in New Jersey. They are more typically found in South America and the southern-most US states (especially Texas, Florida, and Arizona), and there are only twelve accepted records to date in NJ. Although they were first recorded in NJ in 2000 they now have appeared here in six out of the last eight years, so they are becoming a nearly annual but still uncommon occurrence. Interestingly, it appears that this is a peak time for finding them, as four of the previous records are from May 23, 25, 26, and 27.

It was a super beginning to a great day that also included sightings of Blackburnian Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, a few Canada Warblers, Philadelphia Vireo, my FOS Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Brown Pelicans, a calling Virginia Rail, and to top it all, three Wilson’s Storm-petrels from the Cape May – Lewes ferry. In other words, just another day in Cape May.

Philadelphia Vireo, a rare bird to find in NJ in spring. It can be tough to distinguish them from Warbling Vireo, but Philly has more yellow in the throat than in the belly, as seen here.

The Sedge Islands Beckon

May 182017

I have not made any secret about how much I love exploring the Barnegat Bay Sedge Islands via canoe throughout the summer and fall. I have not been there much in spring, however, with my earliest previous visit being on June 2. Jeanine and I were determined to explore the islands during prime spring migration this year, sacrificing a day of warblers and thrushes and vireos for terns and shorebirds and wading birds.

The conditions today were ideal; shorebirds were still in the area, the winds were calm, and the day was going to be clear and hot. We first explored some of the trails for songbird migrants, finding a few Blackpoll and Magnolia Warblers, a surprise immature Great Horned Owl, and a healthy dose of mosquitoes (not all first-of-seasons are welcomed). It was hard to concentrate on songbirds while anticipating the shorebirds though, so we headed to the launch site.

A juvenile Great Horned Owl spotted on one of the trails before hitting the sandflats.

It’s not always about birds. Here is a colorful Box Turtle that Jeanine spotted on one of the trails.

Our timing was good, as the flats were expansive with shorebirds scattered throughout. Shorebirds can be tough to identify, especially when they are in unfamiliar plumage, so it took us a while to get re-oriented to what species we were seeing. Some of these birds are quite striking in their breeding plumage, and that’s exactly why we came this early in the season. Three species in particular were notably colorful compared to their winter appearance. Dunlin can be found in the area in winter, when they are nearly all gray, huddling in the cold. But here in May they are easily identified by their bright reddish plumage on their upperside and a large black patch on the belly.

Dunlin in breeding plumage. This is why they used to be called Red-backed Sandpiper.

Red Knots migrate through our area in both spring and fall to re-fuel during their 9,000 mile (one-way) migration. They now are developing their striking namesake red plumage.

A Red Knot in flight.

Red Knots are gorgeous in full breeding plumage.

The most striking birds to me, however, were the Sanderlings, which are bright white during winter but transition into a brilliant rusty breeding plumage. Today we witnessed Sanderlings in all phases of transition from winter to spring plumage.

Sanderling early in its plumage transition.

This Sanderling has an intermediate plumage.

Here’s a Sanderling in full breeding plumage. Wow!

Here you can see the Sanderling’s variability side-by-side.

Short-billed Dowitchers also were quite variable in their plumage, although we tend to see that variability in fall too.

Here is a Short-billed Dowitcher that is on the colorful end of the spectrum.

As we paddled over towards the marsh, we were delighted by close views of a Snowy Egret with its breeding finery blowing in the wind, and a Red-throated Loon that was preening at the surface. The loon should be leaving us soon, although a few Common and Red-throated Loons still linger in the area.

A Snowy Egret that was hunting in the shallows as the wind kicked up.

A late Red-throated Loon is still lingering in the bay.

The terns do not undergo as dramatic plumage changes as the shorebirds, but we were happy to see Forster’s Terns in close quarters, along with a pair of Royal Terns and a trio of diminutive Least Terns today.

Forster’s Terns are paired up and active.

This immature Least Tern was still being accompanied by a pair of adults.

When the afternoon winds began we headed into the marsh channels, where we were happy to see occasional fly-by Glossy Ibises, a few Little Blue Herons, and scattered shorebirds. Altogether, we spotted 13 shorebird species today, but seeing them sporting these different plumages was absolutely delightful.

We were fortunate to find a White-rumped Sandpiper in the marsh.

Return to Garret Mountain

May 172017

At least once each spring I like to visit Garret Mountain Reservation, the top spring migrant trap in New Jersey. This year I needed a Garret fix more than usual, since the 2017 spring migration here in NJ has been…how should I put it? Tepid? Slow? Disappointing? Pitiful? I’m beginning to worry that this is the new normal and the good old days of trees dripping with migrants are a thing of the past, but let’s leave that discussion for another day and instead try to focus on the positive side of today. Hopes were high; despite the lousy migration so far, yesterday the number of birds picked up a bit locally, and with winds coming from the south, we were hoping that today would be ‘The Day’. Clearly other birders had the same hopes, as we saw several familiar faces before we even left the car. Due to the long commute, we arrived at 9AM, late by birding standards, and started strolling the grounds. One thing that I do like about places like Garret is the ability to stroll; to wander towards wherever the next bird appears or is singing from.

OK, it’s not an uncommon bird, but a Common Grackle can look super when taking a drink in great lighting.

What’s going on up there? An inquisitive Northern Flicker.

The birding today was good by Garret standards, great by the standards of any other location. The highlight reel starts with a Mourning Warbler. Any day with a Mourning is a good one, but this bird was cooperative, feeding in the phragmites instead of hiding in the thick underbrush. I enjoyed watching the bird so much that I forgot to take the camera out. That’s the way that it is these days; I’m not sure if it’s maturity or laziness, but photos don’t seem so important most days. But I did take the camera out occasionally. Like when a textbook-perfect male Scarlet Tanager was feeding on some insects hatching low to the ground. Or at lunchtime, when our lunch partner Joan pointed out an orange variant Scarlet Tanager. This bird was so orange that I incorrectly identified it as a Baltimore Oriole upon the first view.

Scarlet Tanager hopping after some insects hatching on a log.

Our lunchtime orange variant Scarlet Tanager.

Lunchtime included two other highlights. As I was eating my tuna on toast with hot peppers (trademark GP), I heard a familiar song. Is that a Tennessee Warbler? Jeanine agreed, and we put down our sandwiches (what’s more important…food or birds?), picked up the bins, scrambled towards the sound, and found the bird singing loudly and persistently from high up in the canopy. So we sat back down to our sandwiches and after just one bite of my tuna on toast with hot peppers (trademark GP), I mentioned that a Canada Warbler was waist-high 10 feet behind the girls. Sandwiches back down again. That was immediately followed by the Orange Tanager. You get the idea. What a great lunch.

Among other highlights were several eye-level Blackpoll Warblers and dozens of Swainson’s Thrushes that were feeding low. The challenge was to locate a Gray-cheeked Thrush within the more common Swainson’s, and we were able to find two of them, including one popping into the background while watching our first-of-season Lincoln’s Sparrow. Late in the day we still didn’t want to go home despite the scorching 95-degree temperatures that greatly reduced bird activity, and we were rewarded with a few more Bay-breasted Warblers, another Tennessee Warbler, and spotting an unexpected Solitary Sandpiper in the wet woods. It was a fitting end to a super day.

One of four Bay-breasted Warblers that we saw today.

A Blackpoll Warbler providing excellent views.

Swainson’s Thrushes were all over the grounds today.

I’m used to seeing Solitary Sandpiper on mudflats, but not usually in a wet woods environment.

We ended up with 17 wood-warbler species, a tad shy of the hoped-for 20-warbler day, but with these high-quality sightings nobody was complaining. I look forward to returning again next year. Maybe then we’ll find that Cape May Warbler that we missed today.

New Slideshow BirdQuiz: Puerto Rico birds

May 132017

Puerto Rico is a relatively small island with a limited bird list compared to other high-profile birding locations, but it is very convenient for North Americans, and therefore ideal for a self-guided bird tour. We have just constructed a new Slideshow BirdQuiz featuring many of the most desired birds of Puerto Rico. You can access that quiz by clicking here.

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