Last Sunday, 2007-06-17, Peter Dorosh led a small contingent from the Brooklyn Bird Club to explore Somerset County in New Jersey. The first stop was the Negri-Nepote-Leni Preserve, a grasslands area surrounded by farms. We got there about 7:45 A.M., and almost immediately Sandi Paci heard a Prairie Warbler, which we soon located:
There were numerous other birds in the area: Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwing, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Towhee, House Wren, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird, Chickadee (probably Black-capped), Eastern Kingbird, and so many Indigo Buntings that we eventually stopped looking at each individual. There were quite a few Chipping Sparrows in the tree line, and numerous sparrows in the tall grass, which we kept hoping would turn into Grasshopper Sparrows, but persisted in remaining Field Sparrows. :-)
We followed the red trail northwest along the edge of the preserve to the pond, which was hosting a Great Blue Heron, a couple of Mallards, a couple of Barn Swallows, a few Tree Swallows, and a Killdeer. Far away, perched on a power line, we scoped out first Blue Grosbeak of the day, one of 2-3 at the site and also our first Northern Flicker.
We continued on the red trail along the edge of the property to a blacktop road that leads to a house in the middle of the preserve. The birds were mostly the same along this stretch but we did see Common Sulphur (butterfly), Orange Sulphur, White-tailed Skimmer (dragonfly), woodchucks, and rabbits. Just past the road, the grass had been cut much lower than in the rest pf the preserve. (Regular mowing or controlled burning is necessary to prevent succession in grassland preserves.) Near the edge of the taller grass I spotted a small sparrow, and called it as another Field Sparrow. However when it flew and Peter spotted it, he immediately pronounced it as a Grasshopper Sparrow form the fluttery flight. He got the scope on it, which made it obvious that he was right. It was indeed a Grasshopper Sparrow, my 379th life bird, and about #151 for New Jersey.
We had been considering turning around at that point, but we took that as an omen that we should keep going so we continued walking along the edge of the preserve. In the patch of woods at the Northwest corner, we added Yellow Warbler to the day list, along with Turkey Vulture and Red-tailed Hawk flying overhead. Further along the trail we heard and then saw both Eastern Wood-Peewee and Willow Flycatcher. We got a little lost at this point because some of the trails on the map did not appear to actually be there. However this did lead us to our last bird for the site: Common Yellowthroat doing its Witchety-witchety song.
It was only about 11:00 when we got back to the car, so we continued on to 6-Mile Run/Blackwood Mills and then to Sourland Mountain Preserve. At 6-mile Run we added Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Bluebird, Black Vulture, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, and this as yet unidientified but very cute Skipper:
Sourland Mountain was the least birdy site of the day, but the time we got there it was getting late. Nonetheless, we added four species there: Canada Goose, Ovenbird, Downy Woodpecker, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Total avian species count for the day was about 47
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Mallard
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Black Vulture
Grasshopper Sparrow
Maybe this list goes to 49 if you add a couple of birds that were heard only I’m not confident of. But overall a very nice day.
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