#359: Wilson’s Snipe
Yesterday I joined the Brooklyn Bird Club for a trip to Somerset County, New Jersey led by Peter Dorosh. We left Brooklyn about 6:45 A.M. and arrived at Glenhurst Meadows (a.k.a Warren Green Acres) about 7:35. The birds were hopping (and flying, and jumping, and scuttling, and walking, and everything else). We tallied twenty species just waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. (One car had taken the wrong exit.)
Sparrows were what we had come for, and they didn’t disappoint. Song Sparrow was the first species, but the second was an uncommon Vesper Sparrow. It looks like a Song Sparrow (streaked breast), except the face is totally wrong and shows a prominent white eye ring. I didn’t recognize it at first, but the eye ring jumped out at me; and Peter confirmed it as a Vesper Sparrow. I thought this might be a life bird, but on returning home and checking my records I found I’d seen one once before, 364 days earlier at Caumsett State Park on Long Island. At least this was a New Jersey first for me. Overall the group tallied nine sparrow species at Glenhurst:
- Eastern Towhee*
- Field Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
Other groups at the site also reported Lincoln’s Sparrow, which is uncommon around here but not as uncommon as White-crowned or Vesper, so we didn’t stay longer just to look for it. We probably should have since we didn’t add a single more sparrow species all day, much to our surprise and consternation. (The goal for the day was ten sparrow species, and we missed by one.)
We walked down one path at the site, and for less than half a mile. The highlight of the day came near the end of the path where Valerie spotted a Wilson’s Snipe in the middle of the road, a life bird for me. I couldn’t find it one the ground, but it promptly took off and flew a long circle around us affording great looks. Sorry, no picture of this one. I didn’t have my camera with me; and couldn’t have gotten a decent shot if I did. Google has lots of pictures though, if you want to see one.
We left Glenhurst about 10:00, having covered only 0.8 miles round trip and still tallying almost 40 species. (We added Red-tailed Hawk and Turkey Vulture driving back out to the road.) The next stop was Lord Stirling Park. This wasn’t nearly as birdy, but had still had plenty of Savannah Sparrows and some gorgeous meadows. We also found four Rusty Blackbirds that weren’t black at all. The plumage looked more like a pigeon’s, and didn’t match anything in the field guide; but Peter recognized them.
We ate lunch at the picnic tables outside the visitor’s center, and then headed down the road to our final stop, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. We were hoping for Red-headed Woodpeckers, but that was not to be. We did see our first Mourning Doves and Mallard (sometimes the easy ones are what you miss), a Great Blue Heron or two, and lots of raptors including red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, one unidentified Eagle species, and one confusing perched Buteo that might have been an immature Red-shouldered Hawk or a mildly leucistic Red-tailed Hawk.
We’re still tallying the total species count for the day, but it looks to be between 50 and 60. Between the three sites I personally saw 51 species:
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Turkey Vulture
- Canada Goose
- Wood Duck
- Mallard
- Osprey
- Northern Harrier
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- American Kestrel
- Merlin
- Mourning Dove
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Eastern Phoebe
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Carolina Wren
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Eastern Bluebird
- American Robin
- Gray Catbird
- Northern Mockingbird
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Palm Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Eastern Towhee
- Field Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Northern Cardinal
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Rusty Blackbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- House Finch
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
- European Starling
- Rock Pigeon
- Ring-billed Gull
Other group members got a few I missed, including Chipping Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, and Cedar Waxwing.
