Review - The Birds of New Jersey

The rain batted down against the bedroom window once more this morning. Add to this the seemingly ever present gusts from the west and it seemed a good time to postpone checking Barn Swallow nests until tomorrow but instead delve into a book recently received for review by Another Bird Blog.

The Birds of New Jersey

Readers from North America especially those that bird on the East Coast, will be pleased to hear that the book is the awaited “The Birds of New Jersey – Status and Distribution” by William J Boyle Jr, a birder of 40+ years and author of "A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey".

Of course I know where New Jersey is and I recognise it includes the birding sites of Sandy Hook and Turkey Point and the celebrated migration hot-spot of Cape May, where both US and UK birders/banders make pilgrimages. But until I looked in “Wiki” I didn’t realise the state of New Jersey in only about 70 miles wide and 170 miles from top to bottom; all the more reason to rejoice in the 450 + species recorded here in such a relatively small state. A major reason for the huge number and variety of species here is that as far as a bird is concerned New Jersey has a wide variety of habitats in a geographically ideal location whether they reside permanently, seasonally, or just make stop-over visits during migration time.

So this book is not simply another field guide to add to the many already out there, it is firstly a guide to the status and distribution of the more than 450 bird species recorded in the state of New Jersey in the last 200 years. Until now there has been no single, comprehensive and readily available guide out there for birders and naturalists, so as well as the 200 year history, this book draws from the many publications and bird journals of more recent years. Naturally enough in this the age of the Internet, Boyle’s book includes records from online reporting services like eBird, New Jersey Rare Bird Alert and the Cape May Birding Hotline, so it is bang up to date.

I am hugely impressed by this book. It is very well written, clear and concise, nicely laid out and thorough in presentation. By the time I had studied it well I realised that it was as the back cover blurb had claimed, “authoritative”. The 300 pages contain species accounts that describe the preferred habitat and relative abundance of each species as well as detailed, colour coded and very precise maps, interspersed with some really excellent and varied photographs that break the text into readable chunks. Shame about a distant and blurred but the actual Northern Lapwing photograph, the second ever record of Vanellus vanellus in New Jersey, and if only William had asked I would have emailed him a few pics of Lapwings from Pilling!

The Birds of New Jersey
The Birds of New Jersey

I found the terminology used for Status and Distribution especially effective and useful, with a couple of extra terms I had not seen before in this type of book. Those two are “Irregular” - species whose occurrence is unpredictable, and “Local” - typically found only in specific habitats and areas within a particular region. If only field guides could include such fine detail it would surely help birders unfamiliar with a particular place to find birds, or indeed help new birders to sort out the likelihood of the bird’s occurrence in the first place? This led me to think that anyone who birds regularly in New Jersey or neighbouring states should not only study this book in depth but also keep it side by side with their standard field guide to Eastern North America.

The Birds of New Jersey

The final 13 pages of the book contain a helpful and extensive bibliography for readers interested in pursuing and learning more about the birds and natural history of New Jersey.

To sum up, “The Birds of New Jersey” is an object lesson in how to produce a book of this type. It is well researched, succinct but detailed, easily accessible and extremely logical in the arrangement of the information. The book also lives up to the quality of print, colour and paper that we expect of a Princeton product.

Finally, another few facts about New Jersey: Its per-capita income is the third highest in the United States and New Jersey also has the highest percentage of millionaire households. So there are a few people who don’t have to worry about the cost of this splendid book, not that anyone should at the bargain price of $24.95 or £16.95 from Princeton University Press.

A Middling Morn

Will and I finally got to Out Rawcliffe for a spot of mist netting on a fine morning with just an early breath of wind that left the nets motionless in the cover of the planation. As expected for early to mid-June we didn’t get a mega catch, just 19 birds, with 13 new and 6 recaptures. New birds: 5 Great Tit, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Blackbird and 1 each of Goldfinch, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler. Recaptures were 4 Sedge Warbler, and 1 each of Great Tit and Willow Warbler.

We hoped we might catch several fresh juvenile (3J) warblers today, but it was not to be. The only juveniles caught were 3 Great Tit and 2 Blackbird so we must wait a few more days for an indication of breeding success as more youngsters appear.

Blackcap
”3J” Blackbird
”3J” Great Tit
Willow Warbler

By 1015 hours the ever present 2011 wind sprung up to 15-20mph again which caused us to take the nets down.

Other birds seen this morning, most from the well positioned coffee chairs on the sun-deck of the moss: A Raven flying inland and then later (if the same one) back out towards Pilling Moss; 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Corn Bunting, 2 Skylark, 2 Buzzard, 2 Oystercatcher, 20+ Lapwing, 6 Goldfinch, 1 Yellowhammer, 12 Tree Sparrow, 4 Swift, 6 House Martin, 4 Mistle Thrush, 2 Stock Dove, 30+ House Sparrow. And not forgetting 25+ Brown Hares which entertained us as they rushed and chased around the nearby fields in groups 8 and 10 at times.

Driving home through Town End, Out Rawcliffe I heard roadside Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat and then stopped to snap a Great-spotted Woodpecker doing a Woody Woodpecker impression on a telegraph pole.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Yes, it was just an average sort of morning but don’t we sometimes take even those too much for granted?

Pilling Plod

Both overnight and early morning rain plus predictions of heavy showers put paid to any mist netting plans. So it was birding only for me this morning and a trudge along the familiar but now saturated fields of Pilling.

I started at Fluke Hall with Sylvia warblers, a loud Lesser Whitethroat, singing again from close to the wood and 8 Common Whitethroats, with at least one pair of the latter feeding young in a nest close to the road. It’s always worth a stop here, if only to clock the Swallows that perch overhead or a listen to all the Tree Sparrows and Linnets hiding in the hedge. Today a Greenfinch sang from the hawthorn and I counted 7 Linnets there too. The Swallows obviously have young in the nest now as they came in from the fields with food.

Swallow

Lesser Whitethroats are impossible to photograph in the field, at least for me, but here’s a picture of one in the hand and a reminder of that wonderful, flamboyant song. The Lesser Whitethroat song is very far carrying, and in this morning’s still air I could hear the bird from the sea wall 100 yards away. One could be forgiven for thinking that the brash, rattling flourish is the whole of the Lesser Whitethroat song, and it only when close that the initial scratchy Sylvia type part of the song is heard.

Lesser Whitethroat

I walked out to the sea wall giving my boots and socks a good soaking from the earlier downpours but found 30+ Lapwing plus a welcome surprise, an adult with 3 tiny, newly fledged chicks. I looked in vain for Redshank or Oystercatcher chicks, counting just 8 and 15 adults respectively. Although the Oystercatchers didn’t have young, several of them were still in display mode, flying in pairs above and around me. None of the Redshanks acted as if they had young but hopefully there may be at least a nest or two of Oyks soon. Like elsewhere in the Fylde the Brown Hares are in good numbers here at the moment, with lots of leverets.

Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
Brown Hare

A look on the pools at Lane Ends produced 50+ Greylag, single Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 singing Reed Warbler and a singing Reed Bunting. In the plantation were 1 Sparrowhawk making a dash for Blackbirds, 1 Blackcap, 1 Jay and 10+ Blackbirds and a singing Chiffchaff. The Chiffchaff is newly in to the site so I assume it bred or failed elsewhere and is now trying its luck here.

Chiffchaff

From the top car park I watched a fly-past of 6 Grey Herons heading up towards Cockerham, the largest gathering of Grey Herons I’ve seen for a while - perhaps a prelude to the return of the Little Egrets.

Grey Heron
Later I had to dry my socks on the washing line but it was well worth it.

Skylark

Just like yesterday it rained most of the morning which fitted in quite well with our child minding duties, so I left it until lunch time before I went out in search of Skylarks at Pilling. I didn’t find a single nest today; I actually found two, one nest with four good sized young, just ready to ring, and a second nest in the course of construction.

Skylark nest
The Way In

Young Skylarks grow down that is superb camouflage when viewed from above, whereby the keen eyes of crows and Kestrels might just find them.

Skylark
Skylark chicks

As yet there were no eggs in the second nest I found so I’ll keep an eye on it and do BTO Nest Records for both nests.

Under Construction

The story of the Skylark is a pretty sorry one. In the UK Skylark numbers have declined over the last 30 years, as determined by the Common Bird Census started in the early 1960s by The British Trust for Ornithology, and there are now only 10% of the numbers present 30 years ago. This massive decline is thought to be mainly due to changes in farming practices and only partly due to pesticides. In the past cereals were planted in the spring, grown through the summer and harvested in the early autumn. Cereals are now planted in the autumn, grown through the winter and are harvested in the early summer. The winter grown fields are much too dense in summer for the Skylark to be able to walk and run between the wheat stems to find its food. We are fortunate in this area that we have coastal nesting Skylarks, the two nests today I found alongside the sea wall in the grass that lines the sea wall.

Skylark

Over the centuries the Skylark has inspired an abundance of writing and poetry, due mainly to its song. But considering that from earliest times Skylarks have given man so much pleasure, we have treated them appallingly. The French song Alouette, gentille Alouette, familiar to children the world over, goes on to describe in great detail how the lark is to be plucked; over the centuries millions of Skylarks have been killed and eaten. Fortunately we in the UK have moved on from these practices, but some Mediterranean people still eat larks and other small birds despite the “might” of the EU.

I spent a few hours seeking Skylarks today so didn’t see much else save for a passing Stoat that fortunately was some way off the Skylark nests, but an animal that is always a danger to ground nesters. At Lane Ends I could hear singing Reed Warbler and Blackcap, and then briefly, a large Peregrine overhead.

Stoat

Tempus Fugit Yet Again

It rained on and off all morning so I left the birding and the walks through long grass for later. It felt a bit like work in the sunny but breezy afternoon as I lugged a ladder across the field and erected 6 more nest boxes designed for Tree Sparrows, then checked the other boxes already there. I missed the first broods because I was away in Menorca but there are already three boxes with new eggs and four other nests flattened by now fledged young where the females will probably lay again. Already a couple of my precious hours had disappeared.

Armed with a Schedule One licence I went to check the Barn Owl box put up a few years ago, and my hopes rose as 2 Barn Owls flew from the barn as soon as I entered. Climbing up to the box but with the owls long gone there was no need to tap the timber so as I stuck a torch in, searching around for eggs or small young. The box had neither eggs nor young, just piles of pellets on the floor of the barn below where the owls had spent many hours roosting in the undisturbed building. One of the owls flew across to a nearby fence and watched me for a second or two before it hurried off elsewhere.

Barn Owl
Barn Owl pellets

A pellet is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the skeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth. The passing of pellets allows a bird to remove indigestible material from its glandular stomach. In birds of prey, the regurgitation of pellets serves the bird's health by "scouring" parts of the digestive tract, including the gullet. Pellets are formed within six to ten hours of a meal in a bird’s gizzard.

I drove on to the farm at Out Rawcliffe and checked out the Whitethroat nest found a few weeks ago at the egg stage. At last the four young were now just the right size for ringing, with an unhatched egg still deep in the nest.

Whitethroat nestling

Deeper into the plantation I watched a pair of Willow Warblers that eventually gave away the location of their nest with 5 young, again an ideal size for ringing.

Willow Warbler nestling

A quick tour around the remainder of the farm revealed 5 young Mistle Thrush from 2 broods, a still displaying Curlew, 35 Lapwing, I Great-spotted Woodpecker, 4 Buzzard and wow, that local speciality a singing Greenfinch.

Buzzard
Greenfinch

I glanced at my watch and it was 1650, and oh boy how time flies when having fun. But with birding there really is always tomorrow.

Taking Stock

It’s a short update today after Will and I went to Out Rawcliffe to check out a few Stock Dove nest boxes. In the first box where we expected to find young doves a week or more old, the box was now empty, predated of the small young by an unknown bird or animal. In a nearby natural tree cavity a second Stock Dove nest held broken, probably predated eggs. Of two other boxes, one had evidence of fledged Tree Sparrows and the other a Great Tit nest tucked neatly in the corner of the large box. Oh well we drew a blank, but as we like to say, “If you don’t try you don’t get!”

Will - “Boxing”

As we drove past a nearby wood we both heard alarm calling Tree Sparrows and Chaffinches, so went to investigate the possibility of young Tawny Owls. We didn’t find any owlets, just an adult Tawny that watched us from high in the dappled shade of the canopy.

Tawny Owl
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch

In the wood Will pointed out a couple of deer sleeping “beds”, flattened vegetation in the woodland floor, then close by we found the carcass of a long dead Roe Deer where it probably lay down one night and inexplicably died.

Roe Deer
Roe Deer

In contrast to many of our local birds Brown Hares seem to be doing rather well at the moment, and whilst I haven’t made any counts, suffice to say they are plentiful and now is a good time to get a few pictures. And although the countryside is devoid of Grey Partridge, there’s plenty of the red-legged variety happy to pose for a picture.

Brown Hare
Red-legged Partridge

Other birds seen on our little foray: 2 Yellowhammer, 3 Buzzard, 2 Oystercatcher, 30 Lapwing, a Blackbird on 5 eggs high in the barn, and 1 Kestrel. Will remarked that he hadn’t seen many Kestrels about this spring. After a little recollection of birds I’d seen in recent months I had to agree, Kestrels are rather scarce this year so maybe it’s another species which suffered from last winter’s long frozen periods; just as well I archived a few pictures when more Kestrels were about.

Kestrel

First Swallow Chicks

I followed up the Swallow nests at Hambleton today and ringed the first chicks of the year. It wasn’t a particularly early date, just about average for the 360 young Swallows ringed here in the last 8 years. As I took a few pictures, (who can resist photographing Swallows?) I noticed a couple of ringed birds; as I have never ringed any adults here, it’s pretty safe they will be returning Swallows from amongst the 360 birds of previous years.

The bird below isn’t a young bird begging for food as the blog header picture is, but an adult male proclaiming his territory to other passing Swallows.

Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow

I found 5 nests this week, four with full clutches of 5 eggs, and in one of those nests eggs just hatching. The fifth nest in the well-used chicken shed which held 6 young just at the right age to ring, feathers ready to emerge from their pins.

Barn Swallow chick

The chicken shed draws in House Sparrows looking for a quick meal, but sometimes they are a bit too engrossed in feeding and slow to respond to a safe pair of ringer’s hands.

House Sparrow