Spent the morning in Hunters Gardens and Bald Hill Trail with Eileen Schwinn and Carl Safina. Carl, who knows the area well and showed us a couple of hidden kettlehole ponds a little ways back in the woods. It is the presence of all the ponds and wet spots that makes Hunters Gardens and a parallel area along the Bald Hill Trail richer than much of the rest of the pine barrens (and a good spot for migrants as well as local breeders). Red-eyed Vireos were singing loudly at the open area of Hunters Gardens, a bird of the season for me. Parula Warbler was the only migrant noticed; other warblers -- Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Pine -- were local breeders. A furious tangle of Ovenbirds and a similar bouhaha of Eastern Towhees seemed to involve (in both cases) both males and females but the exact cause of the squabbles (fighting over a female? territory? mate-guarding?)  eluded us. Also active, occasionally singing and easy to see: male Scarlet Tanagers. A Rose-breasted Grosbeak chink was heard but the bird was not spotted. Ruby-throated Hummingbird could be a migrant passing through but is likely to be a local breeder. Ominously, a number of Brown Cowbirds were seen and heard. 

I got several responses to yesterday's report of a mystery songster. This was a bird singing from a hiding place in a tangle of vines high in a tree above a dense and impenetrable undergrowth. The song consisted of catbird-like phrases neatly and cleanly separated in short, slightly irregular bundles or bursts of song and separated by bits of chatter.  At least two correspondents suggested Yellow-breasted Chat. I didn't say it but that was my thought exactly. The understory looks like perfect chat habitat and I have seen chats in this general area on a number of occasions. One of my favorite stories concerns a Hav-a-Heart trap that someone left on a nearby trail at the edge of the woods which, when I discovered it, contained nothing less than a lively Yellow-breasted Chat trying to find his way out. Needless to say, I set it loose.

If anyone is interested in the Maple Swamp walk on Sunday and needs more detailed directions, please let me know.

Eric Salzman