As my birding pal Jim and I made the hour-and-a-quarter drive to Estell Manor Park on Saturday, he guaranteed that I would get a lifer bird: the yellow-throated warbler. Never has been getting a lifer so easy.
As we got out of the car in the parking lot at the visitor center, Jim immediately said a yellow-throated warbler was singing nearby. Sure enough, just off the parking lot, one of the warblers was indeed singing — and within sight.
It was up in the pine trees, and I soon spotted it, lifer No. 243. It was nice adding the warbler to the list, but, honestly, seeing the bird was thrill enough. Its brilliant coloring stood out amid the tree branches. Its song was beautiful, too.
After shooting for a short while, we headed to a trail behind the visitor center and walked among the pines.
Estell Manor is a small city in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, not far from Atlantic City. The barrens are famous for their sandy soil and abudant pine trees, not to mention the mythical New Jersey Devil.
It’s ideal territory for migrating pine warblers. We heard a few of those but I never did spot one. But as we followed the trail and got deeper into the woods, we heard and saw other yellow-throated warblers and also several blue-gray gnatcatchers.
After traipsing the trails behind the visitor center, we drove north about two miles to a turnoff in another section of the park and pulled into a campsite. We quickly hit the yellow-throated warbler jackpot.
At least three of the birds were flitting around the pines and a few other varieties of trees. They were variously right above our heads, bopping about from branch to branch, and landing nearly at eye level in front of us. At one point, one of them flew roughly five feet from my left ear.
Jim and I each took multiple shots, and I was eager to get home to find what I’d captured. Suffice it to say, I was pleased. 🦅
With its beak wide open, a yellow-throated warbler sings from a tree.
The Jersey Birder 