Jim and I went in search of dickcissels this morning, heading to Millstone Township in Monmouth County where he had heard tell of those uncommon visitors.
We pulled off Trenton Lakewood Road across from a big field and immediately heard our target. It took a while to spot one, and eventually two dickcissels sat atop a tall evergreen in the middle of the field. Although the birds were a good distance away, I managed to get one fair shot.
Those were my first dickcissel spottings since 2024, and I was happy to add them to my log for this year. Dickcissels are common in the Midwest, but only a few of them show up in central New Jersey each year.
Our next stop was not far away at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, where I’ve birded many times. We checked the boat launch at the lake in the center of the park but saw not a single bird.
From there, we drove to a meeting center near the airplane navigation beacon that is on top of a hill in a section of the park I had not previously explored. Jim and I headed up a trail with a big soybean field to our right. Indigo buntings announced their presence in song right away.
I would count 16 in our 100-minute visit, the greatest number of indigo buntings I’ve ever logged in an e-Bird checklist. That probably was an undercount, because the indigos were seemingly everywhere.
As we trekked to the summit where the navigation beacon sits, we saw two common ravens pass overhead, watched a flock of red-winged blackbirds pass and heard and saw several indigo buntings.
They were flying about the trees covering the hillsides and studding broad fields of wildflowers. We chased a blue grosbeak back and forth, and I was able to manage only a couple of mediocre photos. I did no better with the buntings.
But as we bottomed out on the trail that took us back to the parking lot, we spotted one indigo in a big mulberry tree. It flew in and out of the tree several times, and I was able to get a few decent shots of him, including the one topping this post.
Two more surprises awaited us back by the parking lot. One was a brown thrasher in a tree where we caught fleeting glimpses of a white-eyed vireo. The other was a scarlet tanager high up in a tree, a treat for me as it was only the second one I’ve seen this year.
I would be remiss if I did not post a photo showing the beautiful field of wildflowers we walked along just below the aviation beacon summit. The flowers brought in bees, butterflies and dragonflies. I’ll devote a separate post to them. In the meantime, I offer a photo that will give you an idea of the beauty of the place. 🦅
The Jersey Birder 