The two most interesting things I came up with in a quick walk around the State Park today were:

7 Snow Buntings on the beach. It is amazing how Snow Buntings freeze and use their camouflaged, streamlined shape to hide in plain-sight on otherwise quite open terrain. A little divet, or the lee of a small clump of grass are really all they require, and they even contort themselves and hold it to utilise the cover provided by something as insubstantial as a shadow cast by a single Beach Goldenrod leaf. Great birds.

The other, and more unexpected creatures were two Garter Snakes out and about in one of the little copses just in from the beach. While I have seen Garter Snakes at Christmas time in NJ on several occasions, (once on Christmas Day in Morris Cty, some 14 years ago, and previously in pretty much the same spot as today) seeing a snake in wintertime is always something of a shock.

Despite the wind, it was really a pleasant afternoon for a walk, my only wish being I had more than an hour to sneak away today…

(In that hour though, I did manage an adult Bald Eagle, two or three Red-shoulders, three species of Mimids, an Eastern Phoebe, Palm Warbler, and some lovely looks at Eastern Bluebirds and whole lot of Waterfowl. It was a good hour!)

Today was my favorite kind of weather for birding. While it can never be too hot for my tastes, and I do love the heat of the dog days and amazonia; 60s-70s, 98% humidity, foggy and drizzly, like that typical of Cloud Forest, a fine appalachian May morning, England, or the Olympic penninsula, this is the kind of weather I think I like best of all, particularly for birding.

A misty walk around Higbee’s revealed, among lots of Robins and Whitethroats, a bright and strikingly fresh White-eyed Vireo in the second field. The grey nape, yellow and paddy-field green of this bird were so striking, that I was rather surprised to find it retained a dull grey, and not white eye. presumably then a young of the year, but far handsomer than the ratty breeding birds of the same hedges in summer.

Also, the same tail-less and quite silly looking Common Yellowthroat persists in top of the second field. Darned thing makes me look twice each and every time I find it. We’ll see if she lingers long enough for her tail to grow in, and then departs.

A quick turn around the ponds at the state park revealed one very cooperative Cave Swallow among the hordes of Tree Swallows. The best views were to be had from the plover ponds, where the bird really put on a show. Try as I might I could not turn him into more than one though. This bird was, however intensely rufous, and while most records have apparently been of the mexican/southwestern race, given this bird’s appearance, and the predominant weather pattern of the last several days, I wonder if this may not actually be one of the Caribbean/Dade Cty birds? Stuff to ponder.

The ponds around the point are chock full of ducks, and all of them getting better looking by the day (with the exception of the Ruddy Ducks; Ruddys stay cruddy till spring). One real surprise was a smart Blue-winged Teal which flushed with some Green-wings, Shoveler, and Pintail. A good-sized raft of flighty Coot are forming in the eastern pool as well.

Just over fifty Skimmers are still hanging out near second ave, and a couple of White-winged Scoter and adult Bonaparte’s Gulls were likewise in that neighborhood as well.

While yesterday there were dozens of Bottlenosed Dolphins frolicking in the cove, today I saw nary a one-like the lone Osprey I managed today, it is time for them to be seeking better fishing grounds, I suppose. There was however, a River Otter in the eastern channel at the Meadows come sunset-This has been an exceptional year for actually getting to see these lithe and limber mustelids around here.

Also, while it was too grey and rainy for bugs (and by that I mean Leps, really) I did find a strikingly orange and red-eyed adult male Box Turtle in his prime, a most cooperative, but hardly cold-numbed, and rather large Black Rat-snake, and both the odd peeper and Grey Tree Frog were calling intermittenly this wonderfully mild and damp November day.

One of the more commonly asked questions I receive on “bird” walks regards the identification of the really big “Pond Turtle” which can often be seen basking with more familiar chums on freshwater, or even brackish ponds around Cape May.

These impressive Emydids (the family of “pond turtles”) are Red-bellied Turtles (Psuedemys rubriventris), and are indeed huge, and something kind of special.

Reliably reaching carapace lengths of over 15 inches, with “uncorroborated reports of specimens as much as 18 inches” the Redbelly is the largest American emydid (Carr, A., 1952, p. 268, Handbook of Turtles, the Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California, Cornell University Press.). The females, as in most “pond turtles”, are larger than the males, and in the Red-belly this dimorphism is particularly pronounced. The females are massive animals, the only turtles one encounters in NJ which are larger would be the Snapper, a very different sort of animal of an entirely different family.

The Red-bellied Turtle has an unusual range, and is basically found along the coastal plain of the Mid-atlantic, basically encompassing the Delaware and Potomac drainages from South Jersey to north-eastern North Carolina. It was, before being extirpated by man also abundant in coastal New York (ibid., p. 267), and a disjunct population is found in Plymouth County Massachusetts. Though it probably wasn’t quite so disjunct before the species was over-hunted for the market.

Once the Diamond-backed Terrapin market went south, so to speak, toward the end of the nineteenth century, Red-bellies, by virtue of their size and tastiness, were the next turtle species to suffer at the hand of the market (ibid. p 272), and their range, which coincidentally is in proximity to most of the urban centers in the Megalopolis (ie it includes basically Boston, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, etc.) was no help in the species’ decline.

They are usually the first turtle to drop off the log, and are far warier than Painters, the intrduced Red-eared Sliders, or even the willow-clinging Stinkpots. This wariness is apparently a trait which was selected for by the pressure the animals recieved once upon a time, and is also a useful trait in helping to identify the animals, in addition to their coastal-plain habitat, and unusual bulk. Sometimes you can even see the red belly, and the dark, sometimes reddish spangled or lined carapace is often a help too. But chances are, if a really big turtle drops off a log immediately after one arrives near a pond in Cape May (or Brigantine, or elswhere in a coastal pond in South Jersey) you can safely call it a Red-belly.

CJV

The best part about Hidden Valley this morning in addition to the striking neotropical and short-distance migrant passerines, was the fact that it was nearly devoid of the herds of birders swamping the Island this weekend.

A stalwart trio showed up this rather cool and windy morning, and were rewarded by some fine sightings. Forgive (or laud as the case may be!) my brevity, but I am bushed this evening!

A nice little flock of Bobolinks was where they should be in the first field, and afforded excellent views. In other Icterid notes, Orchard Orioles are in full effect in the hedges at Hidden, and being one of North America’s most handsome birds, this was a fine thing. One first year male is definitely on territory in the first, NW corner of the first field, but seems to be mateless. By contrast, adult males are doing display flights and have attending hens in the third and second fields.

While the Prothonotary was silent this morning in the wet woods, a cooperative Magnolia, Balck-thraoted Blue, and getting late female Blue-headed Vireo were all well seen and appreciated.

The willow-pond afforded a nice look at a first-year Black-crowned Night Heron.

Indigo Buntings, hen Blue Grosbeaks, and Field Sparrows, some of the latter which were collecting nest material were also well seen. Great-crests are paired-up, and Eastern Wood-pewees, which may actually stay to nest, along with Eastern Kingbirds were typical, but nonetheless wonderful sub-oscine additions to the outing.

After a well-deserved nap back at the homestead, a turn around the State Park turned up at leat 4 Cliff Swallows, and a cooperative Chat. It also required a cattle-catcher to shoo the lowing herd of spring-weekend rubes off the path! Luckily they were mostly soon diverted and directed to the shops by the “getting and spending” which passes for birding during such events.

Later in the day, Higbee’s turned up a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, performing Chats, some excellent views of more than a couple “huge” male Fence Lizards, and a legitimately huge wumpuss of a recenty moulted Black Rat Snake- who easily had a good foot on me in length!

The best part of Higbee’s though were the first stub-tailed and stubby-billed recently fledged Carolina Wrens that I have seen this year. Their parents were very muc in attendance, and the babies were down-right toddler-like in thier appeal. The second brood cannot be too far behind for these huge-in personality, appealingly handsome in plumage, and comfortingly familiar in perpetual presence, vociferous litle imps.

Thanks to Sam Galick for forwarding a great record photo of a Black-necked Stilt seen from the Magnesite Plant this morning-a thought or two on Stilts in NJ will be forthcoming-but not just now. Now it is time to find a pillow…

CJV

I started the day with a wander around a spot which I neglect most days, the fields around the Nature Conservancy’s Cape Island Creek Preserve. This spot is directly across the creek from my apartment, and yet for some reason I go there less than I should.

The birding was great, though I found no rarities or any serious migratory movements. Most was in the breeding bird category. Although, I have there, and yesterday seen the first female and young male Black & White’s. There were also several Northern Parulas and a Black-throated Blue or two.

Icterids of five species (Red-wing, Brown-headed Cowbird, “Purple” Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle and Orchard Oriole), were territorial or courting and conspicuous. One nearly completely breeding plumaged and seriously territorial male Orchard Oriole was possessed of a small, young-male coloured “supercilliary”- but only on the right side of his face! Whether this was a “scar” or evidence of age was underterminable by me. It should be noted that no hen birds were in the territory he was claiming.

Field Sparrows are feeding young, and female Yellow Warblers were carrying nest matierial. Male Yellow Warblers only arrived on Cape Island what seems like a couple of days ago. Little blighters waste no time do they? Yellowthroats are back and territorial everywhere they should be, which is a very fine thing. Common Yellowthroats have their own distinct personality among parulid-dom (as do most) and are strikingly handsome birds. Females have likewise and finally become more in evidence.

A sub-adult Great Blue was also a “good” May bird, as was an adult later at Pond Creek. Great Blues do not breed in Cape May or Cumberland Counties, despite the perfectly good habitat for them to do so around here. I don’t know why this is, nor does anyone as far as I can tell-there’s a mystery in it, to be sure.

The two best parts of Cape Island Island Creek preserve were substantive and asthetic respectively.

First, the substance:
There is indeed a nesting pair of American Kestrels on the Island this year. Which is a rare fair feature to be able to claim in New Jersey these days, and I am absolutely thrilled to have them as breeders in “the patch”. Among a group of outstandingly sharp looking birds, the A.K. stands out as gem. As an old Chinese proverb says of a beautiful maid in the village-”she is a crane among chickens”. When Peregrines, Aplomados, Hobbies and Caracaras are your chickens, this is high praise indeed. American Kestrels are outstandingly beautiful birds. Not long ago, they used to be dirt common, too…

The other, and aesthetic highlight of Cape Island Creek was a pair of Eastern Willets sitting among the stubs of a still-living Choke Cherry, which was festooned with the new growth of Virginia Creeper & Poison Ivy. Shorebirds sitting in a Cherry Tree, surrounded by shiny green new leaves, is far from a usual sight for most folks in the Mid-Atlantic.

Back to speaking of Hawks, however, an hour spent with a couple of folks who were dilligently pre-occupied with bull-shitting and spring Hawkwatching at the Beanery, while I was admittedly more pre-occupied with dilligently bull-shitting than hawkwatching (and making bad calls as a result!) revealed a rather impressive hawk flight today, here in the over-promoted, and neglectfully under-studied “Raptor-capital of North America”. Merlins and Harriers seemed to be having a really good push, and two adult Pergrines and a couple of Broadwings were in the mix. A Bald Eagle, the odd Sharpie or Coop also livened up the mix. I was rather surprised to find that well over a dozen Harriers were going while we were watching and talking, but like adult peregrines, I guess if you are tundra-bound, like many Harriers are, now is the time to be doing it, just like the Shorebirds.

Despite the best of efforts, and the heaviest of hitters, no Kites of any sort were seen. The lingering Snow Goose continues to linger at the Beanery, however.

(I neglected to mention that yesterday, there were four Red Knot at Heislerville among the other russet or rufous breeding plumaged Shore-birds by the way.)

I found two young male Common Eider at Higbees Beach, just near the old tresstle this afternoon. They were “called in” by an independent finder just a bit later I hear. The hen Common Eider is likewise still poking around the point jetties too, incidentally.

A third-year and probably the same Lesser Black-backed Gull continues on the little “tern island” on the east side of the Meadows, as was a first winter Bonaparte’s Gull.

The best part of Higbee’s and Cape Island Creek today were non-birds though. I saw my firs Monarch, and Tiger Swallow-tails last Friday, but have neglected to mention them. They were both to be found inthese spots today too. Today Common Sulphurs and Pearl Crescents were courting and mating. Henry’s Elfins were still on the paths at Higbee’s, and a gorgeous little male Falcate Orangetip was in the Garlic Mustard between the first and second fields at Higbee’s. My first Black Swallowtail of the year was at Cape Island Creek today. A gorgeous butterfly, and one that is far more common here on the Coastal Plain than in the Appalachian ridges where I grew up.

Blister Beetles are climbing up into the budding heads of Sorrel now, and seem less interested in courtship than they were a week or two ago. Beach Tiger Beetles, which began appearing about a week ago are now in full effect around the Meadows too.

A huge (for a Fence Lizard) and fine male specimen of an Eastern Spiny Lizard was on the path which led to the Eider today. He was golden and completely unmarked on the dorsum, as an old male should be. The blue-black of his gorget extended up and over his arms, and the bright blue of the central true “gorget” was an intense and nearly flourescent indigo hue. While South Jersey is not at all the salamader haven of North Jersey’s Ridges and Valleys, it makes up for it in having Lizards in abundance.

The best part of the day came at sunset though, and was observed from my favorite little hillock overlooking Pond Creek Marsh behind the magnesite plant and Sunset Beach.

Two Coyotes swam across the marsh, hauled out, shook off like the dogs they are, and trotted off towards Sunset Boulevarde and the Meadows/ State Park. I had to do a double take, cause it looked like two dogs swimming across the creek, and I tried to convince myself they were just white-tails. (Deer, like elephants, are one of the few large mammals which frequently colonize islands-Deer are excellent swimmers, and don’t mind extended crossings, really.) But no, a better look revealed they really were the exact canids I thought them to be in the first place.

It was recently pointed out that resident Coyote pack in the neighborhood has not been nearly so vocal as in the past, and has perhaps decreased in number. I hadn’t realised it, bu the fact is true. I was very pleased to see that these two “Prairie Wolves” had made it through the sport-hunting pressure of the winter and were themselves still hunting the area. Something about having a large predator in the area makes it seem a lot less suburban and New Jersey-esque.

Coyotes at Sunset were the perfect ending to a fine day of birds, critters, and stimulating chit-chat. I must say, having no corporate pressure to find birds for money makes April and May, in some way very much more enjoyable than when competitively “scouting” among, as Nietzsche would’ve called them, “the lowing herds”.

CJV

Hidden Valley was rather quiet this morning, however, A territorial male Prothonotary has returned to one of their favored breeding sites in the wet woods betweent the Fileds and the stables.

Spurred by this success, I also found one singing male at the Beanery, where there are ususally three pairs.

I find it very interesting that they almost always return first to Cumberland County, then work their way down the peninsula, and the southernmost spot in NJ is consistently last to be re-settled by this decidedly southern bird. This is a case where some banding efforts could prove to be of great interest: Do the birds arrive north where it is far balmier than the Point, and trickle down as it gets warmer at land’s end; or do the breeding Prothonotaries nesting in the ocean-cooled maritime microclimate of Cape Island, being honed by natural selection, simply arrive on their territories at a later predetermined schedule.

This would be a fine local research project for a banding student of migration, or organization.

Otherwise, a male Blue-headed Vireo was at the Beanery, in addition to a solitary, yet very vocal Rusty Blackbird. Starting to get late for the Rusty this far south in NJ.

Willets were moving en masse today off the point, totalling in the hundreds. The largest flock I saw while sea-watching this morning consisted of 45 birds, and several flocks of between 15 and thirty were winging north over the Atlantic, coming from Delaware. The vanguard of S.B. Dowitcher arriving in numbers were also in their midst.

In fact I just heard, at about 11:30 P.M, a set of Willets flying north over the town,, “Pill-will-wlleting” all the way in their northbound trek under cover of darkness. 12 Willets at Reeds beach which were recently reported, hardly constitutes a “horde”, and anyone who has ever studied their migration a bit would’ve been aware of this fact.

2 Breeding-plumaged Least Sandpipers at the Meadows, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch or two at Hidden Valley were the only other reall migrants of note.

Gannets have largely cleared out, too by the way, However D.C. Corms were having another huge surge today, with thousands all-told. Some skeins numbered well over 250 alone.

Migrant Sharp-shinned Hawks and A. Kestrels have been moving through in better numbers the last few days though.

Herp-wise I saw my first Black Racer of the year at Higbee’s. Known by their smooth scales and lack of a vestige of pattern on their backs, in addition to their very differently shaped heads from Black Rat Snakes. Racers seem to be outnumbered by the latter by a ratio of at lest 10-15 to one here on Cape Island, and are much harder to come by. Also, my first Eastern Box Turtle of the year was clambering about the undergrowth, a female as told by her yellowish eye, and comparatively duller patterned carapace.

Cheers
CJV

Having spent most of my afternoon in the Stone Harbor Police Station pressing charges on an anti-plover thug, I am really a bit worn out today, and just want to pass along a few notes:

An incredibly cooperative Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow was on the south end of Nummy’s Island today, singing his guts out. (Why on earth did it ever get spread that these birds don’t really sing, I wonder? He was going at a rate of 2 per minute!) I got some great pictures from the road, however, just north of the toll bridge. Please do not walk out on tte marsh though, the bird is easy enough to see from the pavement, and clearly on territory. I was really surprised to find it there, especially singing and especially this early.

Hopefully this may relieve some of the pressure the birds on Ocean Drive receive during the World Series of Birding. While on the team, I have personally witnessed the “Team Zeiss” captain and Director of CMBO, as well as the newly installed CMBO Director of Bird Programs, literally run willy-nilly at top speed, splashing all the way, through this famous patch of marsh on Ocean Drive in order to flush the Saltmarsh Sharptails near Breezy Lee. Surely a cry-of foul, and a disqualifier in the game, but when you make up the rules, no-one is looking, and none are willing to point out that the emperor really wears no clothes, well, you can get away with anything in the name of “conservation”, I guess…

Anyway, Seasides have also returned to the leeward, bayside edge in the marsh behind Nummy’s as well.

Forster’s Terns were doing back-stand courtship displays today in the State Park- I really think they may actually breed here or in the new islands at the Meadows this year. It is not at all usual to see this display among Forster’s on Cape Island.

My first “Blue”, as in adult male Blue Grosbeaks finally arrived at Higbee’s this morning, but I was on a specific quest for Prairie Warblers in the Dune forest, and stopped just long enough to admire that amazing Corn-flower, nearly purplish blue. There are apparently six Prairies on territory at Higbee’s, but only one more female has apparnetly arrived. As a result though, and as breeding earnestness is setting in, they have now started to sing their “Black-throated” song a lot more. And today, a lone Palm Warbler was out in the cedar and holly scrub, too. Late to the party in the muskeg I guess.

Tricolored Herons were easy enough to see in the back-bays today, I managed four all told.

Willets were both moving overhead at the point, flying north over and into the bay, or in pairs at Shell-bay, and on Nummy’s Island. Wilets are also looking territotrial at Pond-creek today, and Greater legs continue to come through and overhaead in numbers off the point. A couple of Whimbrel were also on Nummy’s today as well.

My first Spotted Sandpiper of the year was seen this evening from my favorite hillock overlooking Pond Creek behind the Magnesite plant. I just love their scientific name “Actitis”. It sounds like some kind of chronic ailment thesbians might be prone to, to my imaginative ear.

And I could only manage 2 Parasitic Jaegers this evening from my aforementioned evening perch. 2 is just fine with me though, I could never tire of this, perhaps my favorite bird. The 20th or so of April is prime for Royal Terns to start turning up, but I have neither seen nor heard of any just yet-soon though. This is also among my most favorite of creatures, Royal Terns were well named, can’t wait till I can witness their return.

Herpwise, I found my first Diamond-backed Terrapin of the year out at Stone Harbor, but a whole heckuvalot more surprising was a Spotted Turtle on the road to Shell-bay! the edge of a saltmarsh is not at all where I would expect to find a Spotted Turtle, but there are weed-chocked fresh ponds in that area I suppose. I had to stop to move him off the side of the road, and likewise did the same for a Black Rat Snake today. I don’t know if anyone ever notices, but next to no-one ever shoos Snakes off of Roads. Due to that, and my lifelong fascination with serpents, I always make it a point to stop for snakes too-many drivers swerve out of their way to get them, awful sods…

Sorry, but having been roughed up, and dealing with police reports most of the day, I really don’t have more in me today than a list, though I saw plenty, and plenty worth writing volumes on. See the jerseybirds list-serve for details, I’ll post more on the nasty incident which occurred at Stone Harbor Pt. today, Champagne Island, and Forster’s Terns later. As for now, I am just plain knackered!

Go birding!
CJV

Belleplain State Forest was a wonderland of Herps, Butterflies, and Birds this morning, and the day became a truly Red-letter one when I got a life Herp, which it turns out is actually a damned good county record in the bargain!

While wandering around the dirt paths near the lake west of the Sunset Bridge, and East of Rte 347 the first Ground Skink I have ever seen in my 30 years of herping. And I was just walking along the path. An incredibly slender, petite, long-tailed, and delicate lizard, more like a diminutive glass-lizard (a legless”skink”), it whizzed off the dirt and into the leaf-litter almost like smll snake. Luckily, it paused, dove into the sun-warm leaf litter, and popped up again a few inches away, before diving down for good. A rich milk chocolatey brown on the back, with a contrasting darker umber lateral border on either side it really was a dapper little animal, and not entirely unreminsicent of a Scincid version of a Red-backed Salamander.

WOW, a completely unexpected, and unlooked for life-herp is a rare, fair treat, but it gets better. Entirely unbeknownst to me, it comes on very good authority that the first record for this animal in the county, and one of the few for the state has only just come this very week, from a location not very far away.

How very cool is that!

Not nearly as notworthy from a record and rarity point of view, but I again had a great Estern Five-lined Skink encounter, while standing stock still for a time waiting for one of the 4 singing Prothonotary Warblers I happened upon in the southern reaches of Belleplain today.

This one was a female, as told by her distinct stripe, feminine proportions, and lack of reddish about the face. She emerged from a fallen log near the edge of a White-cedar swamp, basked a bit, and then hunted around in plain sight for awhile-which was amazing. She would pause and wait, on top of the log, snatch a small passing insect, then disppear under the loose bark to remerge somewhere else. Sometimes, she would come out of a nook with only her snout emerging, and wait patiently in ambush before lunging out at a prey item. If successful, she would break cover to climb out and bask for a few moments, liking her chops and clearly enjoying the warmth.

Fence Lizards were not at all hard to see in Belleplain today, but they are not nearly as secretive as Skinks. Yesterday in the venerable dune scrub at Higbee’s Beach I found no fewer than 7 Fence Lizards, from small, dark grey barred females basking on driftwood, to handsome, blue-throated scurrying males, Fence Lizards (also known as Eastern Spiny Lizards) were easy to comeby in the Hollies and Beach-plums at Higbee’s Beach. I get a big kick out of this, cause they really do have a prediliction for that gnarled driftwood attached to dune-sculpted trees, which bears a remarkable resmblance to the stuff found in lizard-fanciers terarria! This year however, it should be noted that I even had a Fence Lizard sighting at Higbee’s during that balmy 70 degree heat wave in February

Interestingly, the male Fence Lizard who lives in the fire-wood pile in the driveway, right next to my parking space, which I have to make sure is not under my tire before I pull out in the warmer months, has not shown himself yet this year.

I still can’t get over the Ground Skink, and just what a significant record this turned out to be!

I should also note that I overturned not one log, disturbed no leaf-litter, nor touched any herp today, and managed some great observations, and tallied 9 species just by listening and looking.

Cheers
CJV

…they don’t know that they’re ugly.

(To those who may not have been fans, that is a line from my all-time favorite “adult” cartoon: Ren & Stimpy. It comes from the iconic “Happy, Happy; Joy, Joy” song, and goes something like this: “The little critters of nature…They don’t know that they’re ugly.”)

That out of the way; the “lil critters” of Belleplain are far from ugly, and the place was just crawling with them today-literally!

By far the most exciting find was an Eastern Five-lined Skink, which was most uncharacteristically foraging about 15 feet up on a sun-warmed tree-trunk. Skinks are usually thought of as being scurrying creatures of the forest floor, and this one, spied from some distance away and up in a dead tree was blissfully unaware of my presence, and I got to watch it for nearly half an hour.

The amazing thing is that this is only the second time I have seen this behaviour, and the first was one emerging from a knot hole in a tree about 10 yards away from this one! I think the key to the whole “arboreal Five-lined Skink” thing is that both trees were somewhat rotten, and skinks love to hang out in, and nest in soft, moist, decomposing logs.

Today’s specimen was an adult male, as told by his dullish stripes, reddish tinge to the cheeks and jowels, robust size (and particularly forequarters) and the lack of any blue on the tail. This last point was difficult to determine-cause this skink had clearly lost the last quarter of his tail in some altercation, and was possessed of healed over stub at the tip.

In the bright blue sun, the very fine, extremely smooth, and slippery looking scales radiated with a prismatic effect-causing a refracted/reflected rainbow to appear on the animal’s back as it went about its business. He investigated nooks and crannies, basked in the sun, and every once in a while seized a small invert from the bark. While the tide is turning from mere collection to studying live insects, few folks ever spend the time to just observe wild herps. If possible, it is highly rewarding. And while I was doing it, an occaisional Yellow-throated Warbler sang, and really surprisngly, a Bald Eagle gave its chortled chirp from overhead once or twice.

Southern, or Cope’s, Grey Treefrogs have also begun calling and several where singing in Belleplain today.

Again, right by the Sunset Bridge, something furtive and a scurrying caught my eye, and there in the leaf litter, was a small mammal working its way down a run. It popped up, and revealed it was not a Shrew or a Meadow Vole, but a richly rufous Pine Vole.

I was standing on a slightly elevated perch, and the animal was completely unaware I was watching. After a few minutes, it became clear that there were two of this rarely seen and very appealing little animal rummaging around under the leaves in their little runs, and occaisionally peeping out. Eventually they emerged a bit more often, and foraged around the base of deciduous tree. They seemd to be interested in greening up Partridge Berry but I am not entirely sure. Bear in mind, this was broad daylight, and all I had to do to watch two highly secretive, leaf-litter microtines, which have every carnivorous creature in Belleplain looking for them all the time, was just be quiet, alone, and still for a few moments.

I do apologize to all those trapped in offices, this Thursday, but I have never gotten to see Pine Voles just hanging out, feeding and going about their daily business, and between that and the Skink, I wouldn’t have traded it for all the 9-5 jobs in the world this awesomely beautiful 70 degree April afternoon.

Butterly-wise in Belleplain, Juvenal’s Duskywings were simply everywhere. They must’ve undergone a mass emergence sometime in the last few days. All along the dirt roads, and even some of the paved ones these handsome and fresh blackish spread-winged Skippers were spaced out every couple of yards. Some sported striking white borders on the hind-wing.

Henry’s Elfins were around in far fewer numbers, but were not hard to find. Spring Azure’s powder-blue punctuated the clay-coloured forest floor quite well.

My first bright Green Tiger Beetles of the year caused me to say-aloud- “My god!” The colour of a fresh Green Tiger Beetle’s back is simply ineffable, and I will do no disservice to the beast by trying to describe this hue.

And speaking of Beetles, though not being from Belleplain, the dirt paths in the meadows at Higbee’s have held numerous little mating groups of rather large Blister Beetles lately. Some, presumably the females, bigger than one inch. Blister beetles may be known by their stunted elytra and longish bodies. Do not pick them up though! They earn their name from a rather caustic self-defense mechanism. When poked, like I couldn’t help gently doing, they lay on their sides and feign death. Possums of the Beetle World.

Yes the Herps, bugs, and mice were really something else today, and I forgot to mention seeing my first Eastern Garter Snake as well. There are so many things a quiet, thoughtful observer can happen upon, that are lost in a blitzkrieg of birding-rackem up, check em off, ornitholgolfing.

Another entry on the amazing birds this amazing april day will follow this one, (or precede it, I guess, as the posting goes!)

Cheers
CJV

Recently Written

• Excellent Bayshore Birding: Lots of Shorebirds, Gulls, Silly numbers of Turkeys, and a Vesper Sparrow
• Dolphins, a Brown Pelican, A Cape Island Yellow-throated Warbler and a nice little “fall” around the point in the mist
• Some Eagle notes, etc.
• LAGU in Cape May, and a few other early spring notes
• After the snow in Cape May
• Lots and lots of ducks around Cape May
• Flowering Maples
• News and Notes from Cape May; Black-headed Gull, White-winged Crossbills, continuing Eurasian Wigeon, etc.
• Some nice looks at Short-eared Owls, etc.
• A seal, a balmy day, and the colour of a randy Mallards feet

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• ABA “Peeps” - excellent birding updates from the American Birding Association
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• American Ornithologists Union
• Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) - Collaborations in…you guessed it!
• Ben Johnson Art - some fine photo-realism from a local artist
• Bent’s Life Histories-familiar birds - an edited and synoptic version of Bent’s volumes, an invaluable resource nevertheless
• Bill Hubick Photography - exceptional photos and website from a fine fellow
• Birdlife International - world bird conservation at large
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ - people who actually work hard on conservation in NJ
• ebird
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• Pioneer Birding - excelent blog from the commonwealth and beyond
• Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science - a legitimate Bird Observatory
• Portland Bird Observatory and Field Centre - another legitimate Bird Observatory
• Punkbirder-the unsound approach - We need a lot more “punk-birding” here in the States
• Save the Albatross - if 100,000 people were slaughtered per year, we’d call it genocide…
• Shorebirder - nice blog from CT
• Sibley Guides Notebook - better than the artwork even
• Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center - Dedicated to research for migratory birds
• Surfbirds - world birding news
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• The Onion - America’s “finest” news source-brilliant satire
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