Golden-Winged Warblers and American Woodcocks

In cooperation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service, the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife conducts several surveys each year to measure waterfowl population parameters. As a Wildlife Conservation Corps volunteer, I was involved in an American woodcock survey this month.

Known as the timberdoodle, bogsucker, night partridge, brush snipe, and hokumpoke, this unusual bird is known to appear in NJ. They have been spotted in NJ in places like the Tower Hill Reserve in Bethlehem Township (Hunterdon County) and Quakertown Preserve in Franklin Township (owned by Hunterdon Land Trust).



The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a chubby bird about 11 inches long with an interesting pattern that allows it to blend very effectively into vegetation. It is a ground-dwelling bird has a very long beak that might remind you of some shorebirds. It probes the ground to feed on worms and insects. Technically, it is the shorebird family, but it inhabits damp, brushy woods, and when displaying, moves into nearby grassy or brushy fields.

Its range includes the eastern half of the mainland United States including NJ, and areas farther north through southern Canada during the spring and summer breeding season. For the winter, it migrates to southern New Jersey and as far south as the Gulf Coast.

Woodcock are nocturnal, secretive, and generally solitary creatures and can typically only be observed during the few weeks of their mating ritual. Those of us involved this month were assigned to areas across the state. My group was in Norvin Green State Forest (Passaic County).

A warm evening at sunset is the best time to listen for woodcock. Unfortunately, temperatures below 40 degrees and rain usually eliminates the chances of hearing or seeing the mating display. I only heard the mating calls one evening on the nights I was out.

I tried to place myself at the edge of a damp area that faced out into the open. A male on the ground will start making a short vocal call: peent. He will call several times from the ground, and then fly up into the air about 50 to 100 yards.

Woodcocks are not good flyers and in this ritual it will fly down in a fast, spiraling flight with sounds like whistles, chirps, and trills being made not by the bird vocalizing, but by his wings.

Woodcocks are not endangered in NJ. The surveys are part of a larger monitoring of the species throughout North America, and also a way to map where populations do occur in the state. Some of those areas allow hunting and in NJ to hunt woodcock, rail, snipe, coots or moorhens you need an New Jersey hunting license and Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification.

Golden-winged Warbler caught for banding
Photo by Kristin Munafro via nj.com

In the nongame category of birds migrating through our state, we have the Golden-winged Warbler who is a rarity in our state. This month is also a time for warblers to visit our state,

The Golden-winged Warbler was once locally common in northern New Jersey. Now it is a species that is one of the rarest to encounter in the state.

They winter from southern Mexico south through Central America to Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. This New Jersey-listed endangered species has been reduced from approximately 100 pairs in the mid-1990s down to about 25 pairs today.

The few remaining birds do their nesting in the northwest corner of the state.

This ground-nesting warbler is found in brushy overgrowth along forested edges, shrubby fens, and shrub swamps and can be found along power-line cuts and areas where young forests are regenerating. They avoid a closed canopy setting and can be found in the NJ Highlands and Sussex County.



They have a unique "bee buzz buzz buzz" song.

Clearing of eastern forests is not something we want happening, but this species benefits from the regrowth and young forest that many abandoned or conserved farmlands or fields offer.

New Jersey Audubon has been working to create habitat at its Sparta Mountain Sanctuary and is partnering with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection on habitat creation at the Sparta Mountain Wildlife Management Area.

“Spirit of the Jerseys” State History Fair Celebrates NJ's 350th Anniversary

The 10th “Spirit of the Jerseys” State History Fair will take place on Saturday, May 10 at Washington Crossing State Park in Hopewell Township, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today.

The fair is a signature event in the commemoration of New Jersey’s 350th anniversary, which is being celebrated this year. The fair will showcase many contributions the Garden State has made to the country and world since New Jersey’s founding in 1664.

“As residents of New Jersey, we share a tremendous sense of pride in knowing our state has shaped so much of the progress that has defined the American experience,” said Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. “From the American Revolution to the Industrial Revolution to generating innovation that continues to improve lives and change the world around us, New Jersey’s unique historical legacy is truly unparalleled. As we continue to commemorate the 350th anniversary of New Jersey’s founding, this year’s State History Fair will surely prove the most educational and exciting yet.”

The Spirit of the Jerseys Fair was first held in 2004 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of New Jersey’s State-owned Historic Sites – a system that began in 1903 with the state’s purchase of the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield. The goal of the fair is to engage the public in discovering the state’s history in a fun and enjoyable manner.

New this year, the day starts with a 5k Trail Run and Walk, and ends with a free concert at 5:30 p.m. by the New Jersey 63rd Army Band.

“The State History Fair will give visitors an opportunity to experience five centuries of New Jersey history, and – fittingly – will be held at Washington Crossing State Park, which is the site of one of the pivotal events of the American Revolution,” said Commissioner Martin. “It is an example of the Christie Administration’s support of our state’s history – from the annual History Fair to the continued support for all of our state historic sites, which allow residents to better understand who we are, where we came from, and the role that our ancestors played in making New Jersey such a great state.”

More than 200 historical, government and nonprofit entities and organizations are partnering with the DEP at the annual event. All of the state’s 21 counties will be represented at the fair as well as exhibitors from Delaware, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New York.

At the History Fair, you can take a step back in time and invent with Thomas Edison, tour the New Jersey Hall of Fame mobile museum, learn how to pound corn into flour, play historical games, see a historical fashion show, and experience New Jersey’s past by interacting with exhibitors who will provide insights into the state’s long history.

Activities at the State History Fair can help fulfill badge requirements for Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts. The Office of Historic Sites is offering three professional development hours to elementary and secondary school social studies teachers who attend the fair and engage in its historical activities.

A wide variety of gourmet food trucks will be stationed in the park. Vendors will offer a variety of refreshments, snacks and meals – everything from pastries to empanadas.

While admission is free, there will be an $8 fee per-vehicle parking donation to help defray the cost of the fair.

For more information on the State History Fair, including a listing of events and directions, visit  www.njhistoryfair.org and for more information on New Jersey’s 350th anniversary, visit  http://officialnj350.com

Frog Awakenings

Photo by William Locascio

Now that spring has truly arrived in New Jersey, all kinds of miraculous rebirths are before us in nature.

My friend Bill's backyard pond in northern NJ has always had a few frog visitors and this week a new one has found the pond.

In early April, that frog would have been still frozen awaiting the spring thaw. If its heart turns on before its brain, the brain would be too cold to get oxygen and the circulatory system would dam up and fail. If the brain turns on before the heart, that brain would be starved for oxygen and die. But somehow, all those organs awaken at the right time and they emerge.

Amazing.

Waterfalls of New Jersey

New Jersey probably is not the first place one thinks of to find waterfalls. The Garden State has about 30 waterfalls. Most of them are found in the Kittatinny Ridge (northwest), the north-central Highlands, and the Piedmont of the central part of the state. Almost all of them are on public lands and so are accessible to visitors, and many of them offer surrounding lands suitable for a walk or hike.

NJhiking.com has many hikes that feature waterfalls.

Buttermilk Falls in Sussex County tops out at 80-90 feet and cascades spectacularly down the red shale face of the Kittatinny Ridge. It is the only waterfall in New Jersey, apart from Paterson's Great Falls, with a developed viewing area created by the National Park Service. There is an interpretive display and a wooden walkway to the top.

Buttermilk Falls is in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, alongside a gravel road south of Walpack Center. The Park Service does not advertise Buttermilk Falls, keeping the location a pleasant surprise.

Coppermines Trail has several pretty cascades. Norvin Green State Park has Chikahoki Falls and the Apshawa Preserve has some nice cascades on Apshawa Brook.

Hacklebarney State Park has multiple cascades along the Black River in an easily accessible park.

The Pocono Environmental Center has a nice shady hike through a hemlock forest with several waterfalls.

Hemlock Falls

 

As a young boy, South Mountain Reservation in Essex County was my local forest, and I made many trips to there. The landscape and trails are moderate and somewhat rocky, and you're never that far from roads and development. It is a bit harder to escape the traffic noise than some of those northwestern NJ trails. It's suburban.

At the eastern edge is the view from Washington Rock, where a signal beacon warned the General and his Army at Morristown that the British Army was approaching. My favorite destination was probably Hemlock Falls and walking along the Rahway River (white trail markers). You could also walk part of the 40-mile Lenape Trail (Yellow trail markers) that uses some of South Mountain.  There is a nice hike of about 6 miles that will include Hemlock Falls.

If waterfalls are something you'd like to explore, your best bet in books for our area is Waterfalls of the Mid-Atlantic States: 200 Falls in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennysylvania.