This morning the Bird Club visited Merrill Creek Reservoir in New Jersey. Bill Roehrig guided us through some new areas (to me at least) on this 290 acre preserve. This is always a good area to hear prairie warblers with their ascending song. We got a great view of a male singing its heart out. (This prairie warbler photo was taken by Virginia Derbyshire in 2005, when we visited Merrill Creek while they were banding birds.) We also got to see common yellowthroats, Baltimore orioles and great-crested flycatchers.
We were admiring two eastern kingbirds in a meadow, when Bill spotted two coyotes hunting in the far corner of the meadow. We were able to watch them for some time, (but I never thought to take a photo). Then we headed down to the stream. There we switched to flower watchers and admired Indian cucumber root (not quite in bloom), showy orchis, false hellebore, fringed polygala, and marsh marigold.
We heard a Louisiana waterthrush, but couldn't see it. We also found a black bear track in the mud. Then Bill discovered this eastern-eyed click beetle on a pine snag. At the top of the hill we viewed two male scarlet tanagers, and found a male ovenbird singing. It was a great morning of exploring through different habitats, and discovering all sorts of nature treasures. My thanks to Bill for scouting the area and finding an amazing route for our morning.
