Lather, Rinse, Repeat

his was an odd weekend for me, as I only went to Bayonne, and only made one trip. I wasn't in the WSB, since I'm still a bit of a novice (started spring 2005) and my friggin' shin splints were killing me. I made it to Liberty State Park this evening for a few hours as well.

Saturday at Bayonne wasn't too bad. Not the big Wood Warbler concentration of Friday, but still good -- if typical -- variety: Redstart, Magnolia, Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-white and Ovenbird. Not much to listen to, as only the Ovens were in throat. Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Red-eyed Vireo were firsts of the year for me, and Blue-headed Vireo was also around. Veery and Robin only among the thrushes, no singing Woods like the day before.

The mudflats are starting to show more peeps, with ample Least and Spotted Sandpipers to go along with a couple Greater Yellowlegs. Semipalmated Plovers were new for the year as well, darting around the Great Black-backed Gull that's still working to pick clean his Channel Cat (he drags it into the tidal stream when he's done, and knows exactly where to retrieve it when he gets a hankering for rotten fish).

This evening at LSP was very quiet, with only Red-winged Blackbirds and a couple of Baltimore Orioles violating radio silence with any consistency. Yellow Warblers, maybe five or six, were the busiest warblers, followed by Yellow-rumped. These were joined by pairs of Black-and-white and Common Yellowthroat. A single Northern Parula added a bit of spice, allowing nice views from four feet as he picked through some mulberry on the landward edge of the Interpretive Center woods before moving off into the floppy, concealing leaves of a cottonwood.

I've got some more involved articles in the works on the politics of bird conservation from a libertarian perspective, hoping to get something posted that I'd be willing to submit for I and the Bird. With links and stuff, and without ham-fisted attempts to come up with fresh ways of saying, "Then I saw a Redstart!" or "I went to Bayonne this morning." You know: content.