May 24, 2021: Field Journal 1. Monday

Date: May 24, 2021
Time Birding: 7:30am-12:00pm
Temperature: 65 degrees, cloudy, little wind, scatters of light wind
Location: Great Swamps NWR, Chatham, NJ

Not going to lie, today was kinda a sh*t show for me. My alarm didn't go off, I left my binos at my boyfriends house 2.5 hours away, and my car wouldn't start. I am really missing Vermont and do not enjoy being home in New Jersey, and I just got home last night, so it has been difficult. However, I managed to borrow a friend's really crappy spare pair and get my car started, and I headed off to the Great Swamps. It was so nice being back in a woodsy/marshy area again. As soon as I stepped out of my car, I was greeted with two Swainson's Thrush in the parking lot and 3 flycatcher sp. I saw these 3 Flycatcher looking birds near me... but I am very bad with Flycatchers. The light was dim and their yellow belly looked white to me. As they went higher in the trees, they finally started singing their song that I recorded. I was pretty sure it was GCFs, but I recorded them to review the song just in case! They eventually came down to eye level, and I was able to properly identify them! What a remarkable and grounding moment for me. I then walked through the NWR for hours, exploring the marshland that turned into woods that turned into beach. This spot was so great, and was a great way for me to get reintroduced to bird songs. So, today did not turn out as bad as it started.

Posted on May 24, 2021 11:11 PM by mia0507