Background: The Mannington Meadows region of Salem County includes nearly 6000 acres of varied habitats, with little sprawl, but only a small portion is officially preserved. Stow Creek to the east is part of the large Mad Horse Creek WMA, with forests and large salt marshes. Pedricktown (Old Man’s Creek) to the north and west of Mannington is one of the brackish estuaries that form the Jersey shore of the Delaware River, north as far as Trenton. Though heavily developed, these wetlands have hidden treasures for the curious naturalist.
The day of the ML Birders trip began chilly but perfectly calm. By afternoon, the temperature was well into the 60s. After a delay due to an accident on I-295, our first highlight was a group of 9 Sandhill cranes at the Pedricktown causeway on a falling tide. Another pair was at Mannington Meadows, wading in the water, calling, and generally putting on a show.
It was a great day for vultures; there were Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures in the air almost all day. Also a good day for eagles — all ages, but mostly adults at nests, about 8 nests total around Mannington and Stow Creek. Other raptors included N. Harrier, Kestrel, Coopers Hawk, Red-tail. An Osprey was calling at Money Island but was never seen.
At Featherbed Lane (Sharptown) we were too early, apparently, for Meadowlarks; but other birds were lined up on the wire.
Stow Creek’s pond, near the end of the road into the marsh, had a good-sized flock of Greater Yellowlegs, a few Wilson’s snipe, and Green-winged Teal. Pied Billed Grebes and Teal were at Mannington. Land birds were very scarce.
List: 42 species
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Mallard
American Black Duck
Green-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Sandhill Crane
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Lesser Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Ring-billed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Blue Jay
Crow, sp, probably American
Crow, sp, probably Fish
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
House Sparrow
House Finch
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
Particpants:
Back row, Robert Koch, Laurie Larson, David Wurster;
Front row, Judy Austermiller, Ethel Cebra, Miriam Swartz.
Photos are by Judy (JA), Robert (RK) and David (DW).
These maps show the route we took (click to enlarge).
