Avian Life at Lumberton

Birders are no different than people, in that they eagerly await the renaissance brought on by arrival of spring. We begin looking for signs in February as the early migrants make their appearance. This article features arrivals, departures, and year-round resident birds that change their colors and behavior to welcome spring.

Over the past two years the Medford Leas Birders have been making an effort, on both campuses, to attract more Bluebirds to nest in the boxes of our respective meadow areas. It is encouraging that our observers have been seeing Bluebirds more regularly than in the recent past. Attracting the birds is not simply a matter of putting up nice nest boxes for them because the Bluebirds have to compete with other box nesters like Tree Swallows and House Wrens.

The Bald Eagle is a bird that has made a huge comeback and can be seen fairly regularly (if you are on the lookout for it) soaring over our campus or perched in a tree or snag that borders the Rancocas Creek and its marshes.

An interesting group of insectivores are collectively referred to as Flycatchers. Most of them are a drab plumage of gray, white, olive green and shades of yellow. Some are so similar in plumage that very good birders identify them by their different vocalizations. They are all excellent aerial hunters of insects. Fortunately for us the ones we are most likely to encounter can easily be told apart by their different plumage, behavioral characteristics and the habitat we find them in. These are Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher and Eastern Kingbird.

On the night of June 19, after an already wet week, the Lumberton/Medford area received around 5 inches of rain in one storm. Nearby areas upstream in Pemberton, Medford Lakes and Tabernacle received equal or larger rainfall amounts. On June 20 the town of Lumberton was evacuated and Main St. (Route 541) was closed. Robert Koch went for a walk on the Lumberton trails along the Rancocas Creek, and found the water higher than he had ever seen.

The most anticipated arrivals of Spring are the Warblers with their colorful plumage and abundant and varied vocalizations. However, there is another group of songsters that also arrives with the Spring migration. Like the warblers, some will only be passing through on their way to more northerly breeding grounds, and some will breed locally. This group, the Vireos, lack the colorful plumage of the warblers; they are muted hues of gray, white, yellow and olive green. So they are most often identified by their songs and calls.