Because of work and other complications, I figured I wasn’t going to get in any birding — let alone bird photos — on this “Leap Day,” the quadrennial 29th of February.
After a quick run to campus and the bank this morning, as I pulled back into my driveway, beyond the roof of our house I spotted a red-tailed hawk perched on one of the large branches of our backyard larch tree.
Trying to make as little fuss as possible, I got out of the car, stepped quickly into the house and made a beeline for my camera. Luckily, when I got to the sliding back door leading to our patio, the hawk was still perched above me.
I pulled the slider aside and, leaning against the door frame, took a dozen or so shots. The sun was beaming in from the southeast, lighting the hawk up nicely. My two favorites shots are above and below.
I finished the month with 66 species spotted in Mercer County, one more than I did last year, and 67 in the state, one less than last year. Now, on to March and migration. Birdcast.info resumes its reports tomorrow!
The Jersey Birder 