An unexpected milestone: 1,000 Mercer County checklists

I reached a birding milestone today, submitting my 1,000th e-Bird checklist in Mercer County, New Jersey. By happenstance the day before I discovered I had completed 998 checklists, and I added No. 999 yesterday afternoon with a short visit to Colonial Lake Park in Lawrence Township.

It was an easy decision on where to go for No. 1,000: the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, where I’ve done nearly the majority of my birding since taking up the hobby — 492 checklists on e-Bird since I filed my first report there Feb. 17, 2019.

I hoped I might find something special today, but I didn’t get anything I hadn’t seen before. But in a sense, all birds I observe are special, be it a common one like the American robin or a seasonal visitor like the Eastern towhee.

Having seen my friend Andy at Colonial Lake yesterday, I knew he would be at the Pole Farm this morning. He arrived shortly after I did, and I missed him waving at me to draw my attention to the American kestrel that’s been perching in a tree next to the Cold Soil Road parking lot.

We saw a couple of kestrels perched on far off bird boxes, and we hoped we might find a yellow warbler as Andy had seen the day before. We had some nice bluebird encounters, and their predominant color seemed a deeper blue today under the overcast sky.

On our way back to our cars, we came upon the delightful birding couple of Old Sam Peabody and Blonde-Crested Warbler, who have taught me much about birding these past few years.

Jim Parris, the top birder at the Pole Farm, was, like the yellow warbler, not to be seen. But as Andy and I returned to our cars another Pole Farm regular, Nancy, was aiming her lens at a hole in the maintenance barn. Kestrels have moved in, and one was peeking out at us.

Another kestrel, Andy and Nancy alerted me, was perched on a branch of one of the big trees at the trailhead. The light wasn’t great, so my photos aren’t anything special. But outing No. 1,000 at the Pole Farm sure was.