With each passing year, it seems we’re getting less and less snow than we did previously. We got a surprising two inches of the white stuff overnight, and I gleefully headed out to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, anticipating some bird-in-snow shots.
While it seemed most of the birds decided to sleep in at the winter solstice, a few did pop out and give me an opportunity to capture them in pixels. The most cooperative bird was the cardinal topping this post. He perched high up in a tree at the edge of the woods, and he was obliging enough to face the sun, which had at last emerged from the clouds.
I like the shot up top because it clearly shows the snow behind the bird. Although the snow is not quite as prominent, I like this next shot — the last one I snapped this morning — even better because the bird is stretching forward. That makes the composition more dynamic than the top photo.
After I’d walked more than a mile on the trails, I had encountered about a dozen dark-eyed juncos foraging on one of the trails and flitting among the trees. At that point, I was in the woods and the sun was not fully out. I’m grateful that by shooting in the c-RAW format, I was able to produce a decent image.
Once I brought my images up on screen at home, I got a bonus: a couple of frames of an American tree sparrow. Thinking it was another junco, I pointed my camera up toward the bird and snapped a couple of frames. Nothing against the juncos, but I was glad to add the tree sparrow to my e-Bird checklist. They aren’t as abundant as the juncos, and I love their rufous caps and bicolored bills.
This afternoon, I headed down to Trenton marsh for a short, windy walk. Silver Lake was heavy with gadwalls and ring-necked ducks. Two mute swans were also on the water, out of range for a decent photo.
It was great to see the swans. Until a few months ago, I could always count on seeing a pair of them on the lake or, more typically, on the nearby marsh. But they disappeared in either late spring or early summer.
I can’t tell, of course, whether these are the same birds. Whoever they are, I’m glad they’ve come calling. 🦅
The Jersey Birder 