Which way to go? Follow the rare bird

A week had passed since I last went birding, and I was determined to get out before work this morning. But which way to go? At first I thought I’d go to my go-to place, the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm. But birders had spotted a common gallinule — rare in these parts — the past few days at the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

As I backed my car out of the driveway, I decided: let’s go for the gallinule! It was a good choice.

I peered into the swamp and the pond at the Dyson Tract, looking for any trace of the gallinule, a bird that rarely appears in Mercer County, New Jersey. As I was on my way back toward my car, I met up with another birder coming up the trail. He goes by Anonymous on e-Bird, and I will honor his choice by not revealing his name here.

Anonymous was looking for the gallinule, too, and when we parted ways we each agreed to holler to one another if one of us spotted it. A short while later, I was nearly back to my car when he caught up with me to say he’d spotted the bird and showed me a clear photo of it wading in the swamp.

Another birder who arrived joined us as we quick-stepped up the central trail to a break in the trees lining the edge of the swamp. After a few minutes, Anonymous spotted the bird again, and we all trained our binoculars and cameras on the bird.

Shooting was tricky. The bird was moving around, and many tree branches obscured the view. Eventually, we all got photos of the gallinule and savored that.

That was the first gallinule I’ve seen in New Jersey. I had logged one a few years ago in a wildlife sanctuary in Florida, but I didn’t get it on camera.

Today, I was grateful for Anonymous sharing his find. I tried paying it back by alerting our GroupMe birding group to the bird’s continued presence and added a description of where we’d spotted it. 🦅