When I woke up Wednesday morning, I decided to shake up my routine and instead of driving to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, I took the short walk over to the Rider University campus.
It had been a while since I walked the campus, with its wide lawns, ample tree cover and pleasant walkways. No birds were on the pond in the center of campus, and in fact few birds were about at all. I did get a close encounter with a gray catbird on the north side of the pond, and I’ve honored the bird by placing its photo at the top of the post.
I walked toward the back of campus and briefly turned down the Johnson trolley line trail that forms the dividing line between the academic and residential side of campus and the athletic fields.
A red-eyed vireo was singing in the woods adjoining the trail, and I managed to get a clear recording of it.
I didn’t see the vireo, of course. I hear red-eyed vireos on the majority of my trips to the Pole Farm and many other spots much of the year. However, I find them so difficult to spot that I refer to them as “invisibirds.”
In any event, the vireo’s recitativ cheered me.
I did spot a red-eyed vireo in those same woods last week when I walked through the Loveless Nature Preserve that abuts the Rider campus and the trolley trail. I got a good look at the vireo through my binoculars — it was on a tree branch just above eye level about 25 feet ahead of me — but he flitted off before I could pull up my camera.
Better luck next time! 🦅
The Jersey Birder 