One of the things I love about birding is its unpredictability. You get skunked one day, strike gold(finches) the next. Today was one of the latter, when my pal Jim and I made three stops in and around Princeton.
The first and primary stop was the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, and we had near instant success. As we walked up from the parking lot, I spotted a bird of lemon yellow in a small tree about 20 feet off the trail. What was it?
Jim wasn’t sure, but then he gasped in surprise: dickcissel!
A few weeks ago, we had driven several miles and stopped along a country road to follow a report of one, getting distant views. But here it was, right before us, an infrequent visitor in our part of the world. We had to thread the needle metaphorically to focus on it through small tree branches and grasses.
The bird parked in one place, flew left and landed in another, then flew back to the right. Over five or 10 minutes, Jim and I managed to get several shots. I wasn’t certain I’d gotten more than one or two decent frames, but once I got home I was pleased to find several images, including the one topping this post.
The fun was just beginning. Another birder told us he’d seen a Northern harrier near the big tree that’s a landmark in one of the main fields. Not long after, Jim spotted the harrier flying, too far away for me to get a shot worth sharing here.
Later a merlin flew nearby and we spotted what I’m reasonably certain was a sharp-shinned hawk perched in a tree. A killdeer flew overhead.
We finished our Pole Farm walk and drove to the Updike Farm in Princeton, hoping to spot Savannah sparrows. We had no luck there, but Jim ID’d a phoebe that landed in front of us, too briefly to get a photo.
Our final stop was the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. Soon after arriving, we spotted the little blue heron that’s been hanging out in the swamp. We also spotted a pair of double-crested cormorants and a green heron.
The highlight, though, was a pair of red-shouldered hawks that were crying out every minute or so. We walked up the path perpendicular to the canal, where I’d previously spotted a red-shouldered hawk.
We could hear the two birds and watched them flying about the trees. Finally, we got one within sight and tried to get into position so the sunlight would show the bird to best advantage. I was pleased to find later that I got the bird with its beak open in a couple of frames. Here’s one of them.
As we made our way back to the car, Jim spotted a solitary sandpiper walking on a log in the swamp.
One more suprise was in store. A wood duck in eclipse plumage landed not far from the sandpiper, and Jim and I strained to get shots of it as it swam out of view.
Just before we got back to the parking lot, I looked into the swamp and spotted five wood ducks swimming. One of them may have been the one we previously spotted, but who knows or cares?
The wood ducks were a fine coda to a great day of birding. 🦅
