The Nor’easter finally churned away from New Jersey, and the rain fizzled out early this afternoon as I was on my way to John A. Roebling Park at Abbott Marshlands. I’d seen recent reports on e-Bird of Northern shovelers and hoped I’d find one.
No such luck. After better than 48 hours of rain, the marsh was curiously low on water. I counted four dozen Canada geese and a single mallard, and I heard only a few other birds on a 50-minute walk. I wondered if I’d have a rare photo shutout.
On the way back to my car, I watched a belted kingfisher race past me with another bird behind it veering off into a tree ahead of me. Under heavy cloud cover, I had a bit of difficulty focusing on the bird, which was jumping from branch to branch every few seconds.
Eventually, I caught up to it, an Eastern phoebe, and grabbed a few decent shots. My favorite tops this post.
I took a shot of some of the geese in the marsh with my iPhone, but the phoebe was the only bird I photographed individually. I’m satisfied with that.
I plan to head to the Pole Farm tomorrow morning, ever hopeful for lots of bird to capture on camera. 🦅