As the pandemic wore on last summer, I hung a hummingbird feeder from a portable metal stand outside the window where I set up my home office. The wind kept knocking the stand over. I managed to nick the stand with my lawn tractor one day, and to my great dismay the glass portion ofContinue reading “The magnificent hummingbird”
Author Archives: Dan
My bird identification skills are shaping up
When I was a kid, my dad showed me outlines of Japanese aircraft in cards and books that he’d been issued while stationed in the South Pacific during World War II. Recognizing the difference between a Japanese Zero and an American P-51 Mustang, he told me, could give you and your buddies a few preciousContinue reading “My bird identification skills are shaping up”
The colors of the day: scarlet and indigo
What a thrill! I finally got a good look at scarlet tanagers today out at the Mercer County Pole Farm. I had only seen a scarlet tanager once before, during a previous summer when on a bicycle I flushed one from the trail-side brush. That was only a glimpse, but the sighting was a no-doubter:Continue reading “The colors of the day: scarlet and indigo”
Crowing about the mute swans
I spent the last week and a half on the road, visiting family in Michigan and taking a side trip to Milwaukee. Between the time in the car and all the things I was doing with family, I had only a limited time to look for birds. The most satisfying opportunity was at Cass LakeContinue reading “Crowing about the mute swans”
A new tool for better birding: Merlin’s Sound ID
Wouldn’t it be great if you could record the song of a bird you can’t identify and have it instantly recognized? The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has taken a major step forward in realizing that dream with its recently launched Sound ID feature in the Merlin app. I’ve used that app for the past fewContinue reading “A new tool for better birding: Merlin’s Sound ID”
Seattle: City of Crows
Other than making a few quick trips across the Delaware River into Bucks County outside Philadelphia, I’ve been a New Jersey birder exclusively since the COVID pandemic arrived. Finally I was able to venture afar, traveling to Seattle to visit one of my sons. When I lived in Seattle 30 years ago, I didn’t payContinue reading “Seattle: City of Crows”
I’m uncommonly fond of the common yellowthroat
I believe I crossed the threshold from casual birder to thoroughly hooked last spring when I began recognizing the song of the common yellowthroat. The song was unique, and it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t see the bird chirping it from the trees at the Pole Farm at Mercer Meadows Park. Finally, IContinue reading “I’m uncommonly fond of the common yellowthroat”
A close encounter with Brood X
This afternoon I set out into the 90-degree heat to look for birds in the Institute Woods, whose paths Albert Einstein walked during his Princeton years. The woods, named for the adjacent Institute for Advanced Study, are ordinarily a place for a quiet, contemplative ramble on the trails through the trees, with birds chirping andContinue reading “A close encounter with Brood X”
Naming our neighbors in nature
Like so many others keeping close to home since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re paying much more attention to the creatures inhabiting and visiting our yard and neighborhood. We can’t resist naming some of them. I mentioned recently that we’ve named Aeneas and Dido the house wrens who’ve moved into in our backyardContinue reading “Naming our neighbors in nature”
Now are the foxes
On another futile rose-breasted grosbeak watch this morning, I looked out across the golf course beyond our property line and spotted a couple of red foxes. It’s not unusual to see a fox trotting across the course, sometimes even venturing onto our backyard grass. The golf course maintenance superintendent told me that foxes have livedContinue reading “Now are the foxes”
The Jersey Birder 