Author Archives: Dan

On rose-breasted grosbeak watch, a mighty fine surprise

We’re in the second week of May, and I’ve been watching the reports of rose-breasted grosbeaks roll in from other birders nearby. No such luck here at home, even as I’ve camped out with my coffee and camera each morning, hoping one of them will arrive at our feeders. This afternoon as I passed byContinue reading “On rose-breasted grosbeak watch, a mighty fine surprise”

The early bird gets the sightings

Up and about earlier than usual this morning, I headed over to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm and was rewarded richly. I had barely walked out of the parking lot at Cold Soil and Keefe roads when two tree swallows beckoned me in to one of the best birding locations in Mercer County. Red-winged blackbirdsContinue reading “The early bird gets the sightings”

Home is where the house wrens are

Spring has sprung here in central New Jersey, and I’ve been on high alert for seasonal visitors who are due to arrive soon, some just passing through and others who will stay awhile. I was on the back patio the other day when I spotted what I was almost certain was a house wren checkingContinue reading “Home is where the house wrens are”

The first bird I identified on my own

As a kid growing up in northeast Ohio, I knew the basics of the birds that frequented our neighborhood. Mom always pointed them out, marveling at the cardinals and their song, tisk-tisking the raucous blue jays (“those bullies!”), and pointing with delight at the cute house wrens popping in and out of the birdhouse thatContinue reading “The first bird I identified on my own”

All hail the New Jersey state bird, the American goldfinch

The American goldfinch — the New Jersey state bird, dazzling with yellow in mating-season plumage — is not easily overlooked. I’ve lived 15 years in this state in two incarnations: six years in Union County in the northern tier, and the last nine in Mercer County in the central section. In all my north JerseyContinue reading “All hail the New Jersey state bird, the American goldfinch”

You meet the nicest people on the birding paths

On-the-trail etiquette is a bit skewed these days because of COVID pandemic restrictions. Midwestern native that I am, I’m usually one to say “hello” or “good morning” or to wave to passersby. Nowadays, each encounter with an oncoming pedestrian triggers the questions, do I put my mask on, and will the runner/walker do the same?Continue reading “You meet the nicest people on the birding paths”

Phoebes in our midst

This has been Infrastructure Week in our neighborhood, as the streets are being repaved. Our three-block enclave has been beset by enormous machines grinding down the old road surface and splaying out the new, kicking up dust and making an awful lot of noise. Amid that cacophony, I took a walk the other day andContinue reading “Phoebes in our midst”