The classic Dr. Seuss book “Go, Dog. Go!” ends [spoiler alert] with a pack of dogs climbing a ladder to the top of a big tree for a big dog party. My birding buddy Lee and I experienced the avian equivalent today at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm. We pulled into the parking lot oneContinue reading “A bobolink party at the Pole Farm”
Author Archives: Dan
Birds kissed by morning light
We’ve had a delightful run of sunny days of late. I’ve donned a jacket a few times on my morning walks because the post-dawn temperatures have dipped into the low 60s and even the 50s. This morning dawned gloriously, and I got out to the Pole Farm hoping to photograph some of the warblers thatContinue reading “Birds kissed by morning light”
An abundance of pewees enlivens the soundscape
The sweet “pee-uh-wee!” call of the Eastern wood pewee has been sounding repeatedly in my part of New Jersey this Labor Day weekend. I heard several again this morning at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm and at the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. More often than not, I log my e-Bird peweeContinue reading “An abundance of pewees enlivens the soundscape”
It’s good to be back home and welcoming warblers
With the sun fully out and the temperature a cool 51 degrees, I headed to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm this morning for my first home outing since returning from Maine. I had checked Birdcast to find that warblers are returning to Mercer County on their fall migration, and I hoped I’d chance upon aContinue reading “It’s good to be back home and welcoming warblers”
A little birding in Downeast Maine
My wife and I headed to New England for a few days, with a stop in the Berkshires of Massachusetts on our way to Bar Harbor. On the 1,500-mile roundtrip, I didn’t have a lot of time for birding. But at Acadia National Park, we had some lovely close encounters with ruby-throated hummingbirds, and IContinue reading “A little birding in Downeast Maine”
The Dinky Line Trail: Gem or joke
While I dearly love the parks and trails I regularly traverse, I am always on the lookout for something new. By fiddling with the explore function in e-Bird yesterday, I clicked a map pin on a nearby trail I never knew existed. It’s the Dinky Line Trail, a short path near the Princeton Junction trainContinue reading “The Dinky Line Trail: Gem or joke”
Some days, one bird is enough
It turned out that I aimed my camera at only one bird today, and it happened early in my walk at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm. This Cooper’s hawk surprised me when I spotted it roughly 100 feet ahead of me. The sky was overcast and the sun was muted, but I was able toContinue reading “Some days, one bird is enough”
The (bird) dog days of summer
We are in the “dog days” of summer. The dog star, Sirius, dips low on the horizon, and our canine companions, sapped by the heat, are low on energy. For birders, this time of year brings a lull in species sightings. The migrant warblers are in their northern breeding grounds, many weeks off from whenContinue reading “The (bird) dog days of summer”
Praise the light! A nature photographer’s prayer
Photography: n. from the Greek, writing with light. I majored in the classics in college, and I’m familiar with the roots of many common words in the English language. Anyone who is halfway serious about photography knows that good light makes for good photos. Although it wasn’t quite the “golden hour” before sunset when IContinue reading “Praise the light! A nature photographer’s prayer”
A rare evening outing, and I see Elvis
Traffic on my drive home from work was remarkably light today, so I grabbed my camera and went to the Pole Farm for a pre-dinner stroll. Under a cloudy sky, few birds were flying, and I was mainly birding by ear. Making a clockwise loop, I was well down the paved Lawrence-Hopewell Trail when IContinue reading “A rare evening outing, and I see Elvis”
The Jersey Birder 