At last, a red-eyed vireo appears (also, butterflies)

I have noted that I have a devil of a time spotting red-eyed vireos, a bird that I hear on most outings to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm and many other spots in my part of New Jersey but rarely see.

So it was a delight this morning when at the Pole Farm, my friend Jim spotted one on a branch flooded with sunshine high up in a tree not far from the AT&T Building One site. I got several shots. In many, the bird was in shadow and its namesake red eyes were not apparent.

But in a few glorious frames, that red eye stood out, and I’m pleased to offer two photos of the vireo on this post.

Red-eyed vireo opens its beak slightly as it sings from a branch high up in a tree.
The red-eyed vireo opens its beak to sing.

With more than 1 million birds believed to have flown over Mercer County overnight as per Cornell Lab’s birdcast site, Jim and I were keenly looking for early arriving warblers. I got a couple of good looks through my binoculars of a black-and-white warbler, but it moved too quickly and too deeply into the leaves for me to get a photo.

On the trail while returning to my car, we saw a pair of bobolinks fly overhead and land in the distance. We also watched a blue grosbeak fly up the meadow and out of camera range.

The trail offered other treats, starting with a giant swallowtail butterfly that was a few feet in front of us, feeding on field thistles. The butterfly — its species the largest in North America — was so close to us that I had to back up to get my zoom lens in focus.

A black and yellow giant swallowtail butterfly feeds on a a pink field thistle.
The giant swallowtail.

Farther down the trail, a black swallowtail was also munching on thistles.

A black swallowtail butterfly -- mostly black with yellow accents -- lands on a pink field thistle.
The black swallowtail.

We spotted a few small butterflies, too, although I wasn’t able to get them in focus.

As excited as I was to see what we saw today, I know the Pole Farm and other wild places will become even more active in the days and weeks ahead as fall migration picks up speed. 🦅

A fine birding spot ruined, or nearly so

One of my frequent and favorite birding spots until last year was Mercer Corporate Park, a site with a USDA office and a few other small office buildings clustered around two small lakes that attracted a wide variety of birds.

For many months, construction crews have put up two large warehouses and dramatically changed the nature of the place, which is just off I-195 at Robbinsville. My friend Jim and I had wanted to check out the park on a few recent Saturdays but couldn’t get in because heavy construction equipment was in use and blocking access.

Today, a Sunday, the site was quiet. Big machines were parked, and we were able to drive into the area, looping the property. The trees and vegetation on the small lake near the USDA building were overgrown and didn’t afford us even a glimpse of the water that presumably is still there.

As we drove back toward the front of the park we spotted two birders we know, one with binoculars and another with a scope peering out into what previously was a modest lake that lured in scores of geese, killdeer and other birds.

Today, the lake was vastly diminished and shallow. We were, however, able to spot a small variety of birds dipping in some big puddles and trekking along the edges of mudbanks. Greater and lesser yellowlegs were there, as were least and semipalmated sandpipers. Northern rough-winged swallows flew sorties overhead.

A greater yellowlegs hunts in an elongated puddle studded with grasses near the entrance to Mercer Corporate Park.
Greater yellowlegs wading in an oversize puddle near the corporate park entrance.

Canada geese were grazing in the grasses, including a marshy depression close to one of the warehouses, as seen in the photo topping this post.

While the park is not nearly as wild a place as it was previously, we were heartened to know that birds continue to visit. We’ll be interested to see the long-term impact after the construction crews finish grading and paving the site. 🦅

Great blues rule, but green herons are also cool

Just about any piece of property that has a puddle of water or more in my part of the world, it seems, is habitat for great blue herons. I’ve seen them fly over our house after they’ve taken off from the golf course retention pond that’s about a 3-wood away from our property line.

Today, though, I write in admiration of the green heron, the great blue’s less conspicuous cousin. My “best odds” spot for spotting a green heron is the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan canal just a few miles from home.

I dropped by there late Tuesday morning and caught site of two of them on the swamp side of the tract that is again covered with plenty of water. The swamp had been nearly dry for several months, and I’m pleased to see it wet again.

Green herons emit a raucous honk of a call that’s similar to that of the great blue heron, although the birds I saw Tuesday kept quiet. One of them was relatively close to the trail that bisects the tract, and I had a good view of its beautiful plumage. I was able to catch the heron with its beak open, something I always like to capture because it makes the photo more lifelike.

Green herons hang out in Mercer County roughly from April into October. I hope to see a few more before they fly off toward the equator. 🦅

Bobolinks abound at Alpha Grasslands Preserve

I’m plodding along on my quest to go birding in all 21 of New Jersey’s counties, and today I registered No. 14. My pal Jim and I drove north along the Delaware River to visit the Alpha Grasslands Preserve in Warren County.

Google Maps took us to a trailhead on Oberly Road, where a sign prohibiting unauthorized vehicles induced us to park on a gravel road leading downhill to a farm.

Bobolink perching on a tall green plant, with a shoot of green behind its head.
Second look at the bobolink topping the post.

Stepping out the car, we immediately heard bobolinks. That struck the theme for the day. Bobolinks were all around us. I put 75 for my total on e-Bird, noting that it was likely an undercount.

Jim and I walked down the road, which was bordered by tall grasses to our right and a mix of grasses, low shrubs and soybeans to our left. As many bobolinks as there were, we were often frustrated because they’d land on stalks of grass that bowed low to the ground, making it difficult or impossible to photograph the birds.

We spent close to an hour walking the trail, during which we managed to accumulate photos of bobolinks and a few indigo buntings. We also observed dozens of flyovers by a trio of swallows — barn, Northern rough-winged and tree.

A deep blue indigo bunting opens its beak in song while perched on a green plant.
Male idigo bunting singing in the greenery.

After wrapping up on the trail, we drove a good stretch of the preserve’s perimeter, where we spotted five American kestrels and a pair of Northern flickers.

A short while after we left the preserve, Jim spotted a broad-winged hawk perched on a wire overhead. We parked on the side of the road and turned our cameras toward the bird, my first New Jersey broad-winged and only my second lifetime.

A broad-winged hawk perches on a thick wire. The bird is mostly brown with dark brown dappling. Its legs and talons are yellow.
The broad-winged hawk.

The broad-winged hawk, Jim noted, was the cherry on top for the day — a good one for sure and a great introduction to birding in Warren County. 🦅

Red-eyed vireos: mostly heard but not seen

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I decided to shake up my routine and instead of driving to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, I took the short walk over to the Rider University campus.

It had been a while since I walked the campus, with its wide lawns, ample tree cover and pleasant walkways. No birds were on the pond in the center of campus, and in fact few birds were about at all. I did get a close encounter with a gray catbird on the north side of the pond, and I’ve honored the bird by placing its photo at the top of the post.

I walked toward the back of campus and briefly turned down the Johnson trolley line trail that forms the dividing line between the academic and residential side of campus and the athletic fields.

A red-eyed vireo was singing in the woods adjoining the trail, and I managed to get a clear recording of it.

I didn’t see the vireo, of course. I hear red-eyed vireos on the majority of my trips to the Pole Farm and many other spots much of the year. However, I find them so difficult to spot that I refer to them as “invisibirds.”

In any event, the vireo’s recitativ cheered me.

I did spot a red-eyed vireo in those same woods last week when I walked through the Loveless Nature Preserve that abuts the Rider campus and the trolley trail. I got a good look at the vireo through my binoculars — it was on a tree branch just above eye level about 25 feet ahead of me — but he flitted off before I could pull up my camera.

Better luck next time! 🦅

Third time’s the charm: spotting a little blue heron

The daily email I get from e-Bird alerting me to birds I’ve yet to record this month has been goading me since last week with reports of a juvenile little blue heron hanging out at Veterans Park in Hamilton.

Twice last week I drove down there and didn’t spot the bird. This afternoon, I gave it another try. As I walked the levee path above the lake, I spotted what I thought had to be the little one near the shore. By the time I got close enough to make an ID, I realized I was looking at a great egret.

But there was a white bird perched in a tree across the lake. I took shots from a couple of positions. Checking the shots on my camera monitor, I thought I could make out the telltale green legs and bicolored bill of a little blue. I confirmed the ID on the big screen when I got home, and I’ve posted one of the photos up top.

More was in store at Veterans Park.

I watched a mature bald eagle fly into a tree across the lake, likely the same bird I spotted at Veterans Park a few days earlier.

A mature bald eagle -- with a fully white head and some white tail feathers -- perches in a tree with green leaves.
Mature bald eagle.

To my surprise, I spotted a second eagle in the same tree roughly 10 feet down and to the left of the first. Eagle No. 2’s head was not fully white, so I figure it’s likely four years old, judging by this analysis (see photo 4).

Juvenile bald eagle -- with dark patches on its mostly white head -- sits on a tree branch and is nestled in its leaves.
The juvenile bald eagle.

There was one more bird left to encounter. I walked the shore of the lake for a short while before heading uphill to the trail. While on the shoreline, I spotted a killdeer pecking along the water’s edge.

A killdeer walks in the shallow water along the lake shore, with its left foot raised.
Killdeer high-stepping it along the shore.

I finally got to see the little blue heron, spotted a second bald eagle and added a killdeer to my monthly tally. That’s a pretty good day. 🦅

A summer smorgasbord of New Jersey birds

In between spring and fall migration, we have plenty of resident and visiting birds to excite us, even if the variety isn’t quite as robust as when migrants are on the move.

While having dinner at our kitchen table Sunday evening, my wife and I were delighted to see four (4!) juvenile bluebirds in our yard simultaneously. We were heartened by the evidence that the Sialia sialis species appears to be thriving in our neighborhood.

In the ten previous years we’ve been in our home, bluebirds would rarely come to call. The numbers have picked up this year, and we even had a mating pair move into one of our bird houses. They moved out after a day or two, likely finding better accommodations nearby.

Out at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm just over two miles away, we’re having a banner summer for indigo buntings and blue grosbeaks. I typically hear or see at least three indigos on my walks, and this morning I logged five on e-Bird. My photos of the one I was able to shoot high atop a tree didn’t turn out well, but I got a fair shot of a blue grosbeak.

Male blue grosbeak perches atop a tree.
The blue grosbeak who buzzed me.

We have at least one mating pair of “bee gees” at the Pole Farm. The one depicted here has been hanging out near the Cold Soil Road parking lot and the Pole Farm historical exhibit. I spotted him in a tree near the red arches marking the exhibit, and it whizzed past my face on its way to another treetop. That’s where I got the photo.

A passing birder had seen the female blue grosbeak this morning, and he and I agreed this has been a good year for them.

On Sunday, I drove to Veterans Park in Hamilton in hopes of spotting a little blue heron that’s been visiting the last few days. It was my second fruitless attempt to spot it, but I did get a few more shots of a resident bald eagle and manged a few more of some of the purple martins living in a martin house at the edge of the lake.

A purple martin opens its beak as it perches on a metal pole supporting the martin house.
Purple martin perched near its house. These birds are chatterboxes!

On Saturday, friend Jim and I drove down to Estell Manor Park in Atlantic County again. We were hoping to catch a few remaining warblers before they skedaddle south. We spotted a couple of pine warblers, but the day’s highlights were white-eyed vireos (one tops this post) and the hummingbirds dashing through the trees by the park visitor center.

A ruby-throated hummingbird perches on a thin tree branch with greenery in the background.
Ruby-throated humming bird perched near the visitor center. We did not see any mature males.

It was nice to get shots of the seemingly always-in-motion hummers as they took short breaks in the trees before diving and dipping into the feeders hanging at the visitor center deck.

Here’s another look at one of the white-eyed vireos, who gave us intermittent opportunities to shoot as it bopped about the branches. 🦅,

White-eyed vireo looks out from a tree branch.
We spotted this vireo along a boardwalk trail at Estell Manor Park.

The pleasures of daily birding

Unless the weather is horrible or I have a family or other priority commitment, I get out birding almost every day. Most of my outings run in the 90-minute range, but shorter sessions can also bring joy.

Today was an unusual three-stop day, starting at the Charles Rogers Preserve in Princeton for about 45 minutes with a brief stop at the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. Hearing that a little blue heron was spotted on the lake at Veterans Park in Hamilton, I dashed down there after lunch.

While I didn’t see the little blue, I was instead treated to a bald eagle sitting on a snag log. I’m not sure how far away the bird was, but I was astonished at the clarity of the shots I got when I brought them up on screen. My favorite tops this post. In the one below, note the drop of water on the tip of the eagle’s beak. I snapped the shot a moment after the bird had taken a sip of water.

A mature blad eagle, with a white head and yellow talons, stands on log in the lake. A small bead of water is on the tip of the bird's beak.
Bald eagle seconds after dipping its beak in the water to drink.

Mallard ducks and Canada geese are returning to the lake at summer’s mid-point, and I was surprised to see three double-crested cormorants perched on a log at the lake’s edge below the levee path. I didn’t realize it while squeezing the shutter, but a barn swallow bombed the photo.

Three double-crested cormorants look out onto the lake while standing on a half-submerged log at the lake's edge. They seem unaware that a barn swallow is flying toward them.
I dubbed these cormorants Larry, Curly and Moe.

On Tuesday morning, I took a good walk at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, veering off onto a trail that skirts one of the grassy meadows on the Reed-Bryan Farm side of the park. The best photo from that outing was of a great crested flycatcher I found on the alley of trees near the Cold Soil Road parking lot.

A great crested flycatcher perches on a bare branch at the top of a tree. The sun shines on the bird from behind.
Great crested flycatcher, backlit by the morning sun.

Eating dinner last night, I heard another great crested flycatcher calling from nearby. I didn’t pursue finding it. But it was good knowing one was in the neighborhood.

On each of these outings, I photographed only a few birds. That was also the case Sunday, when I drove out to the Millstone River Impoundment in Princeton. The only shots I took were of a double-crested cormorant perched at the edge of a Lake Carnegie island and a barn swallow that briefly stopped atop one of the rails of the footbridge that crosses the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

Barn swallow faces away from the camera while standing atop the reddish brown top rail of a bridge.
Barn swallow at rare rest.

Were any of these photos prize-winners? No.

They are, however, evidence of enjoyable outings in Mercer County that keep me engaged with nature almost every day. That is its own reward. 🦅

A-bunting we shall go

For the second consecutive Saturday, my birding buddy Jim and I headed to Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, homing in on the hilly portion of the park that hosts the aviation navigation beacon.

The hilltop fields remain rich in wildflowers, a powerful draw for birds and butterflies in colors as vivid as the blossoms. The standout species for the day was the indigo bunting. Several were singing sweetly and flying all around us.

Before hiking up the beacon hill, we stopped at a nearby meadow carpeted in pink blossoms as far as the eye could see. We were surprised to spot a swamp sparrow, which only briefly distracted us from tracking a male indigo bunting doing touch-and-goes between the field and a couple of trees. My best bunting shots, including the one topping this post, were taken there.

A deep blue indigo bunting
Our first indigo bunting of the day, singing in a meadow.

Walking back to our car, we heard white-eyed vireos singing. They were poking about a row of trees and not giving us clear shots. Finally, one popped into clear view, giving me the chance I was waiting for.

A white eyed vireo sings from a tree branch. The bird has a prominent white eye ring. The upper half of his head is yellow, and its breast is white with a bit of yellow wash.
At last in a clear spot, this white-eyed vireo paused long enough for me to snap his portrait.

We made the short drive to the parking lot at the base of the beacon hill and started up the trail. We were surprised to hear a couple of Northern yellow warblers, who seemed to be trading verses with common yellowthroats. We never did see the yellow warblers but did catch a few of the yellowthroats.

Upon reaching the crest of the hill, we heard several indigo buntings singing and watched them fly across the fields. At one point, we spotted a male adult with two brown companions, which we reckoned were immature males.

A blue grosbeak was also singing on the hilltop, but I wasn’t able to spot it, let alone get a photo. No matter. I was instead able to get a couple of shots of a grasshopper sparrow, a much less common visitor to central New Jersey.

A grasshopper sparrow perches atop a tall plant with long green leaves.
Grasshopper sparrow.

Butterflies abounded. Jim and I took shots of monarches and swallowtails. This son of Ohio was delighted to get a shot of a buckeye, a butterfly I have rarely seen.

A buckeye butterfly lights on a small yellow blossom. The insect has long antennae with rounded black tips and orange and black spots on its wings.
Buckeye butterfly, with its namesake wing spots.

I’ve become a big fan of the navigation beacon area of Assunpink WMA. I look forward to returning many times come fall, when I’ll be able to spot ducks returning to the big lake in the center of the park. 🦅

At last, I get a great crested flycatcher in my viewfinder

It’s been bugging me these first seven months of the year that I have yet to get a photo of a great crested flycatcher. I finally got one this morning at John A. Roebling Park in Abbott Marshlands, Hamilton.

I was coming up the path from the parking lot when I spotted a bird ahead and above. It was facing away from me but I snapped a couple of photos, hoping I’d catch a moment when the bird turned its head. I couldn’t make out the ID and figured I’d pick it up on screen at home.

I walked over the foot bridge to the back island but didn’t even lift my camera. It was another hear-a-lot, see-a-few kind of birding day. I turned back and as I was nearing the parking lot a bird flew over me and plopped into a tree about 10 feet away.

Great crested flycatcher sitting in a tree with a green leaf partially obscuring its wing.
This great crested flycatcher flew in close.

A great crested flycatcher! The ID was easy, as I had a good view of the bird’s slender body and pale yellow breast. I was able to get off a few shots and glad of it.

When I got home and brought up the photos of that mystery bird, I realized it was a great crested flycatcher, almost certainly the same bird I’d shot on the second pass.

One of the images in the first batch of photos I shot did include one with the bird looking my way, and that image tops this post. Now I can relax — I got my GCF shot for 2026. That’s a nice way to close out the month. 🦅