The mellifluent songs of wood thrushes fill the woods where I walk at the Mercer Meadows this time of the year, but it’s a rare day when I am able to spot one.
My luck changed Sunday morning. I began my walk from the parking lot at the Reed-Bryan Farm side of the park and eventually found myself on the trail that cuts through the woods connecting the Reed-Bryan side to the Pole Farm side.
Wood thrushes were singing with seemingly every step I took. Five minutes or so down the trail, I turned to my right and I saw a wood thrush singing from a tree branch roughly 30 feet away.
The wood thrush, in full voice.
Not believing my good fortune, I started snapping away with my camera. The bird was facing to my left at first, then reversed direction. I was able to get several shots each way.
I had been holding my iPhone with the Merlin app recording when I spotted the thrush. I was so absorbed in training my camera on the bird that I forgot I was holding the phone. Eventually, I had the good sense to hit “save” on the app, and I’ve embedded the file below. You can hear my shutter clicking and a bit of my breathing.
I can’t recall shooting and recording simultaneously before, so consider this a rare opportunity to hear the bird singing while it’s being photographed. One of these days I should try shooting video! 🦅
Hoping to spot a summer tanager, my pal Jim and I drove south into the Pine Barrens this morning to the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve. The tanager would have been a lifer for me, and Jim figured our odds of spotting one were good because he’s seen them there for a few years running.
We didn’t spot one, but that disappointment faded fast. At our first stop, we saw a red-headed woodpecker and heard at least one and probably a couple more calling from the pines.
Red-headed woodpecker atop a dead tree.
Ovenbirds were calling repeatedly, and we heard many prairie warblers, as was to be expected at a prairie warbler preserve.
I heard from another birding friend yesterday that prothonotary warblers nesting in a wooden post were feeding their young. He had video to prove it. When we got to the bridge with the post, we discovered that the nesting cavity was empty. Did the young ones fledge? Did a predator get them? We’ll never know. Jim did spot a prothonotary nearby, and I caught a fleeting glimpse.
We turned out attention to the hooded warblers singing in the woods. I got a few dark shots not worth sharing, but I did manage a nice shot of an Acadian flycatcher. Although I’d heard them, this was the first one I got to see.
The Acadian flycatcher. Handsome one, no?
Our time near the bridge was prelude to even better sightings.
As we started back down the trail toward our car, we were surprised by a blue-winged warbler flitting about bushes a few feet in front of us. It turned out there were two blue-wings, presumably male and female. They chased each other through the bushes and trees.
All of a sudden, a prothonotary warbler appeared in those same bushes. I squeezed off four shots that were too fuzzy to share. But my luck changed as a black-and-white warbler flew into one of the big pines, about halfway up. I was able to get several nice shots.
The black-and-white warbler on a pine branch.
A short while later, what we assumed was another prothonotary warbler appeared, popping between a couple of pine trees nearby. Only when I got home and uploaded a couple of photos to e-Bird did I learn that it was one of the blue-winged warblers. The defining clue: the black eye line on the bird. A prothonotary doesn’t have one.
Regardless, I was happy to get the photos. One tops this post, and here’s a closer look.
Blue-winged warbler. Note the black eye line stretching to the beak.
After a long spell at that spot on the trail, we moved on toward my car. At one point, Jim called out: “Stop. Don’t move. Look down.”
Just ahead of me, a black snake was slithering its way across the path. A ratsnake, Jim reported, and it was about four feet long. I wanted no part of that snake, although I did want some video and photos.
Besides birds and snakes, Jim has a good eye for other creatures. He spotted a chipmunk, an Eastern fence lizard and a skink. He also brought along a tick, which he dropped out the window as we drove through Trenton to get back to his place.
That was one satisfying day of birding, more than two hours of tramping the sandy trails of the Huber preserve. I even managed to get a good look at a prairie warbler, not long after I had my close encounter with the snake. 🦅
I’ve never had a better May for birding than this one. By spotting three double-crested cormorants in a tree at the Millstone River Impoundment in Princeton today, I logged my 100th species for Mercer County.
The numbers are all well and good, especially since I had an eight-day stretch in which I didn’t have an opportunity to got birding. But what mattered more are the end-of-the-month highlights that came Saturday. My friend Jim pointed me north to Hunterdown County and the Lazy Brook Greenway near Flemington. Objective: bobolinks.
Looking down the trail toward the only tree in the section of the greenway we visited.
The greenway features a wide open grassland bisected by a wood fence. Jim and I took the trail from the parking lot to the fence. We soon heard and saw bobolinks, lots of them.
The wind was strong — my baseball cap was blown off my head, and Jim’s followed about 10 minutes later — and the grasses waved beneath a beautiful blue sky.
The bobolinks zipped about, hovered briefly in the stiff wind, and dove into the grass. I tried shooting them as they flew overhead, but that was tough going. Even shooting as they were sitting on the fence was a challenge. The wind made my long lens wobble.
I logged 30 bobolinks, one of which tops this post. I also noted several red-winged blackbirds, a grasshopper sparrow and a Savannah sparrow that perched on a fence post not far from us and belted out its song.
The Savannah sparrow, presumably one breeding at the greenway.
As we turned toward home, Jim suggested that we stop by the Old Mill Greenway in Pennington, which adjoins Rosedale Park. For several days, a female hooded merganser with a dozen chicks had been reported there in Stony Brook, which flows through the park.
We crossed the bridge that spans the brook and walked to the edge of the water on the far side without spotting the mergansers. On the way back over the bridge, Jim suddenly stopped and said he’d found them — on a small island of dirt poking up from the brook.
Most of the babies were asleep but started stirring after a few minutes. Then plop, plop, plop, they scooted into the brook. A great blue heron was stalking nearby, and as it approached the mergansers, Mama led them back to the little island.
Off they go, with Mama Merganser on the left. The lead chick at top has just started diving.
We had two other surprises. First was a muskrat that appeared to be preening itself on the edge of the brook.
Muskrat at the water’s edge.
The other surprise came as we walked back to my car. Low in the grass under the trees lining the brook we saw a flash of yellow. It turned out to be a gorgeous female orchard oriole. She flitted about, mostly obscured in the grass and low-hanging tree leaves. She popped out for a few moments, long enough for me to leave you with this shot of her. Not a bad way to end of the month of May! 🦅
Ms. Orchard. We also heard a Baltimore oriole, maybe two.
I have no data to prove it, but when it comes to getting photos of the most colorful birds on my outings, I usually hear them before I see them. That’s true for cardinals, blue jays, Northern yellow warblers, indigo buntings, and blue grosbeaks.
At the Pole Farm this morning, I heard several indigo buntings plus a number of prairie warblers, none of which I was able to spot, let alone photograph. But I got lucky with the handsome blue grosbeak topping this post. I found him walking up the central trail from the Cold Soil Road parking lot, in the fields where I often hear them singing.
For once, however, I spotted the grosbeak without it making a sound. It was perhaps 15 yards to the left of me, at eye level, perched on a slender tree limb with leaves surrounding it and green grasses beyond. To my wonder, it sat still for a time, allowing me quietly to back into position to get as clear a shot as possible.
I crop most of my bird photos, putting the emphasis on the bird. It’s rare for me to post a full-frame shot, as I did with this one today. The blue bird with the rusty wing bars was nicely situated amid the greenery. So I stuck with the in situ composition I saw through the viewfinder. 🦅
A week had passed since I last went birding, and I was determined to get out before work this morning. But which way to go? At first I thought I’d go to my go-to place, the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm. But birders had spotted a common gallinule — rare in these parts — the past few days at the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.
As I backed my car out of the driveway, I decided: let’s go for the gallinule! It was a good choice.
I peered into the swamp and the pond at the Dyson Tract, looking for any trace of the gallinule, a bird that rarely appears in Mercer County, New Jersey. As I was on my way back toward my car, I met up with another birder coming up the trail. He goes by Anonymous on e-Bird, and I will honor his choice by not revealing his name here.
Anonymous was looking for the gallinule, too, and when we parted ways we each agreed to holler to one another if one of us spotted it. A short while later, I was nearly back to my car when he caught up with me to say he’d spotted the bird and showed me a clear photo of it wading in the swamp.
We had to thread the needle through branches to capture the bird on camera.
Another birder who arrived joined us as we quick-stepped up the central trail to a break in the trees lining the edge of the swamp. After a few minutes, Anonymous spotted the bird again, and we all trained our binoculars and cameras on the bird.
Shooting was tricky. The bird was moving around, and many tree branches obscured the view. Eventually, we all got photos of the gallinule and savored that.
That was the first gallinule I’ve seen in New Jersey. I had logged one a few years ago in a wildlife sanctuary in Florida, but I didn’t get it on camera.
Today, I was grateful for Anonymous sharing his find. I tried paying it back by alerting our GroupMe birding group to the bird’s continued presence and added a description of where we’d spotted it. 🦅
We’re in a stretch of rainy days, and I’ve also been busy with commitments on the Princeton campus. My birding has thus been limited, and I decided it was time to post a few recent photos previously unpublished.
I devoted my previous post to the prothonotary warbler I’d seen at the Dyson Tract. That morning visit brought me several other birds, as that plot of land along the Delaware and Raritan Canal usually does.
Great blue herons are often a sure bet to find, and I watched the one in the photo topping this post preening on a tree snag. The bird was near the edge of the swamp, a bit above my head. I got a good look at its legs and feet.
The Dyson Tract is a great place to spot bald eagles, and I saw one across the swamp when I arrived. I got a better look at it — I assume it was the same bird — as I walked up the central path in the park.
Bald eagle.
I heard the squawk of a green heron. A short while later, with help from another birder, I spotted it in the swamp.
Green heron strutting along a fallen log.
The herons are likely loving the rain we’re getting today. For many months, the swamp had nearly dried up. It’s good to see the water level restored, and I bet it will be even higher when I go back at some point next week. 🦅
Each of the last few years, prothonotary warblers have shown up during Spring migration at the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It took me a few visits, but today I struck gold, so to speak.
As I arrived at the parking lot, I turned on the Merlin app and hoped it would hear the golden yellow bird with the grayish wings, black eyes and beak. As I walked up the canal towpath, Merlin signaled one nearby. I neither heard nor saw it.
I continued my walk and recorded several species, including a first-of-the-year green heron. I turned back toward my car and turned on Merlin, which quickly picked up another prothonotary warbler. Again, I didn’t hear or see it, but I decided to stay a while in hope that it would show itself.
A young woman birder arrived, also looking for the prothonotary warbler. With our backs to the canal, we peered into the swamp. A Northern yellow warbler flew by and we followed it to the trees lining the canal bank.
Then it happened — a prothonotary warbler winged its way past us and briefly settled in a tree on the bank. I was able to get a couple of grab shots, including the one topping this post, before the bird flew off.
We turned our attention back to the swamp, and a minute or two later we spotted the bird land on the top of a snapped-in-half bare tree. The bird was visiting its nest in a cavity atop the snag.
The snag at left shows the nest cavity at top.
The bird made a few dashes to and fro before flying off. I wasn’t able to get any further shots of it.
While I would have preferred a sharper photo, seeing the bird was reward enough. Watching it zip back and forth from its nesting cavity was an added thrill. 🦅
Spring migration probably reached its peak this weekend, and I spent a good deal of time in the field to experience it. The highlight was Saturday, when my friend Jim and I went to the Ted Stiles Preserve on Baldpate Mountain, hard by the Delaware River at Titusville, New Jersey.
Although I’d hiked Baldpate a couple of times, I’d never gone birding there. It seems unconscionable in retrospect, as I logged 42 species in two sections of the park.
Our first stop was at the Fiddlers Creek entrance off HIghway 29, which runs along the Delaware. With the windows down, we drove uphill listening for birds until we parked near the summit at a turnout along a stone wall that affords a great view of the treetops that warblers fancy.
We heard many but saw few warblers, and not getting a shot at a chestnut-sided warbler was particularly disappointing for me. Oddly, the only photos I took of any value were not of a bird but the Nessus sphinx, a hummingbird-like moth that flitted among the flower blossoms between the parked cars and the stone wall.
I’d never heard of or noticed the Nessus sphinx moss before Saturday morning.
Our next stop was to drive back down to Highway 29 and head up Pleasant Valley Road, bound for another entrance to the Stiles preserve. Birders we had chatted with on our first stop recommended that we walk up the trail that follows the power lines cutting through the park, and we found a bonanza of birds.
We were hoping for a golden-winged warbler but didn’t find any. Instead, we were treated to several singing rose-breasted grosbeaks, cheeping ovenbirds, a veery or two and several indigo buntings.
Blue-winged warbler.
At the advice of a passing birder, we veered off onto a side trail and soon spotted a bay-breasted warbler in the trees above us. I managed only a few fuzzy shots of its bottom.
On the way back down the trail, a cooperative indigo bunting gave us several good looks.
The cooperative indigo bunting, who sang for us at a couple of locations.
When we got back to the parking lot, Jim suggested we walk toward the gate on Pleasant Valley Road, where we’d seen a few birders as we arrived. It was a good move.
We were awarded with views of several cedar waxwings, a scarlet tanager, a Nashville warbler and a black-throated blue warbler, which tops this post. Merlin hit on a Wilson’s warbler, but I neither saw nor heard what would have been a lifer. I didn’t record it — that’s one I want to see!
I started today at the Dyson Tract, hoping to spot or at least hear the pair of prothonotary warblers that have set up housekeeping in the tree-studded swamp. I had no luck with them, but I got a common grackle with an insect in its beak on a tree overhanging the pond off the trail.
Common grackle, with breakfast snack in its beak.
I then headed to the Pole Farm, where I managed a nice closeup of a common yellowthroat and a long shot that cropped well of a singing Eastern meadowlark.
Mr. Yellowthroat up close.
Meadowlark at the Pole Farm
After doing some planting in our garden beds, I had a few errands to run and made a stop at Colonial Lake to see if anything interesting might appear. I watched an osprey soar overhead as I got out of my car. It came back a minute later and dove to get a small fish. I only got focus on the bird once it hit the water.
All in all, it was a darn fine weekend of birding. I got nearly my fill of warblers and got to visit several spots. I’ll definitely return to the Stiles preserve, and often. 🦅
No birding for me today, as I took the day off to head to New York City to enjoy my grandson’s cello recital. Afterward, my son Liam and I walked from the little guy’s school through Central Park to return to their Midtown apartment.
The usual overwhelming assortment of pigeons was on full display as we walked through the park, but I didn’t bother to file an e-Bird report. I did, however, contemplate the contrast between those mostly drab urban avians with the vibrant red Northern cardinal I photographed the day before.
I was hoping for warbler karma at the Pole Farm’s AT&T Building One arches, but it was not to be. There was, however, a male cardinal singing its virtuoso song in a tree behind me.
I swung my camera its way for some mediocre shots. A man walking his dog came by, and the cardinal moved to a different spot among the trees. It offered a wonderful green backdrop for the crimson bird, and I share the open-beak image at the top of this post as proof. 🦅
When I got to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm this morning, I realized that I’d left my binoculars at home. Oops. It wasn’t worth the drive to fetch them, so I set out on the trails with only my camera.
In the end, it was a minor inconvenience on what turned out to be a 35-species day. I logged many of them by ear, which wasn’t hard to do with ovenbirds, common yellowthroats and wood thrushes filling the woods and fields with melodies.
On the backside of my three-mile ramble, I found my birding friend Laura looking up into the “warbler wall” of trees at the AT&T Building One site. We hadn’t seen each other in months, and I was pleased to hear her tell me that the trees were brimming with birds.
The sun was shining brightly, and Laura quickly pointed out the Nashville warbler calling. We never did see the bird but otherwise got an eyeful: black-and-white warbler, Norther parula, blue-gray gnatcatcher, plus a black-throated green warbler that we heard.
Black-and-white warbler, one of my favorites.
At one point, I went to grab my binoculars, only to come up empty handed. I soon forgot about that when I spotted a yellow bird atop one of the trees and snapped a few frames.
I initially thought it was a prairie warbler, but Laura set me straight in viewing the bird on my camera screen. It was a Cape May warbler. Although I’ve heard and seen Cape May warblers before, I’d never gotten a photo. I was elated. One of the photos tops this post.
Earlier on the walk, I’d finally spotted a rose-breasted grosbeak after hearing their beautiful song on several outings the past couple of weeks. I also spotted a scarlet tanager but missed the brief photo op.
I have since put my binoculars back in the Volkswagen and hope for more sunshine and warblers tomorrow. 🦅
The Jersey Birder 