As I watch the snow fall out my window at home today, I am still glowing over the trip yesterday to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park at the New Jersey shore. My friend and colleague Laura and I had been plotting to hit the coast for a look at shorebirds, and when both of us hadContinue reading “Birding down the shore at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park”
Category Archives: Birders and birding
My little friends, the sparrows
Until I started taking a more serious interest in birding, to me a sparrow meant the ubiquitous house sparrow. A passer domesticus, rarely alone, was always at the feeders when I was a kid growing up in Ohio. Years later, I marveled at how the house sparrows thrived amid the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan, flittingContinue reading “My little friends, the sparrows”
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”
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”
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”
Hello, world!
Inspired by a renewed acquaintance with an old friend who is a wonderful nature writer, I’ve decided its time to do what I’ve been contemplating for months: create an outlet for my observations on the natural world around me. Since switching to remote work in March 2020, I’ve spent virtually every day at home, andContinue reading “Hello, world!”
The Jersey Birder 