gardens – The Jersey Birder

Butterflies and bugs love New Jersey wildflowers

An Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly -- with black trim on its yellow wings -- lands on a pink wild bergamot blossom.

When I’m on birding walks, I always admire the wildflowers that line the trails and that sometimes blanket big swaths of meadows in vibrant colors. In recent weeks, I’ve seen more and more butterflies, dragonflies and bees sampling the sugars from the blossoms. I needn’t even leave my home to take in the sights. SwallowtailContinue reading “Butterflies and bugs love New Jersey wildflowers”

A little birding in Downeast Maine

A ruby-throated hummingbird hovers just to the right of a tall stock of cardinal flower, with bright red blossoms.

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”