green heron – The Jersey Birder

A green heron grabs a bite to eat

A green heron snags a small frog from the water and clutches it in its beak. The bird's gray crest has raised up.

On this beautiful late-summer day, I wasn’t able to get out with my camera in the morning. But with the sun shining brightly and a light breeze continuing after lunch, I hopped in the car for some birding. Mid-afternoon isn’t a time when many birds are out, and that was true on my first stop.Continue reading “A green heron grabs a bite to eat”

Surprise! It’s a dickcissel

A dickcissel peeks out from the grasses in which it is perched. The bird has a yellow throat and eye stripe, a white abdoment and brown wings.

One of the things I love about birding is its unpredictability. You get skunked one day, strike gold(finches) the next. Today was one of the latter, when my pal Jim and I made three stops in and around Princeton. The first and primary stop was the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, and we had near instantContinue reading “Surprise! It’s a dickcissel”

A few photos to brighten a wet weekend

A blue heron preens while percheed atop a tree in a swamp.

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 My birding has thus been limited, and I decided it was time to post a few recent photos previously unpublished.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 morningContinue reading “A few photos to brighten a wet weekend”

Spotting the prothonotary warbler and its nest

A prothonotary warbler perches on a branch in a tree.

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 wouldContinue reading “Spotting the prothonotary warbler and its nest”

My 10 favorite bird photos of 2025

A female common yellowthroat, perched on a small brown branch in front of long green leaves, opens her beak wide to sing, almost appearing as if she's angry.

I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing the bird photos I took in 2025, and it took me several passes to sort out the top 10. Weirdly, on my first ranking, I discovered that a few of the birds that made my 2024 top 10 were included in my ’25 list. Was I playing favoritesContinue reading “My 10 favorite bird photos of 2025”

A little pre-hurricane birding in Texas

I’m visiting my daughter and her family in College Station, Texas, where we’re curious to know how much rain will dump on us Monday as Hurricane Beryl barrels its way into the Lone Star State. I’ve been able to get out birding twice since my wife and I flew in Tuesday afternoon. With the temperatureContinue reading “A little pre-hurricane birding in Texas”