hooded mergansers – The Jersey Birder

Chasing bobolinks and wrapping up a record month

Bobolink perched atop a gray wood fence, with green grasses behind it.

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 anContinue reading “Chasing bobolinks and wrapping up a record month”

A likely last chance for snow shots during the Great Backyard Bird Count

Purple finch perched amid a tangle of brown and tan tree branches.

With around-the-clock above-freezing temperatures in the offing, this weekend was likely my last chance to try for shots of birds in the snow. It was not to be. My friend Jim and I hit multiple spots on Saturday, starting at the nearly bird-less Pole Farm. Not a great start for the Great Backyard Bird Count.Continue reading “A likely last chance for snow shots during the Great Backyard Bird Count”

A sure thing: great blue herons in Princeton

A great blue heron sails over the water on its way to land.

Whether it’s a single bird or one of many, I can count on seeing and photographing great blue herons at the Millstone River Impoundment in Princeton. At first this morning, I didn’t see the heron in its usual spot just off the pedestrian bridges over the Delaware and Raritan canal. I walked on the eastContinue reading “A sure thing: great blue herons in Princeton”

Winter residents return to Trenton

It always seems I’m short on seeing water birds, so this morning I headed to John A. Roebling Park, commonly referred to as Trenton marsh. The marsh had plenty of activity when I arrived about 7:45 a.m. Canada geese and mallards were plying the water — no surprise — and adjoining Spring Lake was suddenlyContinue reading “Winter residents return to Trenton”