little blue heron – The Jersey Birder

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”

Third time’s the charm: spotting a little blue heron

A white juvenile little blue heron stands on a branch in a tree.

The daily email I get from e-Bird alerting me to birds I’ve yet to record this month has been goading me since last week with reports of a juvenile little blue heron hanging out at Veterans Park in Hamilton. Twice last week I drove down there and didn’t spot the bird. This afternoon, I gaveContinue reading “Third time’s the charm: spotting a little blue heron”

A summer smorgasbord of New Jersey birds

In between spring and fall migration, we have plenty of resident and visiting birds to excite us, even if the variety isn’t quite as robust as when migrants are on the move. While having dinner at our kitchen table Sunday evening, my wife and I were delighted to see four (4!) juvenile bluebirds in ourContinue reading “A summer smorgasbord of New Jersey birds”

The pleasures of daily birding

A bald eagle lifts its head up and looks toward the sky. The bird has a white head, brown body and yellow talons.

Unless the weather is horrible or I have a family or other priority commitment, I get out birding almost every day. Most of my outings run in the 90-minute range, but shorter sessions can also bring joy. Today was an unusual three-stop day, starting at the Charles Rogers Preserve in Princeton for about 45 minutesContinue reading “The pleasures of daily birding”

At last, an egret

A great egret stands on a log in a pond, looking into the water for something to eat.

For several weeks, I’d been puzzled that I had yet to log a sighting of an egret in 2025. Great egrets usually show up in spring in these parts, but here we are halfway through summer and I’d yet to see one. I’d been seeing reports of great egrets and a little blue heron atContinue reading “At last, an egret”

A fine morning at Hamilton Veterans Park

For the past several days, I’d been seeing e-Bird reports of snowy egrets and a little blue heron hanging around Veterans Park in Hamilton. When I woke up this morning, I figured it was high time I checked them out. Sure enough, the little blue heron was staying close to a larger snowy egret, asContinue reading “A fine morning at Hamilton Veterans Park”