A week ago last Sunday, I was walking on a paved portion of the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail through the main fields up from the Pole Farm parking lot when I stopped to snap a photo of a song sparrow. But something was odd about it. When I brought the photo up on screen at home, IContinue reading “My little friend, the song sparrow without a tail”
Tag Archives: Mercer Meadows
At last, the yellow warbler emerges
For the last three weeks or so, every time I set foot on a particular trail at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, I’ve heard a yellow warbler. And I do mean heard, not seen. This bird, and I suspect it is just the one, has continually frustrated me because I have not been able toContinue reading “At last, the yellow warbler emerges”
The thrill of a new bird sighting
Because of work commitments, my time in the woods and fields has been limited of late, so I’m extra appreciative when new birds come into view. I spotted my first blue grosbeak on May 17 at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, and the bird seems to be hanging around as fellow birders spotted it thisContinue reading “The thrill of a new bird sighting”
Everything’s bigger in Texas, and so is my life list
While I didn’t add a huge number of birds to my “Big Month” count, my trip to Texas did net me four lifers, two that I had seen before but never recorded and two that truly were new sightings for me. I racked up a modest 21 species in College Station during the six daysContinue reading “Everything’s bigger in Texas, and so is my life list”
Five days in, my ‘Big Month’ takes shape
Last night I finished reading the “Big Year” book on which the movie of the same title was based. I’m comfortable in reporting that I am not quite as obsessively crazed as the three competitors on whom the story is based who each sighted more than 700 species of birds in 1998. It was onContinue reading “Five days in, my ‘Big Month’ takes shape”
One great bird: the Northern harrier
Four birds with “Northern” in their name are regular visitors in my part of New Jersey. The Northern cardinal is ubiquitous at home, and the Northern mockingbird and Northern flicker are regulars in the neighborhood. But the most thrilling of all is the Northern harrier. To find a harrier, all I need to do isContinue reading “One great bird: the Northern harrier”
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”
The early bird gets the sightings
Up and about earlier than usual this morning, I headed over to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm and was rewarded richly. I had barely walked out of the parking lot at Cold Soil and Keefe roads when two tree swallows beckoned me in to one of the best birding locations in Mercer County. Red-winged blackbirdsContinue reading “The early bird gets the sightings”
The Jersey Birder 