nature photography – The Jersey Birder

A five-lifer day down the Jersey shore

A saltmarsh sparrow sits in a tuft of grass beside one of the tidal pools just off Great Bay Boulevard.

With the Atlantic City skyline in the distance, my friend Jim and I explored the Great Bay Boulevard Wildlife Management Area at Tuckerton today. I added five species to my life list. Even better, I got photos of each. I’m topping this post with a photo of one of those, a saltmarsh sparrow. We heardContinue reading “A five-lifer day down the Jersey shore”

Ovenbirds: loud and lovely warblers

An ovenbird leans forward on a horizontal tree branch. Green leaves are behind and above the bird, which has streaks of brown on its white breast and a white eye ring.

The loud, insistent call of the ovenbird is a daily experience in the woods at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, but it’s rare that I get to see one. Today, I spotted two. I took an unusual route. I headed up the central trail from the Cold Soil Road parking lot, turned right to theContinue reading “Ovenbirds: loud and lovely warblers”

Capturing a wood thrush in two media

The mellifluent songs of wood thrushes fill the woods where I walk at the Mercer Meadows this time of the year, but it’s a rare day when I am able to spot one. My luck changed Sunday morning. I began my walk from the parking lot at the Reed-Bryan Farm side of the park andContinue reading “Capturing a wood thrush in two media”

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 blue grosbeak, full frame

Blue grosbeak perched on a stalk surrounded with green -- leaves to the right, grasses behind. The bird is blue with a silver beak. It has two rust-colored bars on its black wing.

I have no data to prove it, but when it comes to getting photos of the most colorful birds on my outings, I usually hear them before I see them. That’s true for cardinals, blue jays, Northern yellow warblers, indigo buntings, and blue grosbeaks. At the Pole Farm this morning, I heard several indigo buntingsContinue reading “A blue grosbeak, full frame”

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”

Warbler weekend has been a blast

Spring migration probably reached its peak this weekend, and I spent a good deal of time in the field to experience it. The highlight was Saturday, when my friend Jim and I went to the Ted Stiles Preserve on Baldpate Mountain, hard by the Delaware River at Titusville, New Jersey. Although I’d hiked Baldpate aContinue reading “Warbler weekend has been a blast”

The eternal beauty of the Northern cardinal

Northern cardinal, beak open, sings from a bare tree branch surrounded by lush green-leaved branches.

No birding for me today, as I took the day off to head to New York City to enjoy my grandson’s cello recital. Afterward, my son Liam and I walked from the little guy’s school through Central Park to return to their Midtown apartment. The usual overwhelming assortment of pigeons was on full display asContinue reading “The eternal beauty of the Northern cardinal”

What a day to forget my binoculars!

Cape May warbler perched among green tree leaves. The bird is mostly yellow with brown streaking and an orange spot ringing its eye, mostly below.

When I got to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm this morning, I realized that I’d left my binoculars at home. Oops. It wasn’t worth the drive to fetch them, so I set out on the trails with only my camera. In the end, it was a minor inconvenience on what turned out to be aContinue reading “What a day to forget my binoculars!”