A three-lifer day in the Pine Barrens

My buddy Jim and I drove through the fog down to the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Reserve in the Pine Barrens this morning. Although we did spot a few prairie warblers, they weren’t the day’s highlight. Jim has been to the Huber reserve many times, but this was my first visit to the sprawling stretchContinue reading “A three-lifer day in the Pine Barrens”

A most cooperative bird: the yellow-throated warbler

As my birding pal Jim and I made the hour-and-a-quarter drive to Estell Manor Park on Saturday, he guaranteed that I would get a lifer bird: the yellow-throated warbler. Never has been getting a lifer so easy. As we got out of the car in the parking lot at the visitor center, Jim immediately saidContinue reading “A most cooperative bird: the yellow-throated warbler”

A birding adventure in the Pine Barrens

We weren’t out to find the mythical Jersey Devil. My friend Jim and I set out for Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area in the Pinelands to find pine warblers and red-headed woodpeckers. Jim, who has been visiting Colliers Mills since he was a kid, guaranteed that we’d find the red-headed woodpeckers and figured we hadContinue reading “A birding adventure in the Pine Barrens”

Chasing the rarest of Jersey birds: the red-flanked bluetail

On this last day of holiday break, I could not resist the siren song of the red-flanked bluetail, a Eurasian native that has, curiously, been hanging out in a residential neighborhood in South Jersey since early December. It’s the first bird of its kind to be reported in the Eastern states. My friend Laura textedContinue reading “Chasing the rarest of Jersey birds: the red-flanked bluetail”