Princeton – The Jersey Birder

Indoor ‘birding’ at the Princeton University Art Museum

Claude Monet's "The Houses of Parliament, Seagulls, 1903" showing the Houses through a fog with a flock of seagulls soaring through the air.

With winds gusting to 50 mph today, I was not in the mood to battle the cold when I expected few birds would be flying. Instead, I headed to the Princeton University Art Museum, intent on pursuing a weird idea: to find birds depicted in the museum’s collections. The new museum, which opened to theContinue reading “Indoor ‘birding’ at the Princeton University Art Museum”

Nothing beats a bald eagle

The head of a bald eagle, with wisps of white feathers showing on its neck.

Symbol of America, the bald eagle is a magnificent bird. I had the privilege of seeing two of them this morning. I got one of them on camera in Princeton as I was driving away from the Millstone River Impoundment. I was heading to U.S. 1 when I looked to my right and saw theContinue reading “Nothing beats a bald eagle”

Close encounters of the bird kind

A great blue heron turns its head to the left as it stands in front of an inlet at Trenton marsh.

With birding as in life, you never know what lies around the corner. I had two great blue heron sightings today. This morning, from the main observation platform at the Charles Rogers Preserve in Princeton, I spotted a heron at the edge of the reeds on the back side of the pond in the centerContinue reading “Close encounters of the bird kind”

Where have all the gulls gone?

A ring-billed gull stands on a railing on a wooden footbridge.

The other day I was telling a fellow birder that I’ve been wondering why I hadn’t seen many seagulls where I normally see them, such as at Colonial Lake. It also includes the Lawrence Shopping Center on the opposite side of Business Route 1, where ring-billed gulls often hover over the parking lot, looking forContinue reading “Where have all the gulls gone?”

A beautiful weekend for birding, part 2

A yellow-rumped warbler perches, briefly, on a branch.

On Sunday, I made my first stop at the Charles Rogers Preserve in Princeton, where other birders have been reporting good warbler traffic. As I stepped out of my car at the parking lot, plenty of birds were calling. My warbler brain has not been challenged much this fall, and I struggled at first toContinue reading “A beautiful weekend for birding, part 2”

The Dinky Line Trail: Gem or joke

While I dearly love the parks and trails I regularly traverse, I am always on the lookout for something new. By fiddling with the explore function in e-Bird yesterday, I clicked a map pin on a nearby trail I never knew existed. It’s the Dinky Line Trail, a short path near the Princeton Junction trainContinue reading “The Dinky Line Trail: Gem or joke”

Sedge wrens enliven birding in Princeton

Sedge wren perched atop a plant, partially obscured by branches.

It’s always fun when a rare visitor comes to town, and the birding buzz around Princeton the last few days has been about a pair of sedge wrens who have come calling at the Mountain Lakes Preserve. Reports on the wrens had been coming in from e-Bird, and this morning I decided to take myContinue reading “Sedge wrens enliven birding in Princeton”

Lunch al fresco, with a birdsong soundtrack

View over a wooden fence into a big stand of tall trees.

With a pair of off-campus meetings bookending the lunch hour yesterday, I stopped at the Charles Rogers Nature Preserve in between appointments to have lunch with the birds. I parked near the main observation platform overlooking a large pond that at this time of year is covered almost completely in rushes and reeds. As IContinue reading “Lunch al fresco, with a birdsong soundtrack”

My big zoom is back!

A song sparrow sings from a tree branch at the edge of a grassy field.

I was able to pick up my Sigma 150-600 mm Contemporary lens from the camera shop on Friday afternoon. I am happily back out shooting with it again. The problem with the zoom mechanism locking up is gone, and the repair gave me another fix I wasn’t expecting. Ever since my Canon R7 arrived severalContinue reading “My big zoom is back!”

Watching a bald eagle is good for the soul

A bald eagle flies in front of a stand of trees.

The other day I headed to the Millstone River Impoundment in Princeton to see what I could see. This would turn out to be a visit of quality over quantity. The scores of common mergansers that had flocked here a few days before had flown off, and only a few gulls and Canada geese wereContinue reading “Watching a bald eagle is good for the soul”