2024 is turning out to be a banner year for blue jays, at least as I’m seeing and hearing them on my outings in Mercer County, New Jersey. Each time I look out the back windows at home, it seems two or three blue jays are flying up to our feeders or streaking by theContinue reading “Blue jays are ruling the roost”
Tag Archives: Princeton
Catching common mergansers in flight
It’s mid-January, and as in much of the country, we are more often than not waking to leaden gray skies in my part of New Jersey. But Saturday dawned gloriously sunny, and I headed out with my camera anticipating excellent shooting conditions. I stopped first at Audubon’s Plainsboro Preserve, hoping there’d be a variety ofContinue reading “Catching common mergansers in flight”
Camera surprise: It’s a bald eagle!
On a walk when I found few birds other than Canada Geese, I took just six photos this morning, one of which I trashed in the camera on site. When I got home, I almost didn’t bother to check the card because the pickings at the Millstone River Impoundment in Princeton were so slim. IContinue reading “Camera surprise: It’s a bald eagle!”
Some days birding, starlings are the best you get
A small percentage of my birding excursions give me a goose egg: no birds spotted whatsoever. Such outings are rare, and I can almost predict when I’ll get that result. Time of day is the most reliable predictor. On off-work days either my wife will shoo me out of the house or I’ll head outContinue reading “Some days birding, starlings are the best you get”
When catbirds attack, duck and run
We birders — most of us, anyway — are happy to share tips on where and how to spot the various birds that come calling in our little corners of the planet. Today’s tip from me is unusual. I’m offering advice on how to avoid a bird, not how to find one. Last week IContinue reading “When catbirds attack, duck and run”
How big was my ‘Big Day’ in 2023?
My 2023 Spring “Big Day” was a lot of fun as I logged 51 species in e-Bird, doing my part to contribute to the crowd-sourced science that makes these annual counts so important in preserving our avian friends. Unlike last year when I traveled to Cape May County during the World Series of Birding, IContinue reading “How big was my ‘Big Day’ in 2023?”
An old friend returns, and a new one arrives
I stepped out of the car and turned toward the Delaware and Raritan Canal just a few yards behind me, and I heard something I wasn’t expecting. It took a few seconds before I could train my binoculars on the source of the spondaic call: a small green bird on the stalk of a short,Continue reading “An old friend returns, and a new one arrives”
Capturing Feathers: A digital bird image gallery
We’ve had an awful lot of rain in New Jersey the past few days, much of it the remnants of Hurricane Ian that did so much damage in Florida. With the sky weeping each morning, I have not had a chance to get out with my camera since Saturday. Fortunately, a rainy-day option is availableContinue reading “Capturing Feathers: A digital bird image gallery”
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”
A close encounter with Brood X
This afternoon I set out into the 90-degree heat to look for birds in the Institute Woods, whose paths Albert Einstein walked during his Princeton years. The woods, named for the adjacent Institute for Advanced Study, are ordinarily a place for a quiet, contemplative ramble on the trails through the trees, with birds chirping andContinue reading “A close encounter with Brood X”