wildlife photography – The Jersey Birder

A rare chance to see birds in snow

A dark-eyed junco perches on a slender arc of brown grass, with snowy ground in the background.

With the snow falling this morning, I headed to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm hoping to get some good shots. These years, we typically get only a few snowfalls, so when the white stuff comes down, I’m extra eager to get out with my camera. The gate to the Cold Soil Road parking lot wasContinue reading “A rare chance to see birds in snow”

With the first frost of fall, some cool birds

A Cooper's hawk faces the rising sun while sitting on a thick tree branch.

With the thermometer at 30 degrees this morning, we had our first frost of the fall. It turned out to be a decent day for birding. I hadn’t been to the Reed-Bryan Farm side of Mercer Meadows for a while and decided to go there rather than to the Pole Farm side of the park.Continue reading “With the first frost of fall, some cool birds”

Birds and fall color: a great combination

Savannah sparrow perched a cluster of red berries.

This is a golden time for birding, with the fall color peaking and enough leaves falling to increase the odds of seeing more birds in the branches. This morning was a nice example, as my pal Jim and I headed to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm. The sun was out in full, shining liberally onContinue reading “Birds and fall color: a great combination”

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”

A beautiful weekend for birding, part 1

Greater white-fronted goose floating in a lake, with Canada geese nearby.

Where to begin? This weekend has offered a lot of birding thrills in addition to beautiful weather. The sun has been shining as I’ve made several stops at parks near home. The temperature reached the mid-80s Saturday and is expected to do so again today. I’ll start with the rare bird that came Saturday toContinue reading “A beautiful weekend for birding, part 1”

Great light brightens the birds

Eastern towhee sitting on a tree branch, turning its head to the left.

My last two outings to Mercer Meadows brought lighting challenges and opportunities. Each morning started with heavy fog, with the sun ultimately breaking through and burning off the gray stuff. Sometimes, the fog makes for interesting, moody shots. I went to the Reed-Bryan Farm side of the park today. The fog was heavy, and throughContinue reading “Great light brightens the birds”

An abundance of pewees enlivens the soundscape

The sweet “pee-uh-wee!” call of the Eastern wood pewee has been sounding repeatedly in my part of New Jersey this Labor Day weekend. I heard several again this morning at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm and at the Dyson Tract along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. More often than not, I log my e-Bird peweeContinue reading “An abundance of pewees enlivens the soundscape”

It’s good to be back home and welcoming warblers

A male scarlet tanager perches on a tree branch. The bird has black wings and a scarlet body with a patch of yellow on its side.

With the sun fully out and the temperature a cool 51 degrees, I headed to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm this morning for my first home outing since returning from Maine. I had checked Birdcast to find that warblers are returning to Mercer County on their fall migration, and I hoped I’d chance upon aContinue reading “It’s good to be back home and welcoming warblers”

At last, an egret

A great egret stands on a log in a pond, looking into the water for something to eat.

For several weeks, I’d been puzzled that I had yet to log a sighting of an egret in 2025. Great egrets usually show up in spring in these parts, but here we are halfway through summer and I’d yet to see one. I’d been seeing reports of great egrets and a little blue heron atContinue reading “At last, an egret”

Gnatcatchers catch my eye

Blue-gray gnatcatcher, beak pointed upward, sits on a tree branch with leaves below and behind it.

On a relatively quiet morning at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, I approached a trail intersection near the old AT&T Building One site and spotted movement about halfway up some tall trees. Birds, undoubtedly, but what were they? As one flew from one branch to another, I spotted its white breast and gray wings andContinue reading “Gnatcatchers catch my eye”