wood ducks – The Jersey Birder

Wood ducks brighten the day

Male wood ducks on tree limbs extending over a pond, with reeds in the background.

At least one Virginia rail is hanging out in the big pond at the center of the Charles Rogers Wildlife Refuge in Princeton, and I stopped there before work Monday. I was hoping as on previous visits merely to hear a rail, a bird that hides among the reeds and rarely ventures into view whenContinue reading “Wood ducks brighten the day”

A futile search for the vesper sparrow, and a bad hair day for a heron

This past week was full of birding adventures close to home, with a typical mixture of highs and lows. I’ve just about given up my quest to spot a vesper sparrow this fall. One (or who knows how many) has been hanging out at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, spotted by several people over theContinue reading “A futile search for the vesper sparrow, and a bad hair day for a heron”