You might think I had nothing to do today, but in fact I saw quite a lot of birds (if you consider that doing anything). This waterfall is off one of the trails near Weis Ecology Center in northern New Jersey.
Birding has been good
With spring migration in full swing now, and no nasty weather to stop it sightings have really picked up. I was lucky enough to go home to Pennsylvania for a day and was able to find 7 species of warbler close to Lake Ontelaunee, one of my favorite places to bird in my county. My highlight was getting very close … Read More
Warblers are a’coming!
Just to whet your appetite on what’s to come, here is my somewhat poor digishot of a Louisiana Waterthrush. I thought that putting everything in b&w except for the warbler itself would jazz it up a bit. I know that there have been recent controversies about doctoring photos but you have to remember that this is not photojournalism, its closer … Read More
Inquisitive Birds
Some days at the hawk watch the weather is less than ideal and the the hawks are not flying. These are the times when it is particularly fun to watch the other local birds behavior. Since I am stationary most of the day, the birds become used to my presence and settle down to enjoy the bird seed I put … Read More
Turkeys at Garret
This morning at Garret Mountain Reservation in New Jersey I came across a group of Wild Turkeys and managed this shot of one of the fine looking toms. There was not anything else new at the park that I didn’t see yesterday but Chipping Sparrows were more numerous. I heard rumors of several Pine Warblers but didn’t come across any … Read More
The Croissant-shaped bird
I got out today and did some of my first birding in Maryland, but was sorely disappointed. The weather had turned bloody cold but there are still no ducks around. Maybe they don’t get ducks out here? I guess that is a possibility. I did manage to pick up some year birds including a Pileated Woodpecker for #72. That is … Read More
A quiet January day
Today I met up with a friend to do some birding around Lake Ontelaunee and Blue Marsh Lake. It is the beginning of January so the expectation is that there should be ducks and geese in large flocks. Unfortunately this was not the case. Only 5 species of duck made an appearance and two of those species (Bufflehead, Gadwall) were … Read More
The Hungry Herring
While at Barnegat Light State Park in New Jersey late last year I was lucky enough to photograph a Herring Gull chopping down on a nice looking sea star. I normally associate sea stars with Florida or the West Coast because that is where I have seen the most and so I was surprised at first when I recognized the … Read More
Lucky end to the year
I was particularly lucky these finals days of the year, getting great looks at the Western Kingbird and pretty good looks at the Ash-throated Flycatcher. And even better, both these birds were close to my house so I didn’t have to spend money on gas. This is a great change after missing some key birds earlier in the year (Fork-tailed … Read More