Spring Birding

Although the day was overcast and slightly cool the birding sure wasn’t! Warblers were everywhere as there had obviously been a good flight the night before (possible aided by that mentioned bad weather). We walked into Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Northern Parula, and glided right through Common Yellow-throat, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-White Warbler, and Prairie Warblers. A single Nashville Warbler and 2 male Blackburnian Warblers stole the show as it was Jeanette and my first good “Spring” look at the orange-throated beauties. Some other birds seen were Black-throated Blue Warbler and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Blue-winged Warbler and Magnolia Warblers and American Redstart. Ovenbird, Baltimore Oriole and Orchard Orioles, and Scarlet Tanagers rounded up what was an amazing morning of Spring birding at Garrett Mt.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Jeanette and I needed to spend a few days in Florida with relatives and of course I found a way to squeeze in a “little” birding. So three and a half days worth of a little time = 15 Life birds and two of my most wanted US birds! We got to see the amazing Burrowing Owls (although at our distance picture quality suffered) and a vibrant Scissor-tailed Flycatcher! This was an opportunity for me to use birding skills I have built over the last year to track down local “specialties” on my own. With help from Jeanette’s “eagle eyes” we saw some additional Florida beauties like Anhinga, Roseate Spoonbill, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, Swallow-tailed Kite, Wood Stork, Mottled Duck and Magnificent Frigatebird. Throw in Loggerhead Shrike and Grey Kingbird and it was a very productive birding trip and a very enjoyable step away from everyday life. Can’t wait to go back for more!
Swallow-tailed Kite

Pileated Woodpecker

White Ibis

Sandhill Crane

Magnificent Frigatebird

Barred Owl

Brown Pelicans

I never grow tired of seeing the hunting Short-eared Owls at the Pole Farm near Princeton New Jersey. These two were hunting and must have come too close to one another’s territory! If you live in NJ and have not been here you need to. Seriously. 🙂

The Pole Farm is a great New Jersey spot for Eastern Meadowlark and Short-eared Owls. The Meadowlarks were calling their hearts out and chasing each other around. This was my first decent shot of an Eastern Meadowlark so I was a happy camper. 🙂

The Evening Grosbeaks of Assunpink WMA fame didn’t disappoint! The male sat out for 5 minutes basking in the sun. The females were close by and afforded nice views as well. The males call was an interesting one as it sounded like someone swallowing water while trying to whistle. Great Birds and a New Jersey first for me!

Had a fun day in Somerset county seeing not one but two different Saw-whet Owls! These two were much smaller than the previous bird I had seen as it had been all relaxed and puffed up. They just sat and let us watch them for a short amount of time (as to not disturb them).

As we started down the path from the modest “visitor’s center” we saw three people pointing and looking towards a tall tree in the distance. We approached and asked what was being looked at. “some woodpecker.” It turned out to not just be “some” woodpecker but the Pileated Woodpecker! The Pileated Woodpecker is the biggest Woodpecker in North America and one we had very much wanted to see! We shared the bird with a happy group of casual birders. Casual “hikers” would probably be a better description. Anyways, a great bird for us (number 145 for me :)) and some good pictures from Jeanette.

This morning Jeanette saw a Lawrence’s Warbler (a hybrid offspring of a Golden-winged Warbler and a Blue-winged Warbler) in among a plethora of Blue-winged Warblers (This bird had been previously reported in the NJRBA). He was making cozy with a “plain” blue-winged and close by was a baby warbler (baby Lawrence’s perhaps?) A few good identifying shots were taken. Great Bird!

Old Mine Road

This morning we headed out to Old Mine Road near the Delaware Water Gap. Without a lot of pre-game planning we put our hopes in some recent sightings in the area and a site description from the NJAS. As newer birders there were a couple things we noticed. The 3 minute light is rough and a little scary  and there is no visitor center in the area. Once we got going there were a lot of singers. Yellow Warblers, American Redstarts, and others (possibly Northern Parula or Black-throated Blue Warblers?) were all heard driving but the Yellows, Redstarts and 2 Worm-eating Warblers were the only seen Warblers. Great-crested Flycatcher and Acadian Flycatcher (Our first) were seen along with Eastern Kingbird. A singing Indigo Bunting and male Scarlet Tanager made up the most vivid spotting. We had hoped to see the elusive (from us anyways) Hooded Warbler without success. 🙁 Anyways, overall a nice day of birding for early June.