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Behind the Bins
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Join me behind the bins to watch birds around the country and sometimes in other places around the globe.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'nj'
Northern Wheatear in DeKorte Park
Northern Wheatears rarely visit the metro area. They breed in the high Arctic, Alaska and Greenland. (This bird is of the Greenland race, see how buffy it is.) I missed a Wheatear last fall at Garret Mountain and by the time I was able to get to...
Wordless Wednesday
Grassland Bird Survey
As soon as I turned off the engine, I heard the sliding song of a Prairie Warbler. While not one of the targeted species, at least it was something. The grassland survey has been a disappointment so far. The route maps were vague, and the varie...
Bird Photography Weekly
Sitting in the car with all the windows and sunroof open, I leaned back with my eyes closed to revel in the cascade of voices around me. Wood Warblers were singing, off in the distance a Black-billed Cuckoo called, the Wood Thrushes led the flute...
Birding Duke Farms
Once upon a time, friends and I would go to Duke Gardens every February to walk in the greenhouses and feast on the riotous color of spring flowers; a treat for our winter-weary eyes. We did it for years. Then Doris Duke died, we all scattered...
World Series of Birding
I peered into the darkness as the windshield wipers slapped a path through the driving rain. The guard lights in the parking lot cast long eerie shadows. Straining to hear night sounds with my ear angled toward the crack of the window; headlights...
Citizen Science
Have you ever been involved in a citizen science bird survey? New Jersey Audubon conducts several every year: Shorebirds, Piedmont, Pinelands, Nightjar, Harbour Herons, and Grasslands. Pick one. Participating allows you and me to be part of som...
Birding Clinton Road
I live close (seriously, like 5 minutes) to one of the most amazing birding hotspots in NJ and I don’t take advantage of it. That is going to change. I popped over this morning in the cold and misty rain to see what had come in. As I crept ...
Odd Yellow Pine Siskin
While chatting on the phone and idly looking out the window, I noticed an odd Siskin with a small flock pecking around on the ground under the feeders. It looked positively lemony compared to the other hundred or so swirling around the yard. Peop...
Birding Liberty State Park
Loads of toursits visit the Statue of Liberty when they come to New York City for the first time. Few of them realize that Liberty State Park, located smack-dab on the Hudson River amidst the crush of humanity in Jersey City, is a local birding ...
Great Backyard Bird Count 2009
I wasn’t going to participate in the GBBC this year since I am leaving for Texas on Sunday morning and won’t be able to finish the weekend. I half-heartedly noticed 2 Black-capped Chickadee, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch and 1 Downy Woodpec...
Bluebird Magic
I, the great Bludini, will now perform dazzling feats of magic. I will attempt the most amazing bird trick there is. I will pull 3 male Bluebirds out of thin air and put them atop metal stakes. Does it not cause you to shiver and shake? You may...
Harlequin Duck Soap Opera
Mrs. H. was going about her business but keeping close to the Mister after such a hard migration. The usual rigg-raff was in the neighborhood of course, but that was to be expected in NJ. What she had not expected, afer all off this time, was a b...
Bird Photography Weekly
I am having a uber-weird iphoto crisis with my IMAC, so let me offer you a Ruddy Turnstone that I happened to have stashed on my desktop. I took this a few weeks ago while I was walking on the jetty at Barnegat Light. Even in their winter plumage...
SkyWatch
I am not sure if he is the bruiser or the bruisee, but either way, I have a Red-bellied Woodpecker hanging around the yard again. It seems to me that the sky always looks bluer (when it’s not gray, cloudy, snowing) in winter. ...
Myrtle Warblers really eat Myrtle
While I was down at the beach last weekend, I saw loads of Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting amidst the low shrubs on the walk back from the jetty. The wind was blowing pretty fierce, so they would fly up but settle back down quickly. Mostly they w...
Bird Photography Weekly
There were loads and loads of Long-tailed Ducks on the water at Barnegat Light. A walk out onto the jetty produced close views of them in various stages of molt, a sure sign that spring is on the way, thank goodness. This duck looks completely di...
Winter Birding at Barnegat Light
Barnegat Light is the mecca in NJ for wintering diving ducks. Now, winter birding is a chilly business at best, but if you have ever been to the Jersey shore in January; you know it can be downright cold. Of course you would not be birding tucked i...
Siskin Visit during an Ice Storm
I woke up to a world turned to glass. Every paved surface was as smooth as a skating rink and icicles dripped from the trees. The rain that everyone else had down below was freezing rain on the mountain. The backyard was a flurry of activity as...
Bird Photography Weekly-Bald Eagle
Winter is a great time to look for Eagles. We have them here in NJ on both the Delaware and Hudson Rivers as well as most reservoirs. Many bird groups or Audubon Societies offer winter Eagle field trips. Check it out and dress warm if you go. I...
My World- Skylands
I just love the name. Skylands. It rings of long vistas and a sort of mythology; like it is a place where eagles live. And if you were to drive up to Skylands and the NJ State Botanical Gardens you would indeed find eagles. 5000 pound eagles....
Ross’s Goose in Franklin Lakes, NJ
After dipping on the Barnacle Goose yesterday, I really wanted to get the Ross’s today, especially since it is so close by. I called my birding bud this morning at the crack of dawn (well it was really more like 8:30, which is still pretty early f...
Red Crossbill in NJ
On the 3rd try I finally got a really good look at the female Red Crossbill that I have been stalking since last weekend. She is a late riser, so I didn’t kill myself getting there super early only to find out that she had been spotted at 7:3...
Saturday birdwatching
There is chasing, and then there is chasing, and then there is the possibly getting a lifebird a few blocks from my house. I got an email from the Director of Weis Ecology Center that she had a female RED Crossbill at her feeder. Red? Since she...
Thanksgiving Turkey Special
All Turkeys are not the same. According to Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, there are 6 subspecies of Wild Turkey; 4 of them in the US, the other 2 in Mexico. I have only seen 3 of the US ones. Meleagris gallopavo merriami — the W...
White-tailed Deer
I peered through the fog out my kitchen window to find I had a visitor to my feeding station. I hustled out onto the deck yelling and flapping a kitchen towel. All she did was look up as she chewed. While my neighbor is complaining about mauran...
Birding Brigantine
I had come to the Brigantine division of the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to look for sparrows. An odd thing to do perhaps, but I was specifically looking for the Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow. I had seen several reports of them being there...
Autumn Butterflies
Isn’t it interesting that fall butterflies are fall colored. Wee, teeny American Copper The beautiful Common Buckeye Sachem Skipper, I am so bad at IDing skippers. Scott Barnes, the naturalist at Sandy Hook, IDed this one. ...
Skywatch
I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of Beech Road heading to work after the Thursday Morning birdwalk. I glanced both ways and then up. Way above me a hawk soared, making lazy circles in the sky. It was pretty high but as it turned and twis...
Marsh Cruise at the Meadowlands Festival of Birding
I signed up for the 1st pontoon boat eco-cruise through the marsh at 7 am. Of course this meant I left my house at 5:15, I thought I would spare you the early morning drive and give you virtual ride. 3 boats left the River Barge Park and Marina ...
