Category Archives: In the neighborhood

Birds, In the neighborhood

Skimming

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I went fishing for photos this evening, just as the sun was beginning its earnest descent for the day, and came upon another doing its own sort of fishing.

Black skimmers are as magical-looking as they are improbable: the lipstick-bright band that highlights their underbite, the way they twist and turn over the water, alternately showing black on the topside or silver beneath. That I should find them so close to home, just down the street where the small creek widens into something resembling a lagoon, is something of a surpise. I should know better, know that it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

The cormorants were waiting for something in the willow overhanging the shoreline, shadows of ducks flew overhead and landed in the water at my feet. A few night herons, silhouetted against the setting sun, the kingfishers dashing back and forth over the creek and I saw this one skimmer, far off in front of an improbably large waterfront home. Oh, how I would love to have this view out my front window!

Most often I see skimmers from my car while sitting in traffic, waiting for the bridge to go down after the sailboats pass below on the river. It’s always just a glance out the car window, that flash of silver and black, and lipstick red. This evening was a treat to see one coursing along the creek, dipping and turning as it searched the water below. But it’s only ever one or two. At Cape May, in late September, I know to look for the skimmers resting on the beach, facing into the wind, a whole gang of them, looking about as improbable as any bird could.

Birds, In the neighborhood

Home is…

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wherever you make your nest!
Ospreys seem to have oddball nesting preferences, don’t they? At Sandy Hook a few pairs choose chimneys of the out-of-commission officer’s buildings rather than the available salt marsh nesting platforms. I’ve seen them nest on channel markers, cell towers, and once in the top of an old dead tree – imagine that! Are there any oddball nests in your neighborhood?
Birds, In the neighborhood, Snapshots

Storm-swept beach

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“The wild wind raves, the tide runs high, as up and down the beach we flit, one little sandpiper and I.”
–Celia Laighton Thaxter
NJ beaches don’t look like this the weekend before the 4th of July. There’s little solitude now and very little protection for beach nesting birds. Despite the efforts of many to keep them safe, piping plovers face a multitude of dangers. Here’s the story of one of those dangers.
Birds, In the neighborhood

Purple martins

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I’ve only this random photo to share today – a few of the purple martins at the small colony maintained in a local park by a volunteer. I drive by the park on my way to and from work, but never had the time to stop and see if there were any martins occupying the apartments. I was glad to find them instead of starlings. It surprises me because I’ve always had the idea that martins will only nest close to water – sure there’s a reservoir within a few miles – but it’s hardly close. I love that all of the apartments and gourds are numbered so that each couple knows its’ own address.

😉

I’m off to sulk about the end of my vacation now.

In the neighborhood, Snapshots

A tall tree

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How about some Borland? We haven’t had any for a while now.

“Every garden should have a tree nearby. A tall tree with broad bole and spreading branches, preferably with branches that start well down the trunk or with a low crotch from which a boy might climb. A tree which spreads its roots where it springs from the earth, firm based and strong against the storms.

This is a tree for man as well as boy, the man who has climbed his trees and now can sit beneath them in understanding. For him those branches offer shade and hospitality when the sun has seared his neck and the garden is only half weeded. He can rest his back against that broad bole in Spring, when the spading is half done. Weeding and spading that younger hands once hastened through.

There is reassurance at the foot of such a tree, as well as rest. The years have added to its strength and stature. The wind, the rain, the ice and the blistering sun have all gone into the toughness of its fiber. Its roots strike deep into the soil and find sustenance in the old, old hills.

Youngsters must climb trees, to look out across a world that is misty with adventure. New horizons can be seen from tall trees when one is young. But the time comes when one can sit at the foot of such a tree and see even further than the eye could reach from its highest branch. There are times when one can see all the way to Tarawa and Anzio and Guadalcanal and Cassino.” – Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons

Borland adds the footnote for those of us too young to remember that Tarawa, Anzio, Guadalcanal, and Cassino were battlegrounds of WWII.

The tree in this photo is one that I pay particular attention to on the days that I teach, because I pass by it on my way to the college. This photo was taken in late March when I began taking a photo every few weeks to track its progress through the seasons. I missed visiting for a few weeks when the semester first ended and on my most recent visit I found it in full leaf. It grows in a picturesque setting, on a slight rise beside a dirt road – set apart from the farmhouse and outbuildings that share the property.

Birds, In the neighborhood

World Series Day

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Today was the World Series of Birding here in NJ when birders try to find the greatest number of species to raise money for conservation. I play every year with the Sandy Hook team, but this year only joined the group for a few hours in the late afternoon. While the poor souls who had been at it since 5:30 this morning had their dinner break, I watched the terns feeding on Sandy Hook Bay. That’s a battleship of some sort in the background at the nearby naval weapons station.

The terns weren’t the only ones fishing on the bay, but they seemed to be much more successful than the others. I love to watch the terns wheeling and diving over the water – makes me dizzy!

We did the *death march* out to the salt ponds at the very tip of Sandy Hook and saw hundreds of swallows and some shorebirds. Patrick from The Hawk Owl’s Nest is somewhere in this group photo; he was a co-leader for the day and is a nice guy and has a wonderful smile!

We visited the locust grove looking for warblers feeding at dusk. The sunset over the dunes was gorgeous tonight – somehow I managed to miss the peak of the beach plum bloom, but they’re still very pretty. We ended the day listening for woodcock, barred owls, whipporwills, and nighthawks, but found only a great horned owl perched in the distance. All told, I think the group had about 125 species today which is a respectable number, although they missed some *sure to see* birds.
Birds, In the neighborhood

Find me a warbler!

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If you’re looking for gorgeous spring warbler pics, you’ll have to go elsewhere. The best I can manage so far this season is mediocre photos of the trees I often find them feeding in. These are red oaks (I think) and there’s an overgrown arboretum near to my hometown that has lots of them. I like to position myself on this dirt path that’s lined on both sides by these trees and see what I can find feeding way up in the tippy-tops of the trees. The other day there were mostly black-throated greens and northern parulas, but I also saw a great-crested flycatcher and strangest of all a chipping sparrow! Isn’t he supposed to be feeding on the ground like a proper sparrow?

I’m curious if others north or south (or west) of NJ find a similar preference for red oaks when they’re in flower or if there’s some other type of tree you loiter under looking for warblers?

Birds, In the neighborhood

Goofing off at the beach

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I took a short break this afternoon from pond-cleaning duty to visit Sandy Hook and the migration watch site. It was a beautiful day and the Hook was packed with people desperate for time outdoors. There were cyclers and bikers, rollerbladers and windsurfers, tourists and birders. Lots of birders. A Hooded Warbler was found yesterday and I thought I might get a peak at it, but no luck. There were a nice number of hawks moving today, I thought. Plenty of airplanes to look at when nothing else is going by.

Lots of people hang out at the hawk watch to keep the counter company and to see what’s happening by. I saw a few broadwings, a red shoulder or two, and lots of turkey vultures. They tend to fly out a certain distance over the bay and then stall while deciding what to do, as they’re hesitant to cross the open water ahead of them. Most circle back and fly north via the bayshore. The dune vegetation is still very brown, but soon the beach plums will be blooming – can’t wait to see them all frothy white and humming with bees!