Scarlet Tanager at Liberty State Park

Oh, happy day! Mike's goal for this May (his birthday month) has been to see and photograph a Scarlet Tanager. We got the two quick glimpses of the one in our neighborhood park, but today we had a long time to enjoy this one posing for us high in the treetops at Liberty Park in Jersey City, NJ.

Birding Liberty State Park

 

We decided to try Liberty State Park for migrating Warblers. We are glad we did. The Scarlet Tanager was the highlight, but we also got a pretty good photo of the American Redstart and saw a Wilson's Warbler for the first time.



American Redstart


Yellow Warbler


Least Flycatcher


Wilson's Warbler


Northern Parula


Starling eating worms

Yellow Warbler at the celery farm

Last year, we went to the Celery Farm in Allendale, NJ and saw a yellow warbler in a small tree among cattails. When we reached that tree today, we paused for a few seconds and a yellow warbler flew into the same tree.

Later another birder pointed out the yellow warbler's nest in a nearby tree.

House Wrens at the Wren House

Finally! Obviously we do everything we can to attract our little winged friends, and often we are disappointed when our efforts fail at attracting them. We seem to have had some success with the house wrens who are busily building a nest in the wren house we put out. Chris thinks they chose it because they have a lovely view out their front door of a blooming clematis. We can hear them from first thing in the morning and all through the day. Today we went out to two locations for birding, and we left the webcam on the wren house to keep an eye on things for us. Here are some of the best pictures of our resident house wrens.

Common NightHawk

We saw a nighthawk flying over Lake Nelson at dusk. Here's the best photo.

Blackburnian Warbler and Friends at Garret Mountain

Blackburnian Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

American Redstart

Red-eyed Vireo

Incredibly Cute Baby Wood Ducks

We were up in Piermont, NY, the other night to see our friends, Nancy and Dan, and take in the Fred Eaglesmith Band show. We figured we might get some birding in as well because that is what we do. Can you imagine the thrill we felt when one of the first things we saw out the window of our B&B were these adorable baby ducks. We love wood ducks but had never seen any baby ones. Of course, Chris kept frantically counting them as they all tried to keep up with mom who was trying to swim against the current.

Birds from Tallman Mountain State Park, Piermont NY

Baltimore Oriole

Carolina Wren


Song Sparrow

 

Female Red Winged Blackbird



When we stayed in Piermont, NY our B&B was close to the entrance of Tallman Mountain State Park. We took a brief walk and encountered a few birds. There was quite a bit of singing with the wren, the oriole, red-winged blackbirds and song sparrow competing for our attention.

The yellow warbler got our attention by its color not song.

Yellow Warbler

Red-bellied woodpecker: Photo by Pete

 

This photo was taken in my backyard today, May 13th, in West Windsor, NJ. I have seen this bird eating from our feeder and finally captured a photo. I had to research what it was and found your site. I wanted to share it.

Spring Migrants

Baltimore Oriole 

Common Yellowthroat 

American Redstart

In May, many migrating birds fly through New Jersey. While we like Cape May, Garret Mountain and other birding hot spots, our neighborhood park is a short walk away and an okay spot to see a few birds high in the treetops. We've got a glimpse of a scarlet tanager two mornings in the past week, but no photos (yet). We also saw a Tennessee warbler. The Baltimore Orioles are active and we've also seen an American Redstart and a common yellowthroat.

Baby Goose (Canada Gosling)

Aren't baby geese cute?

House Sparrow feeding baby birds

Here the female sparrow is feeding its chicks who are inside a nesting box.  The male sparrow was nearby with some food in its mouth, but when we were watching didn't try to feed the baby birds.  These photos were taken at the Cassidy Hill Winery in Coventry, Connecticut.

Eastern Kingbird

The Eastern Kingbird has arrived just in time to eat some of Lake Nelson's flying insects.