New Jersey Backyard Birds

New Jersey Backyard Birds

We became birders when we moved to New Jersey. At first it was the red-bellied woodpecker, a somewhat common bird, that intrigued us with its brilliant red-head (and just a little red on the belly). They come to the suet feeders frequently but also eat jelly, oranges, peanuts and other bird seed. The goldfinches, the state bird of New Jersey, are brilliant yellow in the spring and summer. They are easily attracted with nyjer feeders.  After a while, we saw some less common birds, including ovenbirds and catbirds, some of Chris' favorites. Mike likes the tufted titmice because of their "eye makeup" and he developed a relationship with them by feeding them peanuts on the deck railing.

It was always fun to see the migrating birds as well-- the warblers in the spring and the junco all winter. We always looked forward to the orioles returning in the spring.

We moved to New Jersey in 2006 and moved backed to California in 2012. This blog chronicles our becoming amateur birders after moving to a house on a lake in Piscataway, NJ.
If you like this blog, you can follow our California birding at California Birds.



Red-bellied Woodpecker

Tufted Titmouse	American Goldfinch, The New Jersey State Bird
Dark-eyed Junco	Chickadee
Northern Cardinal	White-breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker	Blue Jay
Robin	Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing	Baltimore Oriole
Oven Bird	Black and White Warbler
Northern Flicker	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Lake Nelson Birds

Lake Nelson is a small manmade lake in Piscataway, NJ that is home to some mallards, Canada geese, cormorants, herons, and swallows. The migratory birds are amazing, with the male common merganser being our favorite (and the reason we bought better binoculars).


Male Hooded Merganser

Female Common Merganser	Belted Kingfisher
Double-crested cormorants	Egret
Wood Duck	Whitey and a Canada Goose
Black Crowned Night Heron	Great Blue Heron
Cliff Swallow	Osprey

Our Favorite Birding Spots in New Jersey

We started out as backyard birders, just feeding, observing and then photographing the birds that came to our house on Lake Nelson. After a while, we started venturing out more, aided by the JerseyBirds email list and ebird to see a wider variety of birds.






Eastern Bluebird: Duke Farms

Red-headed Woodpecker: Glenhurst Meadows	Eastern Towhee: Higbee (Cape May)
Least Bittern Cape May Point State Park	Long Tailed Duck: Meadowlands
Hooded Warbler: Garrett Mountain	Snow Geese: Brigantine (Forsythe NWR)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Sandy Hook	Harlequin Ducks: Barnegat Light
Bobolink: Hoffman Park	American Redstart: Liberty State Park
Dicksissel: Negri Nepote	Yellow Warbler: Celery Farm
Snowy Owl: Merrill Creek Reservoir	Red Breasted Nuthatch Round Valley Recreation Area
Yellow-breasted chat: Rutgers Newark	Black Skimmers: Cape May Meadows

Birds from around the world

We took two trips internationally for wildlife viewing. Trinidad and Tobago was solely for birding. We went to South Africa more for the "Big 5" mammals but we found guides who also knew the local birds. We went to the Caribbean almost every winter to escape the NJ winters and would enjoy the birds that came to us.






African Hoopoe: Londolozi Game Reserve
Kruger National Park, South Africa

Paradise flycatcher: South Africa	Lilac-breasted Roller: South Africa
Secretary Bird: South Africa	Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill: South Africa
Pin-tailed Whydah: South Africa	White-backed Vulture: South Africa
Bananaquit: Palm Island	Frigate: Jamaica
Antillean Crested Hummingbird: Grenada	Great Kiskadee: Bermuda
Brown Booby: Guana Island	Yellow-faced Grassquit: Jamaica
Heron: Belize	West Indian Whistling Duck: Antigua
White Wagtail: China	Northern Parula: Pink Sands, Harbour Island, Bahamas
Pied Cormorant: Monkey Mia, Australia	Scarlet Ibis: Trinidad
White-bearded Manikan: Trinidad	Purple Honeycreeper: Trinidad
Tufted Coquette Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad	Blue-crowned Motmot: Tobago

Birding in the USA

When we travel, we often bring along the birding gear and will squeeze in some birding when we aren't visiting family, attending conferences, or visiting a beach to escape the New Jersey Winters. We only took one trip in the US solely for birding, to Dauphin Island off the coast of Alabama.



Roseatte Spoonbill: Ding Darling NWR Sanibel Island, Florida

Painted Bunting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Collier County, FL	Burrowing Owl Brian Piccolo Park, Pembroke Pines, Florida
Prothonotary Warbler Indian Shell Mound Park Dauphin Island, Alabama	Summer Tanager Indian Shell Mound Park Dauphin Island, Alabama
Scissor-tailed flycatcher Airport Fence in Little Rock, Arkansas	Common Loon Lake Waukewan, New Hampshire
Reddish Egret Bolsa Chica Wetlands, Huntington Beach, California	Snowy Egret Baylands Nature Preserve - Palo Alto, California
Agua Caliente Park Tucson, Arizona	Gila Woodpecker: Tuscon, AZ
Cedar Waxwing: Lacy Park, Pasadena, CA	Hummingbird, Temecula, California
Pileated Woodpecker Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Collier County, FL	American Oystercatchers: Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Hummingbird: Cape Code, Mass	Leucistic Red-tailed Hawk: Piscataway, NJ
Stripe-headed Tanager: Puerto Rico	California Clapper Rail Baylands Nature Preserve - Palo Alto, California

Baby Birds

Mute Swan and Cygnets    

Mother and Baby Mallards	Mother and Baby Wood Ducks
Baby House Wrens	Baby Turkeys
Baby Blue Jay	Baby Goose (Canada Gosling)
Baby Woodpecker Feeding	Baby Barn Swallows
Baby Baltimore Oriole	Black-crowned Night Heron Chicks
Robin Nest	Baby Robin
Flickers in Nest	House Wrens Fledging

Other Animals from Lake Nelson

Chipmunk

Groundhog	Turtles
Muskrat	Bullfrog
Beaver	Deer
Fox	Water Snake

A variety of other wildlife visited our home on Lake Nelson. The beavers were the most interesting but the chipmunk is cute and it was fun to see the fox.