Ducks at Roebling Park

This morning was the first of a series of fall, winter, and early-spring walks at Roebling Park in the Abbott Marshlands.  These walks are hosted by the Mercer County Park Commission and co-sponsored by the Washington Crossing Audubon Society and Friends for the Marsh.  The theme of these walks is winter waterfowl; when most of our summer songbirds have left for warmer climes, ducks and other waterbirds from the North begin to arrive in large numbers at bodies of freshwater throughout our region.  Hence, birders congregate at water to admire them.  Today's walk had over 30 participants, ranging from first-time birders to seasoned duck-watchers.

Without question, today's most abundant waterfowl species was Gadwall (we spotted over 100), followed by Green-winged Teal (23), Northern Shoveler (9), and Northern Pintail (6).  Altogether we spotted 13 species of waterfowl, which is unusually high for this time of year.  For many of us, today helped get our rusty waterfowl ID gears turning after a year of inactivity.

A resting Northern Shoveler and a male Mallard

A male Wood Duck tucked away in the reeds

The tidal North Marsh section of the park had both the highest diversity and abundance of ducks, including three new species for the day: A female Bufflehead, a male Ruddy Duck, and a female Lesser Scaup.

Female Bufflehead (center) and male and female Gadwall (front)

Not all today's finds were birds; young naturalist with a Spring Peeper

Other highlights from today's trip included several passing flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds totaling nearly 200 individuals, a flyover immature Bald Eagle, and nice views of a Merlin.

Click here to view the checklist of birds encountered during this field trip.  For more information on upcoming field trips and programs, please visit our website.

Happy birding!

Sparrow Spotting

This morning I went "digiscoping" with Washington Crossing Audubon's new spotting scope.  I wanted to experiment with the prospect of digiscoping during field trips and educational programs to share photos of highlights on this blog.  At 7:45 this morning I headed out to the Pole Farm in Lawrenceville for a digiscoping test-run.

WCAS's new Vortex Viper HD spotting scope

In typical late-October fashion, shrub rows everywhere were just dripping with sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Every step down the path sent LBJ's retreating into the shrubbery.  This is one of most enjoyable phases of fall migration, characterized by an impressive abundance of kinglets, thrushes, Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, and sparrows over a colorful backdrop of fall foliage.  

Song Sparrow

Palm Warbler

At around 10:30 I encountered a male American Kestrel hunting grasshoppers from its perch atop a wooden post.  Each time he would spot one, he fly down from his perch, pounce on it, and bring it back to his perch to eat.  This went on for about fifteen minutes before he moved on.

Adult male American Kestrel hunting grasshoppers

On my way back to the car I encountered a small flock of Savannah Sparrows working a patch of Tickseed Sunflower at the edge of the trail.  These birds posed nicely for the best digiscoped photos I took all morning.  

Savannah Sparrow on Tickseed Sunflower

Savannah Sparrow

I rarely carry my bulky SLR on field trips, so the prospect of digiscoping as a way of recording field trip sightings for this blog is very exciting.  I'll try to put this into practice and blog about the highlights of the WCAS field trip to Shark River on November 16th.

Happy birding!