We had to go into NYC today, so last night we stayed at the ancestral home in Iselin and arose this morning very early to take the 6:40 train into Penn Station, where we took the E to 53rd & Lex then switched for the 6 up to 77th Street and boy do I not miss commuting. When you do it every day you just accept it or you'll go mad, but when you haven't done it for a while then all the cramming and crunching and body odor seems pretty horrible.
So I didn't expect I'd see any birds today other than pigeons and House Sparrows and even those were rare in the wind gusts on the East Side. But back in Iselin, I just happened to look out into the backyard when I saw a falcon eating something on the lawn. I called Shari to come quick; I thought I might be hallucinating. We had no camera handy. I tried to take a photo with my cell phone but I got an image that was less than useless. No binoculars either. At first I thought it was a peregrine, but that would have made no sense--there are no high buildings (and certainly no cliffs) in Iselin for peregrines to nest on. It was about the size of a Blue Jay. No strong mustache that I could see, a bluish gray back under a very gray sky. After eating whatever it was eating it flew off giving us a good glimpse of a light breast. A Merlin. One bird for the day, but one I never expected to see in my old backyard.
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