Palmyra Nature Cove Park 3/24--Rufous Hummingbird, Great Horned Owl

Rufous Hummingbird (female)
Photos: Shari Zirlin

Another new place. Today we drove to the southwestern corner of Burlington County where, hard by the Palmyra-Tacony Bridge, there is a nature reserve owned by the Burlington County Bridge Commission, funded with the tolls from the bridge (!) on the site where the Army Corps of Engineers deposits the dredge spoils from the Delaware River.  The variety of habitats (river, retention ponds, woodlands) makes it a great place for birds. The main attraction, though, was a Rufous Hummingbird that has been overwintering there. The bird is a female and, from what I can tell after examining the photo, looks exactly like the Selasorphorus hummingbird we saw in November in Toms River. That bird was never definitively identified. This bird though has been vetted as Rufous--I guess someone got a good look at its tail feathers, which is the only reliable way to tell them apart from Allen's Hummingbird. We didn't have to wait long for it to show up at the feeder by the visitor's center. After we admired it for a while, we took to the trails, map in hand, including instructions from the gal at the information desk on where to find a Great Horned Owl.

Which turned out to be wrong. I'm not going to say where the owl was, but only that it was in the opposite direction of our map's handwritten instructions. We found lots of the usual ducks in the retention pond, in the woodlands, and a few species on the river, and finally, when we had given up on finding the owl Shari saw the landmark we were looking for (again, 180 degrees away from where it was marked) and then she spotted the owl, high up in the crook of a tree:

I don't think I'm violating any birding ethics listing this bird's "location." I mean, the secret is out at the front desk, even if the information is wrong.

The park is large and we didn't cover a third of it in the few hours we were there. We'll have to go back and get better acquainted with it. I know the ponds change depending on when the Corps is dredging.

For the day 28 species, 2 FOY.
Canada Goose  11
Gadwall  1
American Black Duck  6
Mallard  2    river
Northern Shoveler  6
Green-winged Teal  5
Lesser Scaup  8    river
Bufflehead  3    Two on retention pond, hen on river
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Ring-billed Gull  10
Great Horned Owl  1   
Rufous Hummingbird  1   
Belted Kingfisher  1    Heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard
Downy Woodpecker  3
Fish Crow  1    Heard
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Brown Creeper  1
Carolina Wren  3    Heard
American Robin  30
European Starling  3
Fox Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1    Heard
White-throated Sparrow  12
Dark-eyed Junco  3
Northern Cardinal  1    Honeysuckle Trail