Ever since a flock of Horned Larks was reported more than a week ago on a tack track on Imlaystown Road, on the northern side of Assunpink, I've had an itch to go there. We finally scratched that itch this morning. Fortunately, Imlaystown Road is not heavily traveled, because with all the snow, there was really no place to pull over when we first spotted some sparrows, one of which turned out to be a White-crowned Sparrow. When we came to the field with the track, I saw that they were plowing away the snow and I figured that would keep away the birds. But, once Shari parked on a long driveway next to the field I saw some distant birds at the fence line. As I was trying to get them in the scope, Shari said, "Turn around." There was a flock of fifteen larks practically at our feet. Before Shari could get out her camera they flew off into the field, feeding on the freshly exposed dirt. We were happy with our sighting, Horned Larks are relatively hard to find in New Jersey. We usually first see them on one of our trips to Delaware. Later, driving to Tractor Supply to buy bird seed, we came across another flock of 20 or so in a field on Sharon Station Road. Since Sharon Station Road is in Monmouth County and the section of Imlaystown we were on is in Mercer, that gave me larks today in 2 counties.
Bonus bird: As we started to turn around after seeing the larks on Imlaystown, a Merlin swooped low and fast past our car and back behind the Pentecostal Church.
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