Pole Farm | Whitesbog | New Egypt 2/19--Long-eared Owl, Red-shouldered Hawk, Sandhill Crane

Sign at Pole Farm--the "and so forth" includes the harassing of owls.

On the third day of Paul's Birding Jersey Jaunt, we covered a lot of ground, looking for interesting birds for him to see and perhaps even photograph. If there was one lesson that can be drawn from our birding today, it's "Look again."

We started the day off at the Pole Farm in Lawrenceville, site of the old AT&T transmission station where 2000 telephone poles stood in what are now grasslands. We wanted to see a Long-eared Owl. The location was no longer a secret, as many owl roosts are. In fact, it is so well-known that barricades were in places, old AT&T signs had been repurposed to keep people away (apparently you can be arrested for a "so forth" violation), and park rangers were quite obviously keeping an eye on all who approached. We walked up the mud track, got to where the path was blocked by orange plastic fencing, peered deep into the cedar trees and found nothing. We figured that all the activity had scared the owls away. We retraced our steps and while we took turns making a pit stop, I saw a birder coming down the path. When he got closer I realized it was Bill, a fine birder from Mercer County with whom I've birded Assunpink a couple of times. I told him we'd missed the owls and he looked at me like that was impossible. He didn't really feel like walking back up the track, but he took pity on us and we trudged up to the little grove of trees. We hadn't been looking back into the woods far enough. Standing just so where Bill planted me, I put up my binoculars and there was an owl! It was like a magic trick. Paul got it, then Mike. Unfortunately, the modern camera focuses on the branches in front of the bird and not the bird, so none of us were able to get pictures. There were actually a couple of owls there; Paul saw two. I only need one.

Since no birding trip is complete without a visit to a waste treatment plant, our next stop was the Trenton Sewer Utility. This winter it has been disappointing in terms of warblers--where some years there have been as many as 5 species there at one time, this year there are only the ubiquitous Yellow-rumps.

On to Assunpink, where the only swan on the lake was a Mute. We swung by the muddy cattle fields in New Egypt, but didn't find anything of note, and then it was on to Whitesbog so Paul could photograph Tundra Swans. Lots of them there, but not as close as one would ideally like them to be. However, we did see a raptor flying low over the Upper Bog and when it landed in a tree we saw that it was a Red-shouldered Hawk, 2nd FOY of the day for me. But again, too far for photos. By then we felt we'd had enough of birding, so we headed back up toward Paul's hotel. We were about halfway there when I checked my phone and saw that the Sandhill Cranes, which have been seen on and off in New Egypt were in the "on" stage. We were just there!

"Should I turn around," Mike asked? Yes. I don't know how happy Paul was about that, Sandhill Cranes not being a big deal to him, but I definitely wanted those birds. I have an irrational proprietary feeling about the cranes in New Egypt, since they were the birds Shari & I were originally looking for 5 years ago when we stumbled upon the lapwings out there. It took us about 40 minutes to get there, just as a light drizzle began. And no cranes that we could see. I was getting mad, which is stupid, since these are only birds, but there it is. We drove around a little bit, then came back to the field where the cranes historically feed and Mike and Paul both spotted one. I, of course, looking through the smoked glass of the car into the evermore graying day, did not. I jumped out, trained my binoculars in the direction Mike told me and still came up empty. He got out his scope, looked around, and finally was able to spot some movement. They were feeding in high grass (and you know it is high grass if it can hide a crane) but eventually, after I had whimpered for a few minutes, one then the other stuck up their heads and I was able to get good views through Mike's scope. Photography was out of the question. They had probably been there the first time we went there, just hidden in the field. Again the lesson is look again.

Still, 3 year birds for the day is pretty good in late winter. In all a very satisfying weekend of birding. Our stops and list for the day:

Assunpink WMA; Lamberton Rd, Trenton; Mercer Corporate Park; New Egypt; Pole Farm; Trenton Sewage Ponds; Whitesbog

44 species

Canada Goose   172

Mute Swan   1

Tundra Swan   30

Mallard   5

Canvasback   8

Ring-necked Duck   19

Lesser Scaup   33

Bufflehead   30

Hooded Merganser   10

Common Merganser   52

Ruddy Duck   20

Red-throated Loon   1

Great Blue Heron   1

Black Vulture   7

Turkey Vulture   14

Northern Harrier   1

Red-shouldered Hawk   1

Red-tailed Hawk   2

Sandhill Crane   2

Killdeer   1

Ring-billed Gull   1

Herring Gull   1

Great Black-backed Gull   1

Mourning Dove   1

Long-eared Owl   1

Red-bellied Woodpecker   3

Downy Woodpecker   1

Blue Jay   2

American Crow   1

Carolina Chickadee   1

Carolina Wren   4

Golden-crowned Kinglet   1

Eastern Bluebird   2

American Robin   7

European Starling   16

Yellow-rumped Warbler   20

American Tree Sparrow   1

Song Sparrow   3

Northern Cardinal   4

Eastern Meadowlark   1

Red-winged Blackbird   1202

Brown-headed Cowbird   1

Common Grackle   10

House Finch   1