February 10 - Red-headed Woodpecker

I made a trip today to Manhattan. After some business downtown I headed up to Central Park in search of Red-headed Woodpecker. After about a half hour I had lost hope of finding the woodpecker. I found my consolation bird - Hermit Thrush. As I was walking out of the park I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk getting bombed by 5 Blue Jays. I took a bit of video. I then saw a woman feeding peanuts to the Blue Jays and squirrels. While speaking with her I noticed the Red-headed Woodpecker fly to a nearby tree. This immature bird has more red in the head than when I saw it last month. Main photo is from January, bottom photo from today.

February 9 - Eastern Screech Owl

I made a morning trip to The Celery Farm today. The goal was to see Great Horned Owl or Virginia Rail. I stopped by the culvert where the rail is seen. I believe the rail was there. I saw some ripples in the water and movement under some brush but I had no luck with seeing it. I then made a stop in Mahwah and found 6 Bluebirds, new for Bergen County this year. Oradell Reservoir was my next stop. Lots of Common Mergansers were seen. A Pied-billed Grebe and Greater Scaup were pointed out to me by another birder, 2 more new Bergen County birds for this year. My bird of the day is an red morph Eastern Screech Owl seen in Bergen County, but I won't disclose the location so it's not disturbed. Photo is the actual bird just taken a few days ago.

February 8 - Harlequin Duck

I made a trip to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park today. Winds were relatively light and out of the east. 2000+ Gulls, mostly Herring were all over the inlet. Red-throated Loons were in the inlet as well as a few Long-tailed Ducks. On the jetty I spotted an Ipswich Sparrow as well as 60+ Ruddy Turnstones, 15 Purple Sandpipers and a small flock of Sanderlings. 28 Harlequin Ducks were well out on the jetty as well as some Surf and Black Scoters. Common Eiders were viewed from the beach. View my photos and a video of Purple Sandpiper from today here Barnegat Light Photos

February 7 - Pileated Woodpecker

I made a trip to The Celery Farm this morning to search for Great-horned Owl or Virginia Rail. Struck out on both. I did see a new Bergen County bird for the year, 2 Black Vultures. I made another stop to bird Mary Patrick Park in Mahwah. Shortly after arriving I spotted a large woodpecker flying through the woods, Pileated! Always a pleasure to see. I did some walking around the lake and spotted numerous Ring-necked Ducks, a couple of Hooded Mergansers and Common Mergansers, a single Coot and a number of White-throated Sparrows. Pileated Woodpecker, a tough bird for me to see in my area is today's bird. Photo from another sighting.

February 6 - Fish Crow

Today I had little opportunity to bird. I was driving past the exit for Garret Mountain, so I took it. Not too many birds were seen, but a couple of interesting ones were around. Great Black-backed Gull was loafing on Barbour's Pond. Lots of Crows made their way into the park in the afternoon, with some Fish Crows in the gang. Photograph is from another Fish Crow sighting.

February 5 - Orange-crowned Warbler

Today I attended the Super Bird Sunday walk at Richard DeKorte Park, NJ Meadowlands. This walk is a Bergen County Audubon / NJ Meadowlands guided walk. We searched for American Bittern, but tide was high in the impoundment and we had no luck. We also looked for Brown Creeper, Orange-crowned Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. All these were found in the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve. Photo of the warbler is from earlier in the season in The Meadowlands.

February 4 - American Bittern

I made a morning trip to DeKorte Park in NJ Meadowlands to search for American Bittern or Orange-crowned Warbler which were seen yesterday. I checked the Ruddy Duck blind on the Marsh Discovery Trail and had no luck for the bittern even though others did. There was no sign of the OCWA either. An adult Bald Eagle flew overhead, I thought this might be my bird. My best sighting of the day was Sandy Komito who stopped by The Meadowlands to bird some while waiting for a flight overseas. I always try to spend time birding or sharing stories with whenever I see him. Today we did both. Still no bird "better" than the Bald Eagle. In the afternoon I made a second trip to DeKorte and on Disposal Rd. saw a Kestrel and 40 Snow Buntings. I met up with another birder and we were off to look for the bittern again. On the trail I spotted a Common Teal amongst the Green-winged Teals and shared it with 2 other birders. We walked to the Ruddy Duck blind and I found the American Bittern hunting the edge of the channel, much closer than we expected. I took some photos and tried out some video here American Bittern Video