Yellow-bellied sapsucker sucking sap

Two Carolina Wrens at the Suet Feeder

We get an occasional wren and they are a rare treat. Yesterday, we were particularly lucky and had two wrens.

Winter birds: Tufted Titmouse and Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse


Chickadee

The ice and snow has changed the feeding pattern a bit. A chickadee came to the deck to eat and we've seen chickadees, nuthatches, wrens as well as the usual woodpeckers at the suet feeders.

Leucistic hawk

One day about a month ago, Chris was driving home from having a nice lunch with Mike. Close to our exit off of Route 18, she saw something very large and white perched in a tree. She called Mike and said, I think I just saw an all white hawk. He suggested she put on warmer clothes and take another drive around to see if she could get pictures. No luck that day. Another day Mike thought he saw it, and it was around the same time in the afternoon on another sunny day. So, one day Chris and Mike went out together on a sunny afternoon specifically looking for this curious specimen. No luck that day either, but we did get chased off by the police for parking along the side of the road. Mike is persistent and dedicated to the mission, so today when we were heading out for the movies, he suggested we bring the camera and make a scan for the hawk since it was sunny and around the same time again. Well, weren't we lucky today! He is likely a leucistic red-tailed hawk.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Mr. Cardinal

 

The Northern Cardinal is one of our favorite winter birds in New Jersey.

Winter birds: Tufted Titmouse, Goldfinch and Blue Jay

 

A heated bird bath, some nyjer seed, and some peanuts help the birds get through a cold winter. The backyard birds help us get through the winter.

Sharp-shinned Hawk For Pat

Chris' sister Pat complained that we haven't been posting recently. It's been cold and cloudy and the usual birds have been around: finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, titmice, juncos, etc. However, they all leave when the sharp-shinned hawk comes by.

Canvasback Ducks at DeKorte

We went to the DeKorte Park's Lyndhurst Nature Reserve today. We didn't see the northern shrike that has been reported there, but we did see quite a few canvasback ducks. Most were resting with their heads on their backs, but we found a male (top photo) and a female (second photo) that were awake. The male's head looks brilliant when the sun catches it.

Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers

This time of year is ideal for sapsuckers. When it's freezing at night and above freezing in the day, the sap flows the most. It's also a good time for making maple syrup.

The sapsucker opens up holes in the tree that benefit him and other birds. We've seen red-bellied woodpeckers, goldfinch, and chickadees eat either sap or insects from these holes.

More Winter Robins

We had a large flock of robins come by this afternoon. They only stayed for a few minutes. Last week, Chris put out cranberries for the visiting winter robins, but none were eaten. Today, several of the robins found cranberries and ate them. Finally!!!

Hungry Woodpeckers

Today was a pretty active morning at the bird feeders. There were plenty of woodpeckers including a hairy woodpecker (lower photo) who hasn't been around that often. In the upper photo, a red-bellied woodpecker is taking a peanut.

Birdcam Photos

Mike got a birdcam for Christmas and is using an eye-fi wireless memory card to load pictures on the computer. While the photos are not as good as the DSLR, it beats going outside in cold and has a longer attention span. Click on the bottom photo to see a slideshow of common winter backyard feeder birds: finches, a cardinal, a chickadee, a goldfinch, a tufted titmouse, a nuthatch, a blue jay, and more.

More Photos of Winter Birds in NJ

Carolina Wren


White-throated Sparrow

The Carolina Wren and the White-throated Sparrow are common birds in New Jersey in the winter but harder to photograph because they rarely come to bird feeders and spend most of their time in the underbrush.

On the banks of the old Raritan

Female Common Merganser

Ring-necked Ducks

Lake Nelson is frozen so we have no wintering ducks. We took a walk on the D&R Canal in New Brunswick (off Landing Lane) and encountered a few.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

The brilliant red head of this bird brightens a winter day in NJ.

Winter Robins

 

 

When Mike was getting ready for work this morning, Chris noticed we had some Robins in the yard. She ran outside to throw some cranberries around for them. Then when he was leaving, Mike suggested that Chris try to get some photos for the blog. By that time, the flock of robins had increased to about 30, which made it all the more fun for Chris. They were everywhere! They didn't seem the least bit interested in the cranberries, preferring to hunt on the ground instead. Chris even put out some dried mealworms which they took no interest in. What they really do seem to appreciate, though, is the water. We use a heated bird bath during winter to keep the water from freezing, and it is popular with all the birds, especially the goldfinches. One picture shows three at a time at the water, but at times there were up to five (which Chris found too difficult to capture in pictures but had fun watching.) We really wish we could figure out what birds are supposed to eat the popcorn and cranberries, because we popped a lot of popcorn and only the Blue Jays have taken a few pieces.

Winter Backyard Birds

Dark-eyed Junco

Northern Cardinals

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Although no one eats the cranberries, one adds some color to the Junco picture. The red bellied woodpecker and male cardinal bring their own color.

Red Bellied Woodpecker at the Suet Feeder

This red-bellied woodpecker found the suet feeder, letting the goldfinches have the nyjer.

Iced Cormorant

Lake Nelson is mostly frozen. While Chris is sharpening her skates, the cormorants seem less happy with this development. Mike is considering moving the jacuzzi onto the dock and stocking it with fish.

Hurry up Spring, we are tired of winter.

 

Here's a photo of the first robin in our yard.

Northern Cardinal on a snowy day

 

It's always nice to see the bright red cardinals on an overcast snowy day. They sure know how to cheer a person up.

Common Mergansers take a snow day on Lake Nelson

 

We've never seen so many common mergansers.

Hawk waiting under the feeder

 

 

We're pretty sure this is a sharp-shinned hawk. It has been hunting by the feeder today, and once landed exactly where the cardinal had been perched previously. We know it has to eat too, but we're glad we haven't seen it catch any of our little friends. It's welcome to all the grackle it wants!

Today's Mergansers

Today we're lucky enough to have larger than usual groupings of both the hooded and common mergansers.

 

 

 

 

The top photo shows one of the pairs of hooded mergansers that have been floating around Lake Nelson today. The bottom three photos are female common mergansers: fighting over whose fish it is, showing off, and having a bad hair day.

Closeup photos of Common Mergansers

It turns out that it pays to have a duck blind in your backyard. We've worked out a system of going out the front door, sneaking down the fence line, hiding behind the shed, and then sitting on a bench behind the camouflage blanket that is draped over a fence at the water's edge. It's a good spot just to watch the antics of the mergansers without scaring them off. Today, after waiting a while, some common mergansers swam by. The top two are a female and the bottom a male. These pictures are definitely worth clicking on to get a detailed image. There are some hooded mergansers in the area, so we might not go out for groceries today.

Sometimes we need air traffic control at the feeder

 

 

The feeder is quite popular these days. Pine Siskins and Goldfinches are sharing the feeder in the top photo. Two house finches are shown in the bottom photo.

Hooded Mergansers on Lake Nelson

 

 

The Hooded Mergansers are back.

Chickadee & Goldfich

 

 

We want spring to come as much as these birds do.

Common Mergansers on Lake Nelson

 

 

The lake is thawing again, just a little ice on the shady side. Common Mergansers have come back. The top shows a female being followed by a male. The bottom is three males, one starting to dive for a fish.

Hooded Mergansers: The Great Gazoo of Ducks

 

Lake Nelson is still too frozen for our hooded mergansers, so we decided to go to Swimming River Reservoir in Monmouth County in search of them. We ran into a group of several males trying to impress a female. We don't know about her, but Chris was impressed by their displays and frog-like sounds . We really didn't get close enough for a great photo. After all of the hiking to see them, it wasn't until we were driving home that we saw three in a small pond by the side of the road. Chris got these great photos of the hooded mergansers from inside the car. Don't you think his head looks like the Great Gazoo's? Don't you love her hair?

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, Mike couldn't resist getting out of the car, scaring them away, so we went home and posted these.

Ruddy Ducks sleeping at Swimming River Reservoir

 

White-breasted Nuthatch

 

Quite the acrobats, the nuthatches are.

More Winter Birds: Pine Siskin, Downy Woodpecker, & American Goldfinch

 

 

 

We've been taking the great backyard bird count seriously this year.

Harlequin Ducks at Barnegat Lighthouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, a colleague told Mike about the Harlequin Ducks that spend the winter on the rocky coast at Barnegat Lighthouse off Long Beach. Chris just had to see them, so off we went at the start of the weekend in hopes of spotting this stunning waterfowl. The harlequin ducks were exactly where they had been a month earlier. It was definitely worth the drive as we felt well rewarded, and Chris even managed to overcome her irrational fear of walking along the huge rock jetty to see them. Now that we've seen them, we are having trouble deciding which is more beautiful, the Wood Duck or the Harlequin Duck. They both look like they have been hand painted.

Red-breasted Merganser at Barnegat Lighthouse

 

 

The red-breasted merganser looks like the common merganser. It prefers the salt water of Barnegat Bay to the freshwater of Lake Nelson.

Red-throated Loon at Barnegat Lighthouse

Long-tailed Ducks at Barnegat Lighthouse

These long-tailed ducked were an added bonus on our trip to Barnegat. There were many more of them than the Harlequins, and while not as strikingly colorful, they were very entertaining. There was great variety in their coloration, and only the male has the obviously long tail.

Hey, I thought you said this lake had defrosted

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Mike brought the camera out while Chris was ice skating on the lake. He didn't get any pictures of Chris, but he got this great picture of a male yellow-bellied sapsucker digging another hole in the tree and having a sap breakfast. After this, we had pancakes with maple syrup.

New Jersery in the Winter: Common Backyard Birds

Pine Siskin


Female Northern Cardinal

White-breasted Nuthatch Hiding a Seed

The Stokes Field Guide to Birds says this about the Nuthatch. "Nuthatches are best known for their habit of storing food in bark crevices and their ability to move head first down trees enabling them to find food that "right-side up" birds like Woodpeckers might miss." That's exactly what we caught him doing in these pictures.

Downy Woodpecker hiding a seed

Taking a cue from the nuthatch, this downy woodpecker is hiding a seed. Come to think of it, storing your savings in a hole in a tree may be safer than Bank of America.

Pine Siskin sharing the feeder with some finches

 

 

 

 

Recently Mike has been talking about a smaller goldfinch at the nyjer feeder, and there has been a lot of traffic at this feeder. We received a newsletter from Colleen at Wild Bird Country yesterday talking about the pine siskins that are in the area. So, upon closer inspection, it looks like we've had pine siskins join the usual gang. In the top photo the pine siskin is sharing with a goldfinch. The bottom photo shows his tail feathers with a house finch.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

 

 

We haven't seen a yellow-rumped warbler since the fall. We're thrilled that he appeared today.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

 

 

A stunning red head warms up a cold day.

Brown Creeper

Here's a photo of a brown creeper, also a fun little bird.

Carolina Wren Singing - a fun little bird

Chris went out early this morning to fill up the nyjer feeder for the goldfinches (they've been eating an abundance this winter), and on her way back in she recognized the beautiful song of the Carolina Wren. Today one of its songs sounded like "We Need you, We Need you, We Need you," so she hung around outside for a while to enjoy the music. It stayed around long enough for her to go in for the camera to try and catch it while singing. Success and enjoyment - what a way to start the day!

Northern Cardinal

 

This female cardinal is cleaning up under the feeder.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

 

 

A male sapsucker came by today and sampled the sap from a few trees tapping holes in each.

Northern Cardinal in the Snow

Mourning Dove

 

The Mourning Dove is the most common bird in the great backyard bird count. We don't photograph them that often because they are so common. They don't usually come on our railing as they prefer to feed on the ground under the feeders.

Song Sparrow trying to look thin

Here are two pictures of a song sparrow who feeds on the ground under our feeders.

Winter Birds in New Jersey: Junco, Titmouse, and Blue Jay

 

 

 

Snow Goose on Lake Nelson

 

We had a bit of a surprise this morning. At first glance, we assumed this was just a seagull. Mike noticed, however, that is was paddling along more like the geese than bobbing like a seagull, so he got the binoculars out and declared "we have something new here." This is our first sighting of a Snow Goose here amongst the Canada Geese. We wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

We are glad to see another of our winter bird friends back. The yellow-bellied sapsucker made an appearance about a week ago and we finally got some pictures of her. Hopefully, we will see a male sapsucker this year too.

More Winter Birds: Junco, Goldfinch & Cardinal

Female Northern Cardinal

American Goldfinch

Dark-eyed Junco

The dark-eyed junco is a common winter visitor. This black and white bird mostly feeds on the ground. The cardinals stay year round but they come to our feeders much more often in the winter when food is scarce elsewhere. The American Goldfinch, the state bird of New Jersey, also stays year round, but its yellow color is more vivid in the summer.

Winter Birds at the Bird Bath

White-breasted Nuthatch

Northern Mockingbird

Here's are photos of some winter birds having a drink at our new heated bird bath.

Tufted Titmouse with a peanut

 

 

We put out some peanuts for the squirrels. A Tufted Titmouse flew away with one, which is only fair since the squirrels steal the bird food we leave out.

Ring-necked ducks on Lake Nelson

 

While watching the ruddy duck, we saw a group of three male ring-necked ducks land on Lake Nelson. They stayed for about 30 minutes and flew off again. We thought they were lesser scaups yesterday, but the ring around the bill is present only in the ring-necked ducks. If it were up to us, they'd be called ring-billed ducks.

Female Black Ducks on Lake Nelson

Female Ruddy Duck looking for some friends

We haven't been posting much recently. We were busy with our older daughter visiting us from California. The lake was frozen which cut down on the number of waterfowl we see. It's been gray and cloudy. Chris' heart grew two sizes and she put up two Christmas trees.

Anyway, Chris spotted a small duck two days back. At first, we thought it was a grebe, but when we got the binoculars, we saw it was a lone female ruddy duck. She was trying to hang out with other ducks but the mallards, ring-necked ducks, and Canade Geese snubbed her. At least our daughter got to see some of the fancy ducks, even if some were not on their best behavior.

Belted Kingfisher

Look who decided to use our nesting box as a perch!

Chris spotted this female Belted Kingfisher this morning. The shot would have been better from the dining room, but the drapes were not open yet and she did not want to scare her off.

Hooded Mergansers and Common Mergansers

Wow! What a day here at Lake Nelson. There seems to be a merganser convention going on. Looks like the happy little couple came back and brought along some friends. Chris has spent the majority of the day on the dock or in the windows just watching their antics.

I love this shot even though the ones in the back are blurry because I call it "The Leader of the Pack."

Is she giving him the eye or what?

I think this is the first time we've got a clear enough shot that you can see the eye on this guy.

Green-winged Teals

Belted Kingfisher

Mike and Chris are having a contest to see who will get the best picture of the Kingfisher. They spotted the Kingfisher from different rooms at the same time but Chris was closer to the camera.  This is the best photo, which isn't bad considering it was a grey day and he only stayed for 30 seconds, but Mike hopes to surpass her someday.  Stay tuned, friends.

Green-winged Teal & Canada Goose

Another very exciting morning! We started looking early hoping to see the Wood Ducks again. One was here yesterday but barely for a minute. At first Chris didn't see anything other than geese, but did a quick scan over the lake with the binoculars in case. Well, good thing! Of course the "new duck" alert went into effect. There were two male Green-winged Teals hanging around for about a half hour. Isn't he just adorably small in comparison to the goose! It was sort of a gray morning, and we didn't find these little guys to be very photogenic, but this we thought was good enough to post.

Male Hairy Woodpecker at Suet Feeder

We are starting to select different settings on the camera to see what we get. This looks a lot clearer than a previous post of a Hairy at the suet feeder (at least in our opinion.)

Common Mergansers: Two Girls For Every Boy

They spent a pleasant afternoon sunning themselves without much diving.

Wood Ducks

This pair caused quite a stir at our house very early this morning. We were having our coffee in the upstairs bedroom windows as usual, which offer the best view of a large portion of the lake. At first glance with the naked eye, Chris thought the Hooded Merganser couple was back. Fortunately she was quick to grab the binoculars and discover it was a male and female Wood Duck pair. She dashed for the camera, of course all the while exclaiming to Mike how she could not contain her excitement. It's a good thing she moved fast, because they only stayed for about 20 minutes. We had seen a pair of these one day early last November also early one morning, and we hadn't seen any again until this morning. Chris sat out on the dock late this afternoon for an hour and a half hoping they would come by again so we'd have a clearer picture to put up, but they just didn't come by. The early mornings and late afternoons seem to be the best times for the less common types of ducks we see, so we'll surely be up early again tomorrow hoping for a repeat performance. The lovely female Common Merganser was here early in the morning too, and she was just demanding to be photographed again. I do love the way she is looking at him.

A Pair of Wood Ducks

Female Common Merganser

She looks so pretty and so proud, doesn't she! And her hair is not blowing in the wind like in another female Common Merganser that we posted.

Tufted Titmouse

It's a nice bright sunny day today, so we got some clearer pictures. This is our first posting of the Tufted Titmouse. They move so fast it's hard to get them. The others have been up before, the Northern Cardinal and the Nuthatch.

Northern Cardinal

White-breasted Nuthatch

A Female Downy Woodpecker

Thief

At first we thought the squirrels were cute. Now we are not so sure

Female Common Merganser and Two Males

Happy Loving Couple and a New Duck, The Common Goldeneye

There was a lot of excitement this morning. Mike usually spots new ducks first, but today Chris gave the "new duck" alert. We were quick to team up with the binoculars, field guide, and camera to try and identify and photograph her as a Common Goldeneye. She didn't stay as long as we would have liked, because she seemed to get frightened off by a woman who feeds the geese. She didn't come back at all during the day, but we're hoping she makes a visit again tomorrow. After she left, though, is when Chris spotted the happy little Hooded Merganser couple out there again, and who can resist photographing such a cooperative subject, so here they are again. Late this afternoon a female common merganser was out there too, but no pictures came out good enough.

Northern Cardinal

Isn't she a cutie! She sat outside the bedroom window singing until I stopped what I was doing to have a look.

Hawk Getting Ready to Fly

This hawk hung around for a while in a tree looking for something to eat. He scared a finch away from the feeder and landed on a post on the dock. Here is a picture of him as he was flying away still hungry.

There was a squirrel in the tree who didn't move for a few minutes. Here, the hawk seemed to consider a squirrel dinner.

Two Cardinals

A male and a female cardinal have been around for a while. They took turns at the feeder.

Cardinal

We're still trying to get an excellent picture of this beautiful bird. This shows how he keeps outflying our current photographic skills. Chris knew the snow was coming, and they are always out there in the snow (don't ask us why!), so she filled up the feeder with the choicest blend that the woodpeckers, jays, and cardinals seem to love. (Some people go buy milk and such before a storm, but we made sure our birds would have a good snow day!) We'll keep trying for a better picture today.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

           

Here are two pictures of the same yellow-bellied sapsucker that had lunch here today. You can see the holes in the tree, and he often comes back to them and has a meal here. He made quite a pig of himself today, so I was able to take tons of pictures of him. I think these guys are really fun to watch! I am going to put up several of his pictures since he was so cooperative for me (Chris).

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

You can see he has another row of holes down in this part of the same tree.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Woodpecker

The sapsucker actually had a lot of company in this tree today. At one point there were three other woodpeckers. They were never all close enough for me to get a good shot, but at least I got these two together. I am not sure if the woodpecker is a hairy or downy, but it is a female since there is no red on the head. My guess is it's a hairy based on the size of the bill.

Hairy Woodpecker at Suet Feeder

Nuthatch at Suet Feeder

Red Bellied Woodpecker Snacking

Male Hooded Merganser

We haven't seen the female in two days.

We hope she is at the nest.

Nuthatch

One Less Finch for the Great Backyard Bird Count

While counting birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count, a sharpshined hawk came by and caught a finch in mid-air. He flew to a nearby tree with his prey.

Blue Jay

Impressing Mrs. Hooded Merganser

Chris took this photo with the new camera. It's very similar to a photo that won the GBBC photo contest last year.

Sharpshined Hawk

Common Mergansers (one has a fish)

A Downy Woodpecker

Mr. & Mrs. Spectacular

This pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers came by the morning of the great backyard bird count.

Red Bellied Woodpecker