BrandonBirds : Disposal Road Winters: Raptors and Sparrows!

White-crowned Sparrow along Disposal Road

I apologize for not posting in awhile. You can probably guess why...I've been birding absolutely as much as possible before I move back to Iowa. New Jersey and its amazing birding community has planted an amazing seed inside my soul for these amazing creatures! These next few posts are going to be absolutely jam packed with birds. Lots of good stuff!

On 11/23/12 I volunteered with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission on one of several clean-ups of their properties. Many of their parks, including Richard W. DeKorte Park, were devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Vast amounts of flotsam (non-biodegradable marine debris) came in with the storm surge and was deposited everywhere. While cleaning I saw tons of small pieces styrofoam, plastic bottles, tires of all sizes, glass bottles, bottle caps, shoes and lots of other random garbage. It felt really good to give back to a park that has given me so many great birding memories.

Before the clean-up I took an opportunity to bird along Disposal Road. Raptors and sparrows are always very reliably seen along this road. The fall and winter seasons are a great time to get photos of Northern Harries, Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels and several species of sparrow. Thus far I have seen these sparrow species: House, Savannah, Fox, White-throated, White-crowned, American Tree, Swamp and Dark-eyed Juncos. Reports of Nelson's and Vesper have also been confirmed in the fall.

American Kestrel male along Disposal Road, Lyndhurst, NJ. The way to tell apart the male and female is the outer wing color. If the wing is dark then you have a male. If the wing lacks color and more resembles the color of the body then you have a female.

Northern Harrier hunting right off Disposal Road. There were two of them that seemed like they weren't getting along. I saw them team up on a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk and chase it away from where it was perched.