Today I birded the still-fairly-rural western Hunterdon County reservoir area of Joisey with my good friend Bruce. We began the day at Alpha Farms on Oberly Road in Alpha, where 125+ Horned Larks were tallied. A few of the birds were singing, and giving territorial sky-larking display flights. One bird was skylarking with a bill-full of grass that as it began to descend he dropped it all -a behavior that I have never seen before. Two Northern Harriers were engaged in a dogfight in the distance, and an American Kestrel surveyed the corn stubble.

Snow Geese have continued their rapid population explosion in the area. This was a phenomena that wasn't occurring when I lived here. But now, tens of thousands are using the reservoirs to roost and feeding in the cornfields each morning. It's an amazing spectacle. Each morning, the geese leave the reservoir skein by skein. Sometime between late morning and early afternoon, they stream back to the water to drink and roost, arriving in great, waving lines of black-tipped white. While, I've seen many more Snow Geese in the marshlands of Southern NJ or the fields of Nebraska, but around 20,000 rafting together in the middle of Merrill Creek Reservoir - seemingly forming a mat so thick you could walk across it - was quite a show. A Bald Eagle would occasionally cause a blizzard of white as the geese took flight en masse, only to resettle a short distance away. The other half of the Eagle pair kept an eye on matters from the comfort of her nest - Eagles are likely already incubating eggs down here by now. Four Redheads (rather rare locally) joined the more expected ducks at the edges of the reservoir: Common Goldeneye, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Mallards, American Black Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, two Greater Scaup, and 1 Red-breasted Merganser - along with a couple of hundred Canada Geese.

Spruce Run reservoir was rather uneventful, but we enjoyed great looks at a few Eastern Bluebirds, and I enjoyed the 50+ Common Mergansers in one group. A flock of 15-20 Field Sparrows at our final stop at the Stahl Natural Area in Bedminster was nice to see as well - a species that is not often found in large flocks.

As you know, I find any day of birding to be a good day, but the Snow Goose spectacle of the day, along with catching up with a good friend, and visiting places that I hadn't been to in 5 or more years, made this a most delightful outing.

(By the way, I could not get someone to cover my store's birdwalks for me this Saturday, so I will have to cancel them. I hope to be home by next weekend)