Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

I know densely developed Collingswood doesn’t seem like a birding destination, but as part of the Delaware Estuary, we attract many birds, including migrating species.

I’ve been on maternity leave this winter, and part of my daily routine with baby includes a long walk around Newton Lake. My son slumbers in his sling, and I look for birds. I scan the sky for circling hawks, the trees for red-headed woodpeckers, and the lake for cormorants or perhaps a great blue heron or snowy egret.

My best birding moment of the winter came on a cold, still day in early February. Walking quietly under the canopy on the Oaklyn side of the lake, I rounded a bend and observed a hawk perched above me. I turned my head back to see another hawk, just several feet away, atop one of those brushy, short trees with branches that extend over the lake. In her talons dangled a freshly killed squirrel. She and I locked eyes for a couple minutes; then she dropped the squirrel in the lake and flew away. A friend told me hawks rarely drop their prey, so I must have given her quite a scare.

Bald eagles have also been spotted on our local waterways. Two of my friends have seen them in Collingswood: catching a fish in Newton Lake near Colford Avenue, and flying straight along Cooper River. Just a few miles from here, the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum is home to a bald eagle nest. It is possible that some hatchlings have made their way over here.

Last year, I was visited by a peregrine falcon at work. My office building is close to Cooper River. The bird caused a quite a bit of commotion in the pine tree just outside my office window. Branches fell and squirrels and birds hastily departed. Recently, another raptor (a falcon, I believe) swooped past the back windows of our home, startling me before it settled in my neighbors’ tall tree for a few minutes.

Believe it or not, a wild turkey has recently been spotted making the rounds in the backyards of Oaklyn (the bird, not the whiskey). This is not the first time we’ve had them, either; a few years ago, my daughter was delighted by the sight one making its way over a fence in her friend’s backyard near Newton Lake.

In February, my school-aged children and I participated in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Great Backyard Bird Count, a citizen science project. Although we didn’t find any remarkable birds in Collingswood, it was neat to identify some common species we see regularly. My third-grader enjoyed entering the results online and looking up birds on their interactive website.

So pay more attention to your local feathered friends—they’re out there! A good resource is New Jersey Audubon’s Birding and Wildlife Trails, which is home to fantastic online guides describing the types of birds and wildlife that live in the Garden State. Likely destinations within walking distance of Collingswood are Newton Lake Park, Cooper River Park, and Saddler’s Woods. Happy birding…and let me know if you spot any unusual birds!