Charlie Fineran’s Photo of the Week offers a colorful backdrop with our bird friends 

Is it just me, or has this been a pretty chilly Spring!!  Been traveling around and have noticed there are still many birds on the nest!!  I will also note, that this last Thursday and Friday mornings, we even had frost!!  Decided to do a little survey, and went into my archives from May 2020 and noticed that most of the nests already had young.  Went by there a week ago and they were still on the nest with no young!  Most of the other animals, (mammals) have young, but I just haven’t come across any good photos to share yet.  Sooo, my game plan was to present several colorful photos of birds showcasing spring activities, BUT, most are from my archives of a year ago in May.

Checking my archives came across a couple of nice photos of a Scarlet Tanager (see above).  I said I was looking for color, these birds are pretty hard to beat in the bright colors category!  They are also the only bird in this series that have traveled a long distance to get here, 6,000 miles +!  They are or will be arriving here from the tropics in South America.  I believe I might have shown a couple of photos of them last year, when I did an insidewarren.com article about the Johnsonburg Swamp Preserve.

The little American Goldfinch photo was taken this year on May 2^nd, 2021 up near Camp No-Be-Bosco.  That particular day was one of those special days with fast moving clouds, giving some really special high-lightings with the in and out sun!  Too bad this was taken when the sun was behind a cloud!!  American Goldfinch love seeds, they are actually different than most other birds in that they don’t start setting up their nests until later in the summer!!  Many other birds will actually have two nesting periods a year, but with the late start, American Goldfinch only have one nesting per year.  I have just begun to see the barn swallows flittering over the fields adjacent to Youngs Island Rd., Allamuchy. I didn’t want to disturb them setting up their nests in the little sheds, so I will wait awhile before leaning in the window and trying to get some pictures!!  These are also some of our long distance flyers returning from South America!!  Did You Know??  A swallow is estimated to cover up to 400 miles per day hunting for insects to feed their families!!!

Hope you have enjoyed your various colorful springtime bird photos! 

Charlie Fineran

Director Open Space

Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman

Allamuchy Historical Society – President