Charlie Fineran’s Photo of the Week offers a bird’s eye view!

Your destination following the trail through the highlands forest at Old Farm Preserve is a scenic rock outcrop which offers a bird’s eye view of the farm fields and hills within this section of the New Jersey Highlands.  There is even a nice bench giving the visitor an opportunity to rest while perusing the beautiful panorama! The bench is an Eagle Scout Project by Eagle Scout Robert Kucharski, Troop 416 Hackettstown. Speaking of bird’s eye views and resting, during the summer, some 95 neo-tropical bird species use the New Jersey Highland Forests for feeding and resting during their long inter-continental flights!  These birds spend most of the year in the tropics of South & Central America!  We certainly live in a beautiful and interesting area!!!

Old Farm Preserve is located in Independence Township. A beautiful site which includes open fields, different stands of trees in a wetland wooded area and then becomes a steep upland wooded ridge.  Trails have various interesting signage about the ecosystem.  The site has two parking areas, one off Ryan Rd., in the highland section of the property and the other off Lake St. which is in the wetlands and farmland section.  Today’s visit begins at the Ryan Road entrance going through the wooded highlands and ending at a beautiful rock outcrop providing a wonderful panorama of the area.

During your visit you will see three different habitats each offering diverse opportunities for viewing wildlife in the New Jersey Highlands.

HARDWOOD DIVERSITY:  The northern hardwood forest of the NJ Highlands is rich in diversity.  The Maples, Hickories, Oaks and other trees harbor many species of birds, including neo-tropical forest species like Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood Pewee, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  These birds breed here in the Highlands in the Summer, but spend most of the year in the tropics of South and Central America where they migrate after nesting.  Some 95 Neo-tropical bird species use the preserve and Highland Forests for feeding and resting in their long intercontinental flights.

FARM FIELDS:  These are important wildlife habitat.  They are attractive to Woodchucks, Skunks, Mice and other mammals.  Birds such as American Crow and Eastern Bluebirds also are attracted to farm fields.  Hawks searching for small rodents make fields a favorite hunting spot.

EDGE:  Along the short loop between the woods and the farm fields is an important habitat called Edge.  Edge is the ecotone or transitional zone between two different habitats, forest and field.  Certain birds and animals favor edge:  Catbird, Towhee, Cardinal, Indigo and Rabbits.  Edge increases the number of species using the area.

Above info about habitat taken from signage along the trail.

****I do want to say that while it is still a very enjoyable short hike, I would like to make people aware:

1.      This is not a clear physical path for your entire trip, some sections are covered by plant growth where you really need to look for the official trail marker or faded red plastic ribbon and this can be challenging at some places.

2.      There are several places with trees down requiring a walk around.

3.      The bright side is there are several trails going to the overlook, an upper and a lower, both have the above symptoms.  Keep in mind, this hike is in a limited size area, you are between Water St. at the bottom of the ridge and Ryan Road along the top.  Both upper and lower property boundaries are posted!  You can see this rock outcrop overlook from Water St.

Please visit my Flickr site for photos – https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/albums/72157700531739905

Enjoy Your Open Space, Charlie Fineran