What Found Me When I Was Looking In All the Wrong Places (again...)
Reflections on Nature and Unexpected Encounters | Part Two
This essay is a continuation from Wednesday’s post, as promised when I happened upon a darling duo of piping plovers. Originally, the Sunday essay only going to be a follow-up on the piping plover podcast with a few more photos from the beach. And I was going to tell you the story of the band report I submitted of my sighting. Somehow, a weekend hike dropped this story into my lap, and here we are. A photo essay about a bird that weighs as much as two nickles.
I spent hours at Sandy Hook trying to photograph a common yellowthroat and came home with a story about a piping plover. It’s funny how these things work out. I was at sea level on Monday searching for a tiny warbler with a bright yellow chest and a black mask. And 5 days later on Saturday? I photographed one at the highest point in my county. Finally.
Here’s how it happened:
With the sun on our faces and the wind in the woods swirling around the scent of honeysuckle, we climbed. My daughter had appointed herself trailmaster.
This proved both helpful and hazardous because while the trail was extremely narrow with a 310 foot elevation gain, it was nice to have someone to follow. However, the single track was also missing some markers. We found ourselves slightly off course perhaps? Did I miss a marker? Or did we both?
I lost my balance while negotiating a large fallen tree when my camera backpack shifted. Gravity won that argument. My right foot landed in a tangled jungle of multiflora rose thorns, honeysuckle vine and deep leaf litter up to my knee. Thankfully, only my dignity was injured. And some nice people came along and boosted me back up.
Once I gathered my footing, I found myself in a completely different landscape as we finally made it back to a proper trail. Instead of standing at sea level along the Jersey Shore, I was climbing toward one of the highest points in the county. The air tasted more and more like summer.
The summit promised an indigo bunting. I knew he would be there. The habitat was exactly what they love. Meadows flanked by mature forest. And I had seen them here in years’ past. With the Delaware River quiet below, I scanned the meadow as a flurry of swallows, like little flying cigars, swooped overhead. It was a brisk day, windy, but warm sun. Warbling vireos could be heard downhill at the edge of the vast field.
Ooooh! A blue flash dropped into the meadow. I walked downhill slightly to follow his landing. My eyes scanning for a possible resurface. He did not oblige. I waited. My heart rate was still coming down from the climb.
The wind pummeled the hillside. A tall stand of white pines over 100 feet tall behind me moved in way that didn’t seem natural, yet they handled the incessant gust. (The pines, I later learned, were planted in the 1940s and are a prominent feature of the summit.) Then, a noise I didn’t recognize was trilling above my head. Curious, I wanted to see…I shifted my glance away from the meadow and looked up. And in the black locust tree…he was just there. Willing, and available. And adorable.
He was perched above my head while I was trying to zero in on an indigo bunting. An indigo bunting led me to the moment. The exact same way a phantom common yellowthroat led to a piping plover 5 days ago.
Sometimes the things we’re looking for arrive on their own schedule.
Twenty minutes later the blue did pop out. And my birding adventure that I talked about in Episode 30 was lived. Again. At the Ted Stiles Preserve on top of Baldpate Mountain.
Thank you to the tireless work of Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, Hopewell Township, Mercer County, and the late Ted Stiles, for this land was at one point on the map to become a quarry and later, a luxury housing development. Now it is a preserved landscape with miles of trails and loved by the locals for birding and gorgeous views. Originally, it was the family home of the Kuser Family of Trenton, New Jersey.
The Banded Piping Plover (The Backstory)
Here is the email I received back from the US Fish & Wildlife, after I reported the band sighting from last Monday. I can’t say 100% it’s the same bird because one band was possibly obscured. Still, I am grateful to hear back from them. And I finally understand what all the fuss is about. That is one seriously adorable little shorebird.
Dear Samantha,
Thanks for this report. For the most part, each banded plover with color bands has 4 of them, so we can’t say 100% who this was, but given the location, I suspect this is ER Fightmaster (her code is black over orange on the left leg, grey over green on the right leg). She was banded just a few weeks ago as part of a NJ-statewide study so we don’t know much about her yet, like where she was hatched or where she winters. But we are thrilled that we’ll be getting more reports of her as time goes on and hope she has a successful year!
I too, wish this and many other piping plovers much success!
At the end of Episode 30, I talked about the birds in my own yard at the end of the day. Here’s what I came home to after my day in Sandy Hook. A fearless chickadee, with a very preferred taste.
If you are looking for something in your own life right now, I hope you find it. It may just come about when you least expect it. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one!
