RU birding? RU botanizing?, RU crittering? ...?

Bird banding spring 2025 redux: 149 individual birds, 32 species. This glamorous Common Yellowthroat was the last bird. Exceptional bird: Cape May, Nashville, and not zero, not 1, but 2 Mourning Warblers..

Bird banding on campus is done for the spring!

How do these American Robins find their tasty worms? They listen really carefully and hear where they are. Try that for yourself sometimes. However, it helps the birds to hear "faster" than we can (quicker ear-brain connection). Bird brain?!

It is not the most colorful, it does not have an appetizing name, yet a special bird seen on campus today: Worm-eating Warbler. Spring bird migration is in full swing. Don't miss it. Bird walks on campus every Wednesday in May, 8 am, meet at Byden Hall.

Meet House Sparrow 3011-88932 (band number). He is the 6,000th bird we banded on the Rutgers Newark campus (since 2011). As you can see, he was slightly bemused by all the ceremony.

A Hermit Thrush (a small migratory songbird) on the campus of Rutgers Newark. It has a leg band that it got during the banding operation.

This Hermit Thrush seems to show off its leg band, which it got on campus 2 days ago. Spring bird banding has begun, so has bird migration: ebird.org/checklist/S2...

The Red-tailed Hawks favor hanging out atop Boyden Hall. However, landing on the tip of the antenna requires some skill. Does anyone know the location of their nest this year? It seems that the old nest at NJIT is not being used.

Rutgers = Red (Scarlet).

A songbird (Hermit Thrush) resting on a flowering cherry tree.

Spring! Dam it! Enough said! (Hermit Thrush this morning in front of Robeson Center, RUN)

A small migratory bird, the Eastern Phoebe, rests on an outdoor table on an urban campus, symbolizing bird migration in the city.

A gray bird on a gray morning? Yes, but no: the first Eastern Phoebe on campuses is a sign of more great things to come. Bird migration has started for real!! Eastern Phoebes don't do the color thing" but have colorful personalities. For one, they sing their name loudly: "Phee bee".

This American Robin yesterday on campus seemed to challenge me. Most of our robins by now have leg bands. This one has not—challenge accepted! Bird banding starts soon.

An eastern gray squirrel on an urban university campus.

Aren’t Eastern Gray Squirrels a furry ray of sunshine in gloomy times? Love, ignore, or take them for granted; they’re our faithful urban pals. This was not always so. In the mid-19th century, they were introduced to city parks, adapting to urban life and thriving alongside us in our green spaces.

Weequahic Park in Newark is now an excellent place to see a wide variety of wild ducks: Northen Shovelers (shown here), Ruddy Ducks, Ring-necked Dook, Common Merganser, etc. Urban biodiversity of the watery kind!