A hundred dollars later, we were on our way home, still looking for the spot we once saw hundreds of swans during their migration. And we found it! No swans, though.
We drove off on a side road along the edge of the marshy tidal area. It's near the Salem River Wildlife Management area, off Kings Highway.
"Stop!" I yelled, rolling down my window and grabbing my pocket camera. "There are red-winged blackbirds. I want to try to get some pictures of them on the reeds."
I tried, but those birds are very shy. Every time I aimed at one, it flew away.
We rolled past a big bushy tree and stopped again. I was all lined up, waiting for a red-winged blackbird to alight on one of the tall reeds, when something red moved.
"Don't move!" I said, trying to find it in my fully zoomed pocket camera. Finally I got them.
"OMG! They've got red on their heads! What are they?" I asked Davey. "Some kind of crane?"
"Maybe sandhill cranes," he said. And he was right! I googled them later and my bird group tells me they're very rare in NJ.
But then the red-winged blackbird came along.
And then he flew away again. But I was thrilled!
I very quietly got out of the truck to try to get an even better shot, but I was too low. So I climbed up on the running board, but then they saw me.
Off they went, with this really loud rattling call as they flew away.
Sorry that I disturbed them, but what an experience!
Taken with my pocket camera, Canon PowerShot Elph 530HS, fully zoomed (12x optical). Cropped, but no other corrections to the first three, last one "smart fixed" with Photoshop.
