{"id":10510,"date":"2016-03-06T06:51:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-06T13:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/?p=10510"},"modified":"2016-03-06T06:51:35","modified_gmt":"2016-03-06T13:51:35","slug":"early-birds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/06\/early-birds-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC09442\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I felt even more virtuous than usual when I arrived at Brookdale Park<\/a> this morning to find that I was\u00a0the first birder of the day.<\/p>\n

Or so I thought.<\/p>\n

\"merlin\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This female merlin<\/strong>, presumably the same bird that has been hanging around most of the winter and quite possibly the same bird that I had seen a day earlier in downtown Montclair, had already taken a commanding perch over my — or I guess I should say our — sparrow patch.<\/p>\n

\"sharp-shinned<\/a><\/p>\n

A couple of hundred yards away, this little male\u00a0sharp-shinned hawk\u00a0<\/strong>kept watch over the same half acre of weeds.<\/p>\n

Neither of my competitors moved in the hour and a half I was there, but it was evident nonetheless that they and the other raptors wintering and passing through the park of late are eating well.<\/p>\n

\"mourning<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m happy to share.<\/p>\n

\"Brookdale<\/a>