The Month of Hope Denied - March 18th

AKA a little mid-March skim of three parks.

1. Griggstown. There's a new rail fence around the entrance drive and parking lot, to match the shorter stretch that did exist along the last section of the gravel entrance drive. The ground still shows the very harsh mowing it received last fall. Grand total: one Eastern Bluebird and one Red-tailed Hawk. This clearly isn't going to be interesting until late April after which the foliage might come back in. Or it might remain trashed for another year.

2. Rosedale Park. Despite having the same sort of signage as Pole Farm and being grouped under Mercer County Park NW this really is just a park. Nothing of interest there.

3. Pole Farm. Two singing Eastern Meadowlarks and two more seen in the air at a distance were the main signs of spring. Interesting lack of Red-winged Blackbirds at this stage. There's a new Kestrel nestbox on a tall pole out near the model aircraft field - but no Kestrel in sight. Song Sparrow was also singing and I saw what was probably a Field Sparrow (but the fleeting views didn't make it possible to be sure it wasn't a late American Tree Sparrow).

It will still take a little more time before spring kicks in full gear, although I have been seeing Killdeer on Princeton campus in the last week or two - most recently a pair near Icahn.