Bartram's Garden

For such an old and industrialized city, Philadelphia has a surprising amount of migratory bird watching hotspots. I wrote about John Heinz Wildlife Refuge—the one along the Delaware River—

Swans and Swallows

but last weekend was my first visit to Bartram’s Garden, which is along the Schuylkill. It was briefly famous a few years ago, when the arrival of a rare Painted Bunting caused a murmuration of birders to swarm in to see it.

A varied gathering of birding groups—Feminist Bird Club Philly, In Color Birding Club, PCAS Online, Philly Queer Birders, and Disability Pride Pennsylvania—all came together to have a “Little Sit,” which is birder talk for planting yourself in one location for half a day and seeing what you can see. A “Big Sit” is apparently a whole day; as I’ve said before, I am a professional piker, a jack-off-of-all-trades, a container of multitudes; I try not to get too involved or obsessed with any one thing, so don’t look to me for expertise. (I am, however, a bit of a ringer on a pub trivia team.)

We didn’t see a Painted Bunting this time, but we were visited by a rusty-winged Orchard Oriole, who sang from the treetops and let us admire him. Not a “lifer” for me, in birder parlance, as I saw one, albeit briefly, last year at Gibbsboro quarry site. That one, I spotted thanks to Merlin, the bird identification app from Cornell University’s eBird project. It caught his song, and I managed to spot him as he landed on a branch far away, but just close enough that my monocular showed me his bright rust wing stripe before he flew into the woods.

In the sun, they are nearly as bright as a Northern Cardinal, but have black wings, sort of like an American Robin, but with a much richer “redbreast” as the Robin is often called. Not to disparage the Robin; I appreciate their songs, and their little marches through the grass as they hunt. Hop, hop, hop! Thrust that chest forward, turn that head left and right!

I watched Robins and woodpeckers, and even Mourning Doves, that morning, just enjoying their company. We were visited by a Red-Tailed Hawk, who left hungry, and both Black and Turkey Vultures. I missed the Baltimore Oriole, but I’m not above photographing a House Sparrow. This fellow had a rakish crest and I admired his bravado. I haven’t been able to photograph an Eastern Goldfinch, despite seeing quite a few. Like Yellow-Rumped Warblers, they move too fast.

I wandered down to the river, where Tree Swallows swooped over the water. They’re also tough to photograph, but if you follow the “Swans and Swallows” link above, I snapped some that were using bird houses built for them along the boardwalk at John Heinz. Their iridescent feathers are really wonderful to look at on a sunny day.

Bartram’s Garden is the former home of John Bartram, known as the father of American botany, and contains the oldest surviving botanical garden in the country. The land was bought from Swedish colonists, and a cider mill was operated on the river, evidenced by the scars in the bedrock where it once stood:

It remains a beautiful spot on the Schuylkill, free to all. The buildings, including the stone house which dates to 1752, are still standing and blend well with the landscape. Better than the skyscrapers do, at least:

Until next week… go outside.