Surprisingly enough, Hawthorne is full of birds…I adore birds, but a big amount of them aren’t even supposed to be here.

With how close we are to PA and NYC, a lot of their birds have taken a place in our town, which would be fine if we weren’t so different than Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers. The same goes for common seagulls, who have decided that the middle of New Jersey is just as good as the beach towns, which simply isn’t true.

The most common case of this I see talked about is the parakeets that were released in Paterson, that eventually migrated into the neighboring towns, including ours. While these birds are gorgeous and amazing to look at, it’s still strange that they’d even be in Hawthorne, and much like these birds, our town has acquired a mink, which usually don’t live in such a populated area, especially one without a close drive to the ocean or bay.

Some examples of these birds go as follows. The Chimney swifts, Grackles, and Cedar Waxwings are found closer to the equator throughout all seasons, but as the temperature here decreases, it makes me wonder how long these birds are staying North for. They inhabit areas like the Gulf or Mexico, islands and South America, but have yet left, even with the recent snow.

Chimney Swifts are birds who happen to like inhabiting chimneys…while warmth and shelter is important to all birds,they clearly put themselves in danger by nesting in chimneys. They have a wingspan of around 30 cm and while they’re found everywhere, they prefer to live in heavier wooded habitats, with more areas for them to hide. Grackles are birds which live to scare off other birds and love eating fresh crops under farmers noses, they are one of the birds that are seen more as a pest, but they have gorgeous coloration and hardy beaks.They have a wing span of around 40 cm and sport a blue head, making them easy to pick out opposed to blackbirds. 

Cedar Waxwings are birds which have an absolutely gorgeous coloration. They are one of my favorite birds because of their orange heads, blue toned grey bodies, red marked wings, black eye markings and yellow stomachs. An interesting fact about them is that a group of them is called an ear full or museum and they have a wingspan of around 12 inches. 

Many birds which have now become used to the New Jersey weather, and live here for the majority of the season, haven’t migrated yet either, which is extremely weird taking into account that as the past years have gotten warmer due to global warming, birds have been earlier in the year. 

Along with these listed birds, we’ve acquired woodpeckers, swallows, and house sparrows, which are gorgeous to look at but more harmful to the entirety of NJ than you might think. 

A place where you can view photos of these animals is the Hawthorne Environmental Commission’s Facebook page. If you are interested, it’s very cool. I recommend checking it out.