Smoke in the Sky

Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day – sunny and clear, with crisp air that was not too cold. So I took another walk through my local park in the late afternoon. I did not see the weird ducks I mentioned in another post, but I did see a nice selection of other birds. A late season Osprey flew upstream along the river. Several species of sparrows were around. In one small patch of vegetation, I saw a few Song Sparrows, several Savannah Sparrows, and two Swamp Sparrows, along with a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Other birds included a Red-tailed Hawk being harassed by a Northern Mockingbird.

What struck me, though was a large plume of smoke rising near the Raritan River. At first I thought it was just a dark cloud, but the way it rose steadily in relation to the other clouds made it obvious that it was smoke. Apparently it was coming from a brush fire in Edison. You can see photos of the blaze here. I am not sure how much damage it did or whether it was extinguished, but fire crews were working on it.