The Barnacle Goose reported yesterday was not seen this afternoon, Sunday, 12-4-2011. The area near The Raritan Inn on County Road 513 was searched but all that was found were a smattering of Canada Geese and the white-faced-black-capped-orange-legged-Canada-bodied hybrid. The few geese seen were on or about the South Branch of the Raritan or a tributary. This location is of interest for mocosocoBirds because it is the border between Morris and Hunterdon Counties. There are no accepted records of Barnacle Goose for Morris County so you can guess why this writer was there for the third time in the last few weeks. Another report of Barnacle Goose from Middle Valley on eBird in the previous month went unconfirmed.

The White-winged Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser found at Budd Lake by Tom Halliwell yesterday were not seen this afternoon. A Common Loon and Common Merganser were present. What was interesting as well as visually overwhelming for a Morris County body of water were the 860+ gulls that were loafing on the lake. Most were in the center of Budd Lake which meant that viewing was distant and difficult. Also, most of the gulls had their heads tucked in and were resting as well as crowded which made identification a challenge. Nothing unusual but 16 Great Black-backed and at least 50 Herring are high counts this year for the county. The rest were mostly Ring-billed Gulls but an even greater number of Herring Gulls cannot be dismissed either. No white-winged or Lesser Black-backed Gulls were obvious.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas.