Vickie Schwartz found a Baltimore Oriole at the main entrance to Ann Van Middlesworth Park in Hillsborough on Saturday, January 7. This afternoon Jeff Ellerbusch refound one…and added two more. There are three Baltimore Orioles in the park. On a few occasions they were all seen together at the same time. The three offer an orange gradient from bright to dull to dullest. The brightest is presumed to be a first year male; the other two appear to be 1st year females. The dullest of the bunch also has an oddly deformed bill – the upper mandible is slight longer and decurved; the lower mandible is shorter. The three were found in the tangle by a fence-enclosed white shed next to a cove of the pond (to the left of the floating walkway in the pond). The Orioles were active and moving in the tangle.

Photos by Jeff Ellerbusch

Elsewhere, the amazing Wilson’s Warbler of Chatham continues at the Sewage Ponds on Passaic Avenue. Originaly found during the Great Swamp Christmas Bird Count on December 17, the warbler survived last week’s frigid weather and looked quite active and healthy this afternoon at 3:45 p.m. It was found next to the shed to the right of the Bamboo wall facing the Ponds. Based on eBird data, Chatham’s Wilson’s Warbler (WIWA) is currently the only one of its species in the northeast. One WIWA was seen as late as January 5 in Ontario and another as late as January 8 in Ohio.
Here is a screen shot from eBird showing the distribution of WIWA as of today. This is not an interactive map but simply a jpeg from a screen shot. Click on it for a larger view.

Click here to view this map at eBird. Select Show Points Sooner at the right of the map.

Waterfowl at the Ponds were:
Ring-necked Duck – 32
Gadwall – 8
Northern Shoveler – 7
Hooded Merganser – 4
Bufflehead – 7
Ruddy Duck – 2

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas