Jamie Glydon found 3 Horned Grebes on Lake Parsippany this evening representing the 1st of 2012 in both Morris and Somerset counties.

Here is a rough count of waterfowl seen earlier at Lake Parsippany:
Gadwall – 68
Northern Shoveler – 7
Ring-necked Duck – 2
Lesser Scaup – 2
Bufflehead – 2
Common Merganser – 46
Ruddy Duck – 25
American Coot – 16

5 Redheads continue at Foxs Pond in Rockaway. This little in-town Aythya-magnet also has basically the same 12 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Lesser Scaup and 6 Gadwall that have been present for at least two weeks. The Redheads at Clark Drive in Mt. Olive may have left or are hiding in the marsh as they were not seen today.

Mt. Hope Lake in Rockaway Township has 150 Ring-necked Ducks, 20 American Wigeon, 3 Buffleheads and the usual 86 Mute Swans. Most of the Ring-neckeds and Wigeon were W-A-Y in the back of the pond and were a challenge to count with the scope maxed out to 60x.

Horned Grebes were in western Morris County this time last year but the search was futile today. 3 Double-crested Cormorants were at Lake Musconetcong this afternoon with 45 Bufflehead, a Ruddy Duck, a few Common Mergansers and not much else.

Budd Lake had 34 Common Mergansers, 3 Bufflehead, 9 Lesser Scaup, some Fish Crows and Gulls. Period.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas