Melanie Lane Pond continues to be a shorebird and swallow hot spot in eastern Morris County. Jamie Glydon found a single Cliff Swallow amongst the 100+ Tree, Northern Rough-winged and Barn Swallows over the pond this afternoon. The swallow gave superb close looks for the time that we were there. The Cliff Swallow and the single Least Sandpiper also found at the pond are firsts for Morris County in 2012. A reversal from the previous day was that Lesser Yellowlegs outnumbered Greater Yellowlegs 12 to 7.
The numbers are as follows:
1 Great Egret
2 Killdeer
1 Spotted Sandpiper
5 Solitary Sandpipers
7 Greater Yellowlegs
12 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Least Sandpiper
15 Wilson’s Snipe (at least)
6 Chimney Swifts
20 N. Rough-winged Swallows
100 Tree Swallows
10 Barn Swallows
1 Cliff Swallow
10 Savannah Sparrows (at least)
And typical species of the area.

Least Sandpiper (Photo By Jamie Glydon)

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In Somerset County, Jeff Ellerbusch found an American Redstart this morning at the Raritan River Greenway along Old York Road in Raritan. In the afternoon, Jeff had a male Prothonotary Warbler feeding in the treetops about 100 feet past the east observation tower of Lord Stirling Park. Both the Am. Redstart and the Prothonotary Warbler are firsts of 2012 in the MoCoSoCo region.
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Ken Hart reports the following from Robert J. Stahl Natural Area in Bedminster Township late this afternoon:

1 Eastern Kingbird
1 Orchard Oriole
Several Purple Martin