Southerly migration had its most noticeable push of the season this morning. Sayre’s Farm in Morris Township was busy with birds including the following:

Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo – 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 3
Eastern Bluebird – 2
Blue-winged Warbler
Common Yellowthroat – 7
American Redstart – 4
Yellow Warbler – 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler – 4
Canada Warbler – 2

Sayre’s Farm is a label given by mocosocoBirds to this particular property. The origin of the name is from the historical owner of the land in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Based on the Beers Atlas of 1868, the Robinson Atlas of 1887 and the Mueller Atlas of 1910, the property was owned by Theo. Sayre. This is a different branch of the Sayre family than the Samuel Sayre family murdered in 1833 by Antoine Le Blanc, one of the most sordid events in Morristown’s history. Theo. Sayre’s property is adjacent to what was the Whitehead estate, which begets the name Whitehead Road, and the Louther Kountze estate, part of which is now the campus of the Delbarton School. Maps at the Morris County Parks web site, show the Sayre property is currently part of Lewis Morris Park and administered by the Morris County Parks commission.

Note: the above mentioned atlases are an extraordinary look into the history of Morris County and are available for viewing in person and on line at the Morristown and Morris Township Library, www.jfpl.org. The physical maps are located in the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center. The digital versions may be viewed at the Digital Collections section of the library’s web site.