Three species of note this winter are Winter Wren, White-crowned Sparrow and American Pipit. There is nothing remarkable about the sightings of these species by themselves but rather the frequency with which they are being seen this season as well as their numbers. Since the autumn, Winter Wrens seem as numerous as many birders can ever remember in the northern New Jersey area. It seems every time one goes in the proper habitat one will encounter a Winter Wren. For December 2012, the eBird database has 25 sightings of Winter Wren for Morris County with a high count of 8, and other highs of 5 and 4. The grand total of Winter Wrens for December 2012 is 54. In December 2011, there were only 3 reports with 1 being the high count. The grand total for December 2011 is 3.
Somerset County, especially Hillsborough Township, has a broadly distributed wintering population of White-crowned Sparrows. If you can find a hedgerow on Hillsborough Rd., Beekman Lane, Orchard Drive, various places on Duke Farms, and numerous other locations, there is a better than average chance you will find White-crowned Sparrows there right now. This is not unique to 2012-13 but an annual situation for this species in Somerset County.
American Pipits are reported in the autumn and rarely in the winter in Morris and Somerset Counties. Winter totals for a report are usually of a single digit quantity if at all. So, it is noteworthy that in the past week, 60 American Pipits were seen in Long Valley, Morris County and over 130 were observed by Jeff Ellerbusch at Duke Farms in Somerset County today.
mocosocoBirds 
Speaking of Winter Wrens, I saw one this afternoon while walking along the Raritan River between Raritan and Duke Island Park. It was most confiding (they are really cute little imps!). I also saw at least 4 Belted Kingfishers along both the river and the Raritan Power Canal. And, along the canal path, I saw even more evidence of beavers recently at work in this area.