For all of the rare bird species in New Jersey this winter, other species are also noteworthy for their unusual frequency. American Pipits continue to appear regularly throughout the mocosocoBirds region in 2013. 50+ were at the Bernardsville Quarry this morning. Jamie Glydon found another 14 at Florham Park Fields. See Mike Britt’s post below for an updated count from that location. There are at least eleven reports of American Pipit on the eBird database from the mocosocoBirds region so far in 2013. At this time last year, there were none.
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From Mike Britt:
I took a quick ride through Pleasant Plains Road (Great Swamp NWR) and observed perched Kestrel, Rough-legged Hawk (light morph) by the 90 degree bend, and an adult Bald Eagle was perched along the far right edge of the rookery marsh.

The American Pipit flock at the Florham Park fields now numbers around 30, at least 40 American Tree Sparrows were observed in a large flock, I flushed a Killdeer from a mostly frozen drainage ditch (not a big deal in Hudson Co. but cool here in frigid January), and at least one light morph Rough-legged Hawk continues…it was hunting along the airport runways and the disjunct field that is furthest…you have to walk through the woods or take the marsh edge all the way to the left. – Mike
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Jamie Glydon had the alleged, same Rough-legged Hawk along CR 510, Columbia Turnpike, in the morning. A light-morphed Rough-legged Hawk was also reported last week from the same location.
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From Dave Emma:
Hi Jonathan – The ducks on Furnace Pond reported by Mr. Boyd yesterday are still there: Redhead, Bufflehead, Am. Coot, Ring-necked Ducks. I also saw 1 Lesser Scaup there this morning. – Dave