Wilson’s Snipe, Opie Road, Branchburg, NJ, Feb. 11, 2013 (photo digi-binned by Jonathan Klizas).
(Click on the photo for a larger image)
Kudos to Jeff Ellerbusch for finding a very well-hidden Wilson’s Snipe on Opie Road in Branchburg Township this afternoon. With the thick fog and poor visibility, I could easily have passed it off as a blob of mud without knowing it was there. A Killdeer was also in the vicinity. Two shorebird species in one plot of grass – the 2013 mocosocoBirds shorebird season is officially open!
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From Mike Hiotis:
Hey Jonathan – Letting you know among the flock of 170 +/- Gulls flying in and out from the pond on Old Quarry Rd. in Bernardsville were 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The winter adults stood out even in the foggy conditions . From what I could make out the flock had at least 50+ Herring Gulls.The numbers of gulls was changing constantly as the birds were coming and going. Also present were 3 Mute Swans , a few Canadas and a lone Ruddy Duck which has been here a while.
A thank-you and congrats goes out to the finders of the Lapland Longspur seen on Hillsborough Rd. this AM when the flock of Horned Larks(25ish) landed briefly across from the Geese on the south side of the road.
Mike Hiotis
I just saw a Canada Goose at Duke Island Park that had a white body with a light brown neck and head. It had a little bit of tan on the white back. It was the same size as the other geese and looked just like them except for her coloring. She was in the river, if you walk with the outdoor stage on your right and go towards the next picnic shelter, she was in that grouping. Sorry I don’t have a camera.
See if this is the goose you saw. It is labeled as the “Spackling Goose”:
https://mocosocobirds.com/2013/01/02/greater-white-fronted-geese-and-the-return-of-the-spackling-goose-jan-2-2013/
https://mocosocobirds.com/2012/01/24/weird-goose-ducks-in-the-dark-jan-24-2012/