Jeff Ellerbusch birded the Delaware and Raritan Towpath in Franklin Township this afternoon. Somerset County does not have any significant bodies of water. This view of the Raritan River offers one of the best opportunities for generating duck numbers in the county. One can enter the towpath from the north near Easton Avenue at the I-287 bridge (Cliff Swallows have nested here the past few years). One can enter from south at the Landing Lane Bridge. Remember that Landing Lane is in Middlesex County. You must walk north along the towpath until you pass the high-rise building on the west side of the canal before you are within Somerset County borders. Of course, this is only a small section of the entire towpath but it has a proven track record for birding.

Here is Jeff’s birding strategy for this area: “If I am going to bike the whole area, I park off of Easton Ave. by the I-287 bridge, but if I am walking, and don’t want to walk the entire path, I park at the lot off of Johnson Dr. (west of Landing Ln. bridge), and walk over the bridge to access the towpath. The latter is closer to the “hotspot”- right as the river bends in a more northward direction. Starting at Foxwood Rd. through about 3/4 miles north-west, if looking at Easton Ave. as a reference point, is where the majority of ducks are. This is always the case…must have something to do with food.”

A map illustrating the area is here. The “hotspot” is represented as a line between two points in the river.

Here are today’s numbers. The Lesser Scaup and Common Goldeneye numbers are all-time Somerset County high counts according to the eBird database:
Canada Goose – 400
Wood Duck – 2
American Wigeon – 2
American Black Duck – 3
Mallard – 12
Ring-necked Duck – 14
Lesser Scaup – 36
Bufflehead – 26
Common Goldeneye – 41
Common Merganser – 33
Red-breasted Merganser – 2