From Alan Boyd:
Hi Jonathan – The Glaucous Gull was flying around the municipal beach at the south end of Budd Lake today about 1:30. It’s a striking bird in flight and I noticed it even before I turned off of Rt 46. There were only about 20 other gulls around, all Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. No sign of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls reported earlier in the week.

Most of the waterfowl on the water were at the back edge of the lake and it was too windy to scope them well – Alan Boyd

[Editor’s Note: This is the seventh day for the Glaucous Gull at Budd Lake]
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Lake Parsippany’s Common Merganser flock grew in numbers the last few days. 720 were counted on the lake this afternoon. And, yes, the same Aytha floating raft continues with 7 Redheads, approximately 60 Ring-necked Ducks and 15 Lesser Scaup. 17 Hooded Mergansers, 4 Ruddy Ducks and 4 American Coot continue as well.
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Other than 8 Bufflehead, a pair of Common Mergansers and a group of roosting gulls near the south end (not studied), Boonton Reservoir was practically birdless this afternoon.
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Check your feeders for Pine Siskins. Jennifer Books’ continues to get a pair at her feeder in Basking Ridge. Mike Hiotis commented on yesterday’s post that he had a pair in the birches in his yard on Thursday morning.
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eBird.org published a must-read article today about the Rusty Blackbird, Unlocking the Rusty Blackbird Mystery. As the article states: “Rusty Blackbirds have experienced one of the steepest population declines of any once-common North American bird. Estimates from the last decade suggest that Rusty Blackbirds have experienced an 85-99% population drop over the past 40 years.”