The Summer Solstice ocurrs Friday, June 21, at 1:04 a.m. Eastern Time (5:04 UTC). Sunday presents the Perigree Full Moon, or Supermoon. In the early hours of Sunday, June 23, the moon will officially reach its full phase and will be the closest to Earth that it will be in 2013 and until August 2014. EarthSky.org explains it here.
There is nothing especially newsy in the mocosocoBirds region. The Yellow-breasted Chat of Morris Twp. was especially raucous this morning. A Prairie Warbler singing along Whitehead Rd. was a surprise. The White-eyed Vireo of Whitehead Rd. called briefly.
Speaking of White-eyed Vireos, Terry Carruthers reported this yesterday, June 19:
A White-eyed Vireo was singing vigorously alongside the road opposite the old cement plant on Whitebridge Rd in the Great Swamp. A Black-billed Cuckoo flew in while I was watching the Vireo.
Thanks for the reminder about the full moon! It may well be clear and give good looks through our optics (I’ve looked at full moons through scopes before without problems, but I actually don’t know whether it’s recommended).
I hope some of you camera folk will take some GREAT pictures of the full moon over some of our favorite natural areas. And I hope Mocosoco will post them – would love to see some spectacular pictures of the moon casting reflections of a flock of geese at the Great Swamp, or setting to the west of one of the Watchung ridges, or newly rising with the last few cicadas of the day (and of Brood II) flying in front of it. Or, you know, silhouetting an owl!