Lincoln Park Gravel Pits

Rusty Blackbird, Lincoln Park, NJ, Sept. 25, 2013 (digiscoped by Jonathan Klizas).

There are but a few September records for Rusty Blackbird in New Jersey in the eBird database. The first known September record in Morris County occurred today at the Lincoln Park Gravel Pits, AKA, The Pits. Four Rustys worked the water’s edge at the base and roots of Black Willows completely surprising this observer. This is also the first Rusty Blackbird record for New Jersey this season in 2013 and one of a very few south of New England. A temporal bar graph for Rusty Blackbird based on eBird data is here.

Ring-necked Ducks, Lincoln Park, NJ, Sept. 25, 2013 (digiscoped by Jonathan Klizas).

Equally surprising is the first seasonal report in the entire state of New Jersey of Ring-necked Duck, also at The Pits. Likewise, this is a very early date and a very rare north Jersey record although not the earliest for Morris County. There is one odd August record from 2009 from Lake Musconetcong (Alan Boyd) and a Sept. 19, 2008 record from a park in Pequannock just north of The Pits (Justin Bosler). There are also a few August records from Hunterdon County (Frank Sencher, Jr.).

Generally, both Rusty Blackbirds and Ring-necked Ducks begin to arrive in New Jersey in mid-October. To have both species occur weeks before that time within a 100 yards of each other is extraordinary.

Editor’s Note: All references to data and records on this web site refer to the eBird database. Frankly, going forward, if a record isn’t in the eBird database, it doesn’t exist in the context of digital research. This is the reality of contemporary birding. If readers know of other records, please mention them in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Glenhurst Meadows

The migration binge continues yet another day and looks like it will continue into Thursday. Another stellar morning by Jeff Ellerbusch, this time at Glenhurst Meadows, illustrates the amazing stretch of southward bound avifauna much of New Jersey is experiencing this week.

81 species were tallied including a sweep of the regularly occurring 7 species of woodpeckers in New Jersey. Among the many highlights are both Kinglet species, American Pipit, Winter Wren, 16 species of warblers, 7 sparrow species including 6 Lincoln’s Sparrows and 21 White-throated Sparrows, 7 raptor species, Killdeer and Solitary Sandpiper, 13 Eastern Phoebes, etc.

Parsippany

The unprecedented (for Morris Co.) Yellow-crowned Night-Heron continues at Jefferson Road. (Julie Buechner)