Black-crowned Night-Heron, Parsippany, NJ, Apr. 1, 2014 (photo by Chuck Hantis).

Black-crowned Night-Herons are moving into the area. Two adults are now at Jefferson Road Pond in Parsippany (Mike Ostrow). Another showed up today at the North Plainfield Somerset County side of Green Brook Park (Walter Blenderman).

The drake Eurasian Wigeon of Somerset County was seen at Duke Farms today in the Great Falls Lake and the reservoir (Thom Almendinger, Dan Morely).

American and Eurasian Wigeons, Duke Farms, Apr. 1, 2014 (photo by Dan Morely).

Other ducks are in the news. Two species which are sparsely represented most seasons in Morris and Somerset Counties are still present. 9 Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 Greater Scaup were seen on the Raritan River via the Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath (Jeff Ellerbusch). 4 Greater Scaup were a surprise at Lake Parsippany this afternoon as this species had not been reported for weeks in the county (J. Klizas).

Other species at Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath are 23 Green-winged Teal, 18 Ring-necked Ducks, 17 Bufflehead, 16 Common Goldeneye and 19 Common Mergansers.

Lake Parsippany is less populated than a few days ago. 100 Common Mergansers were mostly congregated near the northwest section of the lake. This is down from the 500+ that were at the lake on Sunday. 2 Common Loons, 1 Pied-billed Grebe and a few Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks were seen in a brief observation of the lake.

Boonton Reservoir had 200 Common Mergansers, most of which in a large group near the north end. Also present were 7 Common Loons (Julie Buechner). 3 Common Goldeneye were seen later (J. Klizas).

Budd Lake is thawing, at last. Alan Boyd’s eBird checklist includes 4 Common Loons, 30 Bufflehead and 65 Common Mergansers from the lake today.

Lake Musconetcong had 2 Gadwall, 5 American Wigeon, 3 Northern Pintail, 125 Ring-necked Ducks,3 Lesser Scaup, 45 Bufflehead, 3 Common Goldeneye, 60 Hooded Mergansers, 330 Common Mergansers, 1 Common Loon, 1 Pied-billed Grebe and 1 Horned Grebe (Alan Boyd).

Late in the day, 60 flyover Brant were tallied in Chatham Township (Simon Lane).

Wilson’s Snipe, Great Swamp NWR, NJ, Apr. 1, 2014 (photo by Jim Mulvey).