Semipalmated Plover, Long Valley, NJ, May 22, 2014 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

Shorebird habitat is always scarce in Morris County. It was a surprise to find 5 Semipalmated Plovers, 10 Least Sandpipers, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 3 Spotted Sandpipers and resident Killdeer on a flooded cornfield in Long Valley this afternoon. This is the same field on Beacon Hill Road which hosted the Greater White-fronted Goose this past March.

From Ben Barkley:
“Cerulean Warbler at Lord Stirling Park. While walking this evening on White Bridge Road I heard a quite late Cerulean Warbler singing from Lord Stirling Park. The bird sang pretty consistently for about 15 minutes. It was singing along the gravel road past the entrance to the center. There is a gate on the Stirling side of the road that says something along the lines of “no trail beyond this point” (this is between the center and the Fisherman’s Lot). This spot was the best vantage to hear it. From what I could tell the bird seemed to be at the far edge of the field across the parking lot from the main building This is only my second ever Cerulean Warbler for the Lord Stirling area. I left the bird around 7 pm with it still singing. There has also been a Canada Warbler hanging out in this same spot for the past couple of days.”

Yesterday was a mini-thrush fest at Sourland Mountain Preserve in Hillsborough Township with 7 Veerys, a singing Gray-cheeked Thrush, 5 Swainson’s Thrushes and 17 Wood Thrushes (Jeff Ellerbusch).