Congratulations to neighboring Hunterdon County for hosting a European Golden-Plover the past two days.

The number of birds in the non-public areas of Duke Farms in Hillsborough Township shows what happens when habitat is administered in a proper fashion. Field surveys this weekend tallied 40+ Grasshopper Sparrows, 250+ Bobolinks and ~30 Eastern Meadowlarks. For some diversity, throw in Blue Grosbeaks and American Kestrels.

The Dickcissels of Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve are reported throughout the weekend (m.obs.).

Summer is slowly transitioning into the next season. 200 Double-crested Cormorants and 123 Ring-billed Gulls along with 145 Canada Geese, 16 Great Blue Herons and 5 Great Egrets were at Boonton Reservoir this afternoon. The majority of the Cormorants are on the south side of the island. 435 were counted on July 17, 2013 at the reservoir, the highest count for Morris County. That task was made easy because most of the Cormorants were floating in two distinct rafts with the remainder loafing on the island.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was seen at Jefferson Road Pond, Parsippany on July 19 (Tom Gorman). This is the first report of the YCNH in Parsippany since July 6.

2 Black-crowned Night-Herons continue at Green Brook Park on the North Plainfield side as they have in varying numbers through the spring and summer (Walter Blenderman).

Perhaps it is the low point of a cycle but butterflies are low in numbers in the mocosocoBirds area according to many observers. The following Pipevine Swallowtail was found at Willowwood Arboretum in Chester Township this week.

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor), Willowwood Arboretum, NJ, July 17, 2014 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

(Click on the photo for a larger image.)