The radar at approximately 5 a.m. this morning. Green and blue are birds.

As one can see by the early morning radar above and by reading many accounts in the field from during the day, birds streamed into New Jersey this morning. The intensity was felt mostly on the coast. Doug Gochfeld texted on keekeekerr at 7:30 a.m. that 500 birds-per-minute were moving past the dike at Higbee’s in Cape May. In Morris and Somerset Counties, a fresh influx of birds was noticeable anywhere one looked this morning.

Pleasant Plains Road in the Great Swamp NWR had Blue-headed Vireo, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrush, Palm Warblers, Pine Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warblers, 2 Vesper Sparrows, Lincoln’s and White-crowned Sparrows, a push of Dark-eyed Juncos (35), hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, 5 Rusty Blackbirds, 10 Purple Finches and 3 Pine Siskins, etc. (Simon Lane).

A Vesper Sparrow was at the garden at South Branch Preserve, Mt. Olive Twp. Also at the preserve are many Song, Swamp, Savannah and White-throated Sparrows, a few Field and Chipping Sparrows and a flyover American Pipit (J. Klizas).

3 Vesper Sparrows were at Glenhurst Meadows (Karen English, Terry Carruthers, et al) along with Bald Eagle, Blue-headed Vireo, a late Swainson’s Thrush, White-crowned Sparrows, 5 Purple Finches and 15 Pine Siskins.

Chris Thomas adds a late Northern Waterthrush to the Glenhurst tally. His ID photo is below:

Boonton Reservoir saw the first Horned Grebe and Bufflehead of the season in the mocosocoBirds region this afternoon. A pair of Hooded Mergansers, a Common Merganser and a small flotilla of 16 Ruddy Ducks were on the water. A Gray-cheeked Thrush in the woods of the west shore was a surprise. There was some movement of this species today as there are a few coastal reports, as well. Also at Boonton were Pileated Woodpeckers, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, and Chipping, Field, Song and White-throated Sparrows (J. Klizas).