Waiting for Thaw
Daylight Savings Time begins tomorrow, Sunday, March 8.
The weather forecast through March 16 predicts daytime high temperatures in the 40+ F degree range. No snowflake icons are noted during this forecast period. At last, a thaw is in sight.
With the dense snowpack currently covering Morris and Somerset Counties and the frigid temperatures enveloping the region for most of the winter, it is hard to grasp that spring migration is at our doorstep.
Look! Here is the proof: three indicator species, ready and waiting. The bar graphs are generated from eBird data. Clicking on the bar graph image will bring you to the data analysis for that species on the eBird website.
American Woodcock: arrived in Morris County March 11, 2014 (you do remember the winter of 2013-14; thought to be one of north New Jersey’s harshest in recorded history?).
Tree Swallow: arrived in Somerset County, March 11, 2014.
Eastern Phoebe: arrived in Somerset County, March 11, 2014.
The Birds Remain the Same
Redheads, Lake Hopatcong, NJ, Mar. 7, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
The slight amount of open water surrounding the docks at Bertrands Island, Lake Hopatcong, continue to have many of the same ducks as seen last weekend; 5 Redheads, 1 Greater Scaup, 1 Hooded Merganser, 4 American Coot and 7 Mute Swans. Slim pickings, but open water is a luxury this winter in Morris County.
Greater Scaup, Lake Hopatcong, NJ, Mar. 7, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
Greater Scaup, Lake Hopatcong, NJ, Mar. 7, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
Rough-legged Hawk at Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve
A light morph Rough-legged Hawk was seen at Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve (Bill Lynch via eBird). Rough-legged Hawk season is near the end. The eBird bar graph for Rough-legged Hawk in New Jersey is below:
Other Field Notes
From eBird:
4 Common Redpolls visited a feeder in Butler (Jim Schlickenrieder).
Tilcon Lake had the following (Mike Ostrow):
20 Canada Geese, 6 American Black Ducks, 55 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Bufflehead, 15 Hooded Mergansers and 8 Common Mergansers.
eBird Checklists for the mocosocoBirds region may be viewed via eBird’s Region Explorer. Use the following links:
The eBird Hotspot Primer is here and can also be accessed via the Hotspot menu item on the mocosocoBirds.com website.
@mocosocoBirds at Twitter is another communications stream. Instant field reports and links of interest are tweeted throughout the day. The latest tweets appear on the sidebar of this page. One can follow mocosocoBirds at Twitter or link to @mocosocoBirds.
Finis
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