American Woodcock
Moody Farm, Morris Twp., NJ, Mar. 16, 2015 (iPhone photo by Jonathan Klizas)
The above photo is of the Moody Farm in the historic Washington Valley section of Morris Township. The iPhone photo was taken at 7:15 this evening and slightly lightened in Photoshop. An American Woodcock was calling from the field by this time, soon to be joined by another. A field on nearby Whitehead Rd. had a displaying and calling Woodcock as well.
Earlier in the day, Randy Little informed this writer that 3 Am. Woodcock were observed or heard the previous evening at Great Swamp NWR.
Here are more reports from this evening, gleaned from eBird:
4 at Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve (Donna Schulman); 5 reported later (Chris Williams).
4 at Glenhurst Meadows (Jeff Ellerbusch, Chris Thomas)
At 7:30 this evening, the NorthNJBirds texting service was lit up with Woodcock notifications from northeastern New Jersey.
They have arrived. They are here. Let the peenting and displaying begin and who gives a hoot (or a peent) if many of the fields remain covered with snow.
Birds on the Towpath
Following are highlights of a Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath trip by Jeff Ellerbusch this afternoon: 4 Wood Ducks, 2 Northern Pintail, 22 Ring-necked Ducks, 23 Bufflehead, 38 Common Goldeneye, 5 Hooded, 7 Common and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Double-crested Cormorant, 9 migrating Red-shouldered Hawks, 175 Red-winged Blackbirds and 450 Common Grackles.
Weather Forecast
This afternoon, NJ.com published a sobering item which @mocosocoBirds tweeted. The content of the tweet doubles as a link to the story: Cold weather in N.J. could linger until April
Ugh.
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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