Long-tailed Duck with Common Mergansers, Clyde Potts Reservoir, Mendham Twp., NJ, Jan. 9, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

A Long-tailed Duck has spent the past two days in Clyde Potts Reservoir. Also present are 120 Common Mergansers, 4 Hooded Mergansers, a pair of Ruddy Ducks, Canada Geese and Mallards. Saturday saw a pair of Bald Eagles at the reservoir according to other observers.

Clyde Potts (1876-1950) was a six-term mayor of Morristown. Interestingly, he was a Republican who was also endorsed by Democrats during some of his elections. He was a civil engineer known for his many contributions to water services and sewer systems.

As mayor, he was instrumental in having Jockey Hollow created as a National Historic Park which came to be in 1933 by decree of the President of the United States. A brief biography of Clyde Potts from the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center of the Morristown and Morris Township Library is here.

Besides being home to Clyde Potts Reservoir which is fed by Harmony Brook, the lands of Mendham Township are the sources and headwaters of the Passaic, Whippany and North Branch of the Raritan rivers.

Below is a photo of partially frozen Lake Parsippany early this afternoon, shortly before the rain storm left the area. Temperatures were in the 50+ F degrees in the Morris area this day. Other locations in New Jersey report 60 F degrees.

Lake Parsippany, NJ, Jan. 10, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

View local eBird checklists in the mocosocoBirds region via eBird’s Region Explorer. Use the following links:

• Morris County
• Somerset County

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.

The mocosocoBirds Facebook page is located here and also posts timely information not found on the mocosocoBirds web site.

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