Saturday March 12, 2016
Bufflehead in morning light, Lake Hopatcong, NJ, Mar. 12, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
2 Horned Grebes at Lake Hopatcong and 3 at Budd Lake signal the beginning of Grebe season on Morris lakes, Saturday, March 12.
One Common Loon, a Greater Scaup drake, 43 Bufflehead, 2 Common Mergansers a quartet of Pied-billed Grebes and a few Mute Swans were all one could find on New Jersey’s largest lake. Boat season will pick up quickly in the next few weeks and Lake Hopatcong will become its people/boat-centric self throughout the spring and summer.
Other than the 3 Horned Grebes, 130 Ruddy Ducks plus a few Common Mergansers and distant Scaup sp., Budd Lake did not offer much in the diversity department.
84 Ruddy Ducks plus Gadwall, American Wigeon, Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead and Hooded Mergansers populated Mt. Hope Lake.
Lake Parsippany continues to host 10 Redheads. The Ruddy Duck total increased to 210.
Sunday March 13, 2016
Tundra Swans, Rockaway Twp., NJ, Mar. 13, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
4 Tundra Swans (2 are in the above photo) mixed with Mute Swans, Ring-necked Ducks and Wood Ducks at a secluded, difficult to view section of Lake Denmark, Rockaway Twp. today. Other sightings include Common Raven, the resident adult Bald Eagles plus an alleged progeny, two Black Bears and a busy beaver.
Beaver, Rockaway Twp., NJ, Mar. 13, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
Bald Eagle, Rockaway Twp., NJ, Mar. 13, 2016 (Jonathan Klizas)
The Fish Tract in Florham Park had a small pool filled with 11 Am. Wigeon, 6 Am. Black Ducks, 50 Mallards, 12 Northern Pintail, 22 Green-winged Teal and 4 Killdeer.
Birders are out in force this weekend, and many of them are using eBird to post their checklists. eBird continues to grow into the most complete method of researching recent sightings. Links for Morris and Somerset County eBird listings are in the next section of this post.
View local eBird checklists in the mocosocoBirds region 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.
The mocosocoBirds Facebook page is located here and also posts timely information not found on the mocosocoBirds web site.
Finis
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