Dave Blinder captured the following image of a male Pileated Woodpecker at Bee Meadow Park, Hanover Twp. this morning.
Pileated Woodpecker, Hanover Twp., NJ, Apr. 24, 2016 (photo by David Blinder)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
Migration stepped up a notch this weekend with a variety of migrants coming and passing through the Morris and Somerset region.
The list of species gleaned from eBird and other sources includes: Broad-winged Hawk (162 passed the Wildcat Ridge hawkwatch in Hibernia today), Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler (everywhere), Worm-eating Warbler, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Meadowlark (Denville, Giralda Farms Preserve), etc, etc.
Baltimore Oriole, Hanover Twp., NJ, Apr. 24, 2016 (photo by Chuck Hantis)
Yellow-rumped Warblers should be near peak numbers this week.
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lincoln Park Gravel Pits, NJ, Apr. 24, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
And this is why it is called Spotted Sandpiper (despite the distant, noisy, poor photo):
Spotted Sandpiper, Lincoln Park Gravel Pits, Apr. 24, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
Brown Thrashers are currently in many locations:
Brown Thrasher, Troy Meadows, NJ, Apr. 22, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
And as this post is about to be published, the Morris Township Police Department just issued a notice: the smoke and haze in the area is from a brush fire in eastern Pennsylvania. A walk outside confirms the smell. Others mention seeing the haze while driving. It is best to keep the windows closed.
Cornell Laboratory’s Bird Cast Regional Forecast for the Upper Midwest and Northeast, April 22-29 can be found here.
Analysis of the previous week, April 15-22, 2016, is here.
Bird migration activity continues to build and the number of birders submitting checklists to eBird is growing. To get a more complete picture of what people are reporting, view local 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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