American Redstart, Rockaway Twp., NJ, Apr. 30, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
Pity those who do not bird or study nature this time of year. April is flipping the calendar page to May and the climax of spring migration is close at hand. It is impossible to venture into the woods and fields this past week and not find new bird, plant and insect species for the year.
Although the radar has shown little migration in north New Jersey the past few days, birds are everywhere in the proper habitat. American Redstarts have invaded the Snake Hill Road-Lake Denmark area as witnessed this morning. Yellow-throated Vireos are moving into their usual spots. Four not-so-Solitary Sandpipers were seen on one sliver of mudbar at Loantaka Brook Reservation yesterday. Cliff Swallows have returned again to Boonton Reservoir. Every day brings new migrants and nesters into the area.
All of New Jersey’s nesting Vireo species are in the mocosocoBirds area. Warbler numbers are growing. Empidonax flycatchers are on their way with the season’s first Least Flycatcher visiting the Great Swamp NWR this morning (Simon Lane).
This morning, a Fish Crow called diagnostically and frantically while perched on top of a high voltage tower at Lake Denmark. Eventually, the local Common Raven came into the area at which time the Fish Crow commenced to harass the Raven for the next few minutes creating the silhouette image below. Both corvids eventually flew off.
Fish Crow Harassing Common Raven, Rockaway Twp., NJ, Apr. 30, 2016 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
Below is a serene scene of Lake Denmark looking north. In the background is PSE&G’s mammoth Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line.
Lake Denmark, NJ, Apr. 30, 2016 (iPhone photo by Jonathan Klizas)
Cornell Laboratory’s Bird Cast Regional Forecast for the Upper Midwest and Northeast, April 29-May 6 can be found here.
Analysis of the previous week, April 22-29, 2016, is here.
Bird migration activity is simply too busy at this time to list in this space. 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.
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