Rock Wren, Franklin Twp., NJ, Dec. 26, 2016 (photo by Ben Barkley)
Somerset County is exiting 2016 spectacularly as two western vagrants have visited the county in the past two weeks of December – both first records for the county. The first was the Townsend’s Warbler at Duke Farms on Dec. 12 and 13, and the second – yesterday and today, an even more remarkable Rock Wren in Franklin Township.
Cliff Miller discovered this extreme rarity in New Jersey on Dec. 25. Cliff’s account of his finding may be read at the archives of JerseyBirds here.
Many observers were able to view it today, Dec. 26. This represents the second record of Rock Wren in the state if accepted by the New Jersey Bird Record Committee. The first state record occurred in Cape May from Dec. 2, 1992 – Mar. 28, 1993. A brief account of the Cape May sighting is here.
A Google map of the Rock Wren’s location is here. This is a construction site. Please stay out of the actual construction zone to avoid conflicts.
David Weber created an eBird hotspot for the Rock Wren’s location. eBird users are asked to use this hotspot to mark the location of the Rock Wren when they submit records. The hotspot may be viewed here.
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.
The mocosocoBirds Facebook page is located here and also posts timely information not found on the mocosocoBirds web site.
@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.
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