Yellow-headed Blackbird, Hillsborough, NJ, Mar. 31, 2017 (photo by Catherine Longi)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
Catherine Longi had a feeder bird to remember on March 31 as an adult male Yellow-headed Blackbird visited her yard in Hillsborough for one day. There are scant reports of this species in Somerset County although another male on March 30, 2015 is the most recent record.
Storms at the end of March brought the first wave of Bonaparte’s Gulls to the region. Five were on Lake Musconetcong April 1 (Alan Boyd).
A Black-crowned Night-Heron returned to Jefferson Road Pond on March 30 (Rob Fanning). This is the earliest known date of this species’ arrival at the pond in the five-year period of its monitoring. A few observers looked for them today with the high count of 9 (!) seen by Julie Stroffolino representing the highest tally for Morris County in the eBird database.
Black-crowned Night-Heron, Parsippany, NJ, Apr. 1, 2017 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
A drake Eurasian Wigeon was with a group of American Wigeon, Gadwall and Common Mergansers on a very windy March 29 at Lake Musconetcong. More than likely, this is the same Eurasian Wigeon that has been at the west Morris lakes since October. It was gone after that date.
Other storm-related birds were at Boonton Reservoir on March 28: 9 Red-breasted Mergansers (8 in the photo below), 2 Red-throated Loons, 3 Common Loons and a Horned Grebe.
Red-breasted Mergansers, Boonton Reservoir, NJ, Mar. 28, 2017 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
180 Double-crested Cormorants were easy to count as they were floating in rafts near the island. 50 Great Blue Herons were counted on the island. 7 Great Egrets (the white specks in the photo below) popped up along with the Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants and Crows when the adult Bald eagle shifted its perching position.
The Island at Boonton Reservoir, NJ, Mar. 28, 2017 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
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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