Gull-billed Tern at Great Swamp NWR

One of the most extraordinary bird sightings of recent memory in Morris County occurred this morning as a group of birders watched and documented a Gull-billed Tern at the Great Swamp NWR.

The Gull-billed Tern was viewed from the Freinds Blind at the Wildlife Observation Center on Long Hill Road. The eBird checklist submitted by Andrea Robbins contains text documentation and photos.

The comment section of the eBird checklist is a model of the pertinent aspects a first observer should document of the sighting when submitting a checklist of a local mega rarity. Besides mentioning the important field marks of the subject bird, the observer also gave details as to why other species were eliminated. The link to the checklist is here.

Common Gallinule at Duke Farms

Common Gallinule, Duke Farms, Hillsborough Twp., NJ, June 15, 2017 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

Since found on June 7 by Louise Wilkens, a Common Gallinule inhabits Wood Duck Lake at Duke Farms and continues to be seen as of today. This is a special sighting as few of this species occur in Somerset County and none before this record are thoroughly documented.

Clay-colored Sparrow at Six Mile Run

Clay-colored Sparrow, Franklin Twp., NJ, June 11, 2017 (photo by Jeff Ellerbusch)

The Clay-colored Sparrow at Six Mile Run was last reported on June 11 but it is not known if anyone specifically tried to find it since then. Jeff Ellerbusch has an excellent field recording of the Clay-colored Sparrow’s song. The link for that recording is here.

View local eBird checklists in the mocosocoBirds region via eBird’s Region Explorer. Use the following links:

• Morris County
• Somerset County

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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