mocosocoBirds

After publishing the April 29, 2012 post: Prothonotary Warblers, Red-headed Woodpecker and other field notes, April 29, 2012, I saw that the link for the sound recording displayed completely differently in the email note than it does on the web page where it looks much more elegant. The email link reads “protho-raw-with-normalizing-with-high-pass-filter-24dbrolloff.mp3” or some such gibberish. My apologizes for any confusion. Clicking on the above link for the posting will show you what I mean. It displays the audio player control which was the intention for the email as well. And so it goes with HTML mail.

Two Prothonotary Warblers continue on the Passaic Rive view-able from Lord Stirling Park. One singing male is in the vicinity of the June Beetle Bridge. The second is view-able from the East Observation Tower. Below is a 1 minute 15 second recording of the Prothonotary’s song together with the combined forces of the Lord Stirling Park and Great Swamp Choruses. Listen for the thrilling solo by a fly-by Great Blue Heron commencing at the 55 second point of the recording. Other species at Lord Stirling this morning were Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, Green-winged Teal, Red-headed Woodpecker, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-white, Yellow, Palm, and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Later in the afternoon, Jeff Ellerbusch found yet another Prothonotary Warbler. This one was at Glenhurst Meadows in Warren Township. From Jeff: “The protho was on the river below the garden, to the right of where the nearly dried, wagner field, water channel flows into the river. It showed very nicely and was almost constantly singing or chipping.”

Overall the morning was short on migrants. Black-throated Green, Black-and-white and Yellow-rumped Warblers joined the resident Louisiana Waterthrushes at Scherman Hoffman Sanctuary in Bernardsville.

Ledell Pond in Mendham had Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Northern Waterthrush, Pileated Woodpecker, Green-winged Teal and 20+ Wood Ducks.

Prairie and Blue-winged Warbler and Ovenbird were at Little Brook Sanctuary in Bernardsville.

From Terry Carruthers:
An early morning visit to the WOC in the Great Swamp produced a bald eagle, one green-winged teal, a red-eyed vireo, wood thrushes, ovenbirds, gray catbird, a rough-winged swallow and a pileated woodpecker.

One Sora was heard whinnying and ker-wee-ing this morning at the Great Swamp N.W.R. 2 Blue-winged Warblers, Black-and-white Warblers, Prairie Warbler, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Warbling Vireo and Orchard Oriole were some of the species on and around Pleasant Plains Road.

Simon Lane and this writer saw an adult Red-headed Woodpecker (RHWO) from the Lord Stirling side of the Passaic River in the vicinity of the abandoned beaver dam. Technically, the RHWO was on the Morris County, Great Swamp side of the river.
Other species in the area included numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-and-white Warblers and expected seasonal species. Yesterday’s Prothonotary Warbler was not found but is likely in the area.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

Melanie Lane Pond continues to be a shorebird and swallow hot spot in eastern Morris County. Jamie Glydon found a single Cliff Swallow amongst the 100+ Tree, Northern Rough-winged and Barn Swallows over the pond this afternoon. The swallow gave superb close looks for the time that we were there. The Cliff Swallow and the single Least Sandpiper also found at the pond are firsts for Morris County in 2012. A reversal from the previous day was that Lesser Yellowlegs outnumbered Greater Yellowlegs 12 to 7.
The numbers are as follows:
1 Great Egret
2 Killdeer
1 Spotted Sandpiper
5 Solitary Sandpipers
7 Greater Yellowlegs
12 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Least Sandpiper
15 Wilson’s Snipe (at least)
6 Chimney Swifts
20 N. Rough-winged Swallows
100 Tree Swallows
10 Barn Swallows
1 Cliff Swallow
10 Savannah Sparrows (at least)
And typical species of the area.

Least Sandpiper (Photo By Jamie Glydon)

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In Somerset County, Jeff Ellerbusch found an American Redstart this morning at the Raritan River Greenway along Old York Road in Raritan. In the afternoon, Jeff had a male Prothonotary Warbler feeding in the treetops about 100 feet past the east observation tower of Lord Stirling Park. Both the Am. Redstart and the Prothonotary Warbler are firsts of 2012 in the MoCoSoCo region.
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Ken Hart reports the following from Robert J. Stahl Natural Area in Bedminster Township late this afternoon:

1 Eastern Kingbird
1 Orchard Oriole
Several Purple Martin

It may not seem like much, but ever so slowly, migrating species of birds are trickling into the Morris and Somerset County region. There are new arrivals of species each day. Yellow Warblers, House Wrens and Gray Catbirds are gaining in individuals and Tringa numbers have risen in local patches in the last week. Species diversity may not be what is expected at this time of April but with the right weather conditions and May around the corner it is a good idea to study your bird song recordings and clean the grunge from your binoculars.
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The White-eyed Vireo reported on April 21 was vigorously singing this morning at Scherman Hoffman sanctuary in Bernardsville. Two Wood Thrushes were singing in the woods. Black-and-white and Yellow Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, House Wrens, and Gray Catbirds were present in healthy numbers.
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At Glenhurst Meadow in Warren Township, Jeff Ellerbusch had Northern Waterthrush, Yellow-throated Vireo, Baltimore Oriole and a surprising Horned Lark as well as 11 flyover Common Loons.
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From Alan Boyd at Black River WMA in Chester Township:

Hi Jonathan,
This morning along Patriot’s Path I had wood thrush, veery, northern waterthrush, ovenbird, yellow warbler, scarlet tanager and catbird. The great blue heron rookery along Patriot’s Path had 12-15 occupied nests.

Alan Boyd – Flanders
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Yesterday, the grassy pool on River Road in Hillsborough Township topped out with 21 Greater Yellowlegs and 5 Lesser Yellowlegs. Most of these Tringas were still present this afternoon.
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This afternoon at Melanie Lane Pond in Hanover Township there were:
8 Greater Yellowlegs
4 Lesser Yellowlegs
3 Solitary Sandpipers
2 Killdeer
20+ Wilson’s Snipe
6 Great Egrets
100 Tree Swallows
20 N. Rough-winged Swallows
5 Barn Swallows
15+ Savannah Sparrows

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

The first influx of Chimney Swifts reached Morris County today. 6 were at Loantaka Brook Reservation in Harding and Morris Townships this afternoon along with many Tree, Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Morris County’s first Baltimore Oriole of 2012 was singing in the trees behind the pond. Solitary Sandpiper was the only shorebird.

Swallows seemed to be the bird of the day. Congregations of primarily Tree and Barn Swallows with scattered N. Rough-winged Swallows were at various ponds throughout the area. No other species were found.

Chimney Swifts made a push into Somerset County yesterday with a group of 10 in the town of Raritan. Jeff Ellerbusch reported Swifts everywhere and in big numbers in his travels around Somerset County. Jeff had 15 Purple Martins on the Verizon Pond in Basking Ridge yesterday. Robert J. Stahl Natural Area in Bedminster also had 15.

Sunday’s rain obliterated some shorebird habitat but did not create as much new habitat as was hoped. Nonetheless, 15 Greater Yellowlegs and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs were at a grassy pool along River Road in Hillsborough Township. The Pectoral Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs that had been at Negri-Nepote Grasslands in Franklin Township were not found this morning. 3 Greater Yellowlegs remain. Solitary Sandpipers are appearing everywhere.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas.