mocosocoBirds

From Alan Boyd:

Hi Jonathan,

There were 9 Redheads at the Clark Drive pond late this afternoon (3/4).

Alan Boyd

From Tim Vogel:

Northern Shrike continues – new location.
I spent about 20 minutes at the gravel parking lot and ball field with no luck.
Traveled out to the playground/ picnic pavillion area and noted the shrike perched in the top of a cedar tree on the right edge of the uncut field. I walked out and observed the bird hovering over the field, returning to the cedar several times. It then flew toward the fence and perched high up in another tree and then onto a pine. After about 15 minutes, I lost sight of it.
Also Killdeer, Pileated Woodpecker.

Tim Vogel
Denville

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5 Redheads (2 drakes; 3 hens) continue at Foxs Pond in Rockaway. A Ring-necked Duck, 8 Gadwall, 4 Lesser Scaup and other typical species were also present. This pond appears on the Hagstrom Morris County map as Parks Lake.

Male and female Redhead with Gadwall at Foxs Pond, Rockaway

Indian Lake in Denville continues to have approximately 65 Lesser Scaup – also, 30 Common Mergansers and 12 Buffleheads.

Mt. Hope Lake in Rockaway Township had 92 Mute Swans, 11 American Wigeon, 8 Gadwall, 8 Bufflehead. More will be written later in the season about the 2 Bald Eagles seen here.

Lake Parsippany had a Pied-billed Grebe, 40 Gadwall, 64 Common Mergansers, 3 Lesser Scaup, a few Ruddy Ducks and 10 American Coot. Horned Grebes should be occurring here within a week.

Boonton Reservoir, which has been lacking in waterfowl activity all winter, had 8 Bufflehead – period.

Lake Valhalla in Montville Township had 18 Ruddy Ducks, 8 Buffleheads and 2 Ring-necked Ducks. This place usually has at least double-digit numbers of Common Mergansers, but none today.

Butler Reservoir, Kinnelon – 8 Hooded Mergansers, 104 Common Mergansers (down from 200 the previous week), 2 Bufflehead and 11 Ruddy Ducks.

Some other lakes in the Roxbury region were also visited but there was simply nothing on them.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

From Jim Mulvey:

First off, I want to thank Jonathan for all of his efforts for putting this website together and to congratulate him on its one year anniversary. This sight has been a great tool for us to learn about birds and is invaluable in being able to locate them (see Northern Shrike)!

I was in the Great Swamp yesterday (March 3) and there were at least 2 Piliated Woodpeckers being very active between the Heron Overlook and bridge. At one point, one of the Piliateds was hard at work on a downed trunk along Black Brook while a chipmunk kept harrassing him. Got some good pics of the Woodpecker but wasn’t able to catch any with the chipmunk. There was also a female Harrier making passes. It has been over a month since I had seen one at the Swamp…

Jim Mulvey

Redheads will not go away this season. The Clark Drive, Mt. Olive Redheads had been absent for a few days until this morning when Joe Pescatore found 4 males and 3 females and managed to get a stunning photograph of a drake in flight.

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From Tim Vogel:

Rockaway Borough:
I was traveling through the area when the email posted about the Redheads on Foxs Pond. I was unfamiliar with the name and couldn’t determine the location so I headed over to Parks Lake.
A similiar number and species were present:
3 Redheads plus Scaup, Gadwalls, Ring necks and Buffleheads. All in the north end with loads of people walking around the lake. Is this the same lake or a different one?

Also while staying local:
Muriel Hepner Pond, Denville
Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead

Cooks Pond, Denville
25 Bufflehead, 10 Ring-necked Duck

Cedar Lake
35 Ring-necked Duck

Tim Vogel

Cedar Lake, Denville

Editor’s Note: To answer Tim’s lake identity question – Google maps lists Foxs Pond here. There is a label on the map for the “Park Lake Gazebo”. It appears this body of water is known by both names.

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Washington Valley, Morris Township: a beautiful clear twilight, a waxing gibbous moon, Venus and Jupiter in the western sky, from Washington Valley Road to Whitehead Road to Sayre’s Farm on Mendham Road, every field, every clearing has “peenting” and displaying American Woodcock filling the sky.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

From Tom Smith:

We didn’t find any Redheads on Clark Drive this morning, but later we did find 5 Redheads on Foxs Pond in Rockaway borough. Other ducks on Foxs Pond were Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Gadwall, Mallard, and one Ring-necked Duck.

Lake Parsippany had a large raft of scaup, perhaps as many as ~100, as well as ~30 Common Mergansers. The pond at Loantaka was deserted but for the resident swan and one Pied-billed Grebe (which is somewhat unusual at this location).

– Tom Smith Madison, NJ

Hi Jonathan,

I checked Mt Hope Lake Friday hoping for the Tundra Swans but I couldn’t find any among the sixty or so Mute Swans there.

There were:
15 Gadwall
30 American Wigeon
2 Pintails
6 Green-winged Teal
20 Ring-necked Ducks
10 Buffleheads
5 Hooded Mergansers
1 adult Bald Eagle.

There was no sign of the Clark Drive Redheads.

Budd Lake had 6 Lesser Scaup, but not much else.

Alan Boyd
Flanders