mocosocoBirds

[From J. Klizas – my apologies for the “new note 2” post that went out erroneously. Our electricity is out and I am working by candlelight from a battery powered laptop tethered to my smart phone. It’s a weak setup to say the least. Below is the note as it it should appear]

From Jamie Glydon:

At about 3:00pm today, I stopped by the Columbia Turnpike fields in Florham Park.  I only birded for about 15 minutes.  A longer visit probably would have produced a few more species.

Many birds were right along the side of the enterance road as you drive.  Probably because a lot of the snow cover had melted.
12+ Savannah Sparrow
1 Vesper Sparrow
15 Killdeer
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
2 American Pipit
3 Turkey Vulture
Song Sparrow

In the far pond:
12 Ruddy Duck
2 Great Blue Herons (fighting it out!  After a lot of harsh squaking, one chased the other away)

In the field along the airport property:
5 Killdeer
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
4 Savannah Sparrow

Jamie Glydon reports 2 Eastern Meadowlarks at Veterans Memorial Park in Whippany.

As quoted earlier in the year from Wade Wander in a post of his to the Sussex Bird List dated March 25, 2011: “Eastern Meadowlark has been proposed for Special Concern status in NJ because of its declining breeding, migrant, and wintering populations. All observations of EM are worth reporting.”

According to eBird data Jamie’s sighting is the first of Eastern Meadowlark in Morris County since April! There were two sightings of single birds in March (one by this author) and two of single birds in April. This is quite a change from the 1990s where Eastern Meadowlark is shown as a confirmed nester in several Morris County blocks of the Breeding Bird Atlas in Birds of New Jersey by Walsh, Elia, Kane and Halliwell published by the New Jersey Audubon Society in 1999.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas