mocosocoBirds

Loantaka Brook Reservation at 18:30 – Chimney Swift, 1st arrival in Morris County for this year that I am aware of – windy day after a huge rain storm.

Earlier in the day:
Some Palm, Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers were at the Friends Blind off of Long Hill Road in Great Swamp N.W.R. The entire area was flooded although passable. A few Wood Ducks and some Canada Geese were the only waterfowl seen. A brief visit to a windy Pleasant Plains Road did not turn up the Vesper Sparrows.

Mt. Hope Lake in Rockaway Township.
Mute Swans – 47
Bufflehead – 10
Ruddy Duck – 30
Pied-billed Grebe – 2
Pileated Woodpecker – 1
Tree, Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows – numerous

Boonton Reservoir – North end
Bufflehead – 1
Common Mergansers – 6
Double-crested Cormorants – 6

Lake Parsippany – other than a few Ruddy Ducks and the usual Canada Geese and Mallards, the lake was barren of waterfowl including Common Mergansers.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

Pleasant Plains Rd. From Lee’s Hill Road, past Fenske Vistor Center to the Overlook – 6:15-7:00 a.m.

The Vesper Sparrow continues in the same spot on the drive from Lee’s Hill Road to the Fenske Visitor’s Center in the vicinity of the Cattail swamp.

Canada Goose – 25
Wood Duck – 4
Wild Turkey – 10
Great Blue Heron – 1
Turkey Vulture – 1
American Kestrel – 1
Mourning Dove – 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 1
Blue Jay – 4
American Crow – 2
Fish Crow – 2
Tree Swallow – 30
Barn Swallow – 2
Tufted Titmouse – 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 2
Eastern Bluebird – 4
American Robin – 20
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Brown Thrasher – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 6
Palm Warbler – 4
Eastern Towhee – 4
Chipping Sparrow – 1
Field Sparrow – 4
Vesper Sparrow – 1
Savannah Sparrow – 2
Song Sparrow – 6
Swamp Sparrow – 2
Red-winged Blackbird – 35
Common Grackle – 6
Brown-headed Cowbird – 10

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

At least one of the two Vesper Sparrows reported yesterday by Mike Hiotis remains along the drive to the Helen Fenske Visitor Center from the entrance on Lee’s Hill Road. It was seen both in the morning and in the afternoon by various people. There was also a Great Egret in the pond by the gated bridge.

I stopped by the ponds in front of the clubhouse at Spring Brook Country Club in Morris Township where yesterday at the same time of day (15-16:00) with a fog rolling in from nearby Kemble Mountain there was an impressive number of swallows seen including Purple Martins. Today there was not a swallow to be found.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas

There are ponds in front of the clubhouse at the Spring Brook Country Club in Morris Township east of Mt. Kemble Rd. (Rt. 202). They have been undergoing a dredging operation this season. An engineer for the company told me that whatever the dredging company is digging up, the swallows are definitely liking it. I stopped by the ponds today attracted by all of the swallow activity. At one point a cloud of at least 100 Tree Swallows erupted over the pond. Along with them were 4+ Purple Martins, the first I have heard of in either Somerset or Morris Counties this year as well as 5 Northern Rough-winged Swallows and 10 Barn Swallows (and one lone female Ring-necked Duck). The dredging operation is still going on so this may be a good Swallow trap if you are in the area in the near future.

Submitted by Jonathan Klizas