From Tim Vogel:
Montville – Pine Brook Section
Just off Chapin Road and behind the Star-Ledger plant
13 Wilson’s Snipe – feeding and resting in a patch of water in a mowed field – seen from the car
2 Killdeer
Pond behind field
8 Common Mergansers
1 Shoveler
From Jeff Ellerbusch:
Made a quick stop at the Bufflehead Rd Ponds at around 4:30 this afternoon. This is only my 4th time here and it looks to have quit a bit of potential. The entire area, which includes 11 ponds as well as marshy habitat…according to Google maps…, looks very, very good but is mostly private/inaccessible. There are 4 ponds that are accessible- 2 small puddles on the left, 2 decent sized ponds on the right. These ponds are on Bufflehead Rd which is off of Polhemus Ln- From Patriots Stadium head west on Main St for about 0.8 miles then take a left on Polhemus. I believe this is Bridgewater Twp but could be wrong.
– Common Goldeneye- 1 hen
– Ruddy Duck- 2 drake
– Ring-necked Duck- 18
– Pied-billed Grebe- 1
– Tree Swallow- 2
Google Maps- 40.553624,-74.566762
From Tim Vogel – Sunday March 27, 2011:
Cedar Lake, Denville
Cook’s Pond, Denville
Tourne Park, Boonton Township (Beaver Swamp)
7:00-10:00 – below freezing. With Jeff Ellerbusch, Joe Pescatore, Simon Lane and myself. Noteworthy were 120 Rusty Blackbirds in the vicinity of the Passaic River and 35 Wilson’s Snipe (at least) in the flooded field at Wagner’s Arboretum.
Here are the highlights:
Green-winged Teal – 65
Ring-necked Duck – 2
Common Merganser – 8
Great Blue Heron – 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 2
American Kestrel – 1
Killdeer – 5
Wilson’s Snipe – 35
Red-headed Woodpecker – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 2
Fish Crow – 1
Tree Swallow – 6
Brown Creeper – 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 3
Fish Crow – 1
Eastern Bluebird – 4
American Robin – 30
American Pipit – 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 6
Rusty Blackbird – 120
Submitted by Jonathan Klizas
From Jeff Ellerbusch:
Stopped at the Friends Blind early this morning with Joe Pescatore and Simon Lane. Afterwards Simon and I drove Pleasant Plains Rd.
Friends Blind: 7:30 – 8:15ish
Waterfowl + Highlights
– Canada Goose- 7
– Wood Duck- 30
– Am. Wigeon- 2
– Gadwall- 4
– Black Duck- 5
– Mallard- 20
– Blue-winged Teal- 2, a pair
– Green-winged Teal- 10
– No. Pintail- 2
– Ring-necked Duck- 3
– Pied-billed Grebe- 1 (Simon and Joe had an additional bird before I arrived)
– G B Heron- 1
– N Harrier- 1
– Snipe- 15
– Pileated Woodpecker- 1
Pleasant Plains Rd: 8:45ish – 9:30ish
Highlights
– Wood Duck- 30
– Gadwall- 2
– G-winged Teal- 3
– No. Pintail- 10
– Ring-necked Duck- 21
– Hooded Merg- 3
– G B Heron- 2
– Am. Kestrel- 1
– Kingfisher- 1
– Pileated Woodpecker- 1
– Tree Swallow- 5+
– Rusty Blackbird- 2
In addition Simon had a Meadowlark get flushed by a Red-tailed near the headquarters building’s driveway on his way out.
Jeff
This is a quote from Wade Wander’s post today to the Sussex Bird List: “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.”
In that spirit, an Eastern Meadowlark was observed on Pleasant Plains Rd. this afternoon at 3:30 where the old Friends of the Great Swamp building used to be.
9 Northern Pintails, 4 Green-winged Teal, 2 Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks were in the pool near the headquarters driveway.
Later in the evening, 2 Blue-winged Teal were near the Friends Blind off of Long Hill Road as they have been since at least Tuesday.
Jonathan Klizas
A quick tour of some Morris County lakes this afternoon was unremarkable although an almost full alternate plumaged Common Loon on Boonton Reservoir was a treat. Likewise, a sub-adult IV Bald Eagle at Mt. Hope Lake was easy to look at.
Mt. Hope Lake, Rockaway Township
– Canada Goose – 4
– Mute Swan – 20
– Ring-necked Duck -13
– Bufflehead – 4
– Hooded Merganser – 1
– Ruddy Duck – 71
– Pied-billed Grebe – 1
– Bald Eagle (sub-adult IV) – 1
Boonton Reservoir – from the walkway on Parsippany Blvd./Washington St., Boonton
– Common Loon – 1
– Double-Crested Cormorant – 3
– Bufflehead – 8
Lake Parsippany, Parsippany-Troy Hills Township
– Canada Goose – 25
– Mute Swan – 2
– Ruddy Duck – 10
– Common Mergansers – 65
– Double-crested Cormorant – 1
From Jeff Ellerbusch:
Friends Blind, Long Hill Road: 10:15 – 10:45
Waterfowl + Highlights
– Canada Goose- 10
– Tundra Swan- 1
– Wood Duck- 40+
– Am. Wigeon- 6
– Black Duck- 15
– Mallard- 60
– Blue-winged Teal- 1 Drake
– Green-winged Teal- 10
– Ring-necked Duck- 4
– Pied-billed Grebe- 1
– G B Heron- 2-3
– Snipe- 55 (conservative estimate…one large group)
– Kingfisher- 1
Jeff
The Friends Blind off of Long Hill Road at the Great Swamp N.W.R. had two Blue-winged Teal this afternoon at 3 p.m. This location is the most reliable spot in Morris County I know of for this exquisite species in the early spring. This species was first reported in the Swamp this year by Simon Lane on March 13 and I believe on the same day at Lord Stirling Park, Somerset County by Harvey Tomlinson.
Seen at the blind today:
Canada Goose – 25
Wood Duck – 8
American Black Duck – 4
Mallard – 20
Blue-winged Teal – 2
Northern Pintail – 2
Green-winged Teal – 20
Pied-billed Grebe – 1
mocosocoBirds 