December 17 - MacGillivray's Warbler

This morning I went down to the  Belmar Marina area of the Shark River Estuary.  From Marconi Road I was able to locate a male Eurasian Wigeon, a species that recently seems to appears here almost annually.

While returning home I received a text message that my friend Rob Fanning had discovered a MacGillivray's Warbler during the Monmouth County Christmas Bird Count along a section of the Henry Hudson Trail that is known as Popamora Point.
Fortunately for me I was just approaching the Sandy Hook exit along the Garden State Parkway and was able to make the exit and be at Popamora Point within 15 minutes.
After a few minutes of searching I saw the bird being flushed by another group of birders.  I then had two more views of this bird as it flew up & briefly landed in some leafless trees before diving back down into the thickets.

Here are two images taken by friend Tommy Boyle:

This is just the 2nd known record of MacGillivray's Warbler in New Jersey. 
The prior record is from Cape May for a two-month period between November 1997
and January 1998.