May 9 - Foggy Morning at Garret Mountain

After the rains I intended to go straight into Work today but when I got outside I heard many birds actively calling, so I made a detour to Garret and spent about 2.5 hours here although I wish I had stayed even longer!

The 18 warbler species today were:
Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-Winged, Black-and-White, Nashville, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Cape May, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-Sided, Black-Throated Blue, Yellow-Rumped, Black-Throated Green, Canada, and Wilson's.

The Least Bittern was seen again today! And my first Lincoln's Sparrow of the year.

May 8 - Doty Road Cliff Swallows

I made a brief check here on my way home from work and found that the resident Cliff Swallows had returned in strong numbers with 16 being seen

May 7 - Halifax Road

After work today I stopped at Halifax Road in Mahwah.  Here an Orange-Crowned Warbler had been reported and after a short while I was able to get a quick view of the bird.  Also seen today was a cooperative Wilson's Warbler and a pair of Solitary Sandpipers.

May 4 - Garret Mountain

A good early spring day on the Mountain today.  The following 16 Wood Warblers were seen:
Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-Winged, Black-and-White, Nashville, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Chestnut-Sided, Black-Throated Blue, Palm, Pine, Yellow-Rumped, and Black-Throated Green.

Other highlights were the continuing Least Bittern, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Peregrine Falcon, Yellow-Throated Vireo, Blue-Headed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, House Wren, Scarlet Tanager, and Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

May 3 - Twenty Warbler Day at Garret Mountain

Highlight was the Least Bittern !   This is a very rare bird for this park, and I have never seen it here before.  The morning was quite good with the following 20 Wood Warblers seen:
Ovenbird, Worm-Eating, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-Winged, Black-and-White, Nashville, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, American Redstart, Cape May, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Chestnut-Sided, Black-throated Blue, Palm, Pine, Yellow-rumped, Prairie, and Black-Throated Green.

Other good birds today were American Woodcock, Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-Throated Vireo, Veery, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Orchard Oriole & Baltimore Oriole.

March 23 - Southern NJ Rarities

Today we took a trip down to Salem County in hopes of seeing Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, and possibly some early arriving spring migrants.  Once we reached the open fields of the Featherbed Lane Wildlife Management Area, we spotted a beautiful male Ring-Necked Pheasant strutting though the fields.   Next we spent about 2 hours examining the large mixed-flocks of returning Blackbirds.  Here we saw Red-Winged Blackbirds, Brown-Headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles, and European Starlings.  Finally at the Kings Highway Feedlot we briefly saw a female Yellow-Headed Blackbird.  We then continued looking at the large flock about 100-150 yards south of the feedlot and I was able to locate a stunning male Yellow-Headed Blackbird.

Here's am image similar to what we saw today.

After enjoying some other good birds in the area, I received a text alert that friend Rob Fanning had located a mega-rarity down at Cape May.  We made the 90-minute drive and after a short wait we all got to see a life bird in the form of this Eurasian Tree-Sparrow !!

credit: Sam Galick

This bird may be the first accepted State-Record for New Jersey !

March 2 - Suffolk County Geese

Our regular group went east this morning out to the town of Riverhead in Long Island's Suffolk County.

The targets we geese and we had quite a few !  We ended up seeing the pair of Pink-Footed Geese that were reported a few days ago.  Also seen today was a Ross' Goose, and a Greater White-Fronted Goose.
We also picked out a flyover Cackling Goose

On nearby Pier Road we had this adult Iceland Gull

credit: Bill Elrick