Daily Archives: January 13, 2012

DeKorte: Orange-crowned Warbler

Carole Hughes reports:

"Took a quick hour and a half look around DeKorte mid-day.  An Orange-crowned Warbler, possibly the same bird reported by Bill Elrick before the new year, was actively working along the edge of the Transco Trail. 

"The Ruby-crowned Kinglet also continues and was behind the cedars along Saw Mill. A Belted Kingfisher was calling loudly and persistently from the trail railing.
  
"The Canvasbacks were very close to the edge, counted 59 today.  Found 1 female Common Merganser.

"The usual Shovelers, Pintails, GW Teal were clustered back toward the Kingsland Overlook. Scattered Gadwall and Buffleheads. Didn't find the Common Goldeneye. 

"Water levels were quite high after the rain, gulls were scarce.  Thought I was going to get skunked on raptors but had a Harrier, an American Kestrel and a Red-tail in rapid succession on the drive out."

Thanks, Carole!

NJMC Fall Bird-banding Data

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Mike Newhouse reports:

The N.J. Meadowlands Commission's 2011 fall banding project was a huge success. There are too many highlights that occurred throughout the fall to tell you about in one blog post, but we can try.

Record numbers of several species were IMG_0168recorded (see below for list). Several new species (for us) were captured this season as well. This is our fourth year of banding, so finding new species is getting very difficult.

The new species include Sora (a secretive marsh bird), Black-billed Cuckoo, Northern Harrier (yes, a Northern Harrier), and Orange-crowned Warbler.

Not only did we break the record for the total number of birds caught during the fall migration season, but we beat it by more than 1,500 birds.

More information, the full list, an up-close shot of the Northern Harrier and — most important, a big thank you to our volunteers follows below.

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Canvasbacks Plus

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The raft of Canvasbacks at DeKorte has jumped from a couple dozen to roughly a hundred over the past few weeks. (Roughly 60 were reported Thursday.)

If you look closely, you can see that a Ruddy has crashed the party.