This morning Maria Loukeris and I headed to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Morris County, NJ. Maria had some business to attend to in the area and we birded the refuge beforehand. We mostly drove around from spot to spot, but we did walk the trails briefly as well. We had a total of 25 species during our visit; four were first of year (FOY) birds for me: Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Towhee, Tree Swallow, and my favorite bird of the morning, RUSTY BLACKBIRD.
In the afternoon I birded three local lakes: Greenwood Lake, Wickham Lake, and Glenmere Lake. Wickham was far and away the best stop; I had 8 species of waterfowl, including over 200 Common Mergansers, a single Red-breasted Merganser drake, and an up close look at a beautiful little HORNED GREBE. At Glenmere, the RED-NECKED GREBE continues but was so far out I didn’t even take documentary photos. For the day I had a total of 37 species. I’ve included a list of all the birds with locations at the bottom of this post.
Here’s my list of species for the day, with locations (Great Swamp = GS. Wickham Lake = WL, Greenwood Lake = GRL, and Glenmere Lake = GLL).
- Canada Goose (all locations)
- Mute Swan (WL, GRL, GLL)
- Wood Duck (GS, WL)
- Mallard (GS, GLL)
- Gadwall (GLL – small pond up the road)
- American Black Duck (GS, GLL)
- Bufflehead (GRL, WL, GLL)
- Ring-necked Duck (WL, GLL)
- Hooded Merganser (GRL, WL, GLL)
- Common Merganser (GRL, WL, GLL)
- RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (WL)
- HORNED GREBE (WL)
- RED-NECKED GREBE (GLL)
- Ring-billed Gull (GRL, WL, GLL)
- Herring Gull (WL)
- Turkey Vulture (GS, WL)
- Bald Eagle (GS, WL)
- Red-tailed Hawk (GS, WL)
- Sharp-shinned Hawk (on the road, Sussex Co.)
- Red-bellied Woodpecker (GS)
- Blue Jay (GS, GLL)
- American Crow (GS, WL)
- Fish Crow (GRL)
- Common Raven (WL)
- Tree Swallow (GS)
- White-breasted Nuthatch (GS)
- Tufted Titmouse (GS)
- Eastern Bluebird (GS)
- American Robin (GS, WL)
- European Starling (GS)
- Dark-eyed Junco (GS)
- Song Sparrow (GS)
- Eastern Towhee (GS)
- American Tree Sparrow (WL)
- Red-winged Blackbird (GS, WL, GLL)
- RUSTY BLACKBIRD (GS)
- Common Grackle (GS, WL)
Went with Jose to Assinpink . The trumpeter swan was a lifer for him. Also had a chance to photograph the long earred owl. Then went over to Mercer co. And saw the red necked grebe . Heard about a Gyr at Brig so rushed down . The last siteing for the day was about an hour before we got there.
We were thinking about the Gyr too, but it’s just too far. Plus I’m sure it’s a zoo down there with that bird being seen. Still, the bird looks incredible. Sounds like you and Jose had a pretty good day though. Matt
Sounds like a marvelous day of birding. Your photo of the Horned Grebe is amazing and how wonderful that it came in close enough to get such good looks at it!
I got so lucky, Kathy – that grebe popped up right in front of me! Nice to get lucky like that sometimes. Matt