This update begins last weekend at Liberty State Park where I had gone looking for a Clay-Colored Sparrow. Sadly I missed the rarity as the latest eBird report at the time had the rare sparrow by the nature center, however by the time I was searching that area it had moved to the southern end of the park. That search wasn’t all in vain though as I was quite surprised to find a lone unseasonable Savannah Sparrow. Additionally I saw Gadwall and a Scaup species, however the Scaup was much too far to identify and I couldn’t find the bird again when I got closer. Liberty would be my last opportunity to bird for a while as frigid temperatures and wicked winds kept my sheltered in my house for a week, only new bird being a common Carolina Wren in my yard. Yesterday with the high near 40 and the winds I decided to head back to Overpeck to look for the rare goose I missed: the Greater White-Fronted Goose. After trying the “Great Lawn” area where I saw nothing besides a pair of Herons and some FOY Hooded Mergansers, I headed to the Henry Hoebel area where I’d seen a flock of geese when heading into the park, however every Goose besides a Lone Canada on the ice was gone by the time I arrived. Feeling defeated I turned to the skies where I saw a pair of geese flying, expect they weren’t Canadas. The strange calls immediately pointed to Greater White-Fronted Goose. After getting no ID photos due to their quick flyby, I carefully reviewed my Merlin recording when I got home and the calls matched up. Before heading home however, I stopped in nearby Leonia to pick up a pair of Monk Parakeets on my year list early.
Birds
49) Gadwall (Mareca strepera)
50) Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
51) Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)
52) Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
53) Greater White-Fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)
54) Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)
Progress:
Mammals- 2
Birds- 54
Herptiles- 0
Total- 56
Bit of a long update here. It begins as I went to look for a rare Iceland Gull on the Passaic River. While after looking through hundreds of gulls in the freezing cold. Despite never locating the gull, I did pick up an overdue American Crow along with a Belted Kingfisher and got a surprise on the way home in a Peregrine Falcon! The next day I went to the Eagle festival in Richard W. DeKorte Park where I quickly picked up the namesake bird. Additionally I collected several species of duck (Ruddy, Canvasback, Pintail, and Shovler) along with Red-Winged Blackbird. While the cold week kept me inside, only new
bird being a Red-Tailed Hawk in my neighborhood, I was absolutely flabbergasted to see a Groundhog in my neighbor’s backyard. Every result on Google showed that these fat rodent wake up at the earliest in February and it only comes out before then if it was unseasonably warm (this day was near freezing.) If anyone who knows more about rodents than me knows why this guy was up and scurrying around please tell me! After it got a tad warmer (although I wouldn’t call the upper 30s warm) I was able to make 2 quick trips on MLK weekend before a big snowstorm came in. The first trip was to the Celery Farm where I hoped to find continuing Virginia Rail or Eastern Screech-Owl which would both be Lifers. Despite neither showing, it was a very active morning for birds, especially sparrows including American Tree and Swamp which are new for the year along with a pair of Wild Turkeys, a bird I saw only one of in Bergen County last year. I also made a quick stop a Van Saun Park which had been a reliable location for Green-Winged Teal which I missed in DeKorte. I spotted the Teal along with a pair of Rusty Blackbirds, a pleasant surprise as I thought I would have to go to the Teaneck Creek Conservancy for them. After the snow it was even colder, although while birding in my yard I was able to catch a glimpse of a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker which I had heard around my house several times this year but hadn’t seen since December. Finally this past weekend I travelled back to DeKorte. While all the waters were covered with ice, I had come in search of 2 sparrow species- Field and an unseasonable Chipping Sparrow. While trekking the ice and snow in the more woodsy part of DeKorte I was able to catch a puffed up Flicker near a group of White-Throated Sparrows along with a pretty unseasonable Brown-Headed Cowbird. While the sparrows seemed like a bust, I was able to spot a large flock that matched the description of the flock that the Chipping and Field Sparrows. I looked through the flock, picking out Swamp, American Tree, White-Throated, Song, and Juncos. Unfortunately as I kept scanning the sparrows I realized something highly unfortunate- I forgot my gloves

Thus as my hands felt like they were being eaten alive I had to call it quits, it wasn’t worth sacrificing my body for a pair of birds I would almost surely end up picking up later this year. Additionally at some point I saw a House Mouse, although I never wrote down the date.
Mammals
3) House Mouse (
Mus musculus)
4) Groundhog (
Marmota monax)
Birds
55) American Crow (
Corvus brachyrhynchos)
56) Belted Kingfisher (
Megaceryle alcyon)
57) Peregrine Falcon (
Falco peregrinus)
58) Bald Eagle (
Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
59) Northern Pintail (
Anas acuta)
60) Ruddy Duck (
Oxyura jamaicensis)
61) Canvasback (
Aythya valisineria)
62) Northern Shoveler (
Spatula clypeata)
63) Red-Winged Blackbird (
Agelaius phoeniceus)
64) Red-Tailed Hawk (
Buteo jamaicensis)
65) Wild Turkey (
Meleagris gallopavo)
66) American Tree Sparrow (
Spizelloides arborea)
67) Swamp Sparrow (
Melospiza georgiana)
68) Green-Winged Teal (
Anas carolinensis)
69) Rusty Blackbird (
Euphagus carolinus)
70) Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker (
Sphyrapicus varius)
71) Northern Flicker (
Colaptes auratus)
72) Brown-Headed Cowbird (
Molothrus ater)
Progress:
Mammals- 4
Birds- 72
Herptiles- 0
Total- 76