Rare Marsh Harrier Spotted At Morris County Marsh

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A small marsh in Whippany had an unusual visitor from the west this week — a Eurasian Marsh Harrier.

The harrier, formerly known as the "Western Marsh Harrier," lives in open areas such as tidal marshes, emergent wetlands, meadows and agricultural areas - but in the U.S. This is the first known sighting in New Jersey.

The Morris County bird was first noticed on Nov. 9 in East Hanover at the Melanie Lane Wetlands by birdwatcher and photographer Chuck Hantis. He was able to get some photos and shared them on flickr.com, with several other birders confirming the identity of the harrier in the photos.

The sighting was confirmed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology-managed birding site eBird, which sent out a rare bird alert to subscribers.

Word quickly spread among birdwatchers, leading some to travel in hopes of spotting the bird. Dave DeReamus of Morris County was able to see the harrier and blogged about it on his page on ebird.org.

According to DeReamus, the Harrier flew overhead before diving into the marsh, which has the coordinates 40.814969, -74.392999.

This species of bird breeds throughout Europe and northwestern Africa, as well as Central Asia and the northern parts of the Middle East. It breeds in almost every country in Europe.

According to local birding expert Jason Denesevich, this sighting will be a first for New Jersey and only the third ebird record for the United States.