New Jersey

Hummingbirds are on their way! Check number of sightings in NJ on this interactive map

Published

7 months ago

April 11, 2024

Hummingbirds are on their way! Check number of sightings in NJ on this interactive map

Hummingbird migration is in full swing! Coming in at only a few inches long with their tiny fluttering wings and long narrow beak, the hummingbirds are swiftly making their way north from Central America and Mexico where they spend their winters.

Although they are tiny, some species of hummingbirds can travel up to 5,000 miles in a year and they visit hundreds of flowers each day, according to the American Bird Conservancy. New Jersey’s most commonly spotted hummingbird, the ruby-throated hummingbird, makes the 500-mile journey across the Gulf of Mexico in less than a day.

According to the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, hummingbirds leave their wintering grounds in early spring and are expected to arrive around mid-April to find new territories for the breeding season.

As these tiny birds embark on their great journey north and shortly begin to arrive in New Jersey you can keep track of their migration pattern using an interactive map from USA TODAY. This map compiles bird sighting data from Project FeederWatch to outline hummingbird migration patterns.

According to the map, during April New Jersey has had 146 sightings of the ruby-throated hummingbird, most of which were in central and South Jersey. In North Jersey there have been nine sightings in Morris County and one sighting each in Bergen County, Passaic County, and Warren County so far this month.

Other species of hummingbird that can be spotted in New Jersey include:

Rufous hummingbird
Black-chinned hummingbird
Calliope hummingbird
Allen’s hummingbird
Broat-tailed hummingbird
Mexican violetear

According to the map, these species have not yet been spotted in New Jersey during April.

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Ruby-throated hummingbird

The ruby-throated hummingbird is the hummingbird species that you are most likely to spot in New Jersey. According to New Jersey Fish and Wildlife, the ruby-throated hummingbird is the most commonly seen hummingbird in North America seen east of the Mississippi River.

The ruby-throated hummingbird is between 3 and 3.5 inches long. The are the smallest migrating birds. Their wings can beat more than 50 times in a second, so fast that it creates a humming sound.

If you are trying to spot one, look for a metallic green color on top with whitish-gray underparts and wings that are almost black. They have long narrow beaks that they use to sip nectar from flowers.

Males have a ruby red patch on their throat with a black upper rim. Their tail is forked and black with a slight violet sheen.

Females have notched tails with green, black, and white edges. A female ruby-throated hummingbird will have a white throat, not a red one, with potential streaks of gray.

Their nests are tiny and can be found on downward sloping branches. They typically build nests between 10 and 40 feet above the ground, according to the Rutgers NJ Agricultural Experiment Station.

Males perform a courtship display which includes diving down from 50 feet above the female in a U-shaped flight pattern with short horizontal flights directly in front of the female. If she accepts, they will perform flights together before mating. A female will typically lay two or three eggs.

Between late July and early September, they will leave the breeding grounds to migrate south again, starting the whole process over.

Feeding hummingbirds

If you are interested in helping hummingbirds as they finish their journey and settle down in our state for mating season you can put out feeders and plant flowers.

“While native flowering plants are the best source of nectar for hummingbirds, supplementing with a well-tended sugar-water feeder can provide additional sustenance during nesting season and migration,” says the National Audobon Society.

Here are some tips for feeding hummingbirds from the Audobon’s hummingbird feeding FAQs.

The best solution for your feeder is a 1:4 solution of refined white sugar to tap water. This equals 1/4 cup of sugar to one cup of water. Bring the solution to a boil, let it cool, then fill the feeder.
The feeder should be emptied and cleaned often. Twice per week in hot weather and once per week in cooler weather. Clean with hot tap water or a weak vinegar solution. Avoid using dish soap.
While hummingbirds are attracted to red-colored things, do not put red coloring into the nectar solution. The reddening chemicals could be harmful to the birds.
The best time to put out your feeder is about a week before hummingbirds usually arrive in your yard. They can be left out for as long as you have hummingbirds around. Just make sure to consistently follow the guidelines for keeping the feeders clean.
Planting red or orange tubular flowers can attract hummingbirds and help them discover your feeder.

Due to the presence of sugar water in hummingbird feeders it is crucial to keep them clean. Spoiled sugar water can lead to mold, fermentation, and bacteria growth which will not only deter birds from coming back but could also cause digestive and other health problems for the birds. It can also attract unwanted critters such as insects.

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New Jersey

NJ Green Party Candidates Score Nearly 9K Votes In Essex County

Published

5 hours ago

November 19, 2024

Press Room

NJ Green Party Candidates Score Nearly 9K Votes In Essex County

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Candidates with the Green Party of New Jersey nailed down thousands of votes in Essex County during the 2024 general election, official results show.

While no single Green Party candidate triumphed in Essex County on Election Day, the party still gathered nearly 9,000 votes there.

According to the Essex County Clerk’s Office, candidates who contributed to that total include:

Jill Stein and Butch Ware scored 2,356 votes for president
Christina Khalil saw 3,093 votes for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, the most of any third-party candidate
Christian Robbins earned 343 votes for the U.S. House in the state’s 8th district
Jon Carlos Serrano got 1,237 votes for the U.S. House in the state’s 10th district
Lily Benavides received 1,766 votes for the U.S. House in the state’s 11th district

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

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New Jersey

This might be New Jersey's snowiest day of the entire winter

Published

13 hours ago

November 19, 2024

Press Room

This might be New Jersey's snowiest day of the entire winter

Let it snow! With each passing week, our weather turns progressively colder. New Jersey’s first snowflakes of the season are now in view. And the Winter Solstice is only a little more than a month away. It is time to start thinking seriously about wintry weather. More specifically: Snow.

Here’s when to expect NJ’s first snow of the season

While pondering the many uses of “bread and milk,” I had a scientific curiosity.

I wondered if there was one day of the year that tends to be snowier than every other date on the calendar for New Jersey. Sure, there is an average “peak” to wintry weather. (In fact, there are three distinct peaks — more on that in a moment.) But can we pinpoint a single day that represents the height of New Jersey’s snow season?

As a matter of fact, yes we can.

Methodology

To complete this analysis, I queried the Applied Climate Information System, a warehouse of weather and climate data.

I specifically looked at exactly 50 years of snowfall data, from 1971 to 2020. (An admittedly arbitrary choice for period of record, but I wanted a healthy spread of snow observations both geographically and temporally.) Approximately 675 weather stations reported snow data in New Jersey in that time frame.

For the purposes of this project, I marked a calendar day as “snowy” if any single weather station in the state reported at least one inch of snowfall on that date.

An inch of snow is more than enough to snarl traffic and force you to drag out the snow brush yet again. (Getty Images / Vadven)

The Snowiest Day

There is actually a definitive answer here. With 24 out of 50 years (1971-2020) reporting snow — just shy of half — February 5th is the winner.

And what a funny coincidence: February 5th is also National Weatherperson’s Day. The most important holiday of the entire year!

Detailed Close-up of Groundhog Sitting up and Looking Left

This is a groundhog. Not a meteorologist. (Louise Wightman)

Second place is February 13th with 23 occurrences. Third is January 21nd at 22. And tied for fourth are January 19th, January 25th, February 4th, and February 6th, all at 21 times in 50 years.

February 9 Snow

During this February 9, 2017 snowstorm, a worker clears the platform at a NJ Transit train station. (NJ Transit)

Digging into the Statistics

We can even take all the years of snow data and create a graph. This shows, for each day of snow season in New Jersey (October 4th to May 9th), the percentage of years from 1971-2020 that at least one inch of snow was reported somewhere in New Jersey.

(Visualization: Dan Zarrow / Google Sheets, Data: ACIS)

Day-to-day variability is to be expected. That is resolved by the red trendline, representing a 14 point (2 week) moving average. There are some definitive patterns noticeable here.

First, I want to point out that the dataset is basically tri-modal. Meaning there are three definitive peaks in snowstorm activity. One little bump in snowy days around mid-December, leading up to the Winter Solstice. Another occurs in mid to late January, matching with the climatologically coldest temperatures of the year — the “dead of winter”. And another peak occurs in early to mid February, including the highest bar on February 5th.

In total, 178 days out of 366 have seen observed inch-plus snow in New Jersey. That is an impressive 49% of the year in which it has snowed here.

October snow has happened on a few occasions in New Jersey, including 2011 shown here. (Getty Images)

Looking at our snow season from start to finish (i.e. left to right on the graph), it is clear that snow can fall in November. But inch-plus snow is pretty rare in NJ until December.

There is a notable minimum value on December 24th. Christmas Eve. Only 4 of the last 50 years have shown an inch of magical Christmas Eve snow. But 11 Christmas Day snow observations have occurred. That strikes me as an odd outlier, and makes me wonder if there’s some observation bias or other funkiness with the reports here.

Christmas snow is especially magical. (Craig Allen photo)

You will notice another data minimum on February 29th, due to Leap Day. 4 out of the 13 February 29ths in the survey period reported snow. That comes to about 30%, in line with other nearby dates in late February and early March.

Finally, it is notable how quickly accumulating snow chances disappear beyond the first day of Spring, around March 21st. Snow in April is about as rare as November, at each tail of the graph.

Spring snow happens from time to time, and can cause damage to budding plants. (FamVeld)

Final Thoughts

Obviously, each winter season is different for New Jersey. And this climatological analysis in no way serves as a short-range or long-range forecast. Just a neat little investigation, proving that common sense largely matches reality when it comes to the timing of peak snow chances in New Jersey.

So stock up on the road salt, wear your pajamas inside-out, and start brewing the hot chocolate. February 5th could be a wintry day!

Let it snow: 12 things to know about winter forecasting in NJ

Gallery Credit: Dan Zarrow

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Check out Dan’s weather blog or follow him on Facebook for your latest weather forecast updates.