It may not strike us as all that exciting today, but 75 years ago, it was a red-letter day when John Hunn and his sister discovered a northern mockingbird in Plainfield.
Hunn, one of the sadly many forgotten names in New Jersey birding, was also in on the discovery of the first western grebe and western meadowlark for the state, in 1939 and 1940, respectively. A founder of the Urner Club, Hunn died 60 years ago today, having witnessed
the rapid urbanization of farm and wilderness areas … the appearance of the Starling (1912) and the attempts to introduce the European Goldfinch.
I wonder what he would think of our fair Garden State today.
