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PA Big Day Details
Date Mar 01, 2004
Number 66
# Seen by All 66
Area State
Time 0400 to 1815

Participants

 Total
Theodore Drozdowski 66
129 Miles by car, 2 miles by foot. Visiting: Struble Lake, Marsh Creek SP, Chambers Lake, Coatesville Reservoir, Middle Creek WMA. Species of note: Greater White-fronted Goose (R), Bufflehead (M). After what was regarded as a brutally cold winter here in southeastern Pennsylvania, the promise of 55 degrees on 1 March was enough to assure me a full day of birding. Now I know 1 March is not the best date in March to do a Big Day, but if I was going to spend a full day birding just to feel the warmth of the sun, then why not try to break a Big Day record? On Monday, 1 March, I was out the door soon after 0400. I drove south a few miles to Embreeville, an area that seems to be loaded with both Eastern Screech- Owls and Great Horned Owls. As I was calling in a Screech, a Great Horned was heard several times in the distance, and I was soon heading north again to a recently discovered Barred Owl site. Almost as soon as I got out of my car, a Barred Owl could be heard off in the river bottom that is its home. The bird seemed particularly loud in this quiet hour before sunrise. It was not a bad start with three species of owls heard and plenty of time before sunrise. My next stop was Struble Lake, where I hoped to pick up Short-eared Owl at dawn. As I waited for the owl, I started picking up a few species here and there. Song and White-throated Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Northern Mockingbirds, and the usual local birds were making a fair amount of noise. The Short-eared Owl never put up, but I would get him 12 hours later at this same spot. Struble Lake was almost completely frozen, except for the edges, but this was enough water to pick up a few ducks. The ice was loaded with thousands of Canada Geese. Mixed in were 200 Snow Geese, a dozen or so Tundra Swans, and two Greater White-fronted Geese (Greenland race). Northern Pintail, Herring and Ring-billed Gulls rounded out the ice dwellers. Working the brush around the lake, I picked up six sparrows along with many other expected birds. Struble Lake continues to be a good spot to start a winter Big Day in southeastern Pennsylvania as I scoured 37 species in under two hours. A quick stop at an Amish farmers field gave me a couple of Horned Larks and a solitary Wilsons Snipe. It was then onto Marsh Creek SP, where I was counting on some more waterfowl and hopefully some winter resident passerines. Marsh Creek SP is generally a good birding site, and I did pick up fifteen more species while there, but the place was very quiet. I spent an hour or so beating around for mixed species flocks with no success. Here I got my only two woodpeckers on the day, a Downy and Red-bellied. Not getting a Northern Flicker all day was very troubling. My best bird at Marsh Creek SP was a species I already had, Greater White-fronted Goose. My next stop was Chambers Lake, where I found four more species of waterfowl: Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, Mute Swan, and Canvasback. I spent another hour at Hibernia CP looking for winter passerines, but all I could add was Eastern Towhee. Where were all the winter passerines? I now had a decision to make: seek out better wooded areas in hopes of finding the passerines I was missing, or drive one hour away to Middle Creek WMA in Lancaster County, where I knew I could pick up a few more species of waterfowl. I decided on the trip to Middle Creek, knowing that on the way I could look for field birds in Amich Country. Unfortunately, I had lent out my Lancaster County map to a buddy and ended up getting turned around on one of the Farmersville Roads that will often drive you in the direction you do not want to go. As I was slowly losing my sense of direction, I was scanning perches for a Rough-legged Hawk or other field birds, but all I could manage was a single kestrel. It had been a long time since I was so genuinely lost this close to home. I contemplated marching into a convenience store to buy a new Lancaster County map, but that would hurt my pride. After a couple of u-turns, I figured out where I was and I headed north towards Middle Creek. The spectacle at Middle Creek was well worth the time getting there. Estimates of the Snow Geese by refuge staff were between 120,000 to 170,000 birds, with a couple thousand Tundra Swans to boot. The huge expanse of white made my Big Day seem so small and meaningless. I enjoyed the spectacle for awhile, with the dozens of curious onlookers who had pulled off the side of the highway in amazement. I soon picked up a few new birds for the day, Belted Kingfisher, Red-tailed Hawk, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, and my only Bald Eagle on the day. It was getting late and I had 63 species, one more to tie and another to break the record. I had enough time to drive 35 minutes back to Struble Lake, where I knew I could count on the Short-eared Owl at dusk. But would I be lucky enough to find another bird? Knowing the owl would give me a tie, I drove back to Struble Lake and found the place crazy with groups of geese, swans, ducks, and gulls. Separate small flocks of gulls, ducks, and geese were continuously coming and going from nearby fields to the lake, but I could find nothing new on the ice or water. The sun was now below the horizon and I was running out of light. At 1750, the trusty-rusty Short-eared Owl was up on the other side of the lake, and then another owl came from nowhere and was flying around the grassy areas around the parking lot. He put on quite a show. After a few minutes of coursing the parking lot, the owl disappeared. I turned my attention back to the lake and the familiar silhouette of a Great Blue Heron could be seen with a pretty sunset behind it! What luck! I had broken the record and with very little daylight left. It wasnt until I went over my list the next day that I found out I had forgotten to mark down Brown-headed Cowbird. So the Short-eared owl actually broke the record and not the heron. Even though I only broke the record by two, I was very satisfied. I saw some good birds and I challenged myself to break the record on a date that was not optimal for a large list. Looking at the birds I missed and the birds that are possible towards the end of March, a Pennsylvania Big Day executed at the end of the month, rather than the beginning of the month, ought to yield around 80 species. There were three big misses that are hard for me to swallow. Bufflehead had been present on more than one lake all winter, yet I failed to find one. Northern Flicker and Swamp Sparrow are the other two big misses. I failed to find many relatively common winter residents including Yellow- bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Cedar Waxwing (year-round). These birds can usually be counted on with some effort.