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PA Big Day Details |
| Date | Dec 11, 2004 | ||||||||||
| Number | 50 | ||||||||||
| # Seen by All | 50 | ||||||||||
| Area | State | ||||||||||
| Time | 0700 to 1900 | ||||||||||
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| 125 Miles by car, 2 miles by foot. Visiting: Schwartz Farm feeders, Landingville, Hawk Mountain feeders, Ontelaunee Reservoir, Middle Creek WMA. Species of note: Red-shouldered Hawk (L), Bonaparte’s Gull (R), American Robin (M). With all due respect for Pennsylvania birders, I know there are folks out there who are routinely seeing more than 50 species in a day in December. This is something we did for fun and to introduce some family members to a different aspect of birding and I journeyed up from Virginia to assist. Working off a few CBC lists, we thought we might be able to see 60 species, but like all good days in the field, we dealt with some odd weather and birds that chose to be elsewhere. We chose to start off at my sisters farm 25 acres in central Schuylkill County. On a winters day, it is not uncommon to log 25 species at their feeders in the morning. Milder weather meant the birds were feeding elsewhere and we left the farm with under twenty species. At our next stop, Landingville, duck hunters helped keep the lake devoid of some species we hope to pick up. We ventured up to Hawk Mountain in hopes of picking up some higher altitude birds at the feeders, but fog and mist combined to shut us out on the mountain. Our luck improved on the way to Ontelaunee Reservoir, picking up some nice ducks on the ponds at Moselem Springs Golf Course. The reservoir itself held Red- breasted Mergansers. Over lunch, we decided we needed to skip Blue Marsh Lake and head straight for Middle Creek WMA and the skies cleared as the wind picked up. Middle Creek helped a lot with some missing ducks, Bald Eagle, our surprise Red-shouldered Hawk, flyover Tundra Swans, and four Bonaparte’s Gulls sitting on the lake. I think the gulls were part of a big push that came through with the front, as back home in Virginia, I saw the first report of Bonies as well. We left Middle Creek, heading for a field near home that last year had Short-eared Owls, hoping for a big score. We got to the field right on time and picked up our Northern Harrier, but no owls danced for us at dusk. After dinner at the Red Lion, we tried for owls and had Eastern Screech-Owls respond to the Barred Owl tape for our 50th bird of the day. This was great fun and always a learning experience. I hope someone is inspired to report a bigger day next year cause well be going for 60. | |||||||||||