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PA Big Day Details |
| Date | Mar 26, 2006 | ||||||
| Number | 92 | ||||||
| # Seen by All | 90 | ||||||
| Area | State | ||||||
| Time | 0230 to 2100 | ||||||
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| 255 Miles by car, 1.5 miles by foot. Visiting: West Fairview Boat Launch,Memorial Lake, Trexlertown Pines, Green Pond, Lake Nockamixon. Species of note: Great Egret (E), White-winged Scoter(R), Iceland Gull(R), Red-headed Woodpecker(R), Bullock’s Oriole(V). Steady rain is not how you want to start off a Big Day, but that is how this one began. Barred Owls at Bear Swamp responded but other owls stayed mute. Our morning was to begin along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg so a long 2-hour drive had to be made before the sky lightened. Snow showers slowed our way but the precipitation stopped by the time we reached Memorial Lake with an hour of darkness left. No cooperative Eastern Screech-Owls called but an American Woodcock peented. By first light our scopes were set up atWest Fairview Boat Launch. A record March Big Day requires waterfowl species so this spot was key. At first, only Mallard and Wood Duck were present but it was difficult to see. The Belted Kingfisher flying over seemed to ring the bell that got the birds rolling. There were Gadwall, Redhead, and three species of mergansers, a fewTundra Swans upriver, and a flock of scaup near the other side that included a Canvasback. A group of four Great Egrets flew past and a mixed flock of blackbirds landed that had Brown-headed Cowbirds and Rusty Blackbirds. All the expected blackbirds were tallied at our first stop. Little Gull had been seen in the area but today only a single Bonaparte’s Gull made our list. on to Memorial Lake. Some activity near a house with feeders caught our attention and we pulled over to see what was around. Many typical common winter birds like Blue Jay and Dark-eyed Junco were along the road. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was a nice find. At the lake, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe and Horned Grebe were seen. Our only Tree Swallow flew over the water while a Fox Sparrow was in the brush on a lakeside trail. The route chosen took us east with a stop at Hamburg to check the Lowland Road and BMA ponds. I spotted a few flying Horned Larks that Billy missed. A White-crowned Sparrow pished out by the roadside and an American Kestrel were all we added here. Next,with some searching, we located the Red-headed Woodpecker on Kunkle’s Mill Road in Lehigh County. A bonus bird was a Ring-necked Pheasant. At Trexlertown Pines there were several scouted target birds, notably, Red-breasted Nuthatch, nesting Great Horned Owl, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brown Creeper, and kinglet. Finding Killdeer offset a miss at the Allentown Sewage plant for Rough-winged Swallow. The next stops were strictly to locate target species. We got Northern Pintail and American Black Duck at Monacacy Nature Center and wasted little time in seeing the rare Bullock’s Oriole that had been visiting a feeder since January. Green-winged Teal, Wilson’s Snipe, and Lesser Black-backed Gull were at Green Pond, but Snow Goose provided more work. Three locations were checked before we found them at Northampton Quarry. New species were getting harder to find, seemingly each location checked was only good for one species. The Snow Goose search cost precious time with the remaining areas of our route scattered over Northampton and Bucks County. Smith Gap’s SGL’s yielded a Hermit Thrush. Billy and I each thought we glimpsed an Eastern Towhee but felt uncertainty in the sighting and elected not to count it. The wet grasslands on Old Allentown Road had only one Eastern Meadowlark that we were glad to have. After more driving, we searched the Stone Church farm and finally addedAmerican Tree Sparrow that had departed north from most areas. My one miss was the Swamp Sparrow Billy pished out of cattails. Continuing south,we checked for nesting Peregrines at Martins Creek Preserve. There were none visible and with time a factor, we elected to not walk any trails. At Martins Creek Quarry we found no new ducks but the resident Osprey was back at its nest. We could relax somewhat now, at 86 species, the March record seemed inevitable. There were four scouted species expected that would give us the new high. Lake Nockamixon was not disappointing with Black Vulture and Herring Gull giving us a tie. A first winter Iceland Gull at the marina docks took the honors and we located a Common Loon shortly after.The Fishing Pier held a wonderful surprise with aWhite-winged Scoter. Ending at Nockamixon would have been easy but fading light should not be wasted. Another 20-minute drive to Peace Valley might get us Carolina Chickadee. The feeders were void and the lake had nothing special but we stumbled onto our final bird, a hen Wild Turkey in a parking lot giving us 92 species. I believe a future March big day could yield 100 species as enough species were missed on this adventure. | |||||||