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PA Big Day Details |
| Date | Mar 31, 2005 | ||||
| Number | 88 | ||||
| # Seen by All | 88 | ||||
| Area | State | ||||
| Time | 0330 to 1900 | ||||
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| 210 Miles by car, 2 miles by foot. Visiting: Struble Lake, Honeybrook WTP, Kurtz’s Fish Farm, Marsh Creek SP, Wildwood Lake, Susquehanna River, Fort Hunter, Stoney Creek Valley, Middle Creek WMA. Species of note: Little Gull (R), Lesser Black-backed Gull (S), Northern Flicker (M). In early March, Mike Tanis and I attempted a big day, however we got a late start and things didn’t go as well as planned. It was then obvious to Mike and I that a March big day in PA should always be done as late in the month as possible. March 31 finally arrived and Mike was on vacation, so I had to go it alone. I left the house at 0330 and my first bird was a singing Song Sparrow in my back yard. The day almost started off with disaster as I was driving along in the darkness and a deer ran out in front of my van. I swerved and still don’t know how I missed it, but it sure woke me up and got my adrenaline pumping. I got my Eastern Screech Owl on my second try, then I went to a couple of new spots that looked like they would be good for Barred Owl but they were not. I didn’t realize how early the cloudless sky would lighten, so I hightailed it out to our favorite Barred Owl site, which last November gave us a Great Horned and NOT a Barred Owl. The owls had switched up again and the Barred Owl could be heard off in the woods just a minute after I got there. My dawn site would be Struble Lake in Chester County. Timing was good as it was just now light enough to ID birds. Northern Cardinal was heard singing as I put my scope on the flock of gulls, the water was flat and I quickly located the adult Lesser Black-backed Gull that I staked out the day before. The only other gulls I could find were Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. No Great Black-backed here, or anywhere else on the day. Other birds quickly added were Tree Swallow, Common and Hooded Mergansers, Wood Duck, Lesser Scaup, Green-winged Teal, Belted Kingfisher, and a small flock of 8 Snow Geese. Blackbirds were now making some noise and I picked up the 3 common flocking species: Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle and Red-winged Blackbird. I scanned the fields for Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls but only came up with a Red-tailed Hawk. I did well with sparrows here; White-throated, Field, American Tree, Song and White-crowned. I walked around the south side of the lake for a better vantage of the gulls and I picked up Eastern Bluebird and Phoebe, and a very unexpected Eastern Meadowlark, only the second I’ve seen at Struble Lake. On my way to the Honeybrook treatment plant, I stopped on Homestead Road to get my Horned Lark and also picked up my first of many Killdeer for the day. The treatment plant gave me my target bird, Northern Shoveler, along with Ring-necked Duck, American Wigeon and Fish Crow. At nearby Kurtz’s Fish Farm I found that my 3 Bufflehead had left, replaced by a single Greater Scaup. My next stop was Marsh Creek SP for Common Loon and hopefully the Red-necked Grebe that I found the previous day. There wasn’t much waterfowl left on the lake, just some American Coots, Ruddy Ducks, Common Mergansers, and 4 Common Loons. The big grebe was nowhere is sight. As I scanned the lake one last time I heard a yelping noise and looked up to see a nice adult Bald Eagle flying overhead. It was now 0830 and time to go. Luck was still with me as I picked up a Sharp-shinned Hawk and an Osprey while driving out of the park. My original plan was to work my way south through Chester County to Nottingham County Park and Octoraro Reservoir for passerines, then to go north along the Susquehanna River to the Conjohela Flats for waterbirds, and to finish up at Middle Creek WMA. I knew I had done very well so far, and it was only 0830. As I was driving out of the little town of Eagle, I could feel the westbound PA turnpike pulling at me from the other direction. Although I had wanted to include the Harrisburg area of the Susquehanna River in my big day, I just couldn’t fit it into the route. There had been a lot of good waterfowl around Harrisburg that I did not have yet, including at least 7 different Little Gulls. I was really torn between my original route and getting on the turnpike and scrapping the rest of my planned route. Since I hadn’t quite made up my mind, I pulled into the parking lot for the Struble Trail and ran into the woods to use the facilities. Here I picked up a Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse, and a Fox Sparrow. I got back to the van and added up my total. Fifty-eight species and it wasn’t even 0900! The record (mine) was only 66. I decided to scrap the remainder of my route and got on the turnpike and headed west. The only new species I picked up on the 75-minute drive was Black Vulture, a common bird that we sometimes miss on big days. This was a good omen indeed. I got to Fort Hunter along the Susquehanna and there were hundreds of Bonaparte’s Gulls flying and riding the swollen river. It only took a minute to pick out a Little Gull. This was a life bird for me. Next stop was Wildwood Lake where I hoped to pick up at least the Red-necked Grebe and Blue-winged Teal that was there yesterday. I worked the north end of the lake but only picked up Great Egret. On the south end of the lake I got both the grebe and teal, plus Rusty Blackbird, American Black Duck, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatch and a beautiful Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I left Wildwood Park to go scope out the river at Front Street. The river was very flooded with lots of floating debris. I was watching several groups of gulls riding debris on the fast moving river. Some gulls had a small piece of debris to themselves, and larger pieces of debris had 4 or 5 gulls lined up and taking a free ride. It was then that I saw something that almost caused me to laugh out loud. Double-crested Cormorants are comical looking birds to begin with; here was a single disheveled looking cormorant riding a piece of debris with a thick 3 foot high pole sticking straight up out of the debris. The cream-colored pole was about 8 inches in diameter and had red and yellow markings on it like the kind you see marking underground pipelines and such. The commandeered craft entered some turbulent water and captain cormorant was trying hard to keep from falling off the ship through the rapids. It was at this time that I realized I would not be launching my kayak downstream at the Conjohela Flats. The flats would be completely underwater, which would mean no early shorebirds. And unlike the cormorant, I would be in trouble should I fall out of my boat. The sky had now fully clouded over and it was cold and windy on the river, but at least the light was still good. Other birds riding the torrents of water were White-winged Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, and others that I already had like Bufflehead, Ring-necked Duck, and Greater Scaup. Since I had a little time before I had to leave for Middle Creek, (WOW! Extra time on a Big Day!) I headed north a few miles to the Stoney Creek Valley in search of some missing passerines. A stop for Swamp Sparrow proved fruitless. I was hoping to pick up possibly 6 species here, but Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, and Winter Wren were not to be had. I finally picked up a Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a big fat Black-capped Chickadee. This bird had all field marks of a big northern Black-capped. (Mike and I normally bird the chickadee hybrid zone, so we often get stuck with just a chickadee species instead of both Carolina and Black-capped Chickadee.) Today the luck continued and I got both chickadees. I left Stoney Creek at 1530 for the hour plus ride to Middle Creek. When I got to Middle Creek, the place initially looked deserted, no Snow Geese or Tundra Swans, no cars or other people. But I had 81 species and two hours of daylight left. Could I get to 90 species? I though I had a chance. After driving to another viewing area, I finally picked up a couple of Tundra Swans over in a grassy field. I turned back to the water and there was a Horned Grebe very close to me swimming away in nice breeding plumage. All was quiet as I watched the grebe swim away and then “Tu-Tu-Tu”! Bingo, Greater Yellowlegs, a very early bonus bird. I walked the trail out to Willow Point knowing there wasn’t much waterfowl left to get, but I still needed Gadwall. Out at the point I soon locked onto some very distant ducks. After walking to the edge of the water and fiddling with my scope I could make out the 4 birds: 3 wigeon and 1 Gadwall! It was just that kind of day. As I drove the tour route, I noticed several more Eastern Meadowlarks. At stop 3 I finally got my kestrel, right where I expected one to be. I worked some thickets and finally pulled up a couple of Eastern Towhees and two bad looking feral cats. While driving around I caught a quick silhouette of a raptor that quickly flew into the forest. It looked like it could have possibly been a Red-shouldered Hawk. So I waited a few minutes hoping to see the bird again in hopes of getting a positive ID, but the bird was gone so I continued on my way. My final stop at dusk was to be Stop 3 (again) to wait for Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl, which have been seen regularly at dusk working the fields. As I waited for it to get dark, I noticed that the sky looked very bizarre, in fact, one of the strangest skies I can remember seeing. It looked like a blanket of yarn that was starting to unravel. I could only think of the turbid sky over Los Angeles in the recent movie, “The Day After Tomorrow,” right before all the tornados completely destroyed the city. As I split my time from watching the fields and the creepy sky, I heard my last bird of the day: a Ring-necked Pheasant. The bird called a few more times, and soon it became too dark to really see. The wind had picked up and I was cold. No harrier, no owl. Middle Creek was for a moment a very lonely place. Nonetheless, I felt extremely satisfied as I climbed into my van. My goal for the day was 80 species and I finished with 88. I didn’t really think that 90 species was possible in March and obviously it is. One hundred species in March in PA is probably about the limit. | |||||