DIRECTIONS: Entering from Bridgetown Road, you will see the park office to your right, a good place to find Baltimore and Orchard orioles and Chipping Sparrow in the spring. Passing the park office, the broad expanse to your right is farmed for corn. Watch for Wild Turkey in the cornfields. To the left, beyond the roadside edge, the area has been left to it own and is home to myriads of Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, House Wren, a few Brown Thrasher and some Yellow Warbler during the breeding season. More often than not the area also houses a few White-eyed Vireo. Before entering the wooded section turn right on Duchess Lane. This lane will lead you to a parking area in close proximity to the lake. In the spring, around the parking lot, look for both species of orioles and Warbling Vireo. To your left beyond the pavilions is a substantial stand of hardwood that extends along both sides of the Core Creek below the dam. This section does not contain any marked or maintained trails but is easy to cover on foot. In the spring it is possibly the best migrant trap within the park, expect a broad selection of the more common warblers including Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Northern Parula and its share of Yellow-rumped warblers. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest there most years and it is also one of the few places in the park where Scarlet Tanager can be expected. In winter, the stream bed harbors Great Blue Heron, and sometimes a Belted Kingfisher or two as its waters remain open well after the main lake freezes over. From the Duchess Lane Parking area, take the trail ahead of you into the woods. Palm Warbler and sometimes Louisiana Waterthrush are common around the small footbridge area. As you follow the trail to your right, you will soon reach a second growth area, Yellow Warbler, Common Grackle, Baltimore and Orchard orioles, Eastern Towhee are the more common species here, but it also has been a good area for Willow Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Blue-winged Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat. In winter look for sparrows: Swamp along the wet areas closer to the lake, White-throated, Song, and Field more commonly in the drier areas. It is also a good location to look for the less common species such as White-crowned and Fox and sometimes American Tree Sparrow during the colder winters. Beyond that point, the main trail penetrates a mature stand of woodland. During the breeding season, it is a good place to look for Veery and Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, flycatchers including Easter Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe around the old pump buildings and occasionally an Acadian Flycatcher. Cuckoos, mainly Yellow-billed, also frequent this area which is large enough to support a nesting Great-horned Owl in some years. Returning to Park Road, you will descend through the wooded area along the Creek. After crossing over the bridge, park in the lot on your left. Three of four species of vireos are often heard singing from that location, White eyed in the second growth, Red-eyed and Warbling overhead sometimes accompanied by a Yellow-throated Vireo. Going up the small hill, the dam's emergency spillway will be to you right. In the fall it is a good place to look for Eastern Meadowlark, a bird no longer found breeding in the park. In winter flocks of gulls loafing in this area usually contain some Lesser Black-backed Gull among the more common species. Continue along the paved road pass the turnoff to the boat ramp area to the large parking area by the basketball courts. Between the parking lot and the lake is a few acres of woodland completely denuded of undergrowth vegetation. As sterile as it may appear, it is a good location to look for woodpeckers, including an occasional Hairy. In winter the chickadee flock also attracts Brown Creeper and White-breasted Nuthatch. Return to Park Road, turn right and then turn right unto Tollgate Road. As you cross a small arm of Core Creek, look right into the cove or left over the small stream area for perched Belted Kingfisher in winter. In the spring, listen for Louisiana Waterthrush among others along the stream bottom. Proceed straight pass Fulling Mill Road to the Fisherman's parking lot. The area surrounding the lot is usually teeming with American Robin and Cedar Waxwing in late fall and with sparrows in winter. It is another good location to look White-crowned Sparrow among the other sparrows but the trails have long since disappeared due to lack of maintenance. Away from Park Road, there are a few other areas worth visiting, The largest one is accessed from Woodbourne Road from the driveway opposite the entrance to Maple Point Middle School. This area contains a series of ball fields, but also a series of grassy detention areas which are apparently wet enough to attract Willow Flycatcher with as many as five singing males a couple of years ago. From this area, you can venture to your left to the wooded area near the intersection of Woodbourne and Langhorne Yardley roads. The area is a magnificent beech forest. Bird wise you can expect most common species associated with deep woodland including a pair of Great Horned Owl some years. Another area worth a visit is the stream-side road known as Lower Silver Lake Road north of Bank Road. This road dead-ends to a cul-de-sac. In the spring the presence of water and the lack of traffic makes it is a good place to look for migrating warblers. The lake is still the main bird attraction at Core Creek. In the spring, look for all six species of eastern swallows including Cliff and Northern Rough-wing, both nesting under the Woodbourne road bridge over Core Creek. Later, Green and Great Blue herons are found on the east end of Woodbourne Road and Belted Kingfisher are most often found in the same area. Mallard and Canada Goose are the most common breeding waterfowl in the area, but most years one or two pairs of Wood Duck frequent the lake. Over the last few years, Great Egret have become more common in this area in late summer. From late fall through early spring, the presence of waterfowl makes weekly visits a must. The flock of Canada Geese has in the past contained Brant, and for a while a White-fronted Goose repeatedly. The most common wintering duck has to be the Common Merganser which sometimes numbers in the thousands. Their presence is strongly associated with the presence of some ice. To a lesser extent, other species are seen regularly on the lake, late winter and early spring being the best time for such occurrences. Ruddy Duck, Hooded Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, American Black Duck, Green-wing Teal, and an occasional Northern Pintail can be expected. Some of the rarities found on the Lake include Surf Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, and last year, a flock of Tundra Swan. Grebes are most often found in the spring, Pied billed Grebe being the expected species, but Horned Grebe make yearly appearances. Loons make yearly appearances on the lake, mainly in the spring but look for them after a bout of bad weather. Late spring is the best time for Double-crested Cormorant; their numbers sometimes exceed one hundred birds. A few young birds also have over-summered on the lake. The wintering gull population fluctuates daily as birds move between feeding areas, Ring-billed Gull are the most common species followed by Herring and a substantial number of Great-black backed Gull. Lesser Black-backed Gull are omnipresent during most winter months but such rarities as Iceland and Glaucous gulls have also made an appearance or two in the past. Lastly, the lake does harbor a concentration of migrating shorebirds, best seen in the spring on the flats at the upper end of the lake. Access to this area is no longer permitted due to the presence of nesting Bald Eagle, but it can still be viewed from the Bridge on Woodbourne road with the assistance of a good spotting scope. Expected species include both species of yellowlegs, Spotted, Solitary, and Least sandpipers, Killdeer, and an occasional Semipalmated Plover