White Ibis AND Sandhill Crane at Green Pond ~ July 24, 2011

I got a mid-afternoon call from Arlene Koch telling me about a very interesting post on PABIRDS. Joe Greco and his son, Jeff, were at the flooded fields at Green Pond where Jeff had just found a juvenile White Ibis. I headed down there and found the bird very near the road in the same easternmost pond.

White Ibis at the flooded fields by Green Pond, Northampton County.

Dustin Welch was also there. Soon after Matt Sabatine and Arlene Koch showed up, the bird flew west over into the main flooded area and landed next to the Sandhill Crane, which was also there to the east of 'the island'. The heat and humidity were nasty, but getting a chance to look at both of these birds standing next to each other in Northampton County was most likely a 'once-in-a-lifetime' proposition. Devich Farbotnik and Billy Weber joined us as we watched the Sandhill Crane periodically harass the White Ibis as shown in these photos.

White Ibis being chased by a Sandhill Crane at the flooded fields by Green Pond, Northampton County.

This is the 1st record of White Ibis for Green Pond, which brings my unofficial cumulative total for the site at 161 species. To view this list and a map of the area, go to my Eastern PA Birding website and click on the 'Site Guide to Green Pond and the Flooded Fields'.
This bird also represents only the 3rd record for Northampton County.
A good number of shorebirds were also present. They included numbers of Killdeer and Least Sandpipers with some Lesser Yellowlegs and Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers mixed in.

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