300 Species for Northampton County! ~ March 24, 2021

Late Tuesday night, I read that Danielle Gustafson had seen an Orange-crowned Warbler at the Nisky Hill Cemetery in Bethlehem. That was one bird that I had never been lucky enough to cross paths with in my home county. Thursday's weather was calling for showers and then rain to move into the area about an hour after sunrise, so I drove over there, arriving at sunrise. The light rain was already falling when I started walking the southern rim of the cemetery. As I was nearing the western end of it, I heard some 'chip' notes, which was amazing since my high-end range of my hearing is pretty much gone in my right ear. I spotted a warbler-sized bird above me, but even with binoculars, the lighting was terrible. The silhouetted bird seemed to have yellow undertail coverts that were brighter than the rest of the bird. I was pretty sure it was the Orange-crowned but wanted to be certain. I tried walking uphill to see if I could get a better angle on it, looked up, and saw TWO small birds. I followed the one bird and eventually got a good enough look at it to realize it was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Now I was worried that I might lose the other bird. I quickly refound it and thankfully, after a couple minutes, it flew down to a tree on the steep embankment, which put it almost at eye level. I could now see the colors and the subtle markings. It was the Orange-crowned Warbler! I grabbed for my camera and, over the next several minutes, managed to get some pretty good photos of it.

Orange-crowned Warbler

It took me 48 years, but I was finally able to see my 300th species for Northampton County!

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