Regency Boulevard Ponds and Green Pond ~ July 30, 2022

A late day stop at the Regency Boulevard retention ponds produced 6 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Solitary Sandpiper among the numbers of Killdeer and several Spotted Sandpipers. The Pectorals and the yellowlegs were in the north pond while the Solitary was in the south pond.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

The Pied-billed Grebe, the male Ruddy Duck, and the female Blue-winged Teal all continued in the north pond.

Pied-billed Grebe

Ruddy Duck

Blue-winged Teal

The Hooded Merganser continued in the south pond along with both a Great Blue Heron and a Green Heron.

Hooded Merganser

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Two Bank Swallows were also seen flying around with the Barn Swallows.
By the time I reached Green Pond, it was near sunset. There, I found around 180 Northern Rough-winged Swallows perched on the wires along Farmersville Road opposite the pond.

Many Northern Rough-winged Swallows

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Two Northampton County "Biggies" in One Day ~ July 27, 2022

As I was getting ready to head for Lake Minsi to try and find the Least Bittern that was reported there, I found out from Jason Horn that he thought there might be two birds there but couldn't be sure. He also told me that he had spotted a Little Blue Heron at the Van Buren Road retention pond. I stopped there on the way up to the lake and found the bird fairly easily. I got some nice shots of it as it flew right past me.

Little Blue Heron

At Lake Minsi, I parked at the west lot and walked out the paved walkway that leads to the dam. Right after passing the picnic tables, I stopped and started scanning the cattails lining the southern edge of the lake. After about fifteen minutes, the Least Bittern flew out from the cattails and headed for the other section of cattails that are in the extreme southwest corner of the lake near the Purple Martin houses. The distant flight photos I got of it showed that it had a rusty-colored back, making it a female.

Female Least Bittern

About a half-hour later, the bird flew back over to the cattail patch near me. But was it the same bird?

Least Bittern

A while later, a Least Bittern returned to the other cattail patch and, again, I was lucky to get some distant flight photos of it. When I checked the photos on the camera screen, I realized that this one had the black back of a male! This confirmed Jason's suspicions that there was a pair(!) of Least Bitterns there. We can only hope that they have a successfully nesting.

Male Least Bittern

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UPDATE on 8/2: Jeff Vinosky saw two young birds with the adults on August 2nd, and actually got a photo of one of the young! To my knowledge, this is the first confirmed breeding record of Least Bittern for Northampton County.

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Another Regency Boulevard Check ~ July 25, 2022

I drove by the Green Pond complex on the way to the Regency Boulevard ponds and found a Great Egret in the back pond by the new houses. The only way to see the bird was to view it long distance from the parking area at the Farmersville Road retention pond.

Great Egret

In addition to the continuing birds (the Hooded Merganser, the male Ruddy Duck, the Pied-billed Grebe, and the female Blue-winged Teal), there were 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Least Sandpiper.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Least Sandpiper

I was surprised to see the Hooded Merganser in the north pond instead of the south one, which is where it had always been previously.

Hooded Merganser

The rest of the aforementioned continuing birds all remained in the north pond.

Ruddy Duck

Pied-billed Grebe

Female Blue-winged Teal

I stopped at the Regency sales office and asked if I'd be able to do a bird walk there in the near future. They very nicely explained to me that, since it's eventually going to be a gated community, the only way a walk could be done is if the residents themselves decided that they'd like to have one done there. So, if any of the residents that visit my blog (I've met several of you) would like to do that, you will apparently have to try and get it approved through the activities director. I was told her name is Karen. And even then, it's not clear if any non-residents would be allowed to join. That's where it stands at this point.

The Great Egret was still at the same spot by Green Pond when I stopped on the way home.

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Regency Boulevard Ponds and Green Pond ~ July 22, 2022

Before going over to my daughter's house, I stopped at the Regency Boulevard retention ponds. As expected, shorebirds are beginning to show up on their way back south from the Arctic. Early this morning, I spotted 6 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 6 Least Sandpipers in addition to the obvious Killdeer and several Spotted Sandpipers that have been there all summer. I got photos of a few of the Pectorals, the yellowlegs, and three of the Least Sandpipers.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Least Sandpipers

The Pied-billed Grebe was fairly close but entirely backlit. The Ruddy Duck was sleeping on the far shore when I got there, but it eventually woke up and swam across the north pond.

Pied-billed Grebe

Ruddy Duck

The female Blue-winged Teal was there, too, but she was on the far shore, way too far for a worthwhile photo.
The Hooded Merganser continued in the south pond.

Hooded Merganser

After stopping at my daughter's, I drove by Green Pond. The flooded field area has been dry for a while now, so it was devoid of any activity, but the retention pond along Green Pond Road held two Great Egrets.

Great Egrets

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