I stopped at the Hollo Road pond on the way back home. The only birds there were 19 Green-winged Teal and two Killdeer.
I was going to head home from there, but I decided to see if any ducks might have dropped into the Newburg Road retention pond. I got there around 2:30. There were five Killdeer at the back of the pond. I scanned over the large, grassy area between the pond and the hospital with my binoculars and spotted more Killdeer there. So, I drove along the road that parallels the north side of the hospital to see how many were there. After counting eight more Killdeer, I noticed what appeared to be a bluebird atop one of the planted trees. Instead of seeing an expected Eastern Bluebird, I noticed that the bird was an overall grayish color and had a noticeable eye ring. For a second, Townsend's Solitaire flashed in my brain, but then I noticed the turquoise blue color in the tail. Finally, it registered that I was looking at a female Mountain Bluebird! I grabbed my camera as quickly as I could, hoping that it wouldn't fly away, and blasted several photos from the car. After getting what I was pretty sure were good enough documentation photos, I sent a text out on the GroupMe app to let others know. Luckily, the bird stayed, allowing a good number of birders to see this first Northampton County record and even a first for the Lehigh Valley! To my knowledge, it represents the 8th record for Pennsylvania. Here are several of the photos I got of this bird from the western United States.
Great pics, thanks for sharing!
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