East Bangor Dam and Lake Minsi ~ April 14, 2023

I spent the morning birding with Charlie Zafonte. We drove to East Bangor Dam and birded along the railroad tracks. An initial sweep of the water produced Mute Swan, Double-crested Cormorant, and Great Blue Heron. A Swamp Sparrow sang from a small tree in one of the cattail patches. Later checks yielded Wood Duck and both Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal. Two Bald Eagles, two Ospreys, and a Red-shouldered Hawk were the notable raptors.

Immature Bald Eagle

Two Wilson's Snipe were present along the edge. A pair of Purple Finches were in the wooded section with the small stream. On the way back to the car, a Virginia Rail called from the cattails. We got glimpses of the orange bill as it moved through some small openings. Eventually, I spotted it just inside the edge of the cattails where it preened itself for at least a minute before moving back in deeper and out of sight.

Virginia Rail

On the way over to Lake Minsi, we stopped along Bangor Vein Road and found two Rusty Blackbirds, two Palm Warblers, and two Swamp Sparrows.

One Purple Martin was checking out the gourds beside the western parking lot at Lake Minsi.

Purple Martin

Sherri LaBar was there and told us about a Black-crowned Night-Heron that she had seen while kayaking. It wasn't visible from the parking lot, so we walked out to the middle jetty along the dam breast. It took a while, but I finally spotted it with my scope. It was partially hidden by trees, but I managed to get a very long-distance documentation photo of it.

Adult Black-crowned Night-Heron

Other notables included Mute Swan, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, and Eastern Bluebird.

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