Crested Caracara in Pennsylvania! ~ November 14, 2024

On Wednesday the 13th, Sam Perloff found a Crested Caracara at the Pine Run Reservoir in Bucks County! I found out about it right before I had to go to an appointment, so there was no way I could try for it. He found it perched in a tree along the reservor around 11 AM, but it took off a little while later and flew off to the northwest. Other birders searched there and the surrounding area. At around 4 PM, the bird was refound in the same tree it was seen in earlier. Again, it stayed there for a short time before flying off to the west and disappearing in the vicinity of a vulture roost out beyond the dam.

At 5 AM, I picked up Rick Wiltraut at the nearby Park & Ride and we drove down to Pine Run. We got there just before sunrise and walked out the paved trail towards the dam. The water level of the reservoir was extremely low due to the drought. I was surprised that vultures started lifting off of the roost right at sunrise. Normally, they don't tend to lift off until around mid-morning. We checked out the group, which was comprised of both Turkey and Black Vultures. Ross Gallardy decided to station himself at the roost. About an hour later at 7:42 AM, Ross spotted the bird among a group of vultures and called to let us know that it was flying somewhat in our direction. We quickly searched through the group and found the Crested Caracara! The fairly narrow and long wings with white outer wing patches, long white head with a dark cap, and long tail were all noted. Unfortunately, the bird was very distant and never came close enough for a good photograph. It flew off to the northeast and dropped behind the ridge to the north.

We spent the rest of the day there, hoping that it would come back for better views, but that never happened. While there, a couple Bald Eagles flew in and perched in a tree across the reservoir.

Bald Eagles

The Crested Caracara represents my 400th species for Pennsylvania. It was the second time I had reached 400 species for the state after seeing Kirtland's Warbler and then losing Hoary Redpoll after it was 'lumped' with Common Redpoll. Both are now considered subspecies and are simply called "Redpoll".

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St. Luke's Anderson Campus Area ~ November 5, 2024

At home, there was a large group of American Robins, several Cedar Waxwings and European Starlings, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker hitting the crabapple tree.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

They were joined at the little pond by two Common Grackles and several Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows.

Cedar Waxwing

The "bronzed" race of Common Grackle.

I did a late morning walk at the St. Luke's Anderson Campus grounds. There was nothing real notable there with the exception of 2 White-crowned Sparrows, one of which appeared to be a good candidate for a "Gambel's" race due to its unmarked lores and orange bill.

An apparent "Gambel's" White-crowned Sparrow.

There was also a Brown-headed Cowbird in a transitioning plumage.

Brown-headed Cowbird

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Regency Ponds and Green Pond ~ November 4, 2024

I checked out the Regency Boulevard ponds. The south pond held 3 Green-winged Teal and 4 Killdeer among the Canada Geese, but the best birds there were around 30 American Pipits. I noticed them through the scope at the back edge of the pond. I tried to get some photos, but they were very poor, long distance photos. I then saw them fly over and drop into the cove area of the north pond. I parked by the cove and found some of them a lot closer this time. I grabbed some photos of one of them through the fence.

American Pipit

The pipits were my 139th species seen at the Regency area. Over in the main section of the north pond, I saw 4 Buffleheads, a Pied-billed Grebe, and two more Killdeer.

A male and female Bufflehead.

Pied-billed Grebe

Over at Green Pond, I found 6 American Black Ducks, 4 Green-winged Teal, 2 Great Blue Herons, 8 Cedar Waxwings, 2 Eastern Bluebirds, 2 Savannah Sparrows, and this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

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A Big Surprise at Little Gap and the Nazareth Quarry ~ November 3, 2024

I hiked up to Little Gap. Mike and Corrine Schall showed up a little while later. The clear blue sky made it tough to find migrants, but there was a fair movement of raptors passing by. At 12:48, a bird circled up from the gap and headed towards us. It was a Short-eared Owl! It flew close by on the north side, circled up a bit, and then continued on down the ridge. We all got nice photos of this sharp-looking owl.

Short-eared Owl

I counted 9 Red-shouldered Hawks, most of them nicely-colored adults.

Adult Red-shouldered Hawks

Also noted there were 6 Bald Eagles, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Common Ravens, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 3 Eastern Bluebirds, 56 American Robins, 2 Purple Finches, and 17 birds that were either Horned Larks or American Pipits.

The other big topic of the day was the forest fire that was burning on the south side of the mountain just east of Lehigh Gap. I took this photo looking west from the hawkwatch of the smoke.

The forest fire east of Lehigh Gap.

When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I stopped at a vantage point west of Danielsville and took this photo of the fire. The dark spot above the flames near the top of the mountain is a helicopter dropping water on them.

The forest fire east of Lehigh Gap.

From there, I drove down to the Nazareth Quarry. Mike and Corrine joined me there. We saw a huge group of Lesser Black-backed Gulls taking up a good section of the quarry with some Herring and Ring-billed Gulls in among them. I took these four photos from left to right.

A massive group of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

When I got home, I painstakingly counted the birds in the four photos and came up with 1,138 Lessers the first round and 1,144 the second time! I entered the smaller number of 1,138 on the checklist.

I didn't have my scope with me, but I picked out the following with binoculars: 30 Ruddy Ducks, 8 American Coots, 8 American Black Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, a Common Merganser, and a Pied-billed Grebe, all among around 3,000 Canada Geese.

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