This morning, I went to Ballas Park near Wind Gap and walked clockwise around the loop trail. The first bird I noticed was a Northern Harrier that lifted off from the Kestrel box in the middle of the field.
Several groups of sparrows were found along the brushy southern edge of the park. They were mostly White-throated and Song Sparrows, but one of them turned out to be my first American Tree Sparrow of the Fall.
Other birds seen there and along the western portion of the trail included American Kestrel, Eastern Bluebird, American Goldfinch, and Field and Savannah Sparrow in addition to many American Robins.
Along the eastern part of the trail, I came across Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglet, a Brown Creeper, and a Gray Catbird.
I was back at the parking lot and about to put my camera in the car when the Northern Harrier came soaring by allowing me to get many more photos of it.
I left there and stopped at the Hollo Road retention pond on the way back home. The Pectoral Sandpipers were gone and I didn't see the Least Sandpiper either, but the lighting was really bad, so I might have overlooked it. At the nearby Shoeneck Creek, I saw a blackbird perched on one of the trees next to the creek. When I got my binoculars on it, I realized it had a yellow eye, a short bill, and a short tail, which ruled out Common Grackle. It was a Rusty Blackbird! I was about to try and get closer to it when a Cooper's Hawk flew by and sent it flying. I quickly snapped a couple distant photos of it as it took off out of sight.
A Swamp Sparrow was another good find there while trying to refind the blackbird.
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