Five Iceland Gulls at the Nazareth Quarry! ~ November 22, 2025

I spent the whole day going from site to site. I started at the St. Luke's Anderson Campus walking path. A large group of around 150 Fish Crows was in the trees along the river. A group of gulls circling overhead contained 60 Ring-billed Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and an American Herring Gull. Other birds found there included 32 Mourning Doves, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Horned Lark, 3 American Goldfinches, 7 Dark-eyed Juncos, and 7 White-throated Sparrows.

Over at the Green Pond area were 2 American Black Ducks, 4 Killdeer, an Eastern Bluebird, and an American Goldfinch.

Four Killdeer were in the grassy field by the Newburg Road retention pond.

I headed over to the Regency Boulevard retention ponds and saw 28 Buffleheads, 4 Green-winged Teal, and 10 Snow Geese among around 600 Canada Goose.

Buffleheads

Green-winged Teal

Up the road at the Silver Crest Road pond, I found a group of Cackling Geese together on the bank of the pond.

Seven Cackling Geese with a larger, darker Canada Goose at the top left for comparison.

Other birds seen there included 17 Common Mergansers, 6 Ruddy Ducks, 2 Green-winged Teal, and a Bufflehead among 300 Canada Geese.

I headed over to the Nazareth Quarry to see if the Glaucous Gull might show up again. As I parked the car, I noticed 57 Turkey Vultures and 2 Black Vultures circling nearby.

A portion of the 57 Turkey Vultures.

I was searching through the 3000 Canada Geese and 98 Snow Geese for something unusual when Adam Miller showed up. Together, we picked out 75 Ruddy Ducks, 50 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, 3 American Black Ducks, 3 Common Mergansers, 11 American Coots, and 7 Double-crested Cormorants.

Double-crested Cormorants

Down in the southwest corner of the quarry, I spotted a pair of Redheads and Adam picked out a Gadwall.

As sunset approached, a couple hundred gulls dropped in and landed on the quarry. There were 15 American Herring Gulls and 3 Ring-billed Gulls among around 200 Lesser Black-backeds. We scanned through them and came up with five first-winter Iceland Gulls! I got a photo showing four of the five.

Four of the 5 Iceland Gulls, two near the bottom left and two at the top right.

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Northern Flicker, and a American Robin were also seen there.

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Glaucous and Iceland Gulls at the Nazareth Quarry! ~ November 21, 2025

It was a cloudy day with a low cloud ceiling, so I decided to go up and check out the Nazareth Quarry. There were about a thousand Canada Geese there when I arrived. I scoped the quarry and found one "Blue" Goose, 34 Ruddy Ducks, 23 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, 2 Common Mergansers, and 7 American Coots. I scanned through the Canada Geese, hoping to find something different, but didn't. I was about to leave when a few thousand more Canadas and 75 Snow Geese dropped into the quarry. Soon after that, numbers of gulls began landing, too. I scanned through the gulls and found an Iceland Gull! As more gulls dropped in, I found two more Iceland Gulls among them!

Two of the 3 Iceland Gulls at center.

The gulls were skittish and took off several times, eventually dropping back in and landing each time.

The 3 Iceland Gulls (left center, landing just left of center, and right center).

Sunset was approaching when more gulls began arriving. There were at least 600 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present along with 6 American Herring Gulls and 5 Ring-billed Gulls. I noticed another "white-winged" gull flying with them as they circled around. I somehow managed to get two photos of it when it reached the break in the trees. It seemed bigger, but I was only getting brief glimpses of it through the trees and wasn't totally sure what it was. That group continued to circle and I ended up losing it as the light faded. I searched the ones on the water and didn't find it among them. When I got back home, I went through my photos and found those two shots. Noting that it was larger than the adjacent Lesser Black-backed Gulls, had a large, dark-tipped bill, and a large head, I realized that it was a first-winter Glaucous Gull!

A first-winter Glaucous Gull!

I then realized that I almost walked back to the car and would have missed the best birds of the day. In birding, timing is almost everything.

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The "Forks of the Delaware" and Sewer Authority Area ~ November 18, 2025

I spent about a half-hour checking the gulls out at the "Forks of the Delaware". There, I found 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 6 American Herring Gulls among at least 400 Ring-billed Gulls. Four Buffleheads were also seen there.

I went the short distance down Route 611 and birded the area around the Easton Area Joint Sewer Authority where I found a Hairy Woodpecker, a Northern Flicker, and 34 American Robins.

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An Interesting Hummingbird in Northumberland County, PA ~ November 14, 2025

Jason Horn texted photos to me last night of a hummingbird near Sunbury, Pennsylvania. It was a 'Selasphorus' hummingbird that most likely was a Rufous, but the photos appeared to show a fairly long and wide tail, creating questions of whether it might be a Broad-tailed. So early Friday morning, we got permission from the homeowner to check it out and drove the roughly two hours up there.

A few minutes after we arrived, Jason spotted it flycatching from a tall Norway Spruce tree. Eventually, it came down to the feeder, which was kept from freezing by a heat lamp. I took a bunch of photos during its several visits to the feeder during the 3-1/2 hours we were there. I was unable to get a shot of the spread tail, but there was an excessive amount of rufous in the tail that ruled out the chance of it being a Broad-tailed.

Rufous Hummingbird

When we got back to Jason's house, we found 2 Common Ravens and a male Purple Finch.

Purple Finch

UPDATE: Hummingbird bander Sandy Lockerman banded the bird on the 17th and confirmed it to be an immature female Rufous Hummingbird.

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Ponds and the Nazareth Quarry ~ November 13, 2025

There were still 11 Killdeer with Canada Geese present when I checked the Newburg Road retention pond.

When I stopped at the Hollo Road retention pond, I noticed a Snow x Canada Goose hybrid among about 200 Canada Geese. I took some photos of it on the near shore.

A Snow x Canada Goose hybrid.

I then went to the Nazareth Quarry, which held 17 Ruddy Ducks, 15 Ring-necked Ducks, 3 American Black Ducks, and an American Coot among around 2000 Canada Geese. A group of 35 Cedar Waxwings briefly landed in the trees and then flew off to the west.

The Green Pond area produced a Great Blue Heron and 67 Canada Geese, plus a group of 'fly-by' 45 Red-winged Blackbirds.

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The Ponds Again ~ November 12, 2025

After switching out one of my daughter's kitchen receptacles, I drove down to the Silver Crest Road pond, which held 36 Common Mergansers, 6 Ruddy Ducks, a Great Blue Heron, and an American Herring Gull among around 350 Canada Geese.

American Herring Gull

A Northern Harrier also flew by just before I got into the car.

Northern Harrier

I drove to the nearby Regency Boulevard ponds and noticed a Bald Eagle flying overhead as I was driving in. I quickly parked the car and got these photos as it continued south.

Bald Eagle

In the ponds were 16 Buffleheads and a Great Blue Heron among 450 Canada Geese.

My last stop was at the Green Pond area. One Killdeer was along the edge of the Farmersville Road retention pond and an American Black Duck was in the back middle pond. Along the paved path, I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 2 Red-bellied and 2 Downy Woodpeckers, a Blue Jay, 4 probable Black-capped Chickadees, one Red-breasted and 4 White-breasted Nuthatches, 3 Eastern Bluebirds, 8 House Finches, 11 Dark-eyed Juncos, and one White-throated and one Song Sparrow. A Common Raven and 22 Cedar Waxwings were seen flying over the golf course.

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Green Pond and the Hollo Road Pond ~ November 11, 2025

On this unseasonably cold and blustery day, I decided to go down to the Forks of the Delaware and check for gulls. It was a wasted trip as there were only 18 Ring-billed Gulls there, so I left there and headed for Green Pond. There, I found 2 American Black Ducks and a Great Blue Heron among around 130 Canada Goose. At the nearby retention ponds, the 2 Common Ravens and a Northern Harrier continued along with 4 Eastern Bluebirds.

As I pulled up to the Hollo Road retention pond, I noticed a group of 13 Green-winged Teal in the shallow corner of the pond. As soon as I got done counting them, they all flushed. That's when I realized why. There was an adult male Northern Harrier flying over them. The harrier flew up from the pond and continued north over Hollo Road and along the Shoeneck Creek. It was my 118th species for the site.

Northern Harrier

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Newburg Road and Green Pond, and the Nazareth Quarry ~ November 10, 2025

In mid-afternoon, I went to the Newburg Road pond to see if the Greater Yellowlegs was still there. It wasn't, but there were still 20 Killdeer in the adjacent grassy field along with a Savannah Sparrow. Also, a Merlin went zipping by and headed north.

Over at Green Pond, I saw 2 American Black Ducks and a Great Blue Heron.

I then went to the Nazareth Quarry. Among the roughly 5000 Canada Geese were 2 Snow Geese, 27 Ruddy Ducks, 14 Ring-necked Ducks, and 3 American Coots. Also in the quarry were around 450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 31 American Herring Gulls, and 7 Ring-billed Gulls, plus there were at least 80 American Robins flying over and through the trees.

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Another Cave Swallow Search ~ November 9, 2025

A few Cave Swallows were still being reported at some Pennsylvania sites, so I again hopped from pond to pond hoping to find one. I started the search at the Martins Creek PPL power plant area. There were 13 Buffleheads, 2 Ruddy Ducks, and a Hooded Merganser at the pond, but no swallows. The brushy area at the intersection of Depues Road and Depues Ferry Road produced a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, an Eastern Phoebe, a Carolina Wren, 5 Northern Mockingbirds, 22 American Robins, 24 Cedar Waxwings, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, 3 Dark-eyed Juncos, 9 Song Sparrows, 5 White-throated Sparrows, and 7 White-crowned Sparrows.

Immature White-crowned Sparrow.

Adult White-crowned Sparrows.

I went up to Echo Lake and found 10 Mute Swans and 2 American Black Ducks among about 250 Canada Geese.

Over at nearby Lake Minsi, there was absolutely nothing on the entire eastern half of the lake except 6 Canada Geese. I checked an area where a friend had told me he saw 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers a while ago and I found two of them there. They were actively hammering and feeding as I got these photos.

Red-headed Woodpeckers

Two Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Yellow-rumped Warbler were flitting around in the same area.

Golden-crowned Kinglets

Birds seen on the western side of the lake included 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 American Coots, and a Belted Kingfisher.

I left the northeastern section of the county and drove over to the Regency Boulevard retention ponds where I found 15 Buffleheads, a Green-winged Teal, and 28 Cedar Waxwings.

My next stop was the Green Pond area. As I walked along the paved path, there were a group of birds working their way through the trees. They included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, 5 Eastern Bluebirds, 18 Cedar Waxwings, 2 American Goldfinches, 9 Dark-eyed Juncos, and 2 White-throated Sparrows, but the best birds were two late Pine Warblers that were chasing each other around so much that I wasn't able to get any photos of them. They were probably the same two that I saw here back on October 26th, so I can only assume that they are spending most of their time in the rows of pines on the golf course.

At Green Pond were 2 American Black Ducks and a Great Blue Heron with some Canada Geese and Mallards. Two Common Ravens were in the stubble of the flooded field and flew off while the continuing Northern Harrier hunted the southeast pond.

Common Raven

Northern Harrier

I then went over to the Newburg Road retention pond and found that there were still 21 Killdeer there, but the surprise was a late Greater Yellowlegs that was with them along the shoreline.

Greater Yellowlegs

The grassy field was filled with around 600 Canada Geese. In among them was one immature Snow Goose.

Snow Goose

I never hit the lottery and found a Cave Swallow, but I ended up with a pretty nice list of birds for the day.

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