Snow Buntings, a Lapland Longspur, and Greater White-fronted Geese ~ December 14, 2025

Because of last night's snowfall, I decided to check out some of the open areas for field birds. I went to Graver's Hill and found about 75 Horned Larks in the wind-blown snow.

Horned Lark

In the field along S. Delps Road, I noticed 7 Snow Buntings. I got some flight photos of them as they flew over and joined the Horned Larks.

Snow Buntings in flight.

They then fed along the edge of the standing corn where the Horned Larks were.

A first-winter male Snow Bunting.

Snow Buntings along S. Oaks Road.

When some of the Horned Larks landed on the road, one of the Snow Buntings briefly joined them.

Snow Bunting on S. Oaks Road.

They eventually flew back across S. Delps Road and landed in the same field that I found them in. That's when a guy on a loud ATV came up the road and flushed them. As they took off and I tried to get more flight photos, I very briefly noticed one smaller bird with them, which made me think it might be a Lapland Longspur. I tried following it in my camera but unfortunately lost track of it in some similar-colored background. I spent a while searching for it but never refound that bird. When I got home and put the photos on my computer screen, I realized that I actually had gotten some photos of it among the Snow Buntings. Despite being blurry, there was no question that it was a Lapland Longspur!

A Lapland Longspur (top) with 2 Snow Buntings, a female (left), and a male (right).

A Lapland Longspur with a Snow Bunting. This photo shows the white tail corners on the longspur.

A Lapland Longspur with a male Snow Bunting. This photo shows the dark streaks on the sides and the flanks.

A Lapland Longspur showing the rufous wing patches bordered with white, the light-colored head, and the notched tail.

I made a couple stops on the way back home. The first was the Regency Boulevard retention ponds. Both were mostly frozen and devoid of birds. The only notable bird there was an American Kestrel perched on a wire at Steuben Road.

With Green Pond frozen, I continued to the Church Road pond to see if the 8 Greater White-fronted Geese that I found there yesterday were still there. I did find five of them among the 250 Canada Geese and 26 Mallards.

Five Greater White-fronted Geese.

I sent out a text about the White-fronteds and went home to warm up.

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Eight Greater White-fronted Geese at the Church Road Pond ~ December 13, 2025

I left around 12:30 and checked the Regency Boulevard retention ponds. There was no sign of the Tundra Swan that was there recently. I scoped the field at the end of Steuben Road and briefly saw about 40 Horned Larks way in the distance.

I drove down Arrowhead Road looking for field birds but instead found at least 500 American Crows and a Red-tailed Hawk in the treeline.

Most of the retention ponds were frozen. When I stopped at Green Pond, I found a couple Eastern Bluebirds on the fence around one of the ponds and a Northern Harrier hunting the edges of them.

Northern Harrier

While I was there, Paul Shanahan stopped to talk with me. He told me that the Church Road retention pond was still partially open, so I drove over there. I scanned through the 250 Canada Geese and 26 Mallards and found 8 Greater White-fronted Geese! Four were on the ice near the center of the pond and four were on the ice along the western edge of the pond.

Greater White-fronted Geese

While there, 4 Bald Eagles flew over and got the geese all worked up for a while. An adult, a sub-adult, and two immatures were seen.

Bald Eagles

I sent out a text about the White-fronteds and then headed for the Nazareth Quarry. There were roughly 20,000 Snow Geese there. Scanning the rest of the quarry revealed 48 Ruddy Ducks, 18 Ring-necked Ducks, 11 Buffleheads, 6 American Black Ducks, 2 Common Mergansers, and 27 American Coots.

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Nazareth Quarry ~ December 9, 2025

I made another late afternoon run up to the Nazareth Quarry to check it out. I scanned through the continuing large amount of geese. There were about 35,000 Snow Geese there and about 800 Canadas. Nothing different was spotted.

The Snow Geese filling most of the quarry.

Other notables were 25 Ruddy Ducks, 7 Ring-necked Ducks, 5 Buffleheads, an American Black Duck, and a Common Merganser.

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Nine Greater White-fronted Geese and a Huge Influx of Snows ~ December 6, 2025

Mike Schall checked out the Trio Farms Boulevard retention ponds and found 9 Greater White-fronted Geese there. I was planning on checking the Nazareth Quarry at the end of the day, so I swung by that way beforehand. I found all nine. Among about 500 Canada Geese, I found two on the larger pond, two on the berm between the two ponds, and five on the north bank by the houses.

Two of the 9 Greater White-fronted Geese in the pond.

Two of the 9 Greater White-fronted Geese on the berm.

Five of the 9 Greater White-fronted Geese on the north bank in the pond.

Also there were 6 Cackling Geese showing their lighter-colored backs, short necks, and stubby bills, plus a Great Blue Heron.

Two of the 6 Cackling Geese bordered by Canada Geese.

I then went to the Nazareth Quarry as planned. A huge number of Snow Geese had apparently moved into the area overnight. After seeing 6000 there two days ago, there were roughly 35,000 Snows there today, filling two-thirds of the quarry and dwarfing the 3000 Canadas. At one point, about a third of them took off.

Roughly 35,000 Snow Geese!

Adam Miller and Guy de Bruyn were there. Adam pointed out a group of about 40 scaup that appeared to be mostly Greater Scaup, but they were too far back in the quarry to be sure.

A group of scaup, appearing to be mostly Greater Scaup.

Several Redheads were also with them. Other birds seen there included about 30 Ruddy Ducks, 20 Ring-necked Ducks, 9 Buffleheads, 3 American Black Ducks, 5 Common Mergansers, 22 American Coots, and a Pied-billed Grebe. After 4:30, a small group of gulls dropped in and briefly landed long enough for me to notice a first-winter Iceland Gull with 23 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 9 American Herring Gulls before taking off again.

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