European Robin in Montreal, Canada! ~ January 10, 2026

Jason Horn and his friend, Marjorie Keefe, had just returned from a trip to Argentina and Antarctica when I got a text from him asking if I had gone to see the European Robin that had been discovered in Montreal, Canada on January 7th. I hadn't. After a few phone calls between him and Marjorie setting up the plan, we met at Jason's house at 4:30 AM and began the roughly seven-hour drive to Montreal.

We arrived at Rougemont Avenue, where the bird was being seen, just before noon. There were around a hundred other birders lining the street looking for the bird that hadn't been seen since around 8:30. We headed down toward the corner where the cedars were that the bird had been photographed in several times yesterday. As we were walking down there, someone spotted the bird in a tree just above the tall, concrete wall. Within five minutes of arriving, I was photographing the European Robin! I got these photos despite the bird being backlit by the sun.

European Robin

I moved my position to where the bird was more side-lit and a dark telephone pole was in the background and got these shots of it before a squirrel chased it back behind the wall.

European Robin

We spent some time talking with some of the other birders. That's when I took these photos of a portion of the birders that still remained there along the street.

Some of the roughly one hundred birders present at the European Robin site.

We then drove to a nearby park where we were told a Boreal Owl was being seen. The trails were very icy. We spent some time there looking without any luck and then headed home. We stopped in Plattsburgh, New York to get something to eat, and then drove home through some snow and, later at times, heavy rain, and got back to Jason's house a little after 1:00 AM. It was a 'life bird' for me, getting me one closer to that elusive 900 species for the A.B.A. area.

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Greater White-fronted Goose AND a Ross's Goose at the Northampton Quarry! ~ January 8, 2026

Since it was a relatively warm day with no wind, my main goal was to spend some time looking through geese at both the Northampton and Nazareth Quarries for some of the rarer ones. On the way to the Northampton Quarry, I stopped at Green Pond and found a Great Blue Heron there.

I also checked the Regency ponds and found a male Wood Duck and a male Bufflehead among the roughly 300 Canada Geese.

The Silver Crest Road pond was still frozen, so I headed over to the Northampton Quarry. There were an estimated 10,000 Snow Geese and around 800 Canada Geese present when I got there.

An estimated 10,000 Snow Geese.

While scanning through them, I found a Greater White-fronted Goose! I tried to get a very long-distance documentation photo of it, but I lost it when I tried to photograph it through the brush.

With so many Snow Geese present, it was almost a guarantee that there was at least one Ross's Goose in among them. The problem was finding one. It's the ultimate "Where's Waldo" situation. Since freezing hands and feet weren't an issue on this nice day, I took advantage of that, spending the next 2-1/2 hours scanning through them. When I was about to give up, I finally found a Ross's, the miniature version of a Snow Goose with a stubby bill! It was close enough for me to actually get some photos of it, too!

Ross's Goose

I skipped the Nazareth Quarry and headed home happy.

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Lots of New "Year Birds" Around the County ~ January 6, 2026

I started off the day at 5:00 AM, hoping to find some owls. For the owls' protection, I won't get too specific, but I checked several spots in Moore Township and ended up hearing 3 Great Horneds, an Eastern Screech-Owl, and a Northern Saw-whet Owl! It was a very good start to the day.

Around sunrise, I checked an area along E. Best Road and found 54 Wild Turkeys. I took a couple photos of a good portion of them.

Wild Turkeys

Nearby, I found a Black-capped Chickadee, 2 Eastern Bluebirds, and 2 American Tree Sparrows. I quickly checked Schlegel Road and Graver's Hill for field birds and came up empty.

I drove over to the Grand Central landfill to check out the gulls. Among the usual Lesser Black-backed, American Herring, and Ring-billed Gulls, I found 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, getting a few distant photos of one through the screening as it took off.

Great Black-backed Gull

My main birding spot for the morning was the Martins Creek Nature Trail, also known as the John M. Mauser Nature Education Trail System (a real mouthful) and, before that, the Tekening Trails. I saw a nice variety of woodpeckers that included 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a Northern Flicker, and 5 Red-bellieds, a Hairy and 3 Downy Woodpeckers. Just before reaching the river, I found 2 Winter Wrens. One of them was inquisitive long enough to allow me to get some nice photos of it.

Winter Wren

As I walked along the river, I came across 5 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a Purple Finch among numbers of White-throated Sparrows.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Purple Finch

Also along the river, I saw 8 Mallards and 8 Common Mergansers among around 200 Canada Geese, plus a Common Raven. One Black and one Turkey Vulture were seen overhead.

From there, I drove the short distance to Riverton where I saw 54 Common Goldeneye on the river north of the Belvidere bridge.

Common Goldeneye

Also there were 11 Buffleheads and 4 Common Mergansers.

The Martins Creek Environmental Preserve produced 74 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Hooded Mergansers, a Northern Harrier, and a Savannah Sparrow.

I went down to the Martins Creek PPL boat launch area and found two very hardy Killdeer and 2 American Pipits on the ice shelf downriver from the boat launch.

Killdeer

One of the two Killdeer with one of the two American Pipits.

American Pipit

Also seen there were 2 Bald Eagles, a Belted Kingfisher, and a Common Raven. On the way back home, I saw an American Kestrel along the Martins Creek-Belvidere Highway. I ended the day getting 18 'year birds' for the year.

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St. Luke's Anderson Campus Fields ~ January 5, 2026

I headed to the fields behind the St. Luke's Anderson Campus to see if I could find the Lapland Longspur that we had late last year during the Bethlehem - Easton Christmas Bird Count. Around 800 American Crows and 100 Fish Crows were scattered over the fields. I eventually found a group of 45 Horned Larks, but there was no sign of a longspur.

Horned Lark

At one point, I thought I caught a glimpse of a white wing patch on one of the birds. Thinking Snow Bunting, I followed it long enough to determine that it was a Horned Lark with a feather that was askew, causing it to look white in that area.

A Horned Lark with a feather askew.

One of the two Red-tailed Hawks was perched along the edge of the woods.

An immature Red-tailed Hawk.

Note the nictating membranes, acting like windshield wipers to clear its eyes.

The nictating membrames caught at the halfway point as they move across the eyes on this Red-tailed Hawk.

After taking those photos, it swooped down from there, grabbed a mouse, and flew off with it.

A Red-tailed Hawk captured a mouse.

Red-breasted Merganser on the Delaware and the Long-tailed Duck ~ January 4, 2026

I stopped at the "Forks of the Delaware" and found 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 6 American Herring Gulls among a couple hundred Ring-billeds.

I went up Route 611 and stopped at Jay Snyder Memorial Park to check that part of the river. There, I found a female Red-breasted Merganser among 17 Common Mergansers and 5 Buffleheads. I got these mediocre comparison photos of the females of the two species.

A female Red-breasted Merganser (center) with a female Common.

Note the smaller size, paler head, and thinner bill of the Red-breasted compared with the larger size, darker head, and thicker bill of the Common. Also note the diffused coloration of the light part of the breast which blends in with the head and the grayish sides compared to the noticeable white chin patch, and the white throat and breast contrasting with the dark head and gray sides on the Common. Many guides mention the shaggy crest on the Red-breasted, but I've seen many female Commons with a shaggy-looking crest, which the Common in this photo shows some evidence of, so I do not consider this point as a strong, determining factor.

I then headed for the Nazareth Quarry. The continuing Long-tailed Duck was there along with 43 Canada Geese, 36 Ruddy Ducks, 11 Buffleheads, 6 American Black Ducks, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 7 Common Mergansers, and 16 American Coots.

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A Nice Selection of Birds Around the County ~ January 3, 2026

I met up with Stephen Kloiber and Megan Davis at the St. Luke's Anderson Campus at 10:00. Soon after, Adam Miller joined us as we walked the large field behind the pond, looking for the Lapland Longspur with the large Horned Lark flock that we had found late last year on the Bethlehem Christmas Bird Count. Despite a sweep of the field, we only found around a dozen larks, so the large flock must have flown to greener, or in this case, browner pastures. While there, we had several hundred crows, a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, and a Savannah Sparrow.

From there, Stephen, Megan, and I drove up to Moore Township. One Red-headed Woodpecker was along E. Best Road.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Near Copella Road, we found Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Common Raven, and 4 Eastern Bluebirds. Along Schlegel Road, we found a dozen Horned Larks. Over at Graver's Hill, we found 'fly-by' Snow Geese, a Black Vulture, and only 6 Horned Larks. No Snow Buntings or longspurs were there to be had.

At Beacon Road, we split up and I headed for Ballas Park, hoping to find American Tree Sparrow and other year birds. I parked at Ballas, got out of the car, walked fifty feet along the brushy edge, and found a group of Tree Sparrows. I thought, "Wow, that was too easy." They are one of my favorite sparrows, sporting that distinctive bright yellow lower mandible. The bicolored bill is one definite way to tell a Tree Sparrow from the similarly-colored Field Sparrow, which has an all-pink bill. I was even luckier as they posed for some nice photos. I got one of a 'dark' adult, showing its rusty sides and flanks, and a few of a 'pale' adult.

A 'dark' adult American Tree Sparrow.

A 'pale' adult American Tree Sparrow.

A little farther up the path, I found a small group of Cedar Waxwings feeding on berries with 11 American Robins.

Cedar Waxwings

Nearby, a Hermit Thrush was found among the many White-throated Sparrows.

Hermit Thrush

In the southwestern corner of the park, I found two Golden-crowned Kinglets. One allowed me to get a couple photos, but as usual, it was behind a few branches.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

As I was almost back to the car, I spotted a Northern Harrier and got this distant photo before it continued up over the hill.

Northern Harrier

I left Ballas and drove the short distance over to the Albert Road Ponds. Two Mute Swans were there along with one Ring-necked Duck and a couple hundred Canada Geese.

Mute Swans

On the way back home, I stopped at the Nazareth Quarry. I met Mark Rauzon there. He was looking for the Long-tailed Duck, which he eventually found while I was scoping the little cove. I took another documentation photo of it.

Long-tailed Duck

The male Redhead that we found on last year's Christmas Bird Count was also there. I got this horrible documentation photo of it through the thick brush.

Redhead

Other birds found there included 300 Canada Geese and 5 Snow Geese, 42 Ruddy Ducks, 14 Ring-necked Ducks, 13 Buffleheads, 7 American Black Ducks, 2 Mallards, a Green-winged Teal, 7 Common Mergansers, and 14 American Coots.

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