Several Good Birds in Northampton County ~ January 27, 2026

With the snow covering all of the fields, I planned to go check them for Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. As I pulled out of the garage just before 1:00 PM, I got a text from Adam Miller stating that he had a Red-throated Loon AND a Red-necked Grebe at the Nazareth Quarry, so I headed there. I got to see and get documentation photos of both of these birds.

Red-throated Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Also there were 4 Horned Grebes, 2 Pied-billed Grebes, around 30 Ruddy Ducks, 11 Buffleheads, 4 American Black Ducks, a male Redhead, 17 Common Mergansers, and a Hooded Merganser.

Adam said he was going to check out the Martins Creek PPL power plant area. I decided to go to my original plan and check out the Graver's Hill area. I slowly drove down Schlegel Road, which only turned up 3 Horned Larks.

Horned Lark

Graver's Hill held about 80 Horned Larks, but nothing was mixed in with them. That's when I got another text from Adam that he had found a Lapland Longspur at Martins Creek, so I headed over there. Along Depues Ferry Road, I saw an American Kestrel with a mouse in its talons. Farther down the road, I found a flock of about 30 Horned Larks with Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated and Song Sparrows among them. When I continued looking through the group, I spotted the Lapland Longspur mostly blocked by a chunk of ice.

The Lapland Longspur (left), Horned Larks, a Dark-eyed Junco (center), and a Song Sparrow (right).

I very slowly crept up with the car and got these nice photos of the longspur.

Lapland Longspur

I went over to the retention basin and saw a male Greater Scaup that Adam had also mentioned.

Greater Scaup

Other birds there included around 75 Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Hooded Mergansers, 2 Common Mergansers, and a female scaup that was likely a Greater, plus 11 Mallards.

It was a great day despite the frigid conditions. I ended the day getting six new 'year birds', a few of them "annual finds".

---