A Trip to Erie for a Vermilion Flycatcher ~ November 8, 2024

A Vermilion Flycatcher had been found at Presque Isle State Park in Erie on the 7th and continued there until dark, so Jason Horn, Rick Wiltraut, and I left around midnight and started the six-hour drive to Erie. I actually takes me less time to drive to Canada from my house than it does to get to Erie, so I always say, "Oh crap!" to myself when I hear there's a state bird there because I dread the long drive there and back.

We got to Leo's Landing inside Presque Isle State Park before first light and walked the short trail out to the point. There were a flock of about 40 Dunlin flying back and forth in the cove.

Dunlin

A small sandbar held a Greater Yellowlegs and a Bonaparte's Gull among the other gulls.

Greater Yellowlegs

Bonaparte's Gull

We ended up seeing 46 species there, but the flycatcher had apparently moved on. All of the Vermilion Flycatchers found in Pennsylvania have been "one-day wonders" and this one unfortunately followed this trend. Additional birds of note included Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Red-breasted and Common Merganser, Ruddy Duck, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, Merlin, Winter Wren, Snow Bunting, and Swamp Sparrow.

We left the park around noon and made the long, disappointing drive back home.

---

Ballas Park and Hollo Road ~ November 7, 2024

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.

Northern Harrier

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.

American Tree Sparrow

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.

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.

Northern Harrier

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.

Rusty Blackbird

A Swamp Sparrow was another good find there while trying to refind the blackbird.

---

St. Luke's Anderson Campus Area ~ November 5, 2024

At home, there was a large group of American Robins, several Cedar Waxwings and European Starlings, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker hitting the crabapple tree.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

They were joined at the little pond by two Common Grackles and several Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows.

Cedar Waxwing

The "bronzed" race of Common Grackle.

I did a late morning walk at the St. Luke's Anderson Campus grounds. There was nothing real notable there with the exception of 2 White-crowned Sparrows, one of which appeared to be a good candidate for a "Gambel's" race due to its unmarked lores and orange bill.

An apparent "Gambel's" White-crowned Sparrow.

There was also a Brown-headed Cowbird in a transitioning plumage.

Brown-headed Cowbird

---

Regency Ponds and Green Pond ~ November 4, 2024

I checked out the Regency Boulevard ponds. The south pond held 3 Green-winged Teal and 4 Killdeer among the Canada Geese, but the best birds there were around 30 American Pipits. I noticed them through the scope at the back edge of the pond. I tried to get some photos, but they were very poor, long distance photos. I then saw them fly over and drop into the cove area of the north pond. I parked by the cove and found some of them a lot closer this time. I grabbed some photos of one of them through the fence.

American Pipit

The pipits were my 139th species seen at the Regency area. Over in the main section of the north pond, I saw 4 Buffleheads, a Pied-billed Grebe, and two more Killdeer.

A male and female Bufflehead.

Pied-billed Grebe

Over at Green Pond, I found 6 American Black Ducks, 4 Green-winged Teal, 2 Great Blue Herons, 8 Cedar Waxwings, 2 Eastern Bluebirds, 2 Savannah Sparrows, and this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

---

A Big Surprise at Little Gap and the Nazareth Quarry ~ November 3, 2024

I hiked up to Little Gap. Mike and Corrine Schall showed up a little while later. The clear blue sky made it tough to find migrants, but there was a fair movement of raptors passing by. At 12:48, a bird circled up from the gap and headed towards us. It was a Short-eared Owl! It flew close by on the north side, circled up a bit, and then continued on down the ridge. We all got nice photos of this sharp-looking owl.

Short-eared Owl

I counted 9 Red-shouldered Hawks, most of them nicely-colored adults.

Adult Red-shouldered Hawks

Also noted there were 6 Bald Eagles, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Common Ravens, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 3 Eastern Bluebirds, 56 American Robins, 2 Purple Finches, and 17 birds that were either Horned Larks or American Pipits.

The other big topic of the day was the forest fire that was burning on the south side of the mountain just east of Lehigh Gap. I took this photo looking west from the hawkwatch of the smoke.

The forest fire east of Lehigh Gap.

When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I stopped at a vantage point west of Danielsville and took this photo of the fire. The dark spot above the flames near the top of the mountain is a helicopter dropping water on them.

The forest fire east of Lehigh Gap.

From there, I drove down to the Nazareth Quarry. Mike and Corrine joined me there. We saw a huge group of Lesser Black-backed Gulls taking up a good section of the quarry with some Herring and Ring-billed Gulls in among them. I took these four photos from left to right.

A massive group of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

When I got home, I painstakingly counted the birds in the four photos and came up with 1,138 Lessers the first round and 1,144 the second time! I entered the smaller number of 1,138 on the checklist.

I didn't have my scope with me, but I picked out the following with binoculars: 30 Ruddy Ducks, 8 American Coots, 8 American Black Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, a Common Merganser, and a Pied-billed Grebe, all among around 3,000 Canada Geese.

---