Great Egrets spread over Northampton County ~ July 18, 2021

With the finding of Roseate Spoonbills, Tricolored and Little Blue Herons in the state, I decided to check some of the local retention ponds on Sunday afternoon. My first stop was the Hollo Road retention pond. There, a Great Egret stood out like a sore thumb in the mostly-empty pond.

My next stop was at the West Gremar Road retention pond where five Great Egrets were present among Canada Geese and a Spotted Sandpiper. The first photo captures three of them.

The nearby Trio Farms Boulevard retention ponds held another Great Egret and a young Great Blue Heron.

On the way back home, I checked out Green Pond and found another Great Egret in the retention pond along Farmersville Road.

So, it was a pretty productive day for Great Egrets but, unfortunately, there were no big pink birds among them.

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Short-billed Dowitcher at St. Luke's Anderson Campus ~ July 9, 2021

Jon Mularczyk forwarded some photos of a dowitcher that Kurt Zimmerman had found earlier at the retention pond area behind St. Luke's Anderson Campus. I headed down there and checked the pond, but the heavy rain that we had the night before had filled it to where there was no muddy shoreline. Adam Miller arrived and, after looking at the photos, we realized that the bird was photographed along the walking path. As we headed over there, I looked to the right and the bird was there, walking along the grass by the edge of the field. We watched and photographed it as a few more birders showed up. It favored a small rain puddle where it was pulling out earthworms and chowing down.

A couple hours later, people walking the area with their dogs caused the bird to make a few flights around the pond, but it eventually ended up back at its favorite puddle. When I left, the bird was still there.

After getting back home and processing my photos, I agree with others that this was a 'hendersoni' Short-billed Dowitcher.

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Ruddy Duck at Green Pond ~ June 8, 2021

Since I had to drop off some papers in Bethlehem Township, I decided to make a run over to Green Pond to see if the surrounding thunderstorms might have 'grounded' some shorebirds. When I checked the retention pond that's closest to Farmersville Road, I was surprised to find a male Ruddy Duck on it. In past years, Ruddy Ducks have been seen in June on the pond itself, but this bird was at the retention pond instead. I grabbed a couple long-distant photos to document it.

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Snow Goose and Bank Swallow along Hollo Road ~ June 3, 2021

I made a quick late afternoon run to check some of the local retention ponds for shorebirds. West Gremar Road held an Eastern Kingbird but no shorebirds. As I headed south on Route 191, I noticed a white bird just south of the Hollo Road intersection. It turned out to be an apparently healthy Snow Goose feeding in the grass along the cornfield. I wondered if this was the same bird that I saw at the Nazareth Quarry on May 25th and why it didn't head north with the others in early Spring.

Snow Goose

At the Hollo Road retention pond, the only shorebird I saw was one of the resident Spotted Sandpipers, but there was a Bank Swallow among 8 Northern Rough-wingeds, a Barn, and a Tree Swallow. I tried to get a documentation photo of it, but it was too tough to track and too far away to get anything worthwhile.

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Delaware State Forest in the Poconos ~ June 2, 2021

I got up pretty early and drove about an hour north to a portion of the Delaware State Forest in the Poconos, arriving soon after sunrise. I walked a road where logging had been done in recent years, hoping to get to see and possibly photograph a bird I hadn't been lucky enough to come across in many years----the Golden-winged Warbler. I walked about two miles out the road without seeing or even hearing one. Birds found on the way out included Red-shouldered Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Veery, Wood Thrush, Indigo Bunting, Cedar Waxwings, several Field Sparrows, numbers of Eastern Towhees, Ovenbirds, and Common Yellowthroats, a pair of Scarlet Tanagers, a few Black-and-white Warblers, several Prairie Warblers, and numerous American Redstarts.

Prairie Warbler

About halfway back to the car, I heard and spotted a Black-and-white Warbler and then noticed another bird near it, which turned out to be a Golden-winged! It was completely silent during the time I tried to get photos of it.

Golden-winged Warbler

In the area of the Golden-winged were a Chestnut-sided Warbler and the Black-and-white Warbler that initially led me to the Golden-winged.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

A little closer to the car, I stopped in my tracks when I heard another Golden-winged singing close by. This bird was not singing on the way out earlier in the morning, but I was glad that it was now because it was much easier to find, even with my poor directional hearing. The bird preened itself between its periods of song, allowing me to get many more photos.

Golden-winged Warbler

While photographing the Golden-winged, I was surprised to hear a Cerulean Warbler singing there, too. It was very high up in one of the larger trees, but I could never get a good look at it, let alone a photo. Still, there was no way I could complain considering the way things worked out.

I took Route 191 on the way back home and stopped at Lake Minsi. There, I found a female Wood Duck with seven ducklings, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue and Green Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Purple Martins using the gourds at both parking lots. At the eastern parking lot, a pair of Northern Watersnakes and one young one were among the cattails by the boat launch. I was too close to get a photo of any of them with my telephoto lens, so I backed up just far enough until I could get a shot of one of the adults on a log.

Northern Watersnake

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Green Pond ~ June 1, 2021

With the landbird migration now ground to a halt, I decided to check out Green Pond to see if any of the small amounts of rain over the last few days might have filled some of the dried-up areas there. Although there was very little change in that regard, I did get to see Chimney Swifts, a Killdeer, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, one each of Great Blue and Green Heron, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, and Baltimore Oriole.

Chimney Swift

Eastern Kingbird

Cedar Waxwings

Raptors take the day in Upper Mount Bethel Township ~ May 27, 2021

A walk around Bear Swamp produced a calling Barred Owl, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Veery, Wood Thrush, Northern Waterthrush, and both Red-shouldered and Broad-winged Hawk.

Juvenal Red-shouldered Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Later along Institute Drive, an adult Red-shouldered Hawk circled low as a Cooper's Hawk soared by.

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

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