At 6:00 AM, Jason Horn and Stephen Kloiber joined me for the Bethlehem Christmas Bird Count. At the Lehigh Cement Company, we met its environmental manager, Luis Rodriguez, who has been great at allowing us access to the Nazareth Quarry for three years now. Like last year, in fog and drizzle, we walked to the edge of the quarry and found only about 3000 Snow Geese present. It's very possible that the hard freeze two weeks before pushed a good portion of them farther south. A Snow x Ross's Goose hybrid was picked out among the Snows, but no pure Ross's could be found. There were at least a dozen dead Snow Geese floating around the edges of the quarry that likely had been victims of the bird flu.
Scanning the rest of the quarry, Jason picked out a male Long-tailed Duck and, later, a Common Loon! I got some distant documentation photos of them through the mist and fog.
Other good birds seen in the quarry included 87 Ruddy Ducks, 22 Buffleheads, 16 American Coots, 16 American Black Ducks, 7 Common Mergansers, 4 Ring-necked Ducks, and 2 Lesser Scaup. A Peregrine Falcon was seen perched on one of the cement company structures and an American Herring Gull flew by.
We then hiked the area that used to be known as the "Hollo Road pines". Over the years, the stand of pines have been continuing to die off, causing more and more undergrowth to take over. While walking the area, we found Cooper's Hawk, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Carolina and Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush, and American Robin among numbers of White-throated Sparrows.
We thanked Luis once again for our opportunity to bird the company's property and headed for the Hollo Road retention pond. There was nothing notable on the pond, but the nearby area along the Shoeneck Creek produced a Great Blue Heron, an American Kestrel, 2 Northern Mockingbirds, 4 White-crowned Sparrows, and a Swamp Sparrow.
We stopped to get something to eat at the Wendy's near Tatamy. When we came out, Jason pointed out a Bald Eagle, which flew in and chased a Merlin off of a nearby powerline tower. The Merlin flew over and landed on a nearby telephone pole where I got these photos. It then flew off back to the west.
We made a quick stop at the duck-feeding area near Bushkill Park where we spotted one Wood Duck and a 'fly-by' Belted Kingfisher. There wasn't much of note at the Newburg Road retention ponds area, so we continued down to the Forks of the Delaware. There, we found one Lesser Black-backed Gull among about 300 Ring-billed Gulls, 3 Common Mergansers, and 2 Buffleheads. On the way back, a nice adult Red-shouldered Hawk was found perched in the treeline right by the entrance to the Lidl market.
We ended up with a total of 55 species, which was pretty good for a foggy, drizzly day. The list follows.
1) Snow Geese
2) Canada Goose
3) Wood Duck
4) Mallard
5) American Black Duck
6) Ring-necked Duck
7) Lesser Scaup
8) Long-tailed Duck
9) Bufflehead
10) Common Merganser
11) Ruddy Duck
12) Common Loon
13) Great Blue Heron
14) Bald Eagle
15) Cooper's Hawk
16) Red-shouldered Hawk
17) Red-tailed Hawk
18) American Kestrel
19) Merlin
20) Peregrine Falcon
21) American Coot
22) Ring-billed Gull
23) American Herring Gull
24) Lesser Black-backed Gull
25) Rock Pigeon
26) Mourning Dove
27) Belted Kingfisher
28) Red-bellied Woodpecker
29) Northern Flicker
30) Downy Woodpecker
31) Hairy Woodpecker
32) Blue Jay
33) American Crow
34) Horned Lark
35) Tufted Titmouse
36) Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee
37) Brown Creeper
38) Winter Wren
39) Carolina Wren
40) Ruby-crowned Kinglet
41) Hermit Thrush
42) American Robin
43) Northern Mockingbird
44) European Starling
45) American Pipit
46) Yellow-rumped Warbler
47) Song Sparrow
48) Swamp Sparrow
49) White-throated Sparrow
50) White-crowned Sparrow
51) Dark-eyed Junco
52) Northern Cardinal
53) House Finch
54) American Goldfinch
55) House Sparrow
