Green Pond, the Regency Ponds, and Housenick Park ~ March 20, 2026

Today's check of Green Pond produced 8 Snow Geese, 39 Mallards, 5 American Black Ducks, 5 Green-winged Teal, 3 Hooded Mergansers, 3 Killdeer, and 2 Common Grackles, plus the usual suspects.

Notables at the Regency Boulevard retention ponds were one Snow Goose, 3 Green-winged Teal, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, 9 Buffleheads, and 2 Killdeer.

While I was there, Marilyn Hessinger sent out a text about an Orange-crowned Warbler she found at Housenick Park. I went over there and met up with Adam Miller and Megan Davis. We searched the area unsuccessfully for the bird, but other birds found there included 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 2 Field Sparrows, a Bald Eagle, a Merlin, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Merlin

Sharp-shinned Hawk

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Green Pond and the Nazareth Quarry ~ March 19, 2026

With the traditional flooded field area of Green Pond now flooded again, it's attracting ducks and gulls and a bunch of Killdeer, so I've been checking that spot a little more regularly now. This afternoon, it held 7 Snow Geese, 3 Wood Ducks, 62 Mallards, 11 American Black Ducks, 2 Northern Pintails, 5 Green-winged Teal, 2 Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Hooded Mergansers, 11 Killdeer, about 50 Ring-billed Gulls, 35 American Robins, 7 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 11 Brown-headed Cowbirds. Again today, a Bald Eagle flew over and flushed everything out of the flooded area.

At the Nazareth Quarry, I found a Double-crested Cormorant in addition to 300 Snow Geese, 9 Northern Shovelers, 10 Gadwall, 5 American Black Ducks, 4 Greater Scaup, 16 Buffleheads, one Red-breasted and 9 Common Mergansers, around 30 Ruddy Ducks, 9 American Coots, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, and a Horned Grebe.

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Green Pond Once Again ~ March 18, 2026

Once again, I did another afternoon check of Green Pond. This time, I found 36 Canada Geese, 3 Wood Ducks, 38 Mallards, 11 American Black Ducks, 5 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Hooded Mergansers, 7 Killdeer, a Hairy Woodpecker, and 12 American Robins. Two hundred Snow Geese flew by overhead. No gulls were present today.

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Green Pond Again ~ March 17, 2026

I did another mid-afternoon check of Green Pond and found 14 Canada Geese, 32 Mallards, 4 American Black Ducks, a Northern Pintail, 4 Green-winged Teal, 6 Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Hooded Mergansers, 6 Killdeer, 26 Ring-billed Gulls, 2 American Herring Gulls, 44 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and 11 American Robins, but no sign of the Iceland Gull.

Hooded Mergansers

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Iceland Gull at Green Pond ~ March 15, 2026

I did a mid-afternoon check of Green Pond since the rains have filled up the flooded field, creating some good habitat. There were about two hundred gulls there. As I scanned through them, I spottted an adult Iceland Gull in among 111 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 American Herring Gulls, and around 150 Ring-billeds.

Iceland Gull

Also present were 400 Snow Geese, 55 Mallards, 9 American Black Ducks, a Green-winged Teal, and 9 Killdeer. Paul Shanahan, who lives in the adjacent development, was driving by and stopped to ask me if there was anything interesting there. I told him that there was an Iceland Gull there, so he parked, and I got him on it. Soon after, a Bald Eagle flew over and scattered the gulls. I got these photos of it as it flew off.

Iceland Gull

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A Check of the Finally Thawed Ponds ~ March 11, 2026

With all of the ponds finally thawed out, I decided to do a run to several of them. My first stop was Green Pond where I saw 44 Canada Geese, 3 Snow Geese, 6 Mallards, 2 American Black Ducks, 3 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 11 Common Grackles.

I stopped at the flooded field area at Steuben Road and Little Creek Drive and spotted a Killdeer.

Killdeer

Just down the road at the Regency ponds, I found 2 Snow Geese among 80 Canada Geese, 21 Mallards, 8 Green-winged Teal, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 7 Buffleheads, one Killdeer, my first 3 Tree Swallows, and my first two Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Notables at the Silver Crest Road pond included 11 Ring-necked Ducks, a Bufflehead, 5 Ruddy Ducks, and a Belted Kingfisher.

Another two Killdeer were found at the Newburg Park pond.

Killdeer

The Trio Farms Boulevard ponds produced 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, and 2 Hooded Mergansers.

Hooded Mergansers

The Nazareth Quarry was the next stop where Adam Miller had found a "Eurasian" x "American" Green-winged Teal hybrid earlier in the day. Among 5 Green-winged Teal, I spotted his hybrid bird, which had both the horizontal white bar along the wing and the vertical white bar on its side. The was definitely a different bird from the Common Teal that I found a couple days before. Also present were 2000 Snow Geese, 65 Canada Geese, 10 Northern Shovelers, 13 Gadwall, 4 Mallards, 9 American Black Ducks, 2 Northern Pintails, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Greater Scaup, 14 Buffleheads, 13 Common Mergansers and one Red-breasted Merganser, around 40 Ruddy Ducks, 13 American Coots, 2 Horned Grebes, 3 Black Vultures, and 2 Turkey Vultures.

The last stop was the nearby Hollo Road pond, which held a Snow Goose and 4 Buffleheads among the usual suspects.

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Trumpeter Swans at Green Pond! ~ March 10, 2026

At around 9:45, I got an excited call from Adam Miller asking if I was able to come to Green Pond with my camera. He had stopped there after work, so he didn't have his camera with him. He said he thought he might have two Trumpeter Swans in the Farmersville Road retention pond, across the road from Green Pond. I told him I could be there in about 15 minutes. I grabbed my gear and headed for Green Pond. After nervously waiting to get through a one-lane construction zone, I finally made it there. He was right. They were Trumpeter Swans, representing yet another 1st Northampton County record in just two days! It was also my 182nd species seen at Green Pond. The two birds were lazily moving around inside the pond as I started taking photos to document them. I got some excellent photos as other birders arrived to see them.

Trumpeter Swans

Here's a close-up of the bill showing the traits of a Trumpeter Swan and ruling out any chance of these birds being Tundra Swans.

The straighter-sloped bill of a Trumpeter Swan, wider at the eye with no yellow lores and an obvious reddish area showing at the gape.

This photo shows the 'V'-shape notches at the tops of their bills, whereas a Tundra Swan shows a more rounded base at the forehead.

A 'head-on' photo of the Trumpeter Swans showing the 'V'-shape notches at the tops of their bills.

They were unconcerned with our presence as they occasionally called to each other during the next two hours. Eventually, they just started running across the shallow pond, took off, and headed up over Green Pond, continuing out of sight to the northwest.

Trumpeter Swans taking off toward the northwest.

Despite checking all of the other flooded fields and retention ponds in that direction, the birds were never refound. While there, two Rusty Blackbirds were also present in the flooded field area. I got some poor photos of them before they took off over into the wooded patch near the intersection.

Rusty Blackbirds

Other birds found there included 80 Canada Geese, 3 Snow Geese, 13 Mallards, 3 American Black Ducks, a Northern Pintail, 2 Green-winged Teal, a Bufflehead, 4 Hoooded Mergansers, and 8 Common Grackles.

A quick stop at the Hollo Road pond only produced 2 Snow Geese among about 150 Canadas, an American Black Duck, a Green-winged Teal, and 3 Buffleheads.

I headed up to the Nazareth Quarry to see if the Common Teal that I found yesterday was still there. After some searching, I did refind it and got another poor, long-distance photo of it.

Common Teal

Other notables there included 4000 Snow Geese, 400 Canada Geese, a Cackling Goose, 8 Northern Shovelers, 3 Gadwall, 5 American Black Ducks, 13 Green-winged Teal, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, a Greater Scaup, 4 Lesser Scaup, 16 Buffleheads, 10 Common and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, around 40 Ruddy Ducks, 20 American Coots, 2 Pied-billed and 2 Horned Grebes, and 15 Ring-billed Gulls.

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