Along the Lehigh River and Green Pond ~ April 24, 2024

I started off today's birding at the Wilson Avenue area of the D&L Trail, also newly known as Nagy's Landing. The only notable bird there was a Warbling Vireo. My new lens came yesterday, so I was trying it out whenever I could, taking photos of any cooperative birds. Here are some photos that I took there.

Black Vulture

American Robin

White-throated Sparrow

From there, I went to the Route 33 Boat Launch area and walked those paths. A Pileated Woodpecker worked over a decaying log.

Pileated Woodpecker

I spotted my first Baltimore Oriole of the year right along the river.

Baltimore Oriole

A raptor circling over the river turned out to be an adult Peregrine Falcon!

Peregrine Falcon

A Common Merganser winged its way downriver at the boat launch.

Common Merganser

A Tufted Titmouse was another cooperative subject to practice on with the new lens.

Tufted Titmouse

Other notables seen there included Wood Duck, Osprey, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

The area around the Bethlehem Boat Club produced a Green Heron and an immature Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle

Over at Green Pond, the flooded field area held 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, and 5 Killdeer among 13 Lesser Yellowlegs.

A Pectoral Sandpiper (center) with a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Two Pectoral Sandpipers

Solitary Sandpiper

Most of the 13 Lesser Yellowlegs that were present.

A Great Blue Heron, a Cooper's Hawk, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler were also found at Green Pond.

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Palmer Bikeway, Newburg Road Pond, and Green Pond ~ April 22, 2024

First thing this morning, I walked a section of the Palmer Bikeway. I headed north from Penn Pump Park and found 2 Wood Ducks, 2 Common Mergansers, a Cooper's Hawk, a Belted Kingfisher, 2 Northern Flickers, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 2 American Goldfinches, 9 White-throated Sparrows, 2 Pine and 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Warbling Vireo.

A pair of Wood Ducks

Pine Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Warbling Vireo

On the return walk, I added 2 Eastern Phoebes and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Over at the Newburg Road retention pond, a Killdeer and a Spotted Sandpiper were present.

Spotted Sandpiper

The flooded field area by Green Pond produced 2 Killdeer, a Solitary Sandpiper, a Spotted Sandpiper, and several Chimney Swifts.

Solitary Sandpiper

Chimney Swift

Two Great Blue Herons, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a pair of Purple Finches were found at Green Pond itself.

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East Bangor Dam ~ April 21, 2024

My plan was to bird East Bangor Dam in the late evening. Soon after I got there, Adam Miller showed up and we spent from about 6:30-9:00 PM there. Before sunset, we saw Wood Duck, American Coot, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, White-throated and Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, and Yellow-rumped and Palm Warbler. Near sunset, we heard 2 Virginia Rails, 2 Soras, a Common Gallinule, and an American Bittern. Adam spotted a Great Egret after sunset.

Distant photos of a Great Egret.

We were hoping for the Northern Saw-whet Owl that others had heard there to call, but that never happened.

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Red-necked Grebes Courting and an American Bittern! ~ April 20, 2024

Around noon, I went to the Nazareth Quarry to see if the 2 Red-necked Grebes that Adam Miller had found early this morning were still there. Thankfully, they were, but they were half way out near the quarry's north side. They slowly worked their way closer and closer until I was able to get some documentation photos. Not only was it great to see these very unusual migrants, they actually did a brief courtship display! They raised straight up, raised their head feathers, and starting calling to each other. I was lucky to get some mediocre photos of this, which I had never personally seen before.

Two Red-necked Grebes doing a courtship display.

Here are some other photos I got of the birds as they worked their way along the western end of the quarry.

Red-necked Grebes

In the mid-afternoon, I drove up to East Bangor Dam to see if I could find the American Bittern that others had found when checking for the Common Gallinules and Sora that I had found there yesterday. Soon after I got there, I heard one brief call from a Common Gallinule north of the railroad tracks. I slowly walked down the tracks, searching and listening for the bittern. About a half-hour later, Todd Watkins walked up and we continued checking out the area together. A little while later, one Sora made a short call right near us on the north side of the tracks. We kept watching that area of cattails, hoping that it would come into view. A few minutes later, the American Bittern called from behind us in the marsh on the south side of the tracks! Both the Sora and the bittern alternated calls, but there were fairly long periods between each one. Todd had to leave. I sat down on the edge of one of the railroad ties and waited to see if the bittern might walk into view. It called several more times during the next half-hour, allowing me to get one pretty good recording of it, but it never did show itself. Still, I was glad to get to hear its call that always reminds me of an old percolating coffee pot, but I guess I'm dating myself.

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Sora and Common Gallinules at East Bangor Dam ~ April 19, 2024

I walked the boardwalk at Bear Swamp in the late morning. At the beginning of the boardwalk, I spotted a male Rusty Blackbird perched about four feet up. It dropped down just as I got my camera on it. I slowly walked up and noticed a female flipping over leaves in the swamp. I was waiting for them to get into an opening for photos when a lady and her dog came running down the boardwalk. Needless to say, that was the end of that. Other birds seen there included Pileated Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Hermit Thrush.

At nearby Lake Minsi, there were 9 Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, a Horned Grebe, 7 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Great Blue Herons, and 2 Barn Swallows among at least 300 Tree Swallows. I got two distant photos of the Horned Grebe before a boat made it fly off.

Horned Grebe

My last stop was East Bangor Dam. My main objective was to check for Marsh Wren but, instead, I heard a Sora call! I very slowly walked up and found it peeking out through the cattails.

Sora

After standing still for what seemed to be an eternity (probably only about 5 minutes), it finally walked through an open area before ducking back into the cattails.

Sora

Soon after it ducked back in, it called, and then I heard a Common Gallinule a little farther down! Again, I slowly crept in that direction. It would occasionally call just out of sight from the back side of another cattail patch. A while later, I spotted it moving away from the patch. I took a couple poor photos of it through the reeds.

Common Gallinule

Then it took off and flew over in the direction of the Sora. As it dropped into the vegetation, a second Common Gallinule took off from behind the same cattail patch and joined the first one.

Common Gallinule

Other notables from there included 5 Double-crested Cormorants, 3 Great Blue Herons, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Pileated Woodpecker, an assortment of Tree, Barn, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and a Mute Swan. It was a great end to the birding day.

Mute Swan

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