A Mourning Warbler on a Fairly Quiet Day! ~ May 11, 2026

Before checking out National Park Drive again this morning, I drove down Institute Drive. I didn't hear a Canada Warbler I was hoping for, but I did find Wild Turkey, Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Bluebird, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, and Northern Yellow Warbler.

Along National Park Drive, I ran into Chris Hess and we birded the rest of the morning together. We walked the trail to the old farm, then down to the private residence, and back up the road to the cars. Along the stretch to the old farm, I saw a Lincoln's Sparrow with 2 White-throated Sparrows. In the section below the old farm, I spotted my first Swainson's Thrush of the year.

Swainson's Thrush

Just before reaching the divided road by the private residence, I saw a Black Rat Snake on a log and a second Lincoln's Sparrow that I could only get a blurry photo of.

A Black Rat Snake with its head at the left edge of the photo.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Back at the cars, I found an Acadian Flycatcher perched right behind them and got this photo of it.

Acadian Flycatcher

I drove back out the road and stopped at the pulloff where the gravel road stops and the paved road starts to go through my checklist and mark down the ones that I had forgotten to enter. While I was doing that, I thought I heard a Mourning Warbler sing!?! My hearing isn't that good anymore, but this was loud, so it was close. Even so, I was doubting myself, so I turned on Merlin and, when the bird sang again, it showed up on that. I got out of the car and realized it was singing in the bush right by the car. I got glimpses of its head, confirming that it was indeed a Mourning. I tried to slowly work for a full view of it, but it flew out of that bush and into another. Soon after, it flew past me and across the road. Thankfully, it landed in an open spot along the road where I was thrilled to get these two photos of it. It was a great end to a fairly slow morning.

Mourning Warbler

The Tatamy Exit retention pond held 2 Semipalmated Plovers, a Killdeer, 4 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Greater and 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, 11 Least Sandpipers, and 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

The Hollo Road retention pond yielded a Killdeer, a Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Least Sandpipers, 4 Bank Swallows, and 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

Five Least Sandpipers were the only shorebirds at the Christian Springs Road pond.

I counted 34 Snow Geese at Green Pond today, which also had a Green Heron along its edge. The back middle pond held 5 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, one Greater and one Lesser Yellowlegs, and 14 Least Sandpipers.

My last stop was the Newburg Road retention pond. The Greater Yellowlegs that has been there since April 27th continued.

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L.V.A.S. Bird Walk at the Plainfield Recreation Trail ~ May 10, 2026

I led the Mother's Day bird walk along the Plainfield Recreation Trail with eight attendees. It was a pretty slow day with very little migration evident. We still managed to record 50 species. Among the 50 were Chimney Swift, Solitary Sandpiper, Great Blue Heron, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed and Eastern Warbling Vireo, Common Raven, Northern Rough-winged and Barn Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern House Wren, Brown Thrasher, Wood Thrush, Field Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, and warblers that included Ovenbird, Magnolia, Northern Yellow, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Northern Parula, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Waterthrush.

Solitary Sandpiper

Northern Waterthrush

The Tatamy Exit retention pond held one Killdeer, 4 Spotted Sandpipers, a Solitary Sandpiper, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, a Greater Yellowlegs, and 2 Least Sandpipers.

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Another Great Migrant Day in Northampton County ~ May 9, 2026

Since the rain wasn't supposed to start until around 9:00-10:00 AM, I once again went to National Park Drive. I found Adam Miller there at the beginning of the road looking up into the trees. I got out and there were a good number of birds working the trees that included Yellow-throated, Blue-headed, and Red-eyed Vireo, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and warblers that included Black-and-white, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, American Redstart, and Northern Parula.

An Acadian Flycatcher was calling when we parked at the trail to the old farm. Along the trail, we had Pileated Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, and warblers that included Ovenbird, Black-and-white, Hooded, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, many Yellow-rumpeds, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, and Northern Parula.

In the area around the farm, we ran into Bob and Jennifer McBride and had two calling Black-billed Cuckoos, Great Crested Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, Veery, Wood Thrush, Eastern Towhee, and Indigo Bunting.

Black-billed Cuckoo

Veery

Along the divided road by the private residence, we added Brown Thrasher and Eastern Bluebird.

We spent at least 20 minutes at one spot near the Slateford Loop Trail parking lot because it was loaded with warblers and other birds. We saw Rose-breasted Grosbeak plus many species of warblers including our first Tennessee, Cape May Warbler, and Blackburnian Warblers of the day. I ended up with a total of 51 species, 15 of them warblers, and good totals of these particular ones: Yellow-rumped Warblers (26), Black-and-white Warblers (13), American Redstarts (9), and Black-throated Green Warblers (8).

I birded along Institute Drive and found Yellow-throated Vireo, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Veery, Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Northern Yellow Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler, but the most interesting sighting wasn't a bird. After I parked the car at the concrete barriers, a young Black Bear crossed the road, but it hurried back into the woods when it saw me and before I could get a photo.

Lake Minsi held 15 Double-crested Cormorants and a Bank Swallow among the Tree and mostly Barn Swallows.

East Bangor Dam produced 2 Bank Swallows among roughly 50 Barn Swallows and 5 Tree Swallows, Northern Yellow Warbler, plus a 'grunting' Virginia Rail.

I stopped at the Tatamy Exit retention pond as the rain got a little more steady. Three Semipalmated Plovers dropped in while I was there. Other birds present included a Killdeer, a Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Greater and 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 11 Least Sandpipers, and a Pectoral Sandpiper, but the two best birds there were a Dunlin and a Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Dunlin

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Over at Green Pond, I found 37 Snow Geese still hanging around, plus a Great Blue Heron, 3 Green Herons, Eastern Warbling Vireo, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Green Heron

While walking the paved path, the Farmersville Road retention pond produced Eastern Kingbird and a Bank Swallow among Northern Rough-winged, Tree, and mostly Barn Swallows; and the back middle pond held 6 Spotted Sandpipers, a Solitary Sandpiper, a Least Sandpiper, and the continuing Dunlin.

Dunlin

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Olive-sided Flycatcher, Dunlin, and Black-crowned Night-Heron ~ May 8, 2026

I again spent the morning at National Park Drive. There was very little activity along the road except for a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that was calling at the old powerline cut. I parked and walked the trail back to the Slateford Historical Farm. It continued to be fairly quiet. When I reached the brushy, overgrown field, I scanned the trees and found an Olive-sided Flycatcher perched on a snag at the same place I had one last year! I got some fairly good photos of it before a Northern Flicker flew in and landed on the same snag, chasing it off.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Adam Smith just happened to arrive a few minutes too late. We walked farther along the edge of the field and ran into Mike Schall coming from the other direction. I told him about the flycatcher and pointed out the snag that I had it in. He looked through his binoculars at the area and said, "There it is!" Luckily, it was visible from that corner of the field but not from where Adam and I were, so both of them got to see it, too. An Indigo Bunting and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird were also perched on nearby snags.

Indigo Bunting

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Mike told us that he had just had a group of warblers that included Canada, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, and Northern Parula a little while back, so we all three went back to that area. We saw everything there but the Canada.

Other notables included Broad-winged Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-throated and Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, American Goldfinch, White-throated and Field Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore and Orchard Oriole, Ovenbird, Hooded, Worm-eating, and Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, and Scarlet Tanager. I ended up with 43 species there.

A stop at the Tatamy Exit retention pond produced a Semipalmated Plover plus one Greater and 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 3 Spotted, 6 Least, and a Pectoral Sandpiper.

Semipalmated Plover

The Christian Springs Road pond held 5 Solitary Sandpipers and 4 Least Sandpipers.

At home, I sat out on the patio checking the surrounding trees and found a Cape May Warbler in the neighbor's spruce trees. That's when I got a text from Adam Miller that a Dunlin was at the back middle pond by Green Pond. It was about a half-hour before sunset, so I quickly headed over there. Adam was still there and walked back with me to the pond holding the Dunlin along with 5 Spotted Sandpipers and a Solitary Sandpiper.

Dunlin

Back out at Green Pond, I went around to get a count of the continuing Snow Geese, which was 28, while Adam checked out Green Pond from the other side. It was now dusk and I was watching an Eastern Kingbird when my phone rang. It was Adam saying he was looking at a Black-crowned Night-Heron! I went over to his side of the pond and he showed me where the bird was. I took some long-distance photos of it and then worked my way over closer where I found a hole where the bird was visible through the brush. That's where I got these photos. It was a great way to end the day.

An adult Black-crowned Night-Heron.

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A Wilson's Warbler Saves the Morning ~ May 7, 2026

I walked Jacobsburg State Park, hoping for more migrants today, but the activity was practically nonexistent. The only birds around were the residents. The highlight for the first part of the route was one tree that contained 3 Baltimore Orioles and a pair of Scarlet Tanagers.

Scarlet Tanager

The very slow morning turned out a lot better when I found a Wilson's Warbler in a brushy area a little off the main trail through the open fields.

Wilson's Warbler

Despite the dearth of migrants, I managed to find 52 species, which included 2 Broad-winged Hawks diving on an adult Bald Eagle. An sub-adult Bald Eagle was also seen.

Bald Eagle

Adam Miller had reported a Semipalmated Plover at the Christian Springs Road pond, so I headed there and found it feeding with 5 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, and a couple Least Sandpipers.

Semipalmated Plover

Over at Green Pond, I saw 2 Eastern Warbling Vireos at the same area they nested in previous years.

Eastern Warbling Vireo

In the wooded pond were two adult Canada Geese with their goslings in tow.

Canada Geese and their young.

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Martins Creek Nature Trail and Grassland Birding ~ May 5, 2026

I walked the Martins Creek Nature Trail, formerly called the Tekening Trail and now called the John M. Mauser Nature Education Trail System, which to me is a ridiculous mouthful. The overgrown field areas held numbers of Gray Catbirds, American Goldfinches, Common Yellowthroats, Northern Yellow Warblers, plus several Blue-winged Warblers and 2 White-eyed Vireos.

White-eyed Vireo

Farther down the trail, I found Chimney Swift, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, White-throated and Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Ovenbird, more Northern Yellow Warblers, Baltimore Orioles, and Black-and-white Warbler.

Northern Yellow Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

The section of the trail along the river produced 2 Wood Ducks, a Double-crested Cormorant, 2 Great Blue Herons, plus Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Green Warbler, a 'western' Palm Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

American Redstarts

Palm Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

Back at the parking lot, I watched an Eastern Kingbird diving on a Fish Crow. I tried getting photos of it, but they were zig-zagging back and forth too much. Eventually, the kingbird continued flycatching from a perch.

Eastern Kingbird

I drove the short distance over to Miller Road where I found a very cooperative Grasshopper Sparrow.

Grasshopper Sparrow

I then headed for Moore Township and found Vesper Sparrow and Horned Lark along Schlegel Road.

Vesper Sparrow

Horned Lark

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