The Scoters and Long-tailed Duck Still Present ~ February 12, 2026

When I first began today's check of the Nazareth Quarry, I noticed a female White-winged Scoter in the spot that the five had been hanging out in the days before.

A female White-winged Scoter.

I kept looking in that area for the other four to pop up from diving, but it didn't happen. Guy de Bruyn arrived and I pointed the female out to him. Then later, I finally did spot the other four near the section of the quarry with the three snags in the water.

Three of the other four White-winged Scoters.

Also near the snags were 18 Redheads, the sporadically-seen pair of Gadwall, and 14 American Coots.

Some of the 18 Redheads.

A pair of Gadwall.

I looked for a while for the Long-tailed Duck and couldn't find it. As I was leaving, Stephen Kloiber and Megan Davis arrived, so I walked back over to the fence with them. When I looked out along the left side of the quarry, there was the Long-tailed! I realize it's a big quarry, but it amazes me how hard it is to find some of the birds at times.

The female Long-tailed Duck.

Other birds seen there today included 2 Snow Geese, 12 Canada Geese, 11 American Black Ducks, 11 Greater Scaup, one Lesser Scaup, 24 Buffleheads, 13 Common Mergansers, around 50 Ruddy Ducks, 7 Ring-billed Gulls, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Red-tailed Hawk.

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White-winged Scoters and Long-tailed Duck Continue ~ February 11, 2026

I did a fairly quick check of the Nazareth Quarry in the early afternoon before heading over to my mom's. The 5 White-winged Scoters continued along the left side of the quarry. The males would occasionally point their heads upwards and call.

Five White-winged Scoters. Note the male calling with its head up.

The Long-tailed Duck was also there along with a female Red-breasted Merganser, but they were both much farther out and too far for any chance of a worthwhile photo.

There were also 5 Greater Scaup, but I hadn't seen any Lessers there so far this year. It's usually the other way around most years. Well today, I finally spotted 2 Lesser Scaup there. They flew across and landed in the near left corner of the quarry.

Two Lesser Scaup in flight. Note the brightest part of the white wing strip only reaching halfway out the wing.

A Lesser Scaup showing its head peak near the back of its head.

Other birds included 3 Snow Geese, 6 Canada Geese, 7 Mallards, 4 American Black Ducks, 6 Ring-necked Ducks, 14 Buffleheads, 17 Common Mergansers, around 45 Ruddy Ducks, 8 American Coots, and a Pied-billed Grebe, plus 50 Ring-billed Gulls, 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and 4 American Herring Gulls.

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White-winged Scoter Count Increases to Five! ~ February 10, 2026

After getting a haircut by my daughter in Nazareth, I drove over to the Nazareth Quarry at around 3:00 to see what might be there today. With practically every body of water frozen solid by the extremely cold temperatures, the large, unfrozen quarry is attracting most of the waterfowl present in the area. Adam Miller had reported earlier that the pair of White-winged Scoters that I found yesterday were still present. When I got there, I was surprised to see that there were now FIVE White-wingeds there, three males and two females! I got the usual distant documentation photos of them, which also included the continuing Long-tailed Duck.

Five White-winged Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck (left).

Five White-winged Scoters.

Good numbers of 53 Ruddy Ducks, 26 Ring-necked Ducks, 21 Redheads, 17 Buffleheads, 14 Greater Scaup, 21 Common Mergansers, and 24 American Coots continued.

Most of the 21 Redheads along with some American Coots and Buffleheads.

A Double-crested Cormorant was a new find, and a female Red-breasted Merganser was found among the Commons. Other birds included 2 Bald Eagles and 2 Common Ravens, plus 7 Canada Geese, 3 Snow Geese, 7 Mallards, and 5 American Black Ducks.

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White-winged Scoters at the Nazareth Quarry! ~ February 9, 2026

After running an errand in Forks Township, I drove past the Tatamy exit and took a look around to see if the Rough-legged Hawk might be there. It wasn't. Since I was near the Nazareth Quarry, I decided to stop there and check it out. I walked to the fence and noticed two dark birds in the near end of the quarry. When I put my binoculars on them, I was surprised to see a pair of White-winged Scoters! I got some distant, but fairly good documentation photos of them, and then sent out a text to the other birders.

A pair of White-winged Scoters.

A good number of 16 Greater Scaup were present, too. I didn't find any apparent Lesser Scaup among them.

Five Greater Scaup with a single Ruddy Duck.

Adam Miller showed up a little while later. He picked out a male Red-breasted Merganser through the brush. I got a few documentation photos of that.

Red-breasted Merganser

A female Red-breasted Merganser was at the opposite end of the quarry from the male. More searching picked out an impressive list that included around 60 Ruddy Ducks, 25 Redheads, 17 Common Goldeneye, 13 Buffleheads, 9 American Black Ducks, 6 Mallards, 5 Ring-necked Ducks, a Green-winged Teal, 26 Common Mergansers, 17 American Coots, a Pied-billed Grebe, only 10 Canada Geese and 7 Snow Geese, plus 11 Ring-billed Gulls, an adult Bald Eagle, a Cooper's Hawk, and a Common Raven. I was so glad that I didn't go straight back home.

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Looking For Some Notables ~ February 6, 2026

There was a report of a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk near the Tatamy exit of Route 33 late yesterday afternoon. I went up there this morning and spent about an hour looking for it, but I never found it.

I also got a message from another birder who had a swan on the Delaware River below the Martins Creek PPL boat launch. He thought it might be a Tundra Swan. I found two swans there. The one was an adult Mute Swan and the other was a first-year Mute Swan. First-year birds don't have the bright orange bill. Instead, they have a very dull pink bill that looks dark from a distance, plus the knob at the base of the bill is not fully formed. That's why he didn't think it was a Mute Swan. Here's a couple photos of the young bird.

A first-year Mute Swan.

Also seen from the boat launch were 34 Buffleheads, 17 American Black Ducks, 3 Common Goldeneye, 4 Common Mergansers, 3 Bald Eagles, and a Belted Kingfisher, plus one of the two continuing Killdeer that are toughing it out through this brutal winter.

I then checked the Nazareth Quarry, which is starting to freeze up along the edges now. Birds seen there included around 1000 Snow Geese, 4 American Black Ducks, 2 Green-winged Teal, 9 Redheads, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Greater Scaup, four other scaup that were too far out to confirm whether they were Greaters or Lessers, 16 Buffleheads, 24 Common Mergansers, 45 Ruddy Ducks, 10 American Coots, 9 Ring-billed Gulls, a Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Black Vultures, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I got this photo of six of the nine Redheads flying across the quarry.

Redheads

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More Interesting Birds in Williams Township ~ February 4, 2026

My long-time birding friend, Arlene Koch, reported a Fox Sparrow and an Eastern Towhee at her feeders yesterday, so I called her up and asked if I could come over in the late afternoon to watch for them. After confirming that it would be alright, I showed up a little after 4:00 PM. She has multiple feeders in both the front and back yards and numbers of birds were scattered about. Within minutes, I spotted the Fox Sparrow underneath one of her feeders and got this photo of it.

Fox Sparrow

Less than fifteen minutes later, I spotted the Eastern Towhee coming to the seed under the same feeder and got these photos of it.

A female Eastern Towhee.

I also saw a Carolina Chickadee with its all-gray wings and clean-cut bib briefly come to the feeder. It came in, grabbed a seed, and took off before I could get its photo. Also seen at the tray feeder was this American Tree Sparrow.

American Tree Sparrow

She also showed me an interesting Northern Cardinal in her backyard. I told her it looked like a young male in transitioning plumage, but she said that it has been there for two years now, so it's actually an aberrant-plumaged adult bird. I took these photos of it through her window.

An aberrant-plumaged Northern Cardinal.

Within an hour, I'd seen several interesting birds there. I thanked her for letting me come check them out.

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The Martins Creek Area and the Nazareth Quarry ~ February 2, 2026

I drove up to the Martins Creek Environmental Preserve to see if the Canvasback that Guy de Bruyn found yesterday was still there. It was, but it was all the way in the back of the basin and had its head tucked in the whole time I was there. I took these horrendous long-distance documentation photos of it showing the all-white top and sides, black breast, and rusty-colored head.

Canvasback

This photo shows one of the three male Redheads that were there with the Canvasback.

A male Redhead (facing right, just left of center) and the male Canvasback to its right.

While there, three Purple Finches flew into the tree alongside the fencing.

Purple Finch

Other birds seen there included a male Greater Scaup, 4 Common Mergansers, and a Hooded Merganser among roughly 110 Buffleheads and 100 Ring-necked Ducks. Two Black Vultures and a Bald Eagle were seen overhead. Birds seen along the road included a White-crowned Sparrow, 2 White-throated Sparrows, 13 Song Sparrows, and 6 Dark-eyed Juncos.

I went down to the Martins Creek PPL boat launch area and found the two Killdeer that have amazingly overwintered through this extremely cold season.

Killdeer

Also seen there were around 200 Canada Geese and 50 Mallards, 15 Buffleheads, 3 American Black Ducks, 3 Common Mergansers, a Hooded Merganser, and an Eastern Bluebird.

I checked the Nazareth Quarry. I didn't see the loon or the grebe, but I did see a Cackling Goose, 8 Redheads, 12 American Coots, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes in among the estimated 5000 Snow Geese. Also present were around 60 Ruddy Ducks and 30 Buffleheads, 16 Mallards, 2 Greater Scaup, an American Black Duck, 17 Common Mergansers, 11 Ring-billed Gulls and an American Herring Gull, plus a Red-tailed Hawk and about 300 Canada Goose.

On my way over to my daughter's, I saw a Merlin perched in a tree along Georgetown Road. I got these poor photos of it through the branches.

Merlin

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