Another Cave Swallow Search ~ November 9, 2025

A few Cave Swallows were still being reported at some Pennsylvania sites, so I again hopped from pond to pond hoping to find one. I started the search at the Martins Creek PPL power plant area. There were 13 Buffleheads, 2 Ruddy Ducks, and a Hooded Merganser at the pond, but no swallows. The brushy area at the intersection of Depues Road and Depues Ferry Road produced a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, an Eastern Phoebe, a Carolina Wren, 5 Northern Mockingbirds, 22 American Robins, 24 Cedar Waxwings, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, 3 Dark-eyed Juncos, 9 Song Sparrows, 5 White-throated Sparrows, and 7 White-crowned Sparrows.

Immature White-crowned Sparrow.

Adult White-crowned Sparrows.

I went up to Echo Lake and found 10 Mute Swans and 2 American Black Ducks among about 250 Canada Geese.

Over at nearby Lake Minsi, there was absolutely nothing on the entire eastern half of the lake except 6 Canada Geese. I checked an area where a friend had told me he saw 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers a while ago and I found two of them there. They were actively hammering and feeding as I got these photos.

Red-headed Woodpeckers

Two Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Yellow-rumped Warbler were flitting around in the same area.

Golden-crowned Kinglets

Birds seen on the western side of the lake included 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 American Coots, and a Belted Kingfisher.

I left the northeastern section of the county and drove over to the Regency Boulevard retention ponds where I found 15 Buffleheads, a Green-winged Teal, and 28 Cedar Waxwings.

My next stop was the Green Pond area. As I walked along the paved path, there were a group of birds working their way through the trees. They included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, 5 Eastern Bluebirds, 18 Cedar Waxwings, 2 American Goldfinches, 9 Dark-eyed Juncos, and 2 White-throated Sparrows, but the best birds were two late Pine Warblers that were chasing each other around so much that I wasn't able to get any photos of them. They were probably the same two that I saw here back on October 26th, so I can only assume that they are spending most of their time in the rows of pines on the golf course.

At Green Pond were 2 American Black Ducks and a Great Blue Heron with some Canada Geese and Mallards. Two Common Ravens were in the stubble of the flooded field and flew off while the continuing Northern Harrier hunted the southeast pond.

Common Raven

Northern Harrier

I then went over to the Newburg Road retention pond and found that there were still 21 Killdeer there, but the surprise was a late Greater Yellowlegs that was with them along the shoreline.

Greater Yellowlegs

The grassy field was filled with around 600 Canada Geese. In among them was one immature Snow Goose.

Snow Goose

I never hit the lottery and found a Cave Swallow, but I ended up with a pretty nice list of birds for the day.

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