Little Gap and a Cave Swallow Search ~ November 8, 2025

I drove up to Little Gap, arriving a little after sunrise. During the four hours I was there, I saw 2 Bald Eagles, 6 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Northern Harriers, one each of Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel, 6 Common Ravens, 53 American Robins, 43 Cedar Waxwings, a Purple Finch, 14 American Goldfinches, 3 Dark-eyed Juncos, and 33 Red-winged Blackbirds.

An influx of Cave Swallows from the Caribbean islands were being reported at a few southeastern Pennsylvania sites, so I spent the rest of the day driving from pond to pond hoping to see one, even though I knew it was a real long shot. I drove down through Bath and stopped at the Silver Crest Road pond. Four American Pipits were along the southern bank of the pond.

American Pipits

The pond held 13 Common Mergansers, 7 Ruddy Ducks, and a Ring-necked Duck among around 600 Canada Geese, plus a Belted Kingfisher and a Savannah Sparrow.

Common Mergansers

Ruddy Ducks

Ring-necked Duck

The Regency ponds held 14 Buffleheads and a Great Blue Heron. It's always a challenge to try and get a photo of the male Bufflehead when its head reflects the prism of colors like I did here.

Buffleheads

I didn't see the Pied-billed Grebe at the Trio Farms Boulevard retention ponds, so it was either well-hidden in the vegetation or it had left.

I then stopped at Green Pond. There was nothing notable along the paved path or in the adjacent ponds, but at the retention pond along Green Pond Road, I saw a hunting Northern Harrier and an American Pipit.

Northern Harrier

American Pipit

A Savannah Sparrow was also in the brush near the pipit.

Savannah Sparrow

At the Newburg Road retention pond behind the hospital, I counted an impressive number of 32 Killdeer around the pond. I took these two photos of them. One of them shows six and the other is a "Where's Waldo" photo showing 18 of the 32.

Six of the 32 Killdeer.

Believe it or not, 18 of the 32 Killdeer are in this photo.

Two Northern Harriers were also seen circling overhead.

Northern Harriers

In the Hollo Road retention pond, there were 2 Buffleheads plus 23 Green-winged Teal.

Buffleheads

Searching the sky, I noticed a large group of gulls coming out the nearby Nazareth Quarry. It contained at least 200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls with at least 3 American Herring Gulls mixed in with them.

A swarm of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

An immature American Herring Gull (center) among the Lesser Black-backeds.

I had enough time to drive up and check the Martins Creek PPL power plant area for my day's last chance of finding a Cave Swallow but, again, I struck out. The only notables there were 11 Buffleheads, 14 American Robins, and 12 Cedar Waxwings.

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