On the way to Lake Minsi, I made a quick stop at the Riverton Road pond and saw a Mute Swan, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Green-winged Teal, and 2 Tree Swallows. Echo Lake held 13 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Lesser Scaup, and 5 Buffleheads.
Adam Miller and I checked out Lake Minsi, which produced 14 Gadwall, 5 Green-winged Teal, 61 Ring-necked Ducks, 8 Buffleheads, a Ruddy Duck, 8 American Coots, 5 Pied-billed Grebes, 20 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 Ospreys, 2 Bald Eagles, a Belted Kingfisher, a Red-headed Woodpecker, 50 Tree Swallows, 2 Eastern Bluebirds, 4 Rusty Blackbirds, and 2 Ring-billed Gulls.
From there, we birded East Bangor Dam. The dam end held 18 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Lesser Scaup, and a Belted Kingfisher. At the eastern end, we found a few more Rusty Blackbirds.
While I was photographing one of the Rusty Blackbirds, two woodpeckers were squabbling. They turned out to be a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Red-headed Woodpecker! The Red-headed appeared to be checking out a nest hole.
Then, a Viginia Rail called a few times and, soon after, an American Bittern flushed from the cattails! I was lucky to get these flight photos of it before it flew farther back and dropped out of sight.
Three Ospreys were flying around. One was chased by a Bald Eagle trying to steal its fish.
On the north side of the marsh, we saw Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Blue-winged Teal, and 2 Hooded Mergansers.
A Brown Thrasher sang from a snag on the way back to the car.
Other notables found there were 2 Wood Ducks, 19 Green-winged Teal, 18 Ring-necked Ducks, 75 Tree Swallows, 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, a Swamp Sparrow, and 3 Palm Warblers.
My next stop was the Nazareth Quarry. Notables found there included 4 Northern Shovelers, 3 Gadwall, 7 Ring-necked Ducks, a Lesser Scaup, 8 Buffleheads, 4 Common and 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, 56 Ruddy Ducks, 8 American Coots, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, a Horned Grebe, 2 Common Loons, and a Double-crested Cormorant.
My mom had called to let me know that she saw something in the Osprey nest along the Nazareth-Tatamy Road earlier in the day, so I swung by there and did find an Osprey sitting on the nest. I didn't see any mate nearby.
The Hollo Road pond only held 2 Green-winged Teal and a Killdeer. The Newburg Road retention pond held a pair of Common Mergansers. They were standing at the same exact place I saw them a couple days ago.
Over at Green Pond, a walk along the paved path produced a Wilson's Snipe at the back edge of the Farmersville Road pond, 2 Eastern Bluebirds, and a few Dark-eyed Juncos.
There were 51 Snow Geese wandering around the edge of Green Pond. The flooded field area held 50 Canada Geese, 45 Mallards, 5 American Black Ducks, 10 Green-winged Teal, and the continuing 4 Pectoral Sandpipers.
I ended the day with seven new 'year birds'.
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