Yellow-breasted Chat in Lower Saucon Township! ~ May 29, 2026

Back on Tuesday, the 26th, John Fedak was working in an area near the Bethlehem landfill and heard a Yellow-breasted Chat! They are very rarely seen in our area anymore. The last one I saw in the county was around 15 years ago. I called John and got the scoop on where he had the bird and drove there that night. Little did I know what I would run into.

I went to the end of Skyline Drive and parked there. As I was about to get out of the car, some lady on a riding mower came down the road, swearing at me that I was trespassing and to "get the f*** out of here!" She was PISSED! She was filming me on her phone and said she had already called the cops. I tried to explain what I was doing, but she didn't want to hear any of it and kept swearing at me to "leave NOW." So, I did.

I was pretty sure that Skyline Drive was a public road, and I was pretty sure that it wasn't her land next to the road either, so on Thursday I called the Lower Saucon Township police and told this very nice cop the story. Luckily, he knew the area and said that it WAS a public road and that the land surrounding the road is owned by the Bethlehem landfill. He told me to give them a call if I had any more issues with her and they would come up there, so early this morning I went to the spot again. There was a big tree branch across the road that I'm sure the crazy lady put there, so I moved it to the side, drove to the end of the road, and birded the area. I heard the Chat's distinctive singing near Hader Lane, which runs uphill from Skyline Drive. It's an abandoned macadam road that goes to a few old foundations. The bird was just up that lane. I got these photos while it was singing in a willow tree in the early morning.

Yellow-breasted Chat

I stood there silent for at least a half-hour and later heard the single-note raspy call in the brushy field across the lane from the willow tree, so I don't know if there's a pair there or if the bird crossed the road when I wasn't looking. I will try and go back there in a week or two to see if it might be breeding.

In that same area were an Orchard Oriole and an Indigo Bunting that I also got photos of.

Orchard Oriole

Indigo Bunting

Other birds seen there included Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Northern House Wren, Carolina Wren, Gray Catbird, Wood Thrush, American Goldfinch, Field Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Yellow Warbler.

I headed out and made sure to put the big tree branch back across the road when I left. Thankfully, she didn't know I was there this time and I had a peaceful, productive morning.

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