Soon after, Guy de Bruyn showed up. He was leading a bird walk for the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, so I tagged along with the group. The area around the parking lot produced a Blue-headed Vireo, chickadees, a Gray Catbird, American Goldfinches, Northern Parulas, a Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a couple Tennessee Warblers. We then spotted a Merlin near the visitor center.
Crossing the road and passed the bird blind, we found a Black-and-white Warbler, a Blackpoll Warbler, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a good number of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. A female Common Merganser was seen on a log on the creek, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew by. Just past the ampitheater, a Black-throated Blue Warbler popped up into view. Up on top in the field area, a Peregrine Falcon was spotted circling before it flew right past us. Unfortunately, like the other photos, the overcast skies didn't help the photo quality.
Northern Flickers and several American Robins were also seen there.
On the way home, I stopped at the Newburg Road retention pond, which continued to hold a Belted Kingfisher, a Greater Yellowlegs, and several Killdeer.
Also found around the pond were 9 Savannah Sparrows, 4 Song Sparrows, a Common Yellowthroat, 2 Palm Warblers, and 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers.
A Northern Harrier and 4 Ring-billed Gulls were found circling overhead, and a flock of 30 Red-winged Blackbirds.
The Coyote that I've seen a few times before showed up once again, allowing me to get more photos of it.
Around 5:00 PM, I got a text from the McBrides stating that they thought they had found a Sanderling at the Newburg Road pond. It must have dropped in after I was there and when the rain showers started. I drove over there and the bird was still there. I took a bunch of photos of it. The big question was whether it was indeed a Sanderling or a very plump Semipalmated Sandpiper. None of my photos showed hind toes on the bird, which pointed to this bird being a Sanderling, but the head just didn't look bulbous enough for a Sanderling. I leaned toward this bird being a Semipalmated. I sent a message to an ID chat and others also identified it as an atypical Semipalmated Sandpiper.
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