Newburg Road, Little Gap, and Newburg Park ~ October 5, 2024

My plan was to bird Little Gap this morning. That plan was delayed a little when, as I drove past the Newburg Road retention pond, I noticed a raptor that looked too thin to be a Red-tailed Hawk perched atop one of the powerline towers. As I suspected, it turned out to be an adult Peregrine Falcon. I stopped and grabbed some photos of it and then continued on to Little Gap.

Peregrine Falcon

When I got to the parking lot, I saw the cars of Adam Miller and Mike Schall there. I slowly walked the Appalachian Trail, hoping for the long shot of seeing a Connecticut Warbler, but that didn't happen. I have very little luck finding that species and it looks like this will be another year without seeing one. Soon after, I got a text from Adam that he was looking at an Eastern Whip-poor-will! Adam said it flew from beside the trail and luckily landed on top of one of the nearby rocks. Within a minute, I caught up with him and Mike and got great looks and photos of this rarely well-seen, nocturnal bird.

Eastern Whip-poor-will

After thoroughly enjoying this cooperative bird, we continued on up to the top of the mountain. There were numbers of both Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets plus a Blue-headed Vireo and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. There was a fairly good flight at the hawk watch in the short time I was there, which included 5 Bald Eagles, a Peregrine Falcon, a Northern Harrier, 2 American Kestrels, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper's Hawks, and a few Common Ravens.

Bald Eagle

I headed back down the trail and stopped to see if the Whip-poor-will was still there. It was on the same rock, but it had repositioned itself to where you could only see the head of it.

Eastern Whip-poor-will

I left there and drove to the Regency Boulevard ponds. I counted 21 Lesser Yellowlegs and 2 Greater Yellowlegs all lined up on the yellow boom in the south pond.

One Greater Yellowlegs among many Lesser Yellowlegs.

Four Green-winged Teal and a Great Blue Heron were also present. I left there and stopped at the Newburg Park retention pond. It held 2 Killdeer, a Pectoral Sandpiper, and one Least Sandpiper.

Pectoral Sandpiper

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Woodland Hills Preserve and the Melchor Tract Park ~ October 4, 2024

I hadn't gone to the Woodland Hills Preserve in over a month, so I decided to go there today. The best birds found there included both Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, six species of warblers comprised of Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Tennessee, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, and Palm Warbler, plus Lincoln's and Swamp Sparrow.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

I then made the short drive over to the Melchor Tract Park. The most interesting find there was a Northern Harrier that was hunting over the area.

Northern Harrier.

Other notables there included Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Field and Swamp Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, and Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, and Magnolia Warbler.

At around 4:30 PM at home, I went out back and sat on the patio, watching for migrants. From there, I saw Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a large group of around 500 Tree Swallows.

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Bluebird

Black-throated Green Warbler

Northern Parula

Tree Swallow

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Little Gap and Green Pond ~ October 2, 2024

I went to Little Gap for another chance at seeing a Connecticut Warbler. It was not a day conducive to raptor migration, but the walk up and down the trail did produce a nice selection of other migrants. There were many kinglets (2 Golden-crowneds and 14 Ruby-crowneds) plus six warbler species.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Pine Warbler

Ovenbird

A Sharp-shinned Hawk and 4 Common Ravens were the only birds seen from the hawkwatch. Other species seen along the trail included Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-headed Vireo, Brown Creeper, House Wren, White-throated Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, plus a good flight of 189 Blue Jays.

I left Little Gap and stopped at Green Pond on the way home. A walk around the flooded field area revealed at least one Savannah Sparrow among the Song Sparrows.

Savannah Sparrow

The wooded pond next to the house held a Swamp Sparrow.

Swamp Sparrow

A check of Green Pond itself produced a Double-crested Cormorant, a Great Blue Heron, and a Great Egret.

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

In the small wooded patch at the northeast corner of the pond, I found House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cape May Warbler, and Black-throated Blue Warbler.

House Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Cape May Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

The Black-throated Blue Warbler was my 178th species for the Green Pond area.

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Jacobsburg State Park ~ October 1, 2024

I did another walk around Jacobsburg State Park hoping to find something special like a Connecticut Warbler. Along the creek across the road from the Henry's Woods parking lot, I ran into a nice group of birds that included Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Red-eyed Vireo, and five species of warblers: Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, and Northern Parula. Birds seen north of the buildings and near the bird blind included Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Towhee, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Eastern Bluebird

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Atop the hill behind the visitor center, I found Sharp-shinned Hawk, Common Raven, Bald Eagle, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, plus White-throated and Savannah Sparrow.

Common Raven

Bald Eagle

I also saw a Cooper's Hawk fly by with a very full crop of some unlucky bird who got outsmarted.

Cooper's Hawk

A check of the Regency Boulevard ponds produced 14 Green-winged Teal, a Great Blue Heron, and about 20 Tree Swallows.

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