Iceland Gull at Green Pond ~ March 15, 2026

I did a mid-afternoon check of Green Pond since the rains have filled up the flooded field, creating some good habitat. There were about two hundred gulls there. As I scanned through them, I spottted an adult Iceland Gull in among 111 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 American Herring Gulls, and around 150 Ring-billeds.

Iceland Gull

Also present were 400 Snow Geese, 55 Mallards, 9 American Black Ducks, a Green-winged Teal, and 9 Killdeer. Paul Shanahan, who lives in the adjacent development, was driving by and stopped to ask me if there was anything interesting there. I told him that there was an Iceland Gull there, so he parked, and I got him on it. Soon after, a Bald Eagle flew over and scattered the gulls. I got these photos of it as it flew off.

Iceland Gull

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A Check of the Finally Thawed Ponds ~ March 11, 2026

With all of the ponds finally thawed out, I decided to do a run to several of them. My first stop was Green Pond where I saw 44 Canada Geese, 3 Snow Geese, 6 Mallards, 2 American Black Ducks, 3 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 11 Common Grackles.

I stopped at the flooded field area at Steuben Road and Little Creek Drive and spotted a Killdeer.

Killdeer

Just down the road at the Regency ponds, I found 2 Snow Geese among 80 Canada Geese, 21 Mallards, 8 Green-winged Teal, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 7 Buffleheads, one Killdeer, my first 3 Tree Swallows, and my first two Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Notables at the Silver Crest Road pond included 11 Ring-necked Ducks, a Bufflehead, 5 Ruddy Ducks, and a Belted Kingfisher.

Another two Killdeer were found at the Newburg Park pond.

Killdeer

The Trio Farms Boulevard ponds produced 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, and 2 Hooded Mergansers.

Hooded Mergansers

The Nazareth Quarry was the next stop where Adam Miller had found a "Eurasian" x "American" Green-winged Teal hybrid earlier in the day. Among 5 Green-winged Teal, I spotted his hybrid bird, which had both the horizontal white bar along the wing and the vertical white bar on its side. The was definitely a different bird from the Common Teal that I found a couple days before. Also present were 2000 Snow Geese, 65 Canada Geese, 10 Northern Shovelers, 13 Gadwall, 4 Mallards, 9 American Black Ducks, 2 Northern Pintails, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Greater Scaup, 14 Buffleheads, 13 Common Mergansers and one Red-breasted Merganser, around 40 Ruddy Ducks, 13 American Coots, 2 Horned Grebes, 3 Black Vultures, and 2 Turkey Vultures.

The last stop was the nearby Hollo Road pond, which held a Snow Goose and 4 Buffleheads among the usual suspects.

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Trumpeter Swans at Green Pond! ~ March 10, 2026

At around 9:45, I got an excited call from Adam Miller asking if I was able to come to Green Pond with my camera. He had stopped there after work, so he didn't have his camera with him. He said he thought he might have two Trumpeter Swans in the Farmersville Road retention pond, across the road from Green Pond. I told him I could be there in about 15 minutes. I grabbed my gear and headed for Green Pond. After nervously waiting to get through a one-lane construction zone, I finally made it there. He was right. They were Trumpeter Swans, representing yet another 1st Northampton County record in just two days! It was also my 182nd species seen at Green Pond. The two birds were lazily moving around inside the pond as I started taking photos to document them. I got some excellent photos as other birders arrived to see them.

Trumpeter Swans

Here's a close-up of the bill showing the traits of a Trumpeter Swan and ruling out any chance of these birds being Tundra Swans.

The straighter-sloped bill of a Trumpeter Swan, wider at the eye with no yellow lores and an obvious reddish area showing at the gape.

This photo shows the 'V'-shape notches at the tops of their bills, whereas a Tundra Swan shows a more rounded base at the forehead.

A 'head-on' photo of the Trumpeter Swans showing the 'V'-shape notches at the tops of their bills.

They were unconcerned with our presence as they occasionally called to each other during the next two hours. Eventually, they just started running across the shallow pond, took off, and headed up over Green Pond, continuing out of sight to the northwest.

Trumpeter Swans taking off toward the northwest.

Despite checking all of the other flooded fields and retention ponds in that direction, the birds were never refound. While there, two Rusty Blackbirds were also present in the flooded field area. I got some poor photos of them before they took off over into the wooded patch near the intersection.

Rusty Blackbirds

Other birds found there included 80 Canada Geese, 3 Snow Geese, 13 Mallards, 3 American Black Ducks, a Northern Pintail, 2 Green-winged Teal, a Bufflehead, 4 Hoooded Mergansers, and 8 Common Grackles.

A quick stop at the Hollo Road pond only produced 2 Snow Geese among about 150 Canadas, an American Black Duck, a Green-winged Teal, and 3 Buffleheads.

I headed up to the Nazareth Quarry to see if the Common Teal that I found yesterday was still there. After some searching, I did refind it and got another poor, long-distance photo of it.

Common Teal

Other notables there included 4000 Snow Geese, 400 Canada Geese, a Cackling Goose, 8 Northern Shovelers, 3 Gadwall, 5 American Black Ducks, 13 Green-winged Teal, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, a Greater Scaup, 4 Lesser Scaup, 16 Buffleheads, 10 Common and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, around 40 Ruddy Ducks, 20 American Coots, 2 Pied-billed and 2 Horned Grebes, and 15 Ring-billed Gulls.

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Common Teal at the Nazareth Quarry! ~ March 9, 2026

I returned to the Martins Creek Environmental Preserve to see if either the Eurasian Wigeon or the Pink-footed Goose might be there. They weren't, but one Ross's Goose was there among around 100 each of Snow and Canada Geese.

A tiny Ross's Goose with Snow Geese.

The basin also held 6 Northern Shovelers, 2 Gadwall, 4 American Wigeon, 16 Redheads, around 150 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Greater Scaup, 2 Lesser Scaup, 14 Buffleheads, 3 Common Mergansers, around 125 Ring-billed Gulls, an American Herring Gull, and a Savannah Sparrow along the edge.

I headed to the Nazareth Quarry to see what might be there. I scoped along the near left edge of the quarry and found a group of 15 Green-winged Teal. I noticed that the one had a horizontal white bar along the wings, but there wasn't any vertical white bar. That's when it hit me that it was a Common Teal, the "Eurasian" form of a Green-winged Teal! It would be the 1st Northampton County record! I had looked through hundreds of Green-winged Teal looking for this bird, and it had finally happened. I had a terrible time trying to get any decent photos of it since it could only be seen when looking down through the near brush on the other side of the fence. Eventually, I got something good enough to prove the identification and then sent out a text to others, hoping that someone else would confirm it and maybe get some better photos. That's when Stephen Kloiber just happened to show up within minutes without knowing about my find. He was able to get some videos of it through his scope. I ended up with these poor, long-distance documentation photos.

A Common Teal, also known as the "Eurasian" form of Green-winged Teal.

Several other birders made it there before dark to see the bird. Other notables found there included 6000 Snow Geese, one Tundra Swan, 5 Northern Shovelers, 4 Gadwall, 2 American Wigeon, 3 American Black Ducks, 8 Redheads, 18 Ring-necked Ducks, 5 Greater Scaup, 16 Buffleheads, 6 Common Mergansers, around 50 Ruddy Ducks, 13 American Coots, 4 Horned Grebes, and 3 Pied-billed Grebes. At dusk, as we were ready to leave, Adam spotted an Eastern Phoebe in the trees above us. It was our first one of the year.

Eastern Phoebe

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Eurasian Wigeon, 6 Ross's Geese, and Lots of Tundra Swans ~ March 8, 2026

I was headed up to the Martins Creek Environmental Preserve to see if the Pink-footed Goose would be there. That's when Adam and Owen Smith reported that there were an incredible total of 54 Tundra Swans there, so I headed there as planned. Most of those had left by the time I got there, but groups of tens and twenties continued to pass by. Adam Miller was there before me and he tallied a county record 173 of them from that site.

Some of the Tundra Swans that flew over.

The pale Snow x Canada Goose hybrid continued there, but the Pink-footed was nowhere to be found.

A Snow x Canada Goose hybrid.

As a group of Snow Geese glided down into the basin, Adam spotted a Ross's Goose in with them. I was lucky to get a photo of it before it got below the top of the fence.

A Ross's Goose (center) with some Snow Geese.

Most of the same waterfowl were there as the day before. Several thousand Snow Geese and Canada Geese were seen heading north like the swans. Groups of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds were also seen flying by. Adam and I finally left there, and I drove to the Nazareth Quarry. Adam Smith had reported another large group of Tundra Swans there, too. There were still 31 swans present when I got there. In addition to the 15,000 Snow Geese, there were 500 Canada Geese, 13 Wood Ducks, 6 Northern Shovelers, 7 Gadwall, 16 American Wigeon, 6 American Black Ducks, 11 Northern Pintails, 6 Redheads, 31 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Greater Scaup, 9 Buffleheads, a Common Goldeneye, 9 Common and 2 Hooded Mergansers, around 40 Ruddy Ducks, 8 American Coots, and 6 Horned Grebes.

From there, I headed for Green Pond since the flooded field area had produced 2 Greater White-fronted Geese the day before. There, I found 3 Wood Ducks, 6 American Wigeon, 22 Mallards, 5 American Black Ducks, 4 Northern Pintails, and 2 Green-winged Teal among around 500 Canada Geese.

Wood Duck

Northern Pintails

A check of the Hollo Road pond produced a Snow Goose among about 100 Canada Geese, 5 Wood Ducks, 24 Mallards, an American Black Duck, 3 Redheads, 6 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Lesser Scaup, and 2 Buffleheads.

Redheads

Ring-necked Ducks