Conowingo Dam and Middle Creek - 12/17/10 by Alex Lamoreaux on Nemesis Bird

17Dec/107

Conowingo Dam and Middle Creek – 12/17/10

Today was my first day back in Hershey for winter break. Chris and Mark Markiewicz and their friend Paul, and I went down to Conowingo Dam to see if there were good numbers of Bald Eagles around. We all went last year at this time and saw hundreds of eagles, this year was much different. We ended up seeing a total of only 15 eagles; 7 adults, 4 4th years, 2 3rd years, 1 2nd year, and 1 juvenile. Nonetheless, we had a great time watching the eagles and other birds. I also just bought myself a new camera, so this was the perfect opportunity to try it out. I purchased the Canon T2i and the 400mm f/5.6L lens; below are some of the photos I took today.

4th year Bald Eagle

Juvenile Bald Eagle

2nd Year Bald Eagle

Oldsquaw (adult female)

White-breasted Nuthatch

After two hours at the dam, we drove north back to PA and stopped for an hour and forty-five minutes at Middle Creek WMA. 95% of the lake was frozen over, but in the small pockets of open water, there were lots of waterfowl. The most numerous species were Canada Geese, Mallards, American Black Ducks, and Tundra Swans. We also saw a Northern Pintail, two Wood Ducks, 9 Northern Shovelers, and 3 Ruddy Ducks. Two juvenile Northern Harriers gave us nice and close looks too.

Northern Harrier (juvenile male)

Filed under: bird sightings, birding, Middle Creek WMA, Photography, raptors, waterfowl Leave a comment

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http://www.BirdingIsFun.com Birdingisfun

I love that nuthatch photo!
Cory

What’s the best way to tell the harrier is a male? Great pictures-enjoyed them.

Alex Lamoreaux

Cory – Juvenile harriers can be sexed by looking at their eye color. Yellow eye means male, black eye means female.

Alex Lamoreaux

Cory – Juvenile harriers can be sexed by looking at their eye color. Yellow eye means male, black eye means female.
http://twitter.com/newtobirding Greg Gard

Thank you for the update on the Bald Eagles at the Conowingo dam. You just saved me 3 hours of driving (one way). I was there about 4 weeks ago and numbers were close to 80. I was looking forward to this weekend to finally make the trip again. Wow, it would be a big disappointment this time around. I wonder if the low numbers are caused by the duck season in the area, it supposedly started on 12/14, or by the photographers/kayakers that were trespassing the island couple weeks ago…

Congrats on the new camera and lens. Lens specifically is superb for birds in flight. My best shots from Conowingo were made last year with 400mm f/5.6 lens: http://www.greggard.com/bald-eagle/e382a1aff

Thank you once again!
Harry

Nice site! What time of the day is the best to see the birds there in winter?

http://drewweberbirding.com Drew

I think they generally lounge around there for most of the day. There are generally a good number of eagles that are coming and going.

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