blue phase Snow Goose

The most spectacular sight at Middle Creek is early in the morning when a large percentage of the geese take off from the lake and head to nearby fields to forage. The sky can be filled from horizon to horizon by the noisy birds as they fly overhead. This happens again in the evening as they flow back into the lake from the surrounding farm fields.

Snow Geese are a beautiful bird with their all-white bodies and black wingtips which makes them particularly stunning to see against a blue sky. They also come in a ‘blue phase’ and several intermediate phases as well. I personally think that the ‘blue phase’ is more striking than the white phase. This may be due to their relative rarity in a flock of Snow Geese.

Snow Geese can be quite long-lived (some over 26 years old), and combined with the fact that they are protected, their population has exploded in recent years. An older estimate from 1997 put their numbers at around 6.7 million birds, based on surveys done on the breeding ground. Numbers now are even higher. Unfortunately, this population explosion has lead to habitat degradation along the Atlantic Coast where they winter.

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• Snow Geese in Flight at Jamaica Bay (10000birds.com)

Check out the Dig Deep blog for a great primer on shorebird feather wear and molt. There are some great animated images that show the effects of wear on feathers and the overall appearance of the birds. With southbound migration just beginning, its a good time to brush up on this.

Learning about shorebird molt allows you to make one of the easiest observations about the migration phenomenon; adults and immatures often migrate at different times, or use slightly different paths on their southbound flights

So, this fall when you are scanning through flocks of shorebirds, try to record numbers of adults and juveniles. Maybe you will find out something new about your favorite shorebird spots.

This is my second White Ibis in Pennsylvania, the first being the immature bird that showed up last year in Harrisburg. Apparently juvenile White Ibis were annual at one time in Washington Boro, attracted to the rookery there. During an invasion year in 1977, 17 White Ibises were counted at the Conejohela Flats on August 11th.

Anyone going to see the White Ibis should be forewarned that it is keeping to the upper part of the cove on the west side of Avocet Point which makes it hard to see from shore unless you walk down the river from the boat launch to where there is a break in the trees.

Location:     Lancaster County Central Park
Observation date:     5/8/08
Number of species:     58

Wood Duck – Aix sponsa     2
Double-crested Cormorant – Phalacrocorax auritus     1
Osprey – Pandion haliaetus     1
Red-tailed Hawk – Buteo jamaicensis     1
Solitary Sandpiper – Tringa solitaria     2
Rock Pigeon – Columba livia     X
Mourning Dove – Zenaida macroura     X
Chimney Swift – Chaetura pelagica     X
Red-bellied Woodpecker – Melanerpes carolinus     X
Hairy Woodpecker – Picoides villosus     1
Olive-sided Flycatcher – Contopus cooperi     1
Eastern Wood-Pewee – Contopus virens     2
Eastern Phoebe – Sayornis phoebe     2
Great Crested Flycatcher – Myiarchus crinitus     2
Eastern Kingbird – Tyrannus tyrannus     6
Blue-headed Vireo – Vireo solitarius     1
Warbling Vireo – Vireo gilvus     X
Red-eyed Vireo – Vireo olivaceus     X
Blue Jay – Cyanocitta cristata     X
American Crow – Corvus brachyrhynchos     X
Tree Swallow – Tachycineta bicolor     X
Carolina Chickadee – Poecile carolinensis     X
House Wren – Troglodytes aedon     X
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – Polioptila caerulea     2
Eastern Bluebird – Sialia sialis     2
Wood Thrush – Hylocichla mustelina     8
American Robin – Turdus migratorius     X
Gray Catbird – Dumetella carolinensis     5
Northern Mockingbird – Mimus polyglottos     1
European Starling – Sturnus vulgaris     X
Yellow Warbler – Dendroica petechia     1
Chestnut-sided Warbler – Dendroica pensylvanica     2
Magnolia Warbler – Dendroica magnolia     2
Black-throated Blue Warbler – Dendroica caerulescens     2
Yellow-rumped Warbler – Dendroica coronata     4
Black-throated Green Warbler – Dendroica virens     2
Yellow-throated Warbler – Dendroica dominica     1
American Redstart – Setophaga ruticilla     1
Ovenbird – Seiurus aurocapilla     5
Common Yellowthroat – Geothlypis trichas     3
Hooded Warbler – Wilsonia citrina     1
Scarlet Tanager – Piranga olivacea     X
Eastern Towhee – Pipilo erythrophthalmus     X
Chipping Sparrow – Spizella passerina     X
Field Sparrow – Spizella pusilla     X
Grasshopper Sparrow – Ammodramus savannarum     1
Song Sparrow – Melospiza melodia     X
White-throated Sparrow – Zonotrichia albicollis     10
Northern Cardinal – Cardinalis cardinalis     X
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – Pheucticus ludovicianus     5
Indigo Bunting – Passerina cyanea     X
Red-winged Blackbird – Agelaius phoeniceus     X
Common Grackle – Quiscalus quiscula     X
Brown-headed Cowbird – Molothrus ater     X
Orchard Oriole – Icterus spurius     8
Baltimore Oriole – Icterus galbula     6
American Goldfinch – Carduelis tristis     X
House Sparrow – Passer domesticus     X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/pa)

On our walk back up from the creek we heard a different buzzy call. A Golden-winged Warbler! It played hard to get for a while, but we managed to get some good looks, confirming that it was indeed a real Golden-winged Warbler and not a hybrid. We added Ovenbird, Palm and Blackburnian Warblers to our list.

Blackburnian Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Indigo Bunting

Great Crested Flycatcher

The bird was a male Orchard Oriole, my first of the year. I continued birding around the property, finding warblers such as Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green and Ovenbird. All this time I was hoping that when I returned to that first field, the Orchard Oriole would still be there so that I could try to take some pictures of it.

Luckily for me, the oriole was very cooperative. It was foraging actively, picking up bugs from around the flowers. It stayed on the sunny side of the tree while I was digiscoping it, even allowing me to get quite close and really get some good detail. I was pretty pleased with the results.

While digiscoping this oriole, I also had two Baltimore Orioles fly overhead, another first for the year.

Barn Swallow

Tree Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow