On my way home from seeing the Anna’s Hummingbird, Cattle Egret, White-winged Crossbill, I found out that Nan Butkovitch had reported a Red-throated Loon at Colyer Lake. Not having that for the year in PA I decided to stop. In addition to the Red-throated Loon, 31 Tundra Swans came in while I was there and a merlin caught and eat a bat. Pretty eventful for a short stop. I digiscoped a bunch of shots as the Tundra Swans were coming in and posted the best. I will get the Merlin photos up tomorrow.
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After getting several brief looks at the Anna’s Hummingbird over the course of about 4 hours, I headed to Hummelstown where several Cattle Egrets were reported over the last week. I was able to digiscope several shots that turned out pretty nice. It’s been a while since I have seen any Cattle Egrets in Pennsylvania. There have been quite a few reports of them this year.
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After an hour of scanning the brush and waiting for the sun to warm up the trees, the Townsend’s Warbler finally popped into view. I was hoping to get a picture but the warbler was constantly moving and in the tree tops. Holly Merker posted some pictures on flickr and you can view them here.
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Fowl weather

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Yeah, its a bad pun, but this weather is looking pretty nasty and could bring us some good birds. With up to 3 inches of rain heading our way and possibly some snow as well, hopefully there will be some rafts of ducks at Bald Eagle State Park that decide this is not the weather to attempt flying in. I think Alex is heading out there this morning and hopefully he will have something good to report. And if you have nothing better to do on a rainy day such as this, check us out on facebook and make sure to like us! Radar at 9:10am on 11/30/2010   UPDATE!!!! – (this is Alex writing) Bald Eagle State Park, Coyler Lake, and the “Duck Pond” were empty. Very few waterfowl were seen today when Anna Fasoli and I made the rounds to check.
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American Wigeon I am leaving early tomorrow morning to join Alex and the crew at Cape May for several days. On the way, I’ll be chasing a Townsend’s Warbler that was found today at Cobb’s Creek Environmental Education Center on the west side of Philly. This could be warbler #38 for me in Pennsylvania. In the meantime, enjoy these photos I took in Cape May several years ago. I am sure Alex will have a lot of great photos once we get back for you to enjoy.
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If you have ever spent any time around me at a hawk watch, you would know that every raptor that flies by gets me very excited. It doesnt matter if its the 500th Broad-wing of the season or the 60th Sharp-shinned Hawk of the day….each bird that migrates past is new and exciting in its own way. But, nothing compares to scanning out in front of you and landing your eyes on an incoming Golden Eagle. Long dark wings, bright golden shoulders, and a golden nape headed straight for you. You jump to a scope and are able to see the intensity in the eyes of the Eagle – it’s headed south and nothing is going to stop it. Adult Golden Eagle This time of the year is peak Golden Eagle migration, as the birds travel down from coastal Canada, where they breed, to the Southern Appalachians, where they winter.
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This morning, friends of mine, Nate Fronk and Tim Schrekengost went to BESP to search for waterfowl. Waterfowl numbers and diversity were down, but they did find a juvenile Dunlin foraging on a sunken road at the east end of the park. Drew and I needed this for our county lists, so we carpooled out there and arrived by 11:00am. The Dunlin was right where Nate and Tim said it would be. I was able to sneak in closer for the following photos.
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I had a chance to quick slip up to Jo Hayes Vista yesterday afternoon and decided to go since there was a strong west wind, which is excellent at that site for making Red-tailed Hawks and eagles hug the ridge, giving excellent views. I ended up seeing 4 Golden Eagles and 3 Bald Eagles in a matter of 2 hours, the most I have seen of those species at Jo Hayes. Reading the Hawk Count reports, it also looks like Jo Hayes Vista was about the best eagle site in the state yesterday. Next next several days look great for migration at Jo Hayes with west and northwest winds to keep the raptors along the ridge. I hope I get another chance to run up there and pick up another species for my county list, Northern Goshawk. I made a quick video of one of the Golden Eagles flying overhead.
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Hoping the weather last night would push more waterfowl into BESP, Josh Lefever and I went to over from 6:30am till 8:30am. Apparently there must have been a break in the rain last night and most waterfowl had left the park. We were able to find 5 duck species and Common Loon and Horned Grebe, way down from yesterdays 12 duck species, way down from yesterdays 10 duck species. Nonetheless, it was a worthwhile trip, especially since when we stopped at Lower Greens Run I was scanning the far shore and spotted a dark blob that resembled a bear. Once I got it in the scope I realized it really was a large Black Bear, that was soon joined by another large Black Bear. Both sat on the shore line for a while and then wandered off into the forest.
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Colyer Lake was not as full of waterfowl this morning- the White-winged Scoters, Lesser Scaup, Red-breasted Mergansers and Long-tailed Ducks were all gone. There were more Common Loons this morning and a single Green-winged Teal was new for me there.
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