Ornithology happens to be my Avocation

Sunday, March 8, 2020

305. Snow Goose

Date March 7, 2020

Location Middle Creek Wildlife Area, Kleinfeltersville, PA

Middle Creek is a major stopover/congregation point for Snow Geese, similar to Sandhill Cranes in central Nebraska. Sometimes there are hundreds of thousands. I don't really know how to estimate huge flocks of birds, but I figure there must have been at least 10,000 on this day.

I had to leave at 3:15 AM to get there at dawn. Some geese were already heading north in their loose V formations.

The facilities are very nice there, with ample parking and an easy paved trail to the observation point.

The geese stayed in their huge raft for the most part, but sometimes the bald eagles would induce them to take flight. I counted about 5 eagles in the area.

The picture above is from the actual site, not a random shot from the internet. Credit to photographer wife.

Cornell: Snow Goose

304. Tundra Swan

Date March 7, 2020

Location Middle Creek Wildlife Area, Kleinfeltersville, PA

We stopped on the side of the road when we spotted some waterfowl on the lake to our right. It was about dawn, so many were resting. We would see many more at the viewing area, described in the next entry.

Cornell: Tundra Swan

303. Long-tailed Duck

Date March 6, 2020

Location Quemahoning Reservoir, Hollsopple, PA

This was another gift from the Audubon field guide app alerts. I proceeded down Quemahoning road slowly, scanning the reservoir to my left. I didn't see anything as I arrived at the first parking area near the hairpin turn, where that section of the reservoir terminates. That area has been a good spot before, so I parked and walked over to the shore.

At first I saw the usual Hooded Merganser, but then I spotted two white-and-gray-and-black ducks diving. They looked very much like the picture above (except facing the other way). They eventually stopped diving, preened for a bit, then rested.

Cornell: Long-tailed Duck

Thursday, March 5, 2020

302. Merlin

Date March 2, 2020

Location Mill Creek Hollow, Upper Yoder, PA

There was a time when Merlin was on my life list. We were driving down a residential street in Hilliard and caught a quick look. I still think we were right, but I reflected on it and decided that I wasn't sure enough.

Now it's back on the list.

I was out taking my exercise walk around the neighborhood when I heard a sound I wasn't familiar with. (How many times does that precede a new bird?) It sounded like a killdeer, but it wasn't high-pitched and squeaky enough. It was coming from an area to my left that was an empty lot backed by a line of trees. I walked on, not seeing anything and not having much hope of determining what it was.

Later in the walk, I decided to take a slightly different route, exiting my neighborhood instead of just circling around. I then was able to see a large-ish bird in a tree near the road. My first impression was definitely a falcon. I knew what a Peregrine sounded like because I used to watch a nest cam all the time in Columbus, and it didn't sound like a Peregrine. Trying to not engage wishful thinking, I moved to kestrel, since they are more common. I've seen many kestrels, but it looked a touch too big, and it wasn't moving its tail.

The naked eye view I had was not great, as it was a good 30 feet up with a solid overcast sky. But I felt like I had a good enough view to call it as a Merlin if I could confirm the sound.

I called up my Audubon app on my phone, and the call notes were exactly like the calls I'd been hearing several times during my walk.

This was on March 2nd.

I was confident of my id, but I sure wanted a better look. The next day, at about the same time in the afternoon, I hear the call again. He had flown back to the same exact perch. This time, I grabbed my binoculars and walked up the road to the vacant lot. I got a good initial look, then moved closer, using the neighborhood billboard as sort of a blind. I got several excellent views and at this point there was no doubt.

He returned about the same time on March 5th. Maybe he will nest here?

Cornell: Merlin

Thursday, November 28, 2019

301. Common Merganser

Date November 21, 2019

Location Quemahoning Reservoir, Hollsopple, PA

Like the Golden Eagle, this was another "target bird" that I hoped to get while living in Pennsylvania. It was actually pretty annoying that many years ago in 2003 I got both Hooded and Red-breasted (and had seen Hoodies almost every year since, *in abundance*) but still didn't have the "common" version of the merganser.

In this case, I used the Audubon field guide app. You can tell it to alert you when certain species are spotted and recorded by someone within a certain radius of your location. So I get the alert from the app, and coupled with other sightings reported on the PA Birders Facebook page, decided to try for it again.

My first try was on Nov. 19, two days before, and I may have seen them, but they were too far away. I did get to hear a loon yodeling for the first time, so it was worth the trip.

Anyway, on the 21st I went back to try again. While I was out, I realized that it was hunting season and that I might be in danger of getting shot. There were even signs in the parking areas that said everyone should be wearing hunter orange. Well, I didn't have any such clothing on me, but my emergency blanket was orange, so I draped it over me like a shawl. It wasn't the proper fluorescent orange, but I figured it was better than nothing.

I spotted a large number of ducks and geese about an hour into the trip as I circled around the reservoir. There were Canada Geese and Hooded Mergansers (naturally), and a group of birds that all looked the same was off to my right, closer to the shore. They looked like a good possibility, but they were too far away still. So I stalked up the shoreline, bit by bit, taking looks at them and carefully reading my guidebook. There were no males in the group, so I had to be sure they weren't female red-breasted.

I eventually got close enough and was able to get all the necessary field marks. There were eight of them, swimming about but staying together. I was very grateful that they didn't just up and fly away as a few Gadwalls had earlier.

Cornell: Common Merganser

300. Golden Eagle

Date November 2, 2019

Location Allegheny Front Hawk Watch, near Central City, PA

Along the Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania, there are a series of sites that make up the Hawk Watch. At these lookout points it's possible to see dozens or even hundreds of raptors in a given day. Volunteers go to these sites every day during spring and fall migration and make official counts of migrant raptors, with a detailed report appearing on their web site. I looked over the statistics from prior years and tried to pick a day in which I could get a Golden Eagle. They are fairly common in late fall; a good day can produce 10-20 of them.

So I came on November 2. The weather was sunny and calm, but still pretty chilly -- about 40 degrees. I arrived at about 10:00 AM. By 2:00 PM, no eagles had appeared.

Trying to stay warm, I walked over to the north edge of the outlook away from the scopes and people. When I wandered back, they were all looking at a Golden Eagle. The problem was, it was quite a ways in the distance and it was right by the sun. In order to see anything, you had to cover the sun with your hand and look with the naked eye. So yes, that was the first one, but it wasn't much more than a black line in the sky.

I pondered whether I should count it, and I think I decided I would, but it was quite unsatisfying. I wouldn't have known it was a Golden Eagle on my own, not by a long shot. But the experts there were sure it was, and I saw it. Sigh.

I was about to give up and go home a few minutes later when another was spotted. This time it was still north of us and fairly close, so I was able to observe it for a couple of minutes as it soared southward. It was a juvenile, like the picture above, so the white patches were a good field mark.

Cornell: Golden Eagle