Rough-leg on Wagner

This morning I got up with hopes to get looks at the rough-legged hawk that has been reported on Wagner Road, thanks to the google map app that showed me how to get there. At any rate, I thought that I would check for snow birds on S. Nixon first. I didn't see much other than mourning doves, horned larks, northern cardinals, etc. I wasn't expecting to see much after the snow that we got last night, though I pulled my jeep right up beside a few horned larks for a quick photo shoot.

 

Horned Lark

Horned Lark

 

Suddenly, a mourning dove flew just over my car flushing the lark, and claiming it's own ground.

 

Mourning Dove

 

Since S. Nixon was just about dead, I headed for Wagner Road to check for the rough-legged hawk. I pulled into the opposite end of Wagner from where the bird was sighted, pulling off to scan the fields every so often. I began to get discouraged as I came closer and closer to Route 322, without seeing the rough-leg, or any raptor for the matter. As I passed a thin line of trees that stretched perpendicular from the road across the snow drifts and stubble, I saw a large bird perched high. I quickly pulled over and got my glass on the bird. It was rough with the snow, lighting, and distance, but after examining the bird for a few minutes I was sure that I had it, what do ya'll think...!? If only I had some better glass for my camera to get a half decent shot.

 

Rough-legged Hawk



Nixon Road Scanning

I spent this afternoon searching for the snow birds that have been reported on S. Nixon Road. I have never birded the Nixon Road area, so I was going in blind. Traveling south on W. Whitehall Road, I took a left onto S. Nixon, and the first thing I saw were birds flushing from the side of the road. I pulled off near where the birds landed a grabbed my bins. 3 American Pipits.

 

American Pipits

American Pipit

American Pipit

 

I watched the pipits forage for a while, flushing every time a car drove by. I turned my vehicle around after scanning the fields and finding nothing, and made my way towards the S. Nixon/W. Whitehall road intersection to scan the fields on the opposite side of W. Whitehall. About half of a dozen crows had flushed from a passing car, which were followed by some small birds. I again pulled off to the side of the road close to where the birds had landed. 4 Horned larks.

 

Horned Lark

Horned Lark

Horned Larks

Horned Lark

 

I watched as the larks foraged and bobbed in and out of the corn stubble among the 30 or so American Crows. I didn't get an exact number on the crows because they were constantly coming and going.

 

American Crow

 

I continued heading North on S. Nixon, stopping every so often to scan the fields, finding a flock of 14 more horned larks. I came to N. Nixon to find 57 mourning doves sitting on the power lines.

 

Mourning Doves

 

There were also two large flocks of birds, one was between me and the sun so I didn't get looks at them. The other flock was on the opposite side of the road, and from what I could tell were Horned Larks. I turned onto Ernest Lane to try to get looks at the other flock, which was a plan that failed. I parked my vehicle next to a wooded brushy area that had some juncos and chickadees flying around on Ernest Lane, and killed the engine. I immediately heard a flock of Canada Geese over head, which was made up of ten birds.

 

Canada Geese

 

I heard lots of pips and chirps coming from the brushy wooded area, so most of my attention was directed that way. I heard and saw black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, and a song sparrow. For about three minutes, a great horned owl was hooting from the woods. I was really bummed that I didn't know who owned the land, and I didn't want to trespass to get photos. I heard more canadas, lots of them, but it took a moment to locate them in the vast deep blue.

 

Canada Geese, there were 142 in this flock!

 

Hopefully tomorrow I can get looks at the Lapland Longspur and the Snow Bunting.

 

 

 

 

Compesation Birding...?

Well, I got to class this morning to find out that it was canceled, the third time this has happened for this class this semester. I really should begin checking my emails in the morning. So to compensate for extra time in my usually busy schedule, I'm afraid to see what will happen if I sit back and relax, I went birding! Okay, I really went Christmas shopping. But on the way to the mall, I decided that there was no harm in stopping en route at the duck pond....right? There really wasn't much new today. The same list of mallards, American black ducks, ring-necked ducks, northern shovelers, belted kingfisher, the latest usual. The birds on the water avoided me, but some of the birds were on the banks which gave me great chances at up close shots, but the brush was an obstacle.

 

Mallards

Mallard, this shot would be SO cool if there wasn't vegetation in the way...!

Mallard, this one is a bit better I think.

 

While I was shooting the mallards, I glanced up to see a drake wood duck dabbling around in the water. Next to the northern pintail and a few others, the wood duck is one of my absolute favorite ducks to see!!! I feel like I say this allot when it comes to waterfowl....?

 

Drake woody with american black ducks

Drake woody

I love the colors and striping on this bird!

Drake wood duck with american black ducks

 

While I was shooting and watching the wood duck through my bins, the other birds seemed to accept the fact that I was hanging out for a while and came back out onto the water to be a bit more active. Among them were northern shovelers, a gadwall pair, american black ducks, mallards, and the continuing american coot.

 

Northern shovelers

Gadwall

Gadwall

Gadwall

 

Gadwall compared to mallard

Gadwall

 

I noticed some commotion on the opposite bank, and saw the woody was chasing some ducks away, seeming to defend a little resting territory for himself.

Mixed bag of resting ducks

American coot, american black duck, mallard

 

On my way back to the vehicle, the tree snag laying over the water had a number of ducks hanging around as it usually does.

 

Mallards

Mallards

Mallards

 

The juncos were also present, foraging in the brush on the banks and understory.

Dark-eye junco

 

 

 



The search continues

This morning before class, I read that there was a pair of blue-winged teal at the Centre Furnace duck ponds, a good find considering that it is almost December here in PA! So I decided that after work I would go and check these birds out. When I arrived, I saw the same birds that I did last Tuesday. Mallard, canada geese, american black ducks, american coot, northern shovelers, ring-necked ducks, and the belted kingfisher. I started scanning through the mess of ducks, and found the teal swimming with another species of duck. I'll admit, at first I was stumped. But after mulling it over for a minute, I concluded that this bird was a female american wigeon.

 

 

Blue-winged teal, mallards, american black duck, and american wigeon

mallards and american wigeon

 

mallards and american wigeon

 

I rather enjoy getting to see the wigeon. I love the white forehead, blue bill, green eye patch combination, in males that is. I kept hearing a whistle, which I heard Tuesday and could have sworn northern pintail, but couldn't find one in the flock then or this afternoon. I observed the ducks mingle for about twenty minutes while taking these horribly out-of-focus pictures. It was going to be dark soon, and I hadn't eaten anything yet, so I began walking back to the jeep. At the north end of the pond I heard the whistle one more time, and stopped dead in my tracks. I turned and looked into the crowd of ducks, one sticking out significantly. This bird was facing me, yet had his head twisted around preening, revealing a snowy white breast. When he turned his head around, I quickly reached for the camera. One of my all time favorite dabbling ducks seen in Pennsylvania, the northern pintail.

 

Drake northern pintail with mallards

Drake northern pintail with mallards

Drake northern pintail with mallards

 

I do not see nearly enough of these sleek, well groomed looking birds. The brilliantly blue streaked bill, chocolate brown head with a dramatically contrasting white breast and parallel neck stripes leading to a back of elegantly slate margined plumage and a long slender "pintail" always makes this bird an absolute joy to see. This bird made my quick trip to the duck pond a success.

 

 

In search of ducks

Among my favorite groups of birds, ducks are definitely in the top portion of the list. I really am not sure why, maybe it is their beauty, maybe because of the physiological diversity among the breeds, or it is usually fun to watch them and to listen in on their conversations, or possibly because among all birds that I have handled they are the most polite. Whatever the case may be, I really enjoy my waterfowl. Speaking of ducks, have you purchased your duck stamp this year...? By purchasing a duck stamp, or two, at your local post office you can help aid waterfowl conservation efforts that are beneficial to all species of wildlife, not just ducks. And while you are in the conservation spirit, head over to Ducks Unlimited and sign up for a membership, or make a gift! Your donations are tax deductible, and 81% of every dollar goes to waterfowl education and conservation.

 

http://www.ducks.org/

 

OK, enough preaching. So I caught wind of some northern shovelers and a pair of gadwall that were hanging out at the Centre Furnace duck ponds last Monday night. I had an extremely slow spring as far as waterfowl goes due to the weather, and thought that it would be good to get looks at these birds. So Tuesday before work, I decided to check it out. As soon as I got out of my car, a flock of about 20 canada geese were flying overhead, and set their wings as if they were going to land on the pond. They must have seen me walking towards the water, because after contemplating the landing, they decided to flare away from the pond and keep going. A small group of five birds broke off of the main flock, circled, and came back in for a second look, setting their wings and dropping their feet as if to land.

 

Canada Geese coming in for a landing

 

 These birds also flared, and decided to move on to the next roosting opportunity.

 

The honking of the overhead geese must have got things a bit stirred up on the water. Before I could even see the water surface, there were ducks taking off every which way, exploding into flight in groups of a half dozen, give or take. These groups didn't fly more than one circle around the pond before landing again. I got low to the ground, and crept up to the brush along side of the pond to find a good number of ducks. I quickly started scanning through them, and the first bird I noticed other than the mallards was the coot.

 

American Coot among mallards

American Coot among mallards

 

There was a lot going on, ducks squawking, muttering, and a few chasing each other for a couple of laps around the pond.

 

Mallards

Drake mallard

 

I directed my attention to a pair of canada geese. My grandfather loved geese and ducks also. His reasoning was that an animal that picks up and flies thousands of miles and hangs out for a couple of months, then turns around and flies back out of pure instinct, is fascinating. I would have to say that I completely agree with him.

 

Pair of canada geese

 

While I was watching the geese, something was coming through the group of mallards in quite a hurry. Out of the crowd, pushing other ducks aside, was this little female ring-necked duck. Evidently, queen of the pond.

 

Female ring-necked duck

 

She wasn't swimming away from anything, so I started to scan the water in front of her to see what she was going for.

 

Male ring-necked duck

 

After catching up with her male, she calmed down as they relaxed, paddling around within the crowd.

I continued scanning through the group of birds, and picked out a northern shoveler. After finding one, the rest of the shovelers just came to me, 4 in total.

 

Female northern shoveler

Female northern shoveler

 

I thought that it was nice to see a good group of american black ducks as well. Back home, they are usually just in pairs when I see them. I counted 16 individual american black ducks, plus one black duck mallard hybrid.

 

Northern shoveler, mallard, and american black ducks

Northern shoveler, mallards, and american black ducks

 

At the south end of the pond where the northern shovelers seemed to like hanging out, was the Gadwall pair.

 

Drake gadwall, mallard pair, and drake northern shoveler

Drake gadwall and mallards