Centre Furnace Duck Pond's 4th

This past Saturday afternoon, I went to check out the 4th ever Double-Crested Cormorant at the Centre Furnace Duck pond. While I was there, the  bird just hung out on the opposite bank with the canada geese and american coots.

Canada Geese, Mallards, and American Coots

Double-Crested Cormorant

Other birds present were white-breasted nuthatch, american black ducks, ring-necked duck, and gadwall.

Gadwall

I also saw a red squirrel, two grey squirrels, and a muskrat, which was a challenge to get photos of.

Muskrat

After hanging around the duck pond for about fifteen minutes, I headed for S. Nixon Road to search for songbirds, I'm not sure why due to the lack of snow. But I thought that it might be worth a try. I pulled off of Whitehall Road heading SE on S. Nixon, and spotted a larger bird in one of the trees adjacent to the farm house on the left. I pulled off and put the bins on it, and found that it was a mature Cooper's Hawk, a female I believe judging by size.

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Copper's Hawk

I sat and watched the accipiter for about ten minutes preen it's feathers and watch over the fields. And that was it....the rest of my time on S. and N. Nixon was a bust....nothing happened.. BUT, I always enjoy getting looks at a raptor, so it was worth it!



First Birds of 2013

My job as a Community Assistant kept me from doing any birding on January 1st. I had an appointment back home in Brockway, Pennsylvania at 1:00 in the afternoon on the 2nd, so I got up at 7:30 and did some early morning birding before going home. I decided to hit North and South Nixon Roads in hopes of seeing some sparrows, snow buntings, horned larks, maybe some raptors, and other song bird species. The first birds that I saw were big flocks of horned larks, with some snow buntings mixed in.

 Horned Larks

Horned Larks and Snow Buntings

Along with the snow birds on S. Nixon Road were some Northern Cardinals, Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, and the like.

 Northern Cardinal

A flyover Red-Tailed Hawk didn't seem to cause the songbirds any stress, as they continued to forage in the shrub scrub and corn stubble.

Red-Tailed Hawk

After birding Nixon Roads for about an hour, I wanted to go to Wagner Road and check for the Rough-Legged Hawk and any other raptors. The first thing that I noticed was the large amount of Rock Doves at the farm on Wagner.

 The corn silo provided a resting place off of the ground for some of the Rock Doves

Rock Dove

Perched on an electric pole was an adult male American Kestrel, overseeing the Rock Dove activities. American Kestrels come back to my family's property every year. I really enjoy watching them go after field mice or even large insects.

 American Kestrel

American Kestrel

On the opposite side of the road, where I have seen the bird in the same tree on two other occasions, was the Rough-Legged Hawk.

 Rough-Legged Hawk

After watching the RLHA in hopes for seeing something cool to happen for about ten minutes, I made my way to the Centre Furnace Duck Ponds to check for some waterfowl. Right after pulling out of Wagner Road and onto 322, this Red-Tailed Hawk sitting on the side of the road got my attention. And I normally don't pass up any kind of photo opp that presents itself such as this one, even in bad lighting.

Red-Tailed Hawk

When I arrived at the duck ponds, I found a ridiculously amount of canada geese. With the geese were mallards, an american black duck here and there, the male ring-necked duck, a few american coots and four gadwall. I froze out quick at the duck pond, and I had to get going to get to my appointment back home in time, so I took off.

On Friday, January 4th, I didn't do any serious birding. I did go for a quick drive around the property back home though. I didn't really see anything, except for this Northern Harrier.

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier

 Northern Harrier

I took a quick drive through a nearby spruce stand on Coder Road looking for Crossbills. I found none, but I did find some sparrows, cardinals, red-breasted nuthatch, and LOTS of black-capped chickadees.

One of the many black-capped chickadees

I spent the late morning and early afternoon hanging out at my dads house, looking out the back window for birds now and then. For not having any feeders up, alot of cool birds were out there, like a tufted titmouse or this hairy woodpecker.

Male Hairy Woodpecker

I'm going to try to get out in the morning, fingers crossed for finches!

Another look at Wagner Road's RLHA and the last bird for 2012

Late yesterday morning I recieved a text stating that Rough-legged hawks perch higher in trees, reffering to the picture that I took of the hawk on December 28th. I began to question myself on the I.D. of the bird. Knowing that it would drive me nuts if I didn't, I grabbed my camera bag and went back to Wagner road to try and get a second look at the bird. I found the bird right away very near where I saw it the other day. It was about 250 yards off of the road, quiet a snipe for a 55-300mm. Luckily, the bird flew ito the same tree that I photographed it before. Even though the bird was still about one hundred yards away, you can see in the photo that the bird has a white undertail with dark bands and a black terminal band. Telling me that this bird, assuming that it is the same bird that I saw on the 28th, is a rough-legged hawk.

 

 

Rough-legged Hawk

 

Rough-legged Hawk

 

I actually had to wait for about ten minutes for the RLHA to either fly closer to provide better veiws, or just fly in general so I could get looks at the upper and under wing patterns. While waiting, there were countless crows, mourning doves, and songbirds flying over and foraging along side the roads.

 

 

American Crow

 

This savannah sparrow was haning out around my jeep for quite some time, keeping me distracted from the RLHA.

 

Savannah Sparrow

 

My girlfriend was coming to State College for New Year's Eve, so I had to hurry up and get back to my place to cook dinner. When I got home, I heard a chip in a tree outside of my appartment. My last bird of 2012 was..........

 

A Male House Finch