RBA
* Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia
* December 13, 2005
* PAPH1213.05
* Birds mentioned:
Red-throated Loon
PACIFIC LOON (pa)
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe (pa)
Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Northern Gannet
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN (de & nj)
American Bittern
Tundra Swan
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (pa)
EURASIAN WIGEON (nj)
Ring-necked Duck
Redhead
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Long-tailed Duck
Common Eider
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
PRAIRIE FALCON (pa) (?)
Peregrine Falcon
Bonaparte's Gull
Iceland Gull (pa)
BLACK SKIMMER (pa)
BLACK GUILLEMOT (nj)
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (nj)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Horned Lark
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Pipit
Pine Warbler (pa)
Common Yellowthroat (pa)
HARRIS' SPARROW (pa)
"Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Rusty Blackbird
Purple Finch
Philadelphia Birdline
Date: December 13, 2005
Number: 215/567-BIRD
To Report: Armas Hill, 302/529-1876 (VOICE)
302/529-1085 (FAX)
Compiler: Armas Hill
Coverage: Delaware Valley, and southern New Jersey
Transcriber: Risė Hill
For Tuesday, December 13th, this is the
Philadelphia Birdline - from the Academy of
Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and supported
by a number of bird clubs and individuals. I'm Armas Hill, glad to be with you.
The BLACK GUILLEMOT, noted here last time as
being along the New Jersey Coast, at Barnegat
Light, has continued, the past few days, to be seen.
The bird was first found on Saturday, December 3rd.
On Saturday, December 10th, it was seen in the
area of Barnegat Light, in the bay opposite the
main entrance to the state park. That afternoon,
it was in the area of a red buoy, not far from a
sandbar. In the morning, it was said to be closer to shore.
Later in afternoon on December 10th (about
3:30pm), it was said to be in Barnegat Bay, about a quarter-mile to the south.
In the morning on Sunday, December 11th (about
7:45am), it was seen at Barnegat Light about 15
feet off the sea wall at the new condominium
construction site. Later, it had drifted further out.
Barnegat Light is, as you may well know, at the north end of Long Beach Island.
This BLACK GUILLEMOT at Barnegat Light is the
first one known to stay around for a while in New
Jersey since December 1962 - January 1963.
Some fine photos of it can be seen in the
web-site: http://philjeffrey.net/gallery/recent
Also noted at Barnegat Light on Saturday,
December 10th, were 15 EIDERS, out along the jetty.
Yesterday, Monday, December 12th, the BLACK
GUILLEMOT was seen by some (early in the morning), and not by others.
Other birds reported at cold Barnegat Light
yesterday, December 10th, included: over 30
HARLEQUIN DUCKS, 3 COMMON EIDERS, 2 PEREGRINE
FALCONS, 100 SNOW BUNTINGS, 2 "IPSWICH" SPARROWS,
both LOONS, GANNET, SCOTERS and other ducks.
A GOLDEN EAGLE was seen again at the Forsythe, or
Brigantine, National Wildlife Refuge around noon on Sunday, December 11th.
Now here's something interesting:
On Sunday morning, December 11th, just after
10am, a flock of 12 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were
seen in Rehoboth, Delaware. They were circling in
the sky above a birder on Delaware Route 1. Then
they headed slowly toward the southeast.
It seems as if they shifted direction because
around noon on the other side of the Delaware Bay
at Cape May, New Jersey, 7 WHITE PELICANS were
seen, flying toward the northeast.
Later that afternoon, to the north, at Sandy
Hook, at the north end of the Jersey Shore, about
4 pm, 7 WHITE PELICANS were seen flying in off
the ocean. They landed on a sandbar on Skeleton
Hill Island at Spermaceti Cove.
The next morning, on Monday, December 12th, those
7 WHITE PELICANS were seen at about 8:30am, still sitting on that sandbar.
At about 9am, they took off, and headed
northwest, and then turned south heading down the
coast. They all did, except 1 apparently, as 6
were counted heading south.
Other birds observed at Sandy Hook on Sunday, December 11th included:
about a thousand SCOTERS of all 3 species, 2 male
REDHEADS and an AMERICAN BITTERN at Spermaceti
Cove, lots of LOONS of both species, GANNETS and
GULLS notably BONAPARTE'S. Also, about 40 SNOW BUNTINGS.
The following morning, December 12th, at Sandy
Hook 5 REDHEADS were observed, 3 males and 2
females. And there was a male EURASIAN WIGEON at Spermaceti Cove.
Let's go from northeast NJ to southwest NJ, to
Salem County, where on Friday, December 9th,
PIPITS were seen (3 of them) along Sunset Drive in Mannington.
A LAPLAND LONGSPUR was with about 100 HORNED
LARKS by the intersection of Pennsgrove Auburn &
Pointer's Auburn Roads. The LONGSPUR was still with some breeding plumage.
BALD EAGLES were in evidence at Mannington, with
5 at the same field along Nimrod Road, 4 of them immatures and 1 an adult.
Further north in the Delaware Valley, on the
Pennsylvania side of the river, an adult BALD
EAGLE was sen south of Yardley, about a mile
north of the Calhoun Street Bridge between
Morrisville and Trenton. Thanks Anton, for your report.
A PINE WARBLER was seen a week or so ago at a feeder in Levittown PA.
Also in Bucks County, the following birds were in
the Peace Valley area this past week. The Peace
Valley Nature Center is on the north side of Lake
Galena, north of Doylestown, west of Route 313.
The RED-NECKED GREBE, previously noted there, was
seen through December 7th. A HORNED GREBE, December 4th.
There was a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE on
December 10th. Also that day, 3 RING-NECKED
DUCKS, a COMMON GOLDENEYE, a half-dozen HOODED
MERGANSERS, over 50 COMMON MERGANSERS, and both adult and sub-adult BALD EAGLE.
2 LONG-TAILED DUCKS were there on December 6th. A
PIPIT and RUSTY BLACKBIRD on December 9th. And a
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, noted here last time,
continued there at the feeder through that day, December 9th.
The YELLOWTHROAT of course a bit out of season,
but how's this for being off schedule? A BLACK
SKIMMER was seen in flight, with some GULLS, in
Northampton County (just north of Bucks County)
on December 9th! It was said to be flying west.
(If it has any "sense", it would be flying south!)
Maybe the RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD that was in
Southampton, Bucks County PA, flew south. At
least, it's no longer being seen there. It was at
location from November 20th to December 7th.
As of late last week (Dec 9th), the RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRD in southern New Jersey was still
there. One in Verga, Gloucester County, has
continued thru at least yesterday, December 12th.
One in Paulsboro, southern NJ, was still there
early last week (that is, about a week ago).
At Palmyra NJ, on Friday, December 9th, a HERMIT THRUSH was seen.
Back in Pennsylvania, shifting from the Delaware
River to the area of the Schuylkill, in the
Valley Forge Park on December 10th & 11th, these
birds were noted from the south side of the Schuylkill River Trail:
GOLDENEYE (1), BUFFLEHEAD (as many as 75),
PIED-BILLED GREBE, a PIPIT (rare there), and these:
WINTER WREN, BROWN CREEPER, and YELLOW-BELLIED
SAPSUCKER, in addition to other more-common species.
In Chester County, at Struble Lake, on Saturday,
December 10th, a juvenile ICELAND GULL was on the
ice. About 35 TUNDRA SWANS were there, until they flew away around sunset.
At Marsh Creek, in Chester County, there have
been a number of RUDDY DUCKS, and a HORNED GREBE was there on December 10th.
There's been a report that the PACIFIC LOON that
was noted a couple weeks ago as being at Lake
Ontelaunee, in Berks County, south of Reading,
was seen again on Saturday, December 10th. A
birder from Virginia reported it. To get to where
the bird was said to be, go east on Route 73 from
the dam, turn left and park at "Maiden Creek".
In central Pennsylvania, a HARRIS' SPARROW has
been the last few days at Oakland Mills in
Juniata County, at the feeder by the Lost Creek
Shoe Shop. It was seen both days this past
weekend, December 10-11. That was following a
lapse, after the bird was first seen a couple weeks prior to that.
No report here this time of a HARRIS' SPARROW in
Northampton County (although people have been
looking), but at the feeders there at the
Jacobsburg State Park there have recently been a
number of TREE SPARROWS and a single female PURPLE FINCH.
I normally don't expect when I start to compose
the Birdline to write about a BLACK GUILLEMOT
lingering along along the New Jersey Coast, or a
flock of 12 WHITE PELICANS in a Delaware sky, or
a BLACK SKIMMER in flight in eastern Pennsylvania
in December. All of these, as you just read, have
been here, along with HUMMINGBIRDS and a
YELLOWTHROAT. Nor would I expect to write about a
PRAIRIE FALCON in south-central Pennsylvania.
But, apparently, for whatever reason, one has
been there, recently, in the area of
Shippensburg. On Friday, December 9th, it was
seen, and seen well, in the area of the Newville
Landfill (which as I understand it, is on the way
to Newburg, but anyway). The falcon that day flew
30 feet over the observer. The dark "armpits" of
the FALCON were observed. The FALCON was then seen catching a STARLING.
The FALCON was first observed back on December
1st a few miles away along Britton Road.
There was some previous commentary, after the
bird was first seen, of the FALCON being rather
like a SAKER. That would be a falconer's SAKER,
as that species is Eurasian. But, now, after
people have examined photographs of the bird near
Shippensburg, the fieldmarks appear to be those of a PRAIRIE FALCON.
The ID question is one of two interesting
questions. The other, of course, is why is such a bird in south-central PA?
* Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia
* December 13, 2005
* PAPH1213.05
* Birds mentioned:
Red-throated Loon
PACIFIC LOON (pa)
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe (pa)
Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Northern Gannet
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN (de & nj)
American Bittern
Tundra Swan
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (pa)
EURASIAN WIGEON (nj)
Ring-necked Duck
Redhead
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Long-tailed Duck
Common Eider
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
PRAIRIE FALCON (pa) (?)
Peregrine Falcon
Bonaparte's Gull
Iceland Gull (pa)
BLACK SKIMMER (pa)
BLACK GUILLEMOT (nj)
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (nj)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Horned Lark
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Pipit
Pine Warbler (pa)
Common Yellowthroat (pa)
HARRIS' SPARROW (pa)
"Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Rusty Blackbird
Purple Finch
Philadelphia Birdline
Date: December 13, 2005
Number: 215/567-BIRD
To Report: Armas Hill, 302/529-1876 (VOICE)
302/529-1085 (FAX)
Compiler: Armas Hill
Coverage: Delaware Valley, and southern New Jersey
Transcriber: Risė Hill
For Tuesday, December 13th, this is the
Philadelphia Birdline - from the Academy of
Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and supported
by a number of bird clubs and individuals. I'm Armas Hill, glad to be with you.
The BLACK GUILLEMOT, noted here last time as
being along the New Jersey Coast, at Barnegat
Light, has continued, the past few days, to be seen.
The bird was first found on Saturday, December 3rd.
On Saturday, December 10th, it was seen in the
area of Barnegat Light, in the bay opposite the
main entrance to the state park. That afternoon,
it was in the area of a red buoy, not far from a
sandbar. In the morning, it was said to be closer to shore.
Later in afternoon on December 10th (about
3:30pm), it was said to be in Barnegat Bay, about a quarter-mile to the south.
In the morning on Sunday, December 11th (about
7:45am), it was seen at Barnegat Light about 15
feet off the sea wall at the new condominium
construction site. Later, it had drifted further out.
Barnegat Light is, as you may well know, at the north end of Long Beach Island.
This BLACK GUILLEMOT at Barnegat Light is the
first one known to stay around for a while in New
Jersey since December 1962 - January 1963.
Some fine photos of it can be seen in the
web-site: http://philjeffrey.net/gallery/recent
Also noted at Barnegat Light on Saturday,
December 10th, were 15 EIDERS, out along the jetty.
Yesterday, Monday, December 12th, the BLACK
GUILLEMOT was seen by some (early in the morning), and not by others.
Other birds reported at cold Barnegat Light
yesterday, December 10th, included: over 30
HARLEQUIN DUCKS, 3 COMMON EIDERS, 2 PEREGRINE
FALCONS, 100 SNOW BUNTINGS, 2 "IPSWICH" SPARROWS,
both LOONS, GANNET, SCOTERS and other ducks.
A GOLDEN EAGLE was seen again at the Forsythe, or
Brigantine, National Wildlife Refuge around noon on Sunday, December 11th.
Now here's something interesting:
On Sunday morning, December 11th, just after
10am, a flock of 12 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were
seen in Rehoboth, Delaware. They were circling in
the sky above a birder on Delaware Route 1. Then
they headed slowly toward the southeast.
It seems as if they shifted direction because
around noon on the other side of the Delaware Bay
at Cape May, New Jersey, 7 WHITE PELICANS were
seen, flying toward the northeast.
Later that afternoon, to the north, at Sandy
Hook, at the north end of the Jersey Shore, about
4 pm, 7 WHITE PELICANS were seen flying in off
the ocean. They landed on a sandbar on Skeleton
Hill Island at Spermaceti Cove.
The next morning, on Monday, December 12th, those
7 WHITE PELICANS were seen at about 8:30am, still sitting on that sandbar.
At about 9am, they took off, and headed
northwest, and then turned south heading down the
coast. They all did, except 1 apparently, as 6
were counted heading south.
Other birds observed at Sandy Hook on Sunday, December 11th included:
about a thousand SCOTERS of all 3 species, 2 male
REDHEADS and an AMERICAN BITTERN at Spermaceti
Cove, lots of LOONS of both species, GANNETS and
GULLS notably BONAPARTE'S. Also, about 40 SNOW BUNTINGS.
The following morning, December 12th, at Sandy
Hook 5 REDHEADS were observed, 3 males and 2
females. And there was a male EURASIAN WIGEON at Spermaceti Cove.
Let's go from northeast NJ to southwest NJ, to
Salem County, where on Friday, December 9th,
PIPITS were seen (3 of them) along Sunset Drive in Mannington.
A LAPLAND LONGSPUR was with about 100 HORNED
LARKS by the intersection of Pennsgrove Auburn &
Pointer's Auburn Roads. The LONGSPUR was still with some breeding plumage.
BALD EAGLES were in evidence at Mannington, with
5 at the same field along Nimrod Road, 4 of them immatures and 1 an adult.
Further north in the Delaware Valley, on the
Pennsylvania side of the river, an adult BALD
EAGLE was sen south of Yardley, about a mile
north of the Calhoun Street Bridge between
Morrisville and Trenton. Thanks Anton, for your report.
A PINE WARBLER was seen a week or so ago at a feeder in Levittown PA.
Also in Bucks County, the following birds were in
the Peace Valley area this past week. The Peace
Valley Nature Center is on the north side of Lake
Galena, north of Doylestown, west of Route 313.
The RED-NECKED GREBE, previously noted there, was
seen through December 7th. A HORNED GREBE, December 4th.
There was a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE on
December 10th. Also that day, 3 RING-NECKED
DUCKS, a COMMON GOLDENEYE, a half-dozen HOODED
MERGANSERS, over 50 COMMON MERGANSERS, and both adult and sub-adult BALD EAGLE.
2 LONG-TAILED DUCKS were there on December 6th. A
PIPIT and RUSTY BLACKBIRD on December 9th. And a
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, noted here last time,
continued there at the feeder through that day, December 9th.
The YELLOWTHROAT of course a bit out of season,
but how's this for being off schedule? A BLACK
SKIMMER was seen in flight, with some GULLS, in
Northampton County (just north of Bucks County)
on December 9th! It was said to be flying west.
(If it has any "sense", it would be flying south!)
Maybe the RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD that was in
Southampton, Bucks County PA, flew south. At
least, it's no longer being seen there. It was at
location from November 20th to December 7th.
As of late last week (Dec 9th), the RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRD in southern New Jersey was still
there. One in Verga, Gloucester County, has
continued thru at least yesterday, December 12th.
One in Paulsboro, southern NJ, was still there
early last week (that is, about a week ago).
At Palmyra NJ, on Friday, December 9th, a HERMIT THRUSH was seen.
Back in Pennsylvania, shifting from the Delaware
River to the area of the Schuylkill, in the
Valley Forge Park on December 10th & 11th, these
birds were noted from the south side of the Schuylkill River Trail:
GOLDENEYE (1), BUFFLEHEAD (as many as 75),
PIED-BILLED GREBE, a PIPIT (rare there), and these:
WINTER WREN, BROWN CREEPER, and YELLOW-BELLIED
SAPSUCKER, in addition to other more-common species.
In Chester County, at Struble Lake, on Saturday,
December 10th, a juvenile ICELAND GULL was on the
ice. About 35 TUNDRA SWANS were there, until they flew away around sunset.
At Marsh Creek, in Chester County, there have
been a number of RUDDY DUCKS, and a HORNED GREBE was there on December 10th.
There's been a report that the PACIFIC LOON that
was noted a couple weeks ago as being at Lake
Ontelaunee, in Berks County, south of Reading,
was seen again on Saturday, December 10th. A
birder from Virginia reported it. To get to where
the bird was said to be, go east on Route 73 from
the dam, turn left and park at "Maiden Creek".
In central Pennsylvania, a HARRIS' SPARROW has
been the last few days at Oakland Mills in
Juniata County, at the feeder by the Lost Creek
Shoe Shop. It was seen both days this past
weekend, December 10-11. That was following a
lapse, after the bird was first seen a couple weeks prior to that.
No report here this time of a HARRIS' SPARROW in
Northampton County (although people have been
looking), but at the feeders there at the
Jacobsburg State Park there have recently been a
number of TREE SPARROWS and a single female PURPLE FINCH.
I normally don't expect when I start to compose
the Birdline to write about a BLACK GUILLEMOT
lingering along along the New Jersey Coast, or a
flock of 12 WHITE PELICANS in a Delaware sky, or
a BLACK SKIMMER in flight in eastern Pennsylvania
in December. All of these, as you just read, have
been here, along with HUMMINGBIRDS and a
YELLOWTHROAT. Nor would I expect to write about a
PRAIRIE FALCON in south-central Pennsylvania.
But, apparently, for whatever reason, one has
been there, recently, in the area of
Shippensburg. On Friday, December 9th, it was
seen, and seen well, in the area of the Newville
Landfill (which as I understand it, is on the way
to Newburg, but anyway). The falcon that day flew
30 feet over the observer. The dark "armpits" of
the FALCON were observed. The FALCON was then seen catching a STARLING.
The FALCON was first observed back on December
1st a few miles away along Britton Road.
There was some previous commentary, after the
bird was first seen, of the FALCON being rather
like a SAKER. That would be a falconer's SAKER,
as that species is Eurasian. But, now, after
people have examined photographs of the bird near
Shippensburg, the fieldmarks appear to be those of a PRAIRIE FALCON.
The ID question is one of two interesting
questions. The other, of course, is why is such a bird in south-central PA?