RBA
* Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia
* July 27, 2006
* PAPH0607.27
* Birds mentioned:
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL (extralimital)
Brown Pelican
Green Heron
Wood Duck
Hooded Merganser
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
MERLIN (nest in pa)
Peregrine Falcon
Common Moorhen
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
AMERICAN AVOCET (nj)
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet (pa & nj)
Spotted Sandpiper
CURLEW SANDPIPER (nj)
RED KNOT (pa)
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER (pa)
Pectoral Sandpiper
RUFF (pa)
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Forster's Tern
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Wood Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
6 species of swallows inc:
Bank Swallow (300)
Purple Martin (100+)
Cedar Waxwing
Prothonotary Warbler
Indigo Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW (pa)
Eastern Meadowlark
Bobolink
pelagic trip announcement
Philadelphia Birdline
Date: July 27, 2006
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 Thursday, July 27th, 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, with bird news of the week:
BROWN PELICANS have been reported at a number
locations along the South Jersey Shore. And
SHOREBIRDS are now on their journey south, along the coast and elsewhere.
Notable among SHOREBIRDS was a CURLEW SANDPIPER,
seen for a while this morning, July 27th, along
the Ocean Drive north of Cape May. It was where
shorebirds were numerous by a ditch on the north
side of Ocean Drive, as they were at 2 mile landing.
At the Cape May Point State Park, the morning of
July 27th, there were 2 STILT SANDPIPERS, and a
PECTORAL SANDPIPER, along with other shorebirds.
Here are some places with PELICANS along the South Jersey Shore lately:
At Hereford Inlet, 26 BROWN PELICANS were tallied on Monday, July 24th.
Now we'll switch those numbers around: 26 on the 24th to 24 on the 26th:
In Sea Isle City, at 84th Street, there were 24
BROWN PELICANS on July 26th at 7:30pm. 11 of them were adults.
Also:
At Brigantine Beach, north of Atlantic City, a
single BROWN PELICAN was seen on July 23rd. About
10 minutes later, there was a group of 8 PELICANS
there, at the south jetty at the inlet. OYSTERCATCHERS also.
BROWN PELICANS have been at Long Beach Island, in
the areas of Loveladies, Harvey Cedars, and North
Beach. During mid-July, there have been about a
dozen BROWN PELICANS on sandbars in the vicinity
of Barnegat Inlet. They were seen on two
occasions from a boat. They may have been visible
from land at a great distance.
An immature BROWN PELICAN was seen from Normandy
Beach on July 25th flying north. A few minutes
later it was seen flying south accompanied by an
adult, heading most likely to the Island Beach State Park.
AVOCETS are not commonly seen anywhere in New
Jersey, which is interesting as just across the
Delaware Bay, in Delaware, at Bombay Hook
National Wildlife Refuge, the species can be quite common.
At the Brigantine (or Forsythe) National Wildlife
Refuge in Oceanville, New Jersey, northwest of
Atlantic City, a single AMERICAN AVOCET in
breeding plumage was seen on Sunday, July 23rd,
in the afternoon, along the first portion of the
one-way dike. It was not seen there on Tuesday, July 25th.
Other birds noted at Brigantine Refuge lately
have included: GULL-BILLED TERNS, PEREGRINE
FALCON, and a BONAPARTE'S GULL. SHOREBIRDS, in
addition to the AVOCET, included these on July
23rd: over 20 WILLETS, many SEMIPALMATED
SANDPIPERS, over a hundred LEAST SANDPIPERS, and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS.
Some nice SHOREBIRDS were seen this past week in
Pennsylvania, particularly in Lancaster County:
On Sunday, July 23rd, there was a juvenile RUFF
at the Conejohela Flats, in Lancaster County
along the Susquehanna River. That bird, there for
about 10 minutes in the afternoon, was scoped
from the shoreline at Blue Rock Road in Washington Boro.
Also seen there that day was a RED KNOT. A nice sight!
A Birdline Feature entitled "the RED KNOT in
peril" (originally written last year) was sent
out by e-mail this week to Birdline subscribers,
as well as to those who receive "Jersey Birds"
and "DE Birds". The feature was an extensive
essay, noting the decline of the American
subspecies in recent years, and giving some
historical perspective. Also noted is that the
subspecies should be declared "endangered", and
that action is truly needed to save it. If you
did not receive a copy of this Birdline feature,
and would like to, please send an e-mail to: armas@focusonnature.com
Other SHOREBIRDS seen at the Conejohela Flats on
July 23rd included: a good number of SEMIPALMATED
and LEAST SANDPIPERS, a DOWITCHER (presumably
SHORT-BILLED), SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, both
YELLOWLEGS, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, and KILLDEER.
The previous day, Saturday, July 22nd, 2 WILLETS
were seen in that area of Washington Boro, at the
flats, about directly out from where state routes
999 & 441 intersect. They were visible from shore
at the railroad crossing for the fire department.
Other birds seen there, in the area of the
Conejohela Flats, on July 22nd, included:
3 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, 19 KILLDEER, 2 GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, 3 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 12 SPOTTED
SANDPIPERS, 7 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, 35 LEAST
SANDPIPERS, and 4 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Also:
9 BALD EAGLES, 1 BONAPARTE'S GULL, 12 FORSTER'S
TERNS, 6 species of SWALLOWS including over a
hundred PURPLE MARTINS, and 2 PROTHONOTARY WARBLERS.
Further south along the Susquehanna River, in the
area of Brunner Island in York County, some birds
that bred this summer along the Conewago Creek
included, in addition to PROTHONOTARY WARBLER:
GREEN HERON, WOOD DUCKS, and a HOODED MERGANSER
(a female was seen swimming with 2 chicks).
Among birds reported this past week at the
Tinicum (or John Heinz) National Wildlife Refuge
in Southwest Philadelphia, there were these:
immature MOORHEN, both YELLOWLEGS, BAIRD'S and
PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED and LEAST
SANDPIPERS, WILLOW FLYCATCHER and WARBLING VIREO,
and BANK SWALLOW (with 1 group of approximately 300).
In Bucks County PA, on Monday, July 24th, in
Warminster, at a weedy construction site near
Jacksonville and Street Roads, there were 4
BOBOLINKS and several SAVANNAH SPARROWS.
Also in Warminster, at Warminster Park, there
were at least a dozen EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, and a
half-dozen EASTERN PHOEBES (with adults feeding young).
We received an e-mail from a birder who lives in
a rural part of Bucks County near Yardley,
telling us of noisy young RED-TAILED HAWKS. Yes, young RED-TAILS can be so.
In Chester County, there have been young
RED-TAILED HAWKS in the area of the Church Farm
School. 3 of them were seen there.
Also there lately: numerous CEDAR WAXWINGS and
INDIGO BUNTINGS, PEWEES, and WILLOW FLYCATCHERS.
The Church Farm School (& Pond) is near Exton.
Near Exeter (in Berks County PA), a RED-TAILED
HAWK recently met a bad fate. There was a photo
of it in the newspaper, the "Reading Eagle",
alive, but having been shot with an arrow!
Some nice news regarding nesting raptors recently
in Pennsylvania comes from McKean County,
upstate. MERLINS nested there this year. And
that's a most unusual occurrence in Pennsylvania.
On July 21st, 2 young were seen in and out of the
nest. On July 25th, they fledged (or started to fly).
"The Annotated List of the Birds of
Pennsylvania", second edition published in 2005,
by Frank & Barbara Haas, states regarding the
MERLIN: "Summer records are rare and breeding
unlikely." In the book "Birds of Pennsylvania",
by Gerald McWilliams & Dan Brauning, published in
2000, it's said that the only modern summer
records in Pennsylvania have been in Crawford
County in 1983 and in Erie County in 1992. A
MERLIN was also noted as seen in Erie County back
in July of 1928. In North America, MERLINS breed primarily in boreal Canada.
Another interesting item in upstate Pennsylvania
is that in Forest County a singing CLAY-COLORED
SPARROW was found on July 26th in an overgrown
field, with brambles, deerberry, and some small
trees including pines. The find was near a place
called East Hickory. Forest County is, by the way, mostly forested.
Lastly, our extralimital report of note this week
refers to a BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL that was
observed well and photographed in the Gulf Stream
off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on July 16th.
The bird may represent the 2nd record for the
western North Atlantic, with the first off North
Carolina on May 31, 2004. The BLACK-BELLIED
STORM-PETREL is a bird of the southern oceans.
There's going to be an offshore pelagic trip from
Barnegat Light NJ on Sunday, September 10th,
leaving just after midnight. It'll be a good time
for WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL and other seabirds.
The cost will be $139 per person. Return to the
dock will be in the afternoon. If you'd like to
join, either e-mail or call FONT (Focus On Nature
Tours) at: font@focusonnature.com
or at 1-800-721-9986.
Info is in the website: www.focusonnature.com
Thank you for tuning in to the Birdline, and
until next time, good birding, wherever you may be.
- end transcript
* Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia
* July 27, 2006
* PAPH0607.27
* Birds mentioned:
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL (extralimital)
Brown Pelican
Green Heron
Wood Duck
Hooded Merganser
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
MERLIN (nest in pa)
Peregrine Falcon
Common Moorhen
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
AMERICAN AVOCET (nj)
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet (pa & nj)
Spotted Sandpiper
CURLEW SANDPIPER (nj)
RED KNOT (pa)
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER (pa)
Pectoral Sandpiper
RUFF (pa)
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Forster's Tern
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Wood Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
6 species of swallows inc:
Bank Swallow (300)
Purple Martin (100+)
Cedar Waxwing
Prothonotary Warbler
Indigo Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW (pa)
Eastern Meadowlark
Bobolink
pelagic trip announcement
Philadelphia Birdline
Date: July 27, 2006
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 Thursday, July 27th, 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, with bird news of the week:
BROWN PELICANS have been reported at a number
locations along the South Jersey Shore. And
SHOREBIRDS are now on their journey south, along the coast and elsewhere.
Notable among SHOREBIRDS was a CURLEW SANDPIPER,
seen for a while this morning, July 27th, along
the Ocean Drive north of Cape May. It was where
shorebirds were numerous by a ditch on the north
side of Ocean Drive, as they were at 2 mile landing.
At the Cape May Point State Park, the morning of
July 27th, there were 2 STILT SANDPIPERS, and a
PECTORAL SANDPIPER, along with other shorebirds.
Here are some places with PELICANS along the South Jersey Shore lately:
At Hereford Inlet, 26 BROWN PELICANS were tallied on Monday, July 24th.
Now we'll switch those numbers around: 26 on the 24th to 24 on the 26th:
In Sea Isle City, at 84th Street, there were 24
BROWN PELICANS on July 26th at 7:30pm. 11 of them were adults.
Also:
At Brigantine Beach, north of Atlantic City, a
single BROWN PELICAN was seen on July 23rd. About
10 minutes later, there was a group of 8 PELICANS
there, at the south jetty at the inlet. OYSTERCATCHERS also.
BROWN PELICANS have been at Long Beach Island, in
the areas of Loveladies, Harvey Cedars, and North
Beach. During mid-July, there have been about a
dozen BROWN PELICANS on sandbars in the vicinity
of Barnegat Inlet. They were seen on two
occasions from a boat. They may have been visible
from land at a great distance.
An immature BROWN PELICAN was seen from Normandy
Beach on July 25th flying north. A few minutes
later it was seen flying south accompanied by an
adult, heading most likely to the Island Beach State Park.
AVOCETS are not commonly seen anywhere in New
Jersey, which is interesting as just across the
Delaware Bay, in Delaware, at Bombay Hook
National Wildlife Refuge, the species can be quite common.
At the Brigantine (or Forsythe) National Wildlife
Refuge in Oceanville, New Jersey, northwest of
Atlantic City, a single AMERICAN AVOCET in
breeding plumage was seen on Sunday, July 23rd,
in the afternoon, along the first portion of the
one-way dike. It was not seen there on Tuesday, July 25th.
Other birds noted at Brigantine Refuge lately
have included: GULL-BILLED TERNS, PEREGRINE
FALCON, and a BONAPARTE'S GULL. SHOREBIRDS, in
addition to the AVOCET, included these on July
23rd: over 20 WILLETS, many SEMIPALMATED
SANDPIPERS, over a hundred LEAST SANDPIPERS, and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS.
Some nice SHOREBIRDS were seen this past week in
Pennsylvania, particularly in Lancaster County:
On Sunday, July 23rd, there was a juvenile RUFF
at the Conejohela Flats, in Lancaster County
along the Susquehanna River. That bird, there for
about 10 minutes in the afternoon, was scoped
from the shoreline at Blue Rock Road in Washington Boro.
Also seen there that day was a RED KNOT. A nice sight!
A Birdline Feature entitled "the RED KNOT in
peril" (originally written last year) was sent
out by e-mail this week to Birdline subscribers,
as well as to those who receive "Jersey Birds"
and "DE Birds". The feature was an extensive
essay, noting the decline of the American
subspecies in recent years, and giving some
historical perspective. Also noted is that the
subspecies should be declared "endangered", and
that action is truly needed to save it. If you
did not receive a copy of this Birdline feature,
and would like to, please send an e-mail to: armas@focusonnature.com
Other SHOREBIRDS seen at the Conejohela Flats on
July 23rd included: a good number of SEMIPALMATED
and LEAST SANDPIPERS, a DOWITCHER (presumably
SHORT-BILLED), SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, both
YELLOWLEGS, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, and KILLDEER.
The previous day, Saturday, July 22nd, 2 WILLETS
were seen in that area of Washington Boro, at the
flats, about directly out from where state routes
999 & 441 intersect. They were visible from shore
at the railroad crossing for the fire department.
Other birds seen there, in the area of the
Conejohela Flats, on July 22nd, included:
3 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, 19 KILLDEER, 2 GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, 3 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 12 SPOTTED
SANDPIPERS, 7 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, 35 LEAST
SANDPIPERS, and 4 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Also:
9 BALD EAGLES, 1 BONAPARTE'S GULL, 12 FORSTER'S
TERNS, 6 species of SWALLOWS including over a
hundred PURPLE MARTINS, and 2 PROTHONOTARY WARBLERS.
Further south along the Susquehanna River, in the
area of Brunner Island in York County, some birds
that bred this summer along the Conewago Creek
included, in addition to PROTHONOTARY WARBLER:
GREEN HERON, WOOD DUCKS, and a HOODED MERGANSER
(a female was seen swimming with 2 chicks).
Among birds reported this past week at the
Tinicum (or John Heinz) National Wildlife Refuge
in Southwest Philadelphia, there were these:
immature MOORHEN, both YELLOWLEGS, BAIRD'S and
PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED and LEAST
SANDPIPERS, WILLOW FLYCATCHER and WARBLING VIREO,
and BANK SWALLOW (with 1 group of approximately 300).
In Bucks County PA, on Monday, July 24th, in
Warminster, at a weedy construction site near
Jacksonville and Street Roads, there were 4
BOBOLINKS and several SAVANNAH SPARROWS.
Also in Warminster, at Warminster Park, there
were at least a dozen EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, and a
half-dozen EASTERN PHOEBES (with adults feeding young).
We received an e-mail from a birder who lives in
a rural part of Bucks County near Yardley,
telling us of noisy young RED-TAILED HAWKS. Yes, young RED-TAILS can be so.
In Chester County, there have been young
RED-TAILED HAWKS in the area of the Church Farm
School. 3 of them were seen there.
Also there lately: numerous CEDAR WAXWINGS and
INDIGO BUNTINGS, PEWEES, and WILLOW FLYCATCHERS.
The Church Farm School (& Pond) is near Exton.
Near Exeter (in Berks County PA), a RED-TAILED
HAWK recently met a bad fate. There was a photo
of it in the newspaper, the "Reading Eagle",
alive, but having been shot with an arrow!
Some nice news regarding nesting raptors recently
in Pennsylvania comes from McKean County,
upstate. MERLINS nested there this year. And
that's a most unusual occurrence in Pennsylvania.
On July 21st, 2 young were seen in and out of the
nest. On July 25th, they fledged (or started to fly).
"The Annotated List of the Birds of
Pennsylvania", second edition published in 2005,
by Frank & Barbara Haas, states regarding the
MERLIN: "Summer records are rare and breeding
unlikely." In the book "Birds of Pennsylvania",
by Gerald McWilliams & Dan Brauning, published in
2000, it's said that the only modern summer
records in Pennsylvania have been in Crawford
County in 1983 and in Erie County in 1992. A
MERLIN was also noted as seen in Erie County back
in July of 1928. In North America, MERLINS breed primarily in boreal Canada.
Another interesting item in upstate Pennsylvania
is that in Forest County a singing CLAY-COLORED
SPARROW was found on July 26th in an overgrown
field, with brambles, deerberry, and some small
trees including pines. The find was near a place
called East Hickory. Forest County is, by the way, mostly forested.
Lastly, our extralimital report of note this week
refers to a BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL that was
observed well and photographed in the Gulf Stream
off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on July 16th.
The bird may represent the 2nd record for the
western North Atlantic, with the first off North
Carolina on May 31, 2004. The BLACK-BELLIED
STORM-PETREL is a bird of the southern oceans.
There's going to be an offshore pelagic trip from
Barnegat Light NJ on Sunday, September 10th,
leaving just after midnight. It'll be a good time
for WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL and other seabirds.
The cost will be $139 per person. Return to the
dock will be in the afternoon. If you'd like to
join, either e-mail or call FONT (Focus On Nature
Tours) at: font@focusonnature.com
or at 1-800-721-9986.
Info is in the website: www.focusonnature.com
Thank you for tuning in to the Birdline, and
until next time, good birding, wherever you may be.
- end transcript