Green-tailed Towhee and White Ibis – Berks County, PA

I finally had a free day to run down to Berks County and attempt to see the Green-tailed Towhee and White Ibis. At 7:45am, four of my friends and I loaded up in my car and drove to Blue Marsh Lake, from Hershey. We arrived at 8:45am and began searching for the towhee along with quite a few other birders. Before we had gotten there, the bird had been seen at least twice so we were excited that we had a pretty good chance of seeing it. After an hour went past, with no sign of the bird, I was getting a little worried. Luckily, a few minutes later I could see Ian Gardner and another birder waving to us that they had the bird. We all ran over and were able to get great looks of the bird as it foraged under a cedar tree alongside White-throated Sparrows and Northern Cardinals. Lighting conditions were rough, but I managed to get one decent shot that shows how beautiful this species is.

Green-tailed Towhee at Blue Marsh Lake (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

We searched Blue Marsh Lake and a few other nearby spots for waterfowl, with limited success and then drove up to Kaercher Creek Park to look for the juvenile White Ibis. This is the same bird that Andy took video of catching crayfish a few weeks ago.  As soon as we arrived, my friend Paul spotted the juvenile ibis foraging in the stream that runs into the lake. We were able to get fantastic looks at the bird as it probed for food up and down the small stream. At one point, we saw the bird catch a frog but then it dropped it. Overall, it was a very successful day of chasing some PA rarities!

White Ibis - juvenile at Kaercher Creek Park (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

White Ibis - juvenile at Kaercher Creek Park (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

White Ibis - juvenile at Kaercher Creek Park (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

White Ibis - juvenile with frog, at Kaercher Creek Park (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)