Click on links throughout this post to see our full eBird checklists and more photos for the locations mentioned! Last week I was sitting around campus with my friends Mark Mizak and Josh Lefever, thinking about the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. We knew we would have four days free and we knew we wanted to go birding. … Read More
Common Chaffinch and Snowy Owl – New Jersey
This morning Josh Lefever, Mark Mizak, and I began what will be a weekend-long birding trip throughout eastern PA and NJ. We first visited the Green-tailed Towhee at Berks County, PA and were able to see it after a few minutes of waiting in the howling wind and extreme cold. Next we tried for the juvenile White Ibis in Hamburg … Read More
Snowy Owl – Chester County, PA
Today, I had a family get-together near Perkasie, PA and knew that was really close to S&W Race Cars, where a Snowy Owl has been hanging out since December 20th. After trying to see this bird yesterday afternoon without success, I was really excited to give it a second try. My Dad and I drove over and arrived at S&W … Read More
Black-tailed Gull – Back to Ashtabula
On November 17th, I joined Andy McGann and Tom Johnson in an attempt to see the adult Black-tailed Gull that had been discovered the day before in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio. Black-tailed Gulls are a very rare vagrant (ABA code 4) to the United States from South Korea and Japan, and I really wanted to see this bird. Unfortunately, we spent all … Read More
Are we on the verge of a Snowy Owl irruption?
It looks like Snowy Owls are on the move this winter. With the widespread adoption of eBird, we now have an easy way to keep track of this phenomenon in a way that was previously difficult to impossible. Below I have posted the maps of the range and locations of sightings in both 2010 and 2011 over the months of … Read More
Snowy Owl at Merrill Creek Reservoir, NJ
On November 8th, Ray Richkus spotted a Snowy Owl while fishing in Merrill Creek Reservoir, Warren County, New Jersey. Word quickly spread, and many birders were able to see the bird the next day. Four of my friends and I decided to chase the owl, and left State College at 5:00am and made it to the reservoir by 8:30am. Some … Read More