The majority of waterways in Pennsylvania are frozen up tight, as are most of the northeastern states, aside from a few small pockets here and there. Luckily for birders, one stretch of open water along the Susquehanna River is near the mouth of the Conodoquinet Creek where the West Fairview boat launch is located. This location is a birding hotspot throughout the year; … Read More
White-cheeked Pintail just in time for the 110th anniversary of Pelican Island NWR
So far this winter, Florida has had an incredible spree of West Indian vagrants turn up. One of the most interesting is an adult White-cheeked Pintail that was discovered by Molly McCarter at Pelican Island NWR on January 29th. White-cheeked Pintails are residents of the West Indies and Caribbean, commonly occurring year-round as close to Florida as Cuba and the … Read More
Leucistic Cackling Goose in PA
On February 8th, Pennsylvania birder and photographer Dustin Welch found a very unusual Cackling Goose mixed in with typical Cackling Geese and Canada Geese near Beltzville State Park, in east-central PA. As you can see from Dustin’s photos below, this Cackling Goose is leucistic with very pale and sandy-colored plumage throughout its body, tail, and primary feathers. The head coloration seems to … Read More
Another year of birding underway!
With the first month of the year officially behind us now, I thought I would take a look the current status of my year list. Beginning a new year is always fun – every single bird is ‘new’, it’s winter, and there are typically a bunch of winter rarities and other good birds around to chase. You never really know what the … Read More
Winter Rarities at Cape May Point SP
It isn’t much of a secret that Cape May Point State Park, at the southern tip of New Jersey, is one of the country’s top birding locations and rarity traps. Every winter something interesting turns up at the park and stays for a few days, weeks, or maybe even over-winters there. This winter, however, is totally off the charts! Besides … Read More
Frustrating Goose Chase
On January 18th Justin Bosler, Chuck Berthoud, Josh Lefever, and I literally went on a wild goose chase. There were reliable reports of a Pink-footed Goose and at least 2 Barnacle Geese just over the border in New Jersey, and that’s not to mention the incredible mini-flock of 3 Northern Lapwings nearby! There were a few other notable birds in … Read More
Chasin’ on a Foggy Day
This is the second year in a row that a Pink-footed Goose has shown up in eastern Pennsylvania. Last year, I just never had a chance to chase the goose so I was really excited when another pink-foot was found this winter at Peace Valley Park in Bucks County. In addition to that bird, there are also potentially up to … Read More
Pink-footed Goose at Lake Muhlenberg
Yesterday, I finally had a chance to check Lake Muhlenberg in Allentown, Lehigh County, PA for the Pink-footed Goose discovered by Scott Burnet on January 7. The fog was extremely thick at first, making it extremely difficult to sort through the geese on the water. However, I eventually spotted the bird near the far side of the lake, but the … Read More
The King of Cape May Point
For over a month now, an immature male King Eider has been hanging out along the beach at Cape May Point. It is most often seen foraging around the jetty at the St. Mary’s dune crossing – that is where my friends and I were able to catch up with it on the evening of January 2nd. The eider was … Read More
Delaware Big Day – January 2013
One of the main reasons for our New Year, New Birds trip was to do a January 1st Big Day in Delaware with Tim Schreckengost from Thermal Birding. Tim lives and works down in Delaware right now, and has been a friends of ours for a few years now. The following story was co-written by Alex and Tim and is … Read More