The big sightings in PA recently have been the Harlequin Ducks that are currently being seen in Huntingdon and Northampton Counties. I believe it is the second report of a Harlequin Duck in Huntingdon while it is the first record for Northampton. Erie continues to have reports Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull at the south pier The Mud Level Rd Prairie Falcon is still being reported, although sometimes hard to find. Harlequin Duck- Huntingdon The Anna’s Hummingbird in Berks County is still frequenting feeders in the same neighborhood, keeping hopes alive that it will still be around in January for year listers. Northern Shrikes are being found across the state. Birds were reported from Erie and Carbon Counties on Dec. 19th, Clearfield County on Dec. 20th and possibly two at Bald Eagle State Park in Centre County on Dec. 26th-28th.
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Undoubtedly, some of you out there were the lucky recipients of a mobile device from Apple and are wanting to know how to use it as a birding tool. Luckily for you, I have some recommendations on apps from using some of these devices. Compared to 2 years ago when I got my first iPod Touch for Christmas, there are lots of apps. I have listed what I consider the best of the best bird apps in three categories followed by several apps to watch out for. Bird finding BirdsEye – Birds In The Hand, LLC ($19.99 iTunes link) for iPhone and iPod Touch This is the number one birding app for me, easily the one that I use the most.
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I am excited to announce the grand opening of The Nemesis Bird Store. We are starting small but there is already a nice selection of bumper stickers to show off your birding pride or your favorite species. Do you have a soft spot for the ever adorable saw-whet owl? Well, check out the bumper sticker below or head to the store to see what else we have to offer. If there is a species you would like on your bumper but don’t see in the store, send me an email at drewweber@gmail.com and I will do my best to accommodate you.
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After chasing (and finding!) the Northern Wheatear this morning, Klye Aldinger, Ian Gardner, and I drove about an hour farther south to try and find the Golden-crowned Sparrow. This is a west coast species that is very rarely seen in the East. I was really doubting we would see it. It seemed like it wasnt very reliable and all birders HAD to stay in their cars to try and find the bird. When we pulled up to Chesapeake Farms, we had to drive down the driveway, which was lined with huge shrubs for about a fifth of a mile. The bushes were alive with sparrow; White-throated and White-crowned primarily. The little hope I did have for finding this rare sparrow was now all gone. How could we ever find the drabbest sparrow among all of these hundreds of sparrows? Well it only ended up taking about 5 minutes.
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On December 22nd, Colin Campbell was biking around Fox Point State Park near Wilmington, Delaware and discovered a Northern Wheatear. This is a very rare species to North America and only the 2nd record ever for Delaware. The first record was in 1957. I carpooled down this morning to see the bird. Kyle Aldinger, Ian Gardner, and I arrived at the State Park at 8:15am, just in time for the guard to open the gate. At least 21 other cars worth of birders were present to see this beautiful bird, which we all found instantly at the far end of the park foraging on the grass. The wheatear seemingly didnt mind all the attention it was getting, and wandered around eating and occasionally flying to the chain link fence or down onto some rocks along the shoreline.
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Since I was only about 50 minutes from the Northern Wheatear, I jumped at the opportunity to run down and see it when Justine drifted off to a Christmas afternoon nap. Lucky I did as the wheatear was very cooperative and sat still for a bunch of long distance digiscoping shots. I also got some crippling looks at the wheatear as it jumped around in the grass with a few Song Sparrows.
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This afternoon I stopped by in front of the Chocolate Factory in Hershey, PA to scan through the Canada Geese. There were a total of 1047 geese present. Instantly two white geese caught my eye. I figured they were going to be Snow Geese, but once I got a better look I realized they were leucistic Canada Geese – almost pure albino, but not quite. There was also a “Dusky” Canada Goose (Branta canadensis occidentalis) which is a rare susbpecies of the Canada Goose. According to the National Biological Information Infrastructure; “Dusky Canada geese breed almost exclusively in the Copper River Delta area of south-central Alaska and winter predominantly in coastal areas of Oregon and Washington. Never abundant, numbers of Dusky Canada Geese have gradually declined following the effects of an earthquake in 1964 that substantially uplifted their Alaska breeding habitat.
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Looking over the large flock of Canada Geese at the Duck Pond in State College, I came across one goose that was noticeably smaller than the other geese. In addition, the back was a darker brown color and the chest was much darker. Overall it was just a petite, darker version of the other geese that were in the pond. Does anyone have any thoughts what species/subspecies this is? Please leave a comment below if you have any thoughts or ideas on this bird. Update- most respondants seem to think its most likely either the Lesser Canada Goose subspecies (Branta canadensis parvipes) or a runt of one of the eastern subspecies. The first three images were from today at the Duck Pond while the final one is a Cackling Geese I have managed to digiscope for comparison.
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This afternoon I once again went out and drove around some farm roads in Hershey, PA to take photos of raptors and figure out some of their territories. I was able to find 7 different Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Northern Harrier, and 4 different American Kestrels as well as many Turkey Vultures and some Black Vultures. There were two areas that had a pair of Red-tails and the other 3 Red-tails I saw were alone. Kestrels were spread out but I did find 2 males and 2 females. The harrier was a juvenile. Another cool bird I found were 8 meadowlarks foraging together in a field, 2 of which were for sure Eastern Meadowlarks, but I didnt get a good enough look at the other 6 to rule out Western Meadowlark – a species that I am sure overwinters in PA but is overlooked. I also spotted Yellow-bellied Sapsucker near the Milton Hershey School’s Environmental Center.
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This morning I decided to try and find a group of nine Greater White-fronted Geese that had been reported at a lake about an hour from my house. My friend Matt McElwee was willing to tag along for the ride, as long as we made a stop at a Farmer’s Market near Lancaster first. So we hit the rode by 8am, went to the Farmer’s Market, and stopped by Midde Creek WMA on our way to Lake Ontelaunee (where the geese were supposed to be). Middle Creek had hundreds of Canada Geese, American Black Ducks, and Mallards as well as quite a few Tundra Swans and a few other waterfowl species. We made it to Lake Ontelaunee by 11:00am and there were also hundreds of Canada Geese, American Black Ducks, and Mallards swimming or standing around the small area of open water.
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