Plenty of Fowl on a gorgeous day

The past two days have been the nicest of the year thus far, with temperatures reaching into the high 60's today. Though I didn't bird much today due to prior responsibilities, yesterday I managed to get out to some local spots in Monroe and Northampton Counties with my friends Rebekah and Cheris. We stopped at my usual spots (Lake Minsi, Echo Lake, PPL/Martin's Creek and other river spots), and though the weather was perfect there weren't many surprises to be found. A pair of Wood Ducks among many Mallards were swimming around the small pond on Cherry Creek in Cherry Valley. After a rather large breakfast at the Water Gap diner, I set out to find an Eagle or two to show the girls. The nest at MetEd in Portland was empty, but there were Field Sparrows and my first Eastern Phoebe of the year singing. The only raptor we found on DePues Ferry road was a distant Osprey (first of the year) perched in the nest on the tower out past the fly ash basin. As we were leaving, a Tree Swallow perched just outside the car window and allowed for some good photo opportunities (my camera is in the car, however). Lake Minsi held a single female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER among the many Commons, as well as a few Pied-billed and at least 6 Horned Grebes. Most of the Horned Grebes were still in winter plumage, but I did manage to get a few distant shots of one inbreeding plumage swimming alongside a winter bird. A nice surprise at Echo Lake was four NORTHERN SHOVELERS, two male and two female. Though annual, I don't see many Shovelers in this general area. There were also some lingering Bufflehead and Ring-necked Ducks at Echo. Backtracking, we stopped at Bear Swamp to walk around a bit. There were Wood Frogs calling, but the bird life was generally quiet and conspicuous. As we were leaving, two COMMON RAVENS flew by with a herd of crows hot on their tails. It was a rather slow day, but the delightful weather more than made up for the lack of birds. Driving home last night past the swamps and vernal pools on National Park Drive, the Spring Peepers were deafening, and several American Woodcock were displaying as well.

Spring Forward

Spring has arrived, though technically we still have a week of winter left. The small bit of open water at Lake Minsi grew steadily this week with all of the rain we got, and along with Echo Lake was filled with waterfowl- Hooded and Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed and Horned Grebes and of course many Mallard and Canada Geese. Also during the torrential downpour on Thursday there were a pair of adult Bald Eagles (one was standing on the ice, something I don't see them do too often) and despite the rain I heard my first of the year Red-winged Blackbirds singing, Song Sparrows, Fish Crows and Common Grackles flying around. I've also been hearing Spring Peepers this week, and reading reports of Spotted and Jefferson's Salamanders, Wood Frogs and other herps being seen though I haven't had the chance to get out and look for them yet this year. I replaced my camera, but am still waiting to acquire a lens for it. Hopefully I'll have it before things pick up and get too hectic bird-wise. Its about that time now, which seems to come earlier and earlier every year, when it becomes harder and harder for me to sleep due to the fact that I know there are millions of birds migrating overhead every night. Its that same zugenruhe-induced insomnia (one of my favorite words, though I can't ever remember how to spell it) that strikes every year. Its only a matter of time before the birds are back and singing, and I can start slapping some bands on those pesky Golden-wingeds again. Until then I'll just have to keep busy with salamanders, sparrows and ducks.