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.