Yesterday, we woke up to snow flurries and temperatures well below freezing, and for the first time in weeks it actually felt like winter. Matt and I met our friend Mark Boyd in Wind Gap, and we headed north towards the largely under-birded Pocono's and a few of Mark's old breeding bird blocks from the 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas. During the breeding season, these blocks always had a slightly more northern feel than we were accustomed to down in the Lehigh Valley- species like Alder Flycatcher, Magnolia and Nashville Warblers, Northern Waterthrush, Dark-eyed Junco and White-throated Sparrow were uncommon local breeders, and over the past few years sightings of raptors like Northern Goshawk and Merlin have kept us coming back. I had also done some Golden-winged Warbler surveys on nearby SGL 180, and have always wanted to explore the area further.
Despite ample habitat and avifauna, the Pocono Plateau doesn't receive that much coverage from birders. covering counties like Lackawanna, Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne (as well as others), this vast area boasts breeders like Merlin, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Swainson's Thrush and a long list of warbler species, including a somewhat healthy population of Golden-winged Warblers (more on these guys another time). So, on this chilly February day, we decided to make the trip up to southern Lackawanna County to see what we could find, and to visit a friend on his farm who we had met several years back while atlassing.
We drove several back roads just north of Gouldsboro State Park, and east of route 435 (I am working on a Google Map to the Pocono's). Almost everywhere we stopped, we could hear the croaking of Common Ravens- a sure sign we weren't in the Lehigh Valley any longer. Many spots were pretty dead, in fact Mark remarked how nice it was to hear silence for a change, compared to the busy streets and noises of Allentown, where he lives. Still, we came across decent flocks of the usual winter birds like Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a few others here and there. Despite there being some open water around, the only waterfowl we managed to find were a few groups of Mallards and four (3 drake and one hen) Hooded Mergansers. There is a lot of marshy habitat in the area, and Mark confirmed these pretty ducks breeding during the atlas.
The surprise(s) of the day came on a back road when Matt heard/found a small group of COMMON REDPOLLS. We had hoped for such a sighting, and watched as the initial group of six soon joined eight more in a stand of Tamarack Larches (eastern Larch). Then, as we walked up the snow covered road towards the flock, we flushed four RUFFED GROUSE from the brush. The sound of flushing birds always gets my heart pumping, and reminds me of days spent Pheasant hunting with my cousin when I was younger. Both the Grouse and the Redpolls are species we don't usually see on anything close to a regular basis. In fact, Mark mentioned that he had only seen a Ruffed Grouse a few times prior to this, and had heard them several times drumming in the spring as well. As we followed the initial flock of Redpolls it soon became apparent that there were many more feeding high in the Larches. A conservative estimate of 50 birds was reached before they continued on down the road toward another stand of these productive trees. We also noted the abundance of Birches in the area though there were few catkins on most of them. Due to the lighting and behavior of the flock, we weren't able to really scan them for any Hoary, but were still elated at having found one of the species we had sought after on the trip.
After dropping us off at our car in Wind Gap, we parted ways with Mark and decided to make a trip out to Lake Minsi to check the gull flock, where the day before we had seen over 1500 gulls- mostly Ring-billed but also a few hundred Herring and several young Lesser Black-backeds. Today, Matt found yet another 2nd winter ICELAND GULL, his 5th of this species at Lake Minsi this winter. It has been an excellent year for this species in northeastern PA, perhaps due to the healthy and growing Lesser-black Backed numbers. Spring is right around the corner, and soon we'll be out at Middle Creek watching the thousands of Snow Geese. Matt will be long gone by then, since he has taken a job out at Lake Havasu for the spring. Between Golden-winged banding and surveys I hope to cover much more of the Pocono's this year, if I can. The only problem is, there's just so much to cover, so little time, and so few birders willing to leave the comfort zone of their home patches and see what's out there. The 2nd PA BBA is currently being published as well, and I'm hoping/expecting it to reveal more of the historical data and breeding records for this corner of the state.
Bird On
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