Diario de phil_stoll

On April 25th, I went to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, Pennsylvania in hopes of seeing some newly arriving migratory species. It was a beautiful day: sunny and calm with temperatures around 65 degrees fahrenheit. I walked a trail through the outskirts of the park from 1:20 pm to 3:15 pm. To my surprise, the numbers of birds seemed to be low, but I still saw some great things! I watched a pair of Turkey Vultures mate up at the top of a rockpile at the peak of Bowman's Hill, and I watched a pair of Tufted Titmice go in and out of a tree cavity with nesting material. Additionally, I saw many Yellow-rumped Warblers in their bueatiful breeding plumage, and I heard my first Ovenbird and Scarlet Tanager of the year. Overall, it was a great days outing and I am excited to get out more as migration ramps up.

On May 18, 2020, I went to John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, PA with the goal of finding some interesting water birds. John Heinz NWR is a huge park with a large lake in the center of it. The edges of this lake are commonly dry and turn into mudflats. Additionally, there are large portions of the edge of the lake that are covered in phragmites and other vegetation. Next to one half of the lake is an extensive marsh which is largely inaccesible. However, there is an elevated trail that follows the perimeter of the lake and has some trees on both sides. The half of the lake that is not adjacent to a marsh is surrounded by forest. I arrived at 7:16 am and walked the trails until 12:04 pm. It was an overcast day with relatively low temperatures for this time of year, in the low 50s. I was immediately disracted by warblers and it took me about an hour just to walk the ~200m to get to the water. The warblers definitely stole the show today as I got good views of every species I saw. I was especially blown away by the number of Blackpoll Warblers that I saw and heard as these birds are usually in low numbers near me. Wilson's Warbler, Canada Warbler, and Bay-breasted Warblers were also pleasant sights! Although I did end up focusing on warblers this morning, I did still see some cool water birds. The mud flats on the edge of the lake offered views of a few species of shorebirds, and in slightly deeper water I was able to see some ducks and wading birds including a family of Wood Ducks.

On Tuesday, May 19th, 2020, I arrived at the Pole Farm within the Mercer Meadows near Princeton, NJ at 6:43 am. It was a nice partly sunny morning with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s. Since the mission of the day was grassland birds, I was happy to hear an Eastern Meadowlark as soon as I stepped out of my car! I continued to walk the trails until 12:18 pm and managed to find 56 species! I began by walking on a path straight through a large field and was surprised by a Ring-necked Pheasant crossing the path in front of me. While this area was quite productive, it was part of a prescribed burn at some point after January of 2020, and I'm wondering if that could be the reason as to why I didn't see Grasshopper Sparrows in the spot that I usually get them. However, the burn definitely didn't seem to affect the Field Sparrows negatively, as they were in large numbers through these fields. Eventually this trail led into a patch of deciduous forest with a few big groves of Eastern Red Cedars. Here I picked up more woodland songirds. I then took another trail which followed the perimeter of the meadows and exposed me to more grassland, woodland, and a few scrub patches where I heard Blue-winged Warbler and saw multiple Indigo Buntings. Unfortunately there was a lot of construction going on which made hearing some birds difficult, but I was glad to see that they were only working on trail maintainance and not developing a part of the grassland. Additionally, the wind picked up greatly in the second half of the morning which I suspect kept many birds down low and hidden in the grasses rather than perched up where I could see them.

On Wednesday, May 20th, 2020, I headed to Baldpate Mountain near Lambertville, NJ early in the morning to see what forest species I could track down. I arrived at 6:50 am and was immediately amazed by the orchestra of warblers that I arrived to. It was a cool, overcast morning with temperatures around 45 degrees. I continued to walk around the preserve until 12:05 pm. Baldpate Mountain is my favorite local spot to go to during migration and it definitely didn't disappoint today! I had one of my best mornings for warblers ever, managing to track down 18 species. I got out of my car at the bottom of the road up the mountain near a small water source surrounded with deciduous forest and a few open areas where trees had fallen down. One of the first birds I saw was a beautiful male Canada Warbler singing away. I was also very excited to hear the songs of Tennessee Warblers all around me. I rarely ever get to see Tennessee Warblers but I managed to get great views of multiple individuals this morning. Soon after came the star of the morning, a beautiful Kentucky Warbler that gave me extended views as he sat on an open branch in the middle of a small clearing in the forest with very dense understory growth. Originally, I discounted this birds song as a somewhat odd Carolina Wren because they are so difficult to find in this area. So when he hopped up onto that branch I was thrilled and it was a good lesson to always investigate if something doesn't sound quite right and to not discount the rare species. After finding a few of the harder warblers to find in this area, I was determined to turn this into a "big warbler day" and try to find as many warblers as possible. I decided to walk the rest of the road up to the top of the mountain and found a handful of other warbler species before I made it to the meadow at the top of the mountain. Here I added a few more species like Blue-winged Warbler and Yellow Warbler. Then I headed back into the forest to wrap up my morning. Since I knew of a very close spot that reliably has Prairie Warblers I drove slowly past it on the way home and managed to hear one sing. It was a great way to end such a productive morning!

On Thursday, May 21st, 2020, I arrived at Peace Valley Park in Doylestown, PA at 6:57 am. It was a sunny, cool morning with temperatures around 45 degrees. It quickly warmed up and by the time I left at 11:51 am, it was about 65 degrees. Peace Valley Park offers a great variety of habitats. I started off by heading down to the lake where I saw Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, and Greater Yellowlegs. I also saw a mink crawling through crevices in a rock pile by the lake! From there I headed into deeper woods on a trail that followed a stream which let out into the lake. It seemed quiet compared to the past few days, but I still managed to get a few good birds, including nice looks at a beautiful male Canada Warbler singing in a scrubby, open area within the forest. Then I went back to another section of the lake to try to pick up a few more species. I was actually surprised at how empty the lake was. Usually there are large groups of Double-crested Cormorants on the water, but I didn't see anything today. Nevertheless I enjoyed the nice morning and still managed to find more species than I expected.

On Friday, May 22nd, 2020, I spent my last day of field ornithology birding at the Churchville Nature Center in Churchville, PA. I arrived at 6:40 am to overcast skies and temperatures around 50 degrees. I started off by taking my usual route through the park because I knew it would off the greatest variety of habitats. I walked past a scrubby field with a stand of Eastern White Pines behind it. Then I passed an open farm field with thicket rows of trees. Next I made it up to the reservior before I headed into deciduous forest. It felt very quiet this morning compared to the first half of the week, but I was very excited to see a Great Horned Owl being chased around by a group of Blue Jays. I was also happy to see and hear a Brown Thrasher perched above the trail. After exploring one half of the reservior I headed back towards the nature center to see what species I might find on the other side. As I scanned the edge of the reservior, a young Cooper's Hawk flew into my field of view! I continued to walk the trails until 11:45 am. Overall, it seems like spring migration might be starting to slow down in southeastern Pennsylvania, but it is always still great to get outside and enjoy some ornitherapy!