Spring Fever - March 11/12

A warm weekend opened up the frozen water, and the southerly winds brought up some early migrants. Saturday at the Celery Farm in Allendale had numerous Wood Duck, Tree Swallow, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Fox Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, and Eastern Screech-Owl & a flyover Killdeer.
Then on Sunday, the Salem County spot of Money Island Road has several species of Sparrow: Song, Swamp, Savannah, Fox, White-Throat, and the beautiful White-Crowned.
Also seen were Eastern Towhee, Brown Thrasher, 2 Bald Eagles, Kestrel, and my first Osprey of the year. Also made a quick re-visit to see the Brewer's Blackbirds !
We'll have a cold snap soon, but it's inevitable now -- more birds and species are on their way back and will be arriving very soon !

photo credit - Bill Horn

Bullock's Oriole in PA - March 04

Today I was able to observe a probable female Bullock's Oriole that has been in Bethlehem, PA since the first of the year. If accepted, it would be the 3rd record for PA.
Because the Bullock's hybridizes with the Baltimore (Northern) Oriole in Kansas, this bird's classification will be determined by the PA Records Committee. Here is a set of 47 images of the bird in question. And here is a set of 3 more images.
The bird appears to be getting brighter, and the eye line appeared stonger to me than it does in the photos.
Oh well, time will tell if it is countable in PA. If so, it would be a life-bird for me.

Today also included a return visit to Northern NJ for the Iceland & Glaucous Gulls at the Sussex Landfill in Lafayette, as well as, the Northern Shrike that continues in Layton, NJ.
Also seen today were adult Bald Eagle, Harrier, thousands of Snow Geese, Horned Larks, and thousands of blackbirds coming back North. On Sunday there were 4 migrant Black Vultures over my house in Northern NJ. Spring is not far off !!!