What a Change at MCWA

I decided that I would take a short trip to Middle Creek Wildlife area on Thursday afternoon Feb 25 to see if any migrating waterfowl had shown up yet. Turns out most of the lake was still frozen and and I ended the day with only 23 species - there where very few tundra swans and very few snow geese present - as can be seen from the photo's below.

Looking east from Stop 1 on tour road....lake 80% frozen

Looking West across lake - still mostly frozen

I made a return trip today, Saturday, Feb 27 and what a difference. The Pa Gane Commission estimated that about 80,000 snow geese arrived in the last two days and more are still arriving. There is also several thousand Tundra swans, 100's of Pintails and Wigeons and several Ba;d Eagles.

looking east from the boat ramp ....all those white spots are about 3,000 Tundra Swans.

Another view from boat ramp....that's not snow cover in the distant fields - it's about 50,000 snow geese feeding.

The tour road opens March 1 and I expect that I will be posting some more photo's of all the snow geese and tundra swans still present. It is a s site to behold, when they all take flight.

Here a shot of several thousand snow geese arriving at the lake..all those little specs are actually snow geese. A little bit of Spring like weather and everyone is happy - including the migrating waterfolw.

Not all that wander are lost.

A day trip to Edwin B Forsythe NWR

I was the trip leader of a birding trip with QAS Audubon Sunday, Feb 21st...below is a link  to QAS and a recap of the trip:

http://www.qasaudubon.org/

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Edwin_B_Forsythe/  

We met at my home at 8:00am and drove to the refuge arriving shortly after 10:30am to start our tour. We had six participants on this all day visit (about five hours on site) to the Edwin  B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge by the coast of New Jersey.  This refuge of about 47,000 acres provides habitat for thousands of waterfowl and other types of birds, in addition to muskrat and other wildlife.

View looking East along the tour road.

View looking West toward Atlantic City

As can been seen there is lots of habitat and there where thousands of ducks and waterfowl.

Looking out over the tour road from the VC platform- photo by F Heilman

On our visit we observed fourty-four species of birds, including: brant, hooded merganser, wigeon, canvasback, snow geese, black duck, and bufflehead among others.  Notable also were at least two female marsh hawks (numerous observations of this species), a long close look of an immature red-tailed hawk and one peregrine falcon.  Near the end of our tour route we finally found our only shore birds – two killdeer.

Great Blue Heron having a snack - photo by T Weaver

In the woods adjacent to the marsh we observed among other birds, yellow-rumped warblers, two male eastern towhees and heard the call of the great-horned owl.

Finally of note were many observations of herring gulls that have learned to carry, via their beaks, clams to thirty feet high more or less then drop the clam onto the road or other hard surface to break them open for consumption.  It seemed we could not see any herring gull in flight without a clam!

 

photo by T Weaver

This is such a wonderful refuge for the observation of waterfowl species....here are a few more photo's showing the area along the tour road..plenty of area for viewing wildlife.

Looking west - note the large flock of snow geese

 Here is a link to the NWR.

 http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Edwin_B_Forsythe/

Excerpted from write-up by F Heilman

Not all that wander are lost

Snowdrops along the LVRT

It was a rather mild day today..so I decided to go for a walk along on of favorite...the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail at the Expo Center. Here is link :

www.lvrailtrail.com

Entrance to the LVRT at the Expo Center

The LVRT was deserted except for me (what does that tell you)...but I did get to see 22 species of of birds...including 1 Yellow Bellied Sapsucker and 2 White Crowned Sparrows. I always enjoy seeing these two species and this is a rather dependable spot for them in the winter months I tries to get some photo's of them..but really had the wrong lens with me.....maybe next time.

Looking South on the LVRT toward Cornwall.

I did have one surprise as I was walking....I found a small patch of Snowdrops - getting ready to bloom...a sure sign that Spring is just around the corner....see below.

Galanthus (snowdrop; Greek gála "milk", ánthos "flower") is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae.^[2] Most flower in winter, before the vernal equinox (20 or 21 March in the Northern Hemisphere)

All species of Galanthus are perennial, herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs. Each bulb generally produces just two or three linear leaves and an erect, leafless scape (flowering stalk), which bears at the top a pair of bract-like spathe valves joined by a papery membrane. From between them emerges a solitary, pendulous, bell-shaped white flower, held on a slender pedicel. The flower has no petals: it consists of six tepals, the outer three being larger and more convex than the inner series. The six anthers open by pores or short slits. The ovary is three-celled, ripening into a three-celled capsule. Each whitish seed has a small, fleshy tail (elaiosome) containing substances attractive to ants which distribute the seeds.^[3] The leaves die back a few weeks after the flowers have faded.
The inner flower segments are usually marked with a green, or greenish-yellow, bridge-shaped mark over the small "sinus" (notch) at the tip of each tepal.
An important feature which helps to distinguish between species (and to help to determine the parentage of hybrids) is their "vernation" (the arrangement of the emerging leaves relative to each other). This can be "applanate", "supervolute" or "explicative". In applanate vernation the two leaf blades are pressed flat to each other within the bud and as they emerge; explicative leaves are also pressed flat against each other, but the edges of the leaves are folded back or sometimes rolled; in supervolute plants one leaf is tightly clasped around the other within the bud and generally remains at the point where the leaves emerge from the soil.^[4]
Notable species include:

• Common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis, grows to around 7–15 cm tall, flowering between January and April in the northern temperate zone (January–May in the wild). Applanate vernation^[5]
• Crimean snowdrop, Galanthus plicatus, 30 cm tall, flowering January/March, white flowers, with broad leaves folded back at the edges (explicative vernation)
• Giant snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii, a native of the Levant, 23 cm tall, flowering January/February, with large flowers, the three inner segments of which often have a much larger and more conspicuous green blotch (or blotches) than the more common kinds; supervolute vernation
• Galanthus reginae-olgae, from Greece and Sicily, is quite similar in appearance to G. nivalis, but flowers in autumn before the leaves appear. The leaves, which appear in the spring, have a characteristic white stripe on their upper side; applanate vernation
  • G. reginae-olgae subsp. vernalis, from Sicily, northern Greece and the southern part of former Yugoslavia, blooms at the end of the winter with developed young leaves and is thus easily confused with G. nivalis.

Spring is coming....and remember...Not all that wander are lost.

Snowy Day Visitors

I was looking out my back yard windows during another snowy day here in Pennsyvania and I was surprised to see some visitors munching in my meadow and on my shrubs....usally I only see tracks..but with the storm coming I guess they are having dinner early.

Small doe in the meadow behind house

Another small doe having lunch on my shrubs.

Well the good side is I will not have to prune my shrubs in the spring.....more to come.

Not all that wander are lost

Valentine's Day Birding

This morning after making breakfast, I decided to make a scouting trip to my favorite birding location: Middle Creek Wildlife Area. The weather has been bitterly cold - it was 2 degrees F at my home at 8am and warmed to 12 degrees by the time I arrived at MCWA.

As I expected, all the ponds and lakes where frozen solid and there was hardly any bird species to be seen. The first photo below shows the main lake area looking E toward the Eagle nest (I could not locate either eagle today). As you can see not much going on and no open water to be seen.

  

This is photo looking NE from the dam spillway...not that there aren't even any ice fishermen out today.

I then decided to check out one of my favorite trails in MCWA - Willow Point...but as can been seen it also pretty much snow covered and icy..so I decided not to attempt it until another day.

I ended the trip with only 6 species: Song Sparrow, Amer Crow, Bluebird. Downy Woodpecker, Canada Goose and 1 Red Tail Hawk.

The day was not a total loss: in the afternoon when temps moved to 16 degrees - five of us from the Quittapphilla Audubon Society walked the trails in and around Union Canal Park in Lebanon and ended the 2 hr trip with 24 species...including a Coopers Hawk and Yellow Bellied Sapsucker.

The sunny skies, and being correctly dressed plus the total lack of any wind made the walk pleasant..if I darn say comfortable.....and the company was good.

Union Canal in Lebanon Pa...where we did the GBBC walk
 

Another view of theUnion Canal....Note the hockey players.

Not all that wander are lost.