Another Big Flight of Geese and Swans

Yet another flight of waterfowl departing Chesapeake Bay for breeding grounds to our north passed over sections of the lower Susquehanna valley this morning.  In the one hour between 10 A.M. and 11 A.M., at least six thousand honking Canada Geese passed through the small piece of sky visible from susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.  At times, five or more flocks of about one hundred birds each were seen simultaneously.

Canada Geese
Northbound migratory Canada Geese pass over susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.
Canada Geese
While observing and photographing geese flying about two thousand feet above our heads, we noticed several barely visible flocks at much higher altitudes.  Any such birds flying above this flock would go undetected in or above the cumulus clouds.
Canada Geese
More geese on the way through.
Tundra Swans
In addition to the geese, a flock of 80 Tundra Swans was seen.  Not bad.

Snow Geese, Bald Eagles, and More at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area

To take advantage of this unusually mild late-winter day, observers arrived by the thousands to have a look at an even greater number of migratory birds gathered at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.  Here are some highlights…

Trails at Middle creek Wildlife Management Area
Multitudes of Sunday hikers enjoyed the warm afternoon on Middle Creek’s many trails.
Painted Turtles
In one of Middle Creek’s numerous impoundments, newly emerged Painted Turtles bask in the sunshine.
Brown-headed Cowbird
Native blackbirds, particularly males including this Brown-headed Cowbird, are arriving to stake out a claim on suitable breeding territory.
Red-winged Blackbirds
Male Red-winged Blackbirds visit the feeding station at the Middle Creek W.M.A. Visitor’s Center.
Brown-headed Cowbird and Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbirds regularly maintain close association with Red-winged Blackbirds, a frequent victim of the former’s nest parasitism, the practice of laying and abandoning their eggs in a host species’ abode.  By early May, adult “red-wings” can often be seen tending fledged cowbird young raised at the expense of their own progeny.
Common Grackles displaying.
Male Common Grackles display their colors in an attempt to establish dominance.
White-crowned Sparrow
Visitor’s to Middle Creek’s Willow Point Trail not only had a chance to see thousands of geese and other waterfowl, but they might also get a good look at some of the handsome White-crowned Sparrows that have been there during recent weeks.
Tree Swallow
The first Tree Swallows of the season have arrived to stake a claim to nest boxes located throughout the refuge’s grasslands.
Killdeer
Bare croplands and muddy shorelines around Middle Creek’s lakes and ponds are attracting migrating Killdeer.  Some will stay to nest.
Ring-billed Gulls
Hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls arrived during the late afternoon to spend the night on the main lake.
Red-tailed Hawk
A Red-tailed Hawk was seen hunting mice and exhibiting territorial behavior.  It is probably protecting a nest site somewhere on the refuge.
Canada Geese
Canada Geese could be seen coming and going, with migratory birds apparently supplementing the resident flock.  This group flushed when a Bald Eagle passed close by.
Bald Eagles
You could hold a Bald Eagle I.D. clinic at Middle Creek W.M.A. right now.  Dozens of birds of varying age classes could be seen in the trees surrounding the main lake and the larger ponds.  Currently, fifty or more could be present.  At least one Golden Eagle has been seen as well.
Adult Bald Eagle
An adult Bald Eagle in definitive plumage investigating the inhabitants of the lake.
Second-year Bald Eagle
This Bald Eagle in its second calendar year is not yet one year of age, but it has already begun replacing dark body feathers with a light plumage that will earn it the nickname “white belly” for this and its third year.  It will start molting its long hatch-year (juvenile) flight feathers soon after its first birthday.
Second-year Bald Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk
Another second-year immature Bald Eagle, this one being scolded by the aforementioned territorial Red-tailed Hawk.  Though showing some wear in the tail, this eagle still has a full set of lengthy hatch-year (juvenile) flight feathers and remains mostly dark below when compared to the bird of the same age class seen in the previous image.  As in other birds, diet, genetics, stress, climatic conditions, and many other factors will frequently vary the timing of molt among individuals in a population of Bald Eagles.
Third-year Bald Eagle
An immature Bald Eagle in its third calendar year still retaining numerous long juvenile wing and tail feathers.   In coming months, as it reaches its second birthday, it will begin replacing the remaining older plumage with a set of new flight feathers.
Fourth-year Bald Eagle
An immature Bald Eagle in its fourth calendar year approaches its third birthday with a rather conspicuous long juvenile feather remaining in each wing.  These feathers will soon be replaced.  In addition, the body plumage will darken, the head will begin to show more white, and the bill will become yellow.  In about two more years, the bird will attain its familiar adult definitive plumage.  Click the “Hawkwatcher’s Helper: Identifying Bald Eagles and other Diurnal Raptors” tab at the top of this page to learn more about determining the age of these and other birds of prey.
Snow Geese and Observers at Middle Creek W.M.A.
Bald Eagles draw a crowd, but the real attraction at Middle Creek W.M.A. in late winter is Snow Geese,…
Snow Geese
…thousands of them.
Snow geese at Middle Creek W.M.A.
Migratory Snow Geese, an annual spectacle at Middle Creek.
Snow Geese and hundreds of onlookers.
Snow Geese and hundreds of delighted onlookers.

Snow Geese at M.C.W.M.A.

Snow geese at Middle Creek W.M.A.
The late afternoon sky filled with Snow Geese.
Short-eared Owl at M.C.W.M.A.
As daylight waned and the Snow Geese returned to the main lake for the night, more than one hundred lucky observers were treated to the rare sight of several Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) emerging to hunt the refuge’s managed grasslands for mice and voles.  For many of these visitors, it was a memorable first-time experience.

Waterfowl on a Rainy Day

Though soggy, windy, and rainy, it happened to be a delightfully mild day to search for migrating waterfowl in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.  Here’s a look at what we found temporarily grounded by the poor flight conditions…

Northern Pintails
It’s prime time for northbound Northern Pintails.
American Wigeons and Ring-necked Ducks
This raft of distant waterfowl appears to include mostly American Wigeons and Ring-necked Ducks.
Ring-necked Duck
A much more cooperative drake Ring-necked Duck.
American Black Ducks
A couple of American Black Ducks take a break during an afternoon shower.
Northern Shovelers
A pair of Northern Shovelers in the rain.
Common Mergansers
And a pair of blissful Common Mergansers.
Common Mergansers
Uh oh!…must be something he said.

Spring Canada Goose Migration Underway

With a southerly breeze and warm front rolling through the region, migratory Canada Geese and other waterfowl are taking advantage of the tail wind to depart Chesapeake Bay and stream through the lower Susquehanna valley to begin a trek that will ultimately take them to nesting grounds far to our north.

Canada Geese
Noisy flocks of migratory Canada Geese were passing over the lower Susquehanna valley throughout the morning.
Canada Geese
There goes another flock,…
Canada Geese
…and yet another.
Canada Geese
Dozens of flocks of as many as one hundred birds each passed over our temporary lookout at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters this morning.  By 11 A.M. we saw and heard in excess of 3,000 birds.
Tundra Swans
A single flock of northbound Tundra Swans included about one hundred birds.
Tundra Swans
With the south wind increasing in intensity this afternoon, more geese, swans, and other waterfowl can be expected.  Then, when the rains hit later this evening and overnight, there could be a significant fallout of grounded birds on local bodies of water including the river.  Be certain to check it out!

Time to Order Trees and Shrubs for Spring

It’s that time of year.  Your local county conservation district is taking orders for their annual tree sale and it’s a deal that can’t be beat.  Order now for pickup in April.

The prices are a bargain and the selection includes the varieties you need to improve wildlife habitat and water quality on your property.  For species descriptions and more details, visit each tree sale web page (click the sale name highlighted in blue).  And don’t forget to order packs of evergreens for planting in mixed clumps and groves to provide winter shelter and summertime nesting sites for our local native birds.  They’re only $12.00 for a bundle of 10.

Mature Trees in a Suburban Neighborhood
It’s the most desirable block in town, not because the houses are any different from others built during the post-war years of the mid-twentieth century, but because the first owners of these domiciles had the good taste and foresight to plant long-lived trees on their lots, the majority of them native species.  Pin Oak, Northern Red Oak, Yellow Poplar, Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Eastern Red Cedar, Eastern White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Norway Spruce, and American Holly dominate the landscape and create excellent habitat for birds and other wildlife.  These 75-year-old plantings provide an abundance of shade in summer and thermal stability in winter, making it a “cool” place to live or take a stroll at any time of the year.

Cumberland County Conservation District Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 22, 2024

Pickup on: Thursday, April 18, 2024 or Friday, April 19, 2024

Common Winterberry
Cumberland County Conservation District is taking orders for Common Winterberry, the ideal small shrub for wet soil anywhere on your property.  To get berries, you’ll need both males and females, so buy a bunch and plant them in a clump or scattered group.
Pin Oak
To live for a century or more like this towering giant, a Pin Oak needs to grow in well-drained soils with adequate moisture.  These sturdy shade providers do well along streams and on low ground receiving clean runoff from hillsides, roofs, streets, and parking areas.  As they age, Pin Oaks can fail to thrive and may become vulnerable to disease in locations where rainfall is not adequately infiltrated into the soil.  Therefore, in drier areas such as raised ground or slopes, avoid the Pin Oak and select the more durable Northern Red Oak for planting.  This year, Pin Oaks are available from the Cumberland and Lancaster County Conservation Districts, while Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York Counties are taking orders for Northern Red Oaks.
Purple Coneflower
The Cumberland County Conservation District is again offering a “Showy Northeast Native Wildflower and Grass Mix” for seeding your own pollinator meadow or garden.  It consists of more than twenty species including this perennial favorite, Purple Coneflower.

Dauphin County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Monday, March 18, 2024

Pickup on: Thursday, April 18, 2024 or Friday, April 19, 2024

Eastern Redbud
The Eastern Redbud is small tree native to our forest edges, particularly in areas of the Piedmont Province with Triassic geology (Furnace Hills, Conewago Hills, Gettysburg/Hammer Creek Formations, etc.)  Also known as the Judas Tree, the redbud’s brilliant flowers are followed by heart-shaped leaves.  As seen here, it is suitable for planting near houses and other buildings.  Eastern Redbud seedlings are being offered through tree sales in Dauphin, Cumberland, and Lancaster Counties.

Lancaster County Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 8, 2024

Pickup on: Friday, April 12, 2024

Yellow Poplar
The Yellow Poplar, often called Tuliptree or Tulip Poplar for its showy flowers, is a sturdy, fast-growing deciduous tree native to forests throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.  Its pole-straight growth habit in shady woodlands becomes more spreading and picturesque when the plant is grown as a specimen or shade tree in an urban or suburban setting.  The Yellow Poplar can live for hundreds of years and is a host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.  It is available this year from the Lancaster County Conservation District.
The American Sweetgum, also known as Sweet Gum, is a large, long-lived tree adorned with a mix of vibrant colors in autumn.
American Goldfinches and Pine Siskin on Sweet Gum
Ever wonder where all the American Goldfinches and particularly the Pine Siskins go after passing through our region in fall?  Well, many are headed to the lowland forests of the Atlantic Coastal Plain where they feed on an abundance of seeds contained in spiky American Sweetgum fruits.  In the Piedmont and Ridge and Valley Provinces of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, American Sweetgum transplants can provide enough sustenance to sometimes lure our friendly finches into lingering through the winter.
Sweet Gum in a Beaver Pond
The American Sweetgum is a versatile tree.  It can be planted on upland sites as well as in wet ground along streams, lakes, and rivers.  In the beaver pond seen here it is the dominate tree species.  This year, you can buy the American Sweetgum from the Lancaster County Conservation District.
"Red-twig Dogwood"
“Red-twig Dogwood” is a group of similar native shrubs that, in our region, includes Silky Dogwood and the more northerly Red-Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea).  Both have clusters of white flowers in spring and showy red twigs in winter.  They are an excellent choice for wet soils.  Landscapers often ruin these plants by shearing them off horizontally a foot or two from the ground each year.  To produce flowers and fruit, and to preserve winter attractiveness, trim them during dormancy by removing three-year-old and older canes at ground level, letting younger growth untouched.
Silky Dogwood Stream Buffer
“Red-twig Dogwoods” make ideal mass plantings for streamside buffers and remain showy through winter, even on a gloomy day.  They not only mitigate nutrient and sediment pollution, they provide excellent food and cover for birds and other wildlife.  Both Silky and Red-osier Dogwoods are available for sale through the Lancaster County Conservation District as part of their special multi-species offers, the former is included in its “Beauty Pack” and the latter in its “Wildlife Pack”.  The similar Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) is being offered for sale by the York County Conservation District.

Lebanon County Conservation District Tree and Plant Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 8, 2024

Pickup on: Friday, April 19, 2024

Common Pawpaw flower
The unique maroon flowers of the Common Pawpaw produce banana-like fruits in summer.  These small native trees grow best in damp, well-drained soils on slopes along waterways, where they often form clonal understory patches.  To get fruit, plant a small grove to increase the probability of pollination.  The Common Pawpaw is a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.  It is available through both the Lebanon and Lancaster County sales.
Eastern Red Cedar
The Eastern Red Cedar provides excellent food, cover, and nesting sites for numerous songbirds.  Planted in clumps of dozens or groves of hundreds of trees, they can provide winter shelter for larger animals including deer and owls.  The Eastern Red Cedar is being offered for purchase through both the Lebanon and Lancaster County Conservation Districts.
Hybrid American Chestnut
Care to try your hand at raising some chestnuts?  Lebanon County Conservation District has hybrid American Chestnut seedlings for sale.
Common Winterberry
Lebanon County Conservation District is offering Common Winterberry and Eastern White Pine during their 2024 Tree and Plant Sale.  Plant them both for striking color during the colder months.  Eastern White Pine is also available from the Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, and York County sales.

Perry County Conservation District Tree Sale—

Orders due by: Sunday, March 24, 2024

Pickup on: Thursday, April 11, 2024

Pollinator Garden
In addition to a selection of trees and shrubs, the Perry County Conservation District is again selling wildflower seed mixes for starting your own pollinator meadow or garden.  For 2024, they have both a “Northeast Perennials and Annuals Mix” and a “Butterfly and Hummingbird Seed Mix” available.  Give them a try so you can give up the mower!

Again this year, Perry County is offering bluebird nest boxes for sale.  The price?—just $12.00.

Eastern Bluebird
Wait, what?,…twelve bucks,…that’s cheaper than renting!

York County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 15, 2024

Pickup on: Thursday, April 11, 2024

Buttonbush flower
The Buttonbush, a shrub of wet soils, produces a cosmic-looking flower.  It grows well in wetlands, along streams, and in rain gardens.  Buttonbush seedlings are for sale from both the York and Lancaster County Conservation Districts.

To get your deciduous trees like gums, maples, oaks, birches, and poplars off to a safe start, conservation district tree sales in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, and Perry Counties are offering protective tree shelters.  Consider purchasing these plastic tubes and supporting stakes for each of your hardwoods, especially if you have hungry deer in your neighborhood.

Deciduous Tree Planting Protected by Shelters
Tree shelters protect newly transplanted seedlings from browsing deer, klutzy hikers, visually impaired mower operators, and other hazards.

There you have it.  Be sure to check out each tree sale’s web page to find the selections you like, then get your order placed.  The deadlines will be here before you know it and you wouldn’t want to miss values like these!

Birds Beginning to Wander

Since Tuesday’s  snow storm, the susquehannawiildlife.net headquarters garden continues to bustle with bird activity.

Northern Mockingbird
Our Northern Mockingbird remains ever vigilant in its attempts to discourage American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds from feeding on the berry crop.  Slowly, the latter species are winning the contest.
Carolina Chickadee feeding on sunflower seed.
A Carolina Chickadee carefully dissects a sunflower seed to snack on the nutritious kernel.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
This beauty shows us that yes, Red-bellied Woodpeckers do indeed have red bellies.
American Robin eating Common Winterberry fruits.
Getting energized for a big move north, the robins keep on gulping berries.

Today, there arrived three species of birds we haven’t seen here since autumn.  These birds are, at the very least, beginning to wander in search of food.  Then too, these may be individuals creeping slowly north to secure an advantage over later migrants by being the first to establish territories on the most favorable nesting grounds.

Song Sparrow
This Song Sparrow is the first we’ve seen in the garden since sometime last fall.  Is it working its way north or did it just come to town in search of food?
Northern Flicker
Northern Flickers regularly spend the winter in small numbers in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.  This is the first one we’ve had visit the garden since late last autumn.
Fish Crows feeding on Eastern Red Cedar berries.
Fish Crows, seen here feeding on the fruits adorning an Eastern Red Cedar, have returned after being absent in our neighborhood since November.  In coming weeks, both they and the more numerous American Crows that remained through winter will begin constructing nests in nearby trees.

They say the early bird gets the worm.  More importantly, it gets the most favorable nesting spot.  What does the early birder get?  He or she gets out of the house and enjoys the action as winter dissolves into the miracle of spring.  Do make time to go afield and marvel a bit, won’t you?  See you there!

Robins in a Snowstorm

In mid-February each year, large numbers of American Robins descend upon the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters garden to feast on the ripe fruits that adorn several species of our native shrubs and trees.  This morning’s wet snowfall provided the needed motivation for these birds and others to make today the big day for the annual feeding frenzy.

American Robins
Early this morning, branches and limbs in the headquarters garden were loaded with clinging snow and more than one hundred American Robins.
American Robin
To have first grabs at suitable nesting sites, early American Robins are currently beginning to edge their way north.  Spring migration is underway.
American Robin feeding on Common Winterberry
The fruits of Common Winterberry are always a favorite of visiting robins.
Northern Mockingbird
After selfishly guarding the garden’s berries through the entire season, our Northern Mockingbird finds chasing more than one hundred robins away from its food supply an impossible task.
American Robin
This and other visiting robins will strip the winterberry, cedar, American Holly, and other fruit-producing shrubs and trees within a day or two.  To survive what remains of the season, our resident mockingbird will have to look elsewhere for provisions.
American Robin
Another American Robin devouring winterberry fruit.
American Robin
In addition to robins, there were, of course, other guests in the garden refuge on this snowy day.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
This Red-bellied Woodpecker tries to make sense of all the commotion.
Carolina Chickadee
A pair of Carolina Chickadees established a family in the garden during the spring of 2023.  At least five of the birds still stop by on a daily basis.
American Goldfinches
As spring nears, our American Goldfinches are beginning to show a hint of their bright breeding colors.
Blue Jay
A Blue Jay peeks out from the cover of the Eastern Hemlocks.
Carolina Wren
Our Carolina Wrens sing throughout the winter,…
Mourning Dove
…but today we noticed that this Mourning Dove has begun softly cooing to charm a mate…
House Finch
…and the male House Finches are warbling away with the sounds of spring.
Female Eastern Bluebird
With the local mockingbird busily harassing robins, our Eastern Bluebirds went unmolested long enough to stop by…
Bluebird Feeder
…for some raisins from their enclosed feeder.
Male Eastern Bluebird
A showy male Eastern Bluebird on a snowy day in the garden.  Spring must be just around the corner!

It’s Bald Eagle Time, Wherever You Are

Now is a great time of year to see Bald Eagles in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.  For the population that breeds here in our region, it’s nesting season.  These birds are defending territories and some of them can get pretty aggressive towards the other eagles that happen to be wintering in the Susquehanna valley or will be migrating north through the area in coming weeks.  All that competition has these birds spending a lot of time in the air, so no matter where you happen to be, keeping an eye on the sky may provide you with an opportunity for a memorable glimpse of one or more eagles in action.  Skeptical?  Well, just an hour ago, we spotted these eagles high above the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters garden.

So do spend some time outdoors soon and while you’re there, don’t forget to look up.  You might turn some of your time into Bald Eagle time too!

The Fog of a January Thaw

As week-old snow and ice slowly disappears from the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed landscape, we ventured out to see what might be lurking in the dense clouds of fog that for more than two days now have accompanied a mid-winter warm spell.

York Haven Dam Powerhouse
After freezing to a slushy consistency earlier this week, the Susquehanna is already beginning to thaw.   Below the York Haven Dam at Conewago Falls, the water is open and ice-free.
Mallards and a pair of American Wigeon on a frozen lake.
On frozen man-made lakes and ponds, geese and ducks like these Mallards and American Wigeon are presently concentrated around small pockets of open water.
American Robin in a Callery pear
During the past ten days, American Robin numbers have exploded throughout the lower Susquehanna valley.  The majority of these birds may be a mix of both those coming south to escape the late onset of wintry conditions to our north and those inching north into our region as early spring migrants.
American Robin
The January thaw has melted the snow from lawns and fields to provide thousands of visiting robins with a chance to forage for earthworms.
Cooper's Hawk
A visit by this young Cooper’s Hawk to the susquehannnawildlife.net headquarters garden sent songbirds scrambling…
Eastern Gray Squirrel
…but did nothing to unnerve our resident Eastern Gray Squirrels,…
Eastern Gray Squirrel
…which promptly went into tail-waving mode to advertise their presence.
Red-tailed Hawk
But earlier in the week, when heavy snow cover in the rural areas surrounding our urbanized neighborhood made it difficult for rodent-eating raptors to find food, we received brief visits from both a Red-tailed Hawk…
Red-shouldered Hawk
…and this young Red-shouldered Hawk, an uncommon bird of prey most often found in wet woods and other lowlands.
Eastern Gray Squirrel
To escape notice during visits by these larger raptors, our squirrels remained motionless and commenced performance of their best bump-on-a-log impressions.
Red-shouldered Hawk in flight.
Unimpressed, each of our visiting buteos remained for just a few minutes before moving on in search of more favorable hunting grounds and prey.
Early Successional Growth
As snow melted and exposed bare ground in fields of early successional growth, we encountered…
White-crowned Sparrow
…a flock of White-crowned Sparrows, most in first-winter plumage…
American Tree Sparrow
…and at least a dozen American Tree Sparrows.  During the twentieth century, these handsome songbirds were regular winter visitors to the lower Susquehanna region.  During recent decades, they’ve become increasingly more difficult to find.  Currently, moderate numbers appear to be arriving to escape harsher weather to our north.
Adult Male Northern Harrier
What could be more appropriate on a foggy, gray evening than finding a “gray ghost” (adult male Northern Harrier) patrolling the fields in search of mice and voles.

If scenes of a January thaw begin to awaken your hopes and aspirations for all things spring, then you’ll appreciate this pair of closing photographs…

Pileated Woodpecker in Silver Maple
The maroon-red flower buds of Silver Maples are beginning to swell.  And woodpeckers including Pileated Woodpeckers are beginning to drum, a timber-pounding behavior they use to establish breeding territories in habitats with suitable sites for cavity nesting.
Skunk Cabbage
In wet soil surrounding spring seeps and streams, Skunk Cabbage is rising through the leaf litter to herald the coming of a new season.  Spring must surely be just around the corner.

Birds Along the River’s Edge

Just as bare ground along a plowed road attracts birds in an otherwise snow-covered landscape, a receding river or large stream can provide the same benefit to hungry avians looking for food following a winter storm.

Here is a small sample of some of the species seen during a brief stop along the Susquehanna earlier this week.

Song Sparrow
Along vegetated edges of the Susquehanna and its tributaries, the Song Sparrow is ubiquitous in its search for small seeds and other foods.  As the river recedes from the effects of this month’s rains, the shoreline is left bare of more recently deposited snow cover.  Song Sparrows and other birds are attracted to streamside corridors of frost-free ground to find sufficient consumables for supplying enough energy to survive the long cold nights of winter.
American Robin
Thousands of American Robins have been widespread throughout the lower Susquehanna valley during the past week.  Due to the mild weather during this late fall and early winter, some may still be in the process of working their way south.  Currently, many robins are concentrated along the river shoreline where receding water has exposed unfrozen soils to provide these birds with opportunities for finding earthworms (Lumbricidae) and other annelids.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
This Golden-crowned Kinglet was observed searching the trees and shrubs along the Susquehanna shoreline for tiny insects and spiders. Temperatures above the bare ground along the receding river can be a few degrees higher than in surrounding snow-covered areas, thus improving the chances of finding active prey among the trunks and limbs of the riparian forest.
Brown Creeper
Not far from the kinglet, a Brown Creeper is seen searching the bark of a Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) for wintering insects, as well as their eggs and larvae.  Spiders in all their life stages are a favorite too.
American Pipits
American Pipits not only inhabit farm fields during the winter months, they are quite fond of bare ground along the Susquehanna.  Seen quite easily along a strip of pebbly shoreline exposed by receding water, these birds will often escape notice when spending time on mid-river gravel and sand bars during periods of low flow.
An American Pipit on a bitterly cold afternoon along the Susquehanna.
An American Pipit on a bitterly cold afternoon along the Susquehanna.

Migrating Ducks Find Emergency Refuge on the Susquehanna

As anticipated, lakes and ponds throughout the lower Susquehanna basin are beginning to freeze.  Fortunately for the waterfowl thereon, particularly diving ducks, the rain-swollen river is slowly receding and water clarity is improving to provide a suitable alternative to life on the man-made impoundments.

Ice-free Susquehanna at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
The Susquehanna, ice-free and receding from near flood stage levels last week, can presently provide suitable habitat for diving ducks and other wintering waterfowl.
A Common Merganser on the Susquehanna in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
A feeding Common Merganser takes a breather between dives on the Susquehanna in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.

The deep freeze is not only impacting ponds and lakes in the lower Susquehanna valley, but is evidently affecting the larger bodies of water to our north and northwest.  During Tuesday’s snow event, thousands of diving ducks arrived on the main stem of the river—apparently forced down by the inclement weather while en route to the Atlantic Coast from the Great Lakes and its connected waterways, which are currently beginning to freeze.

Ice-free Susquehanna
Tuesday’s snowfall not only blanketed the landscape with a coating of white,…
Bay Ducks on the Susquehanna
…it prompted thousands of migrating “bay ducks” including Canvasbacks, Redheads, scaup, and other diving species to seek open water and make a forced landing.
Scaup on the Susquehanna
Scaup were by far the most numerous of the birds in the grounded flight.  The majority appeared to be Lesser Scaup.
Scaup in flight.
Scaup in flight on the Susquehanna.
Scaup, Buffleheads, and Long-tailed Duck
A mixed raft of scaup and Buffleheads seen one day after a snowstorm-related fallout of late-season migrants.  A single Long-tailed Duck, a species formerly known as Oldsquaw, can be seen to the lower left.
Scaup, Bufflehead, and Long-tailed Duck
Scaup and a Bufflehead (center) fly past a Long-tailed Duck.  Because they winter primarily in coastal waters, both of the latter species are sometimes categorized as “sea ducks”.
Ruddy Ducks
A small flock of Ruddy Ducks.
Common Mergansers
While Common Mergansers on the Susquehanna are fish eaters (piscivores), other diving ducks observed during this fallout event are primarily benthic feeders, eating plant matter and invertebrate animals collected from the river bottom.
Common Goldeneyes
A small flock of Common Goldeneyes. They, like the Long-tailed Duck and Bufflehead, are sometimes known as a species of “sea duck”.
Scaup and Buffleheads
Another mixed raft of scaup and Buffleheads loafing on the Susquehanna.
Bald Eagle
Large numbers of waterfowl attract the attention of the river’s ever-vigilant Bald Eagles.
Adult Bald Eagle
An adult Bald Eagle patrolling the area of a fallout in search of dead, sick, or injured ducks.  In addition to the victims of naturally occurring ailments, eagles find birds and mammals wounded or killed by hunters to be particularly attractive sources of food.   They can, therefore, quite easily ingest pieces of shot.  Because eagles in the lower Susquehanna valley feed as frequently in upland habitats as they do in riverine environs, use of alternatives to toxic lead shot is prudent practice in all habitat types.
Fourth-year Bald Eagle
A Bald Eagle in the first month of its fourth calendar year.   Though not yet matured to breeding age, this bird is nevertheless smart enough to be on the lookout for vulnerable or deceased waterfowl during a post-storm fallout.
Seeing Some Waterfowl
A fallout of some migrating waterfowl seldom escapes notice by members of the gasoline and gunpowder gang…
Taking Aim at Some Waterfowl
…who find their very presence an irresistible temptation to arouse their adolescent urges…
Harrassing Some Waterfowl
…to get an adrenaline junkie’s fix.

With more snow on the way for tomorrow, you may be wondering if another fallout like this could be in the works.  The only way to find out is to get out there and have a look.  Good luck!  And be good!

Piscivorous Waterfowl Visiting Lakes and Ponds

Heavy rains and snow melt have turned the main stem of the Susquehanna and its larger tributaries into a muddy torrent.  For fish-eating (piscivorous) ducks, the poor visibility in fast-flowing turbid waters forces them to seek better places to dive for food.  With man-made lakes and ponds throughout most of the region still ice-free, waterfowl are taking to these sources of open water until the rivers and streams recede and clear.

Common Mergansers
The Common Merganser is a species of diving duck with a primary winter range that, along the Atlantic Coast, reaches its southern extreme in the lower Susquehanna and Potomac watersheds.  Recently, many have left the main stem of the muddy rivers to congregate on waters with better visibility at some of the area’s larger man-made lakes.
Common Mergansers Feeding
Common Mergansers dive to locate and capture prey, primarily small fish.  During this century, their numbers have declined along the southern edge of their winter range, possibly due to birds remaining to the north on open water, particularly on the Great Lakes.  In the lower Susquehanna valley, some of these cavity-nesting ducks can now be found year-round in areas where heavy timber again provides breeding sites in riparian forests.  After nesting, females lead their young to wander widely along our many miles of larger rivers and streams to feed.
Several Common Mergansers Intimidating a Male with a Freshly Caught Fish
The behavior of these mergansers demonstrates the stiff competition for food that can result when predators are forced away from ideal habitat and become compressed into less favorable space.  On the river, piscivores can feed on the widespread abundance of small fish including different species of minnows, shiners, darters, and more.  In man-made lakes stocked for recreational anglers with sunfish, bass, and other predators (many of them non-native), small forage species are usually nonexistent.  As a result, fish-eating birds can catch larger fish, but are successful far less often.  Seen here are several mergansers resorting to intimidation in an effort to steal a young bass away from the male bird that just surfaced with it.  While being charged by the aggressors, he must quickly swallow his oversize catch or risk losing it.

With a hard freeze on the way, the fight for life will get even more desperate in the coming weeks.  Lakes will ice over and the struggle for food will intensify.  Fortunately for mergansers and other piscivorous waterfowl, high water on the Susquehanna is expected to recede and clarify, allowing them to return to their traditional environs.  Those with the most suitable skills and adaptations to survive until spring will have a chance to breed and pass their vigor on to a new generation of these amazing birds.

Birds of Snow-covered Farmland

When the ground becomes snow covered, it’s hard to imagine anything lives in the vast wide-open expanses of cropland found in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed’s fertile valleys.

Snow-covered Farm Field
A snow-covered field with no standing vegetation.  For nearly all wild birds, mammals, and other animals, modern agricultural practices offer no means of sustenance, particularly during the winter months.

Yet, there is one group of birds that can be found scrounging a living from what little exists after a season of high-intensity farming.  Meet the Horned Lark.

Horned Larks
Horned Larks occur year-round in the lower Susquehanna region.  Birds found wintering here are hardy individuals that breed in the arctic tundra, terrain reminiscent of our treeless farmlands.  Another population of larks seems to have adapted to no-till farming, nesting with some success in unplowed fields during the early part of the growing season.  The impact of herbicide application on survival of these broods could be a topic of research for an energetic student out there…hint, hint.
A Flock of Horned Larks
Nearly invisible on bare ground, Horned Larks are much more conspicuous after a fresh snowfall.  For protection from predators, they gather in flocks.  During the days of raw manure application, 300 to 500 larks could be found attracted to a freshly spread strip in a snow-covered field.  Modern liquid manure, which contains fewer undigested seeds and grains for larks, is not as attractive to these and other birds.
Horned Larks in Snow
During severe storms, we’ve seen Horned Larks remain active throughout the night.  We’ve even witnessed them taking shelter by burying themselves in the snow.
Horned Lark in Flight
To find food, Horned Larks are constantly on the move…
Horned Lark
…seeking out bare ground or the seed-bearing tops of plant stems that remain exposed above the snow.
Horned Larks Feeding at Roadside
Following storms, Horned Larks often gather along roadsides where snow removal has revealed “weed” seeds and other tiny morsels that, though they are almost imperceptible to us, are a meal for a Horned Lark.
A Horned Lark munching "weed" seeds.
A Horned Lark munching “weed” seeds.
Horned Larks and Lapland Longsrurs
Flocks of wintering Horned Larks will sometimes contain one or more of the several much less numerous species with a similar proclivity for tundra-like environs during the colder months.  We examined this gathering a little bit more closely…
Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks
…and found these Lapland Longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus).  In winter, Lapland Longspurs (the two streaked birds: one to the far left and the other high-stepping the white line) can be hard to discern from the earth tones of farmland habitat.  Breeding males, however, are a brilliant white with a chestnut-colored nape and a black bib, mask, and cap.  On rare occasions, these males in spectacular alternate plumage can be found in the lower Susquehanna valley prior to their departure to nesting areas near the treeline in northern Canada and Alaska.
Horned larks and three Lapland Longspurs
A close-up image (through the windshield) of a roadside flock of Horned larks and three Lapland Longspurs (top, far right, and third from bottom).

If you decide to take a little post-storm trip to look for Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs, be sure to drive carefully.  Do your searching on quiet rural roads with minimal traffic.  Stop and park only where line-of-sight and other conditions allow it to be done safely.  Use your flashers and check your mirrors often.  Think before you stop and park—don’t get stuck or make a muddy mess.  And most important of all, be aware that you’re on a roadway—get out of the way of traffic.

Eastern Meadowlarks
Flushed from roadside feeding areas by passing automobiles, these Eastern Meadowlarks were previously displaced from their grassland and pasture foraging areas by snow cover.

If you’re not going out to look for larks and longspurs, we do have a favor to ask of you.  Please remember to slow down while you’re driving.  Not only is this an accident-prone time of year for people in cars and trucks, it’s a dangerous time for birds and other wildlife too.  They’re at greatest peril of getting run over while concentrated along roadsides looking for food following snow storms.

American Pipit
The American Pipit is another barren-field specialist that can be found feeding at roadside following snowstorms, particularly when they coincide with the bird’s migration in late fall or early spring.  (Vintage 35 mm image)
Snow Bunting
The Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), like the Lapland Longspur, occurs among flocks of Horned Larks in winter.  Other barren-ground birds you’ll see feeding along country roads following significant snowfalls include Savannah and Vesper Sparrows.
Killdeer
During mild winters, Killdeer may linger in farmlands where they are more easily heard than seen…until it snows.

Birds of the Sunny Grasslands

With the earth at perihelion (its closest approach to the sun) and with our home star just 27 degrees above the horizon at midday, bright low-angle light offered the perfect opportunity for doing some wildlife photography today.  We visited a couple of grasslands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to see what we could find…

Grasslands and Hedgerows
On this State Game Lands parcel, prescribed fire is used to maintain a mix of grasslands and brushy early successional growth.  In nearby areas, both controlled fire and mechanical cutting are used to remove invasive species from hedgerows and the understory of woodlots.  Fire tolerant native species then have an opportunity to recolonize the forest and improve wildlife habitat.  This management method also reduces the fuel load in areas with the potential for uncontrolled wildfires.
The sun-dried fruits of a Common Persimmon tree found growing in a hedgerow.
The sun-dried fruits of a native Common Persimmon tree found growing in a hedgerow.
Savanna-like Grasslands
Just one year ago, mechanical removal of invasive trees and shrubs (including Multiflora Rose) on this State Game Land was followed by a prescribed fire to create this savanna-like grassland.
Song Sparrow
Hundreds of Song Sparrows were found in the grasses and thickets at both locations.
White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrows were also abundant, but prefer the tangles and shrubs of the thickets.
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbirds were vigilantly guarding winter supplies of berries in the woodlots and hedgerows.
Swamp Sparrow
In grasses and tangles on wetter ground, about a dozen Swamp Sparrows were discovered.
White-crowned Sparrow
The adult White-crowned Sparrow is always a welcome find.
White-crowned Sparrow
And seeing plenty of juvenile White-crowned Sparrows provides some assurance that there will be a steady stream of handsome adult birds arriving to spend the winter during the years to come.
Dark-eyed Junco
Dark-eyed Juncos were encountered only in the vicinity of trees and large shrubs.
Savannah Sparrow
Several Savannah Sparrows were observed.  Though they’re mostly found in treeless country, this particular one happened to pose atop a clump of shrubs located within, you guessed it, the new savanna-like grasslands.
Winter Wren
A tiny bird, even when compared to a sparrow, the Winter Wren often provides the observer with just a brief glimpse before darting away into the cover of a thicket.
Standing Clump of Timber
Within grasslands, scattered stands of live and dead timber can provide valuable habitat for many species of animals.
A "snag" with an excavated nest cavity.
Woodpeckers and other cavity-nesting birds rely upon an abundance of “snags” (standing dead trees) for breeding sites.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
This Red-bellied Woodpecker and about a dozen others were found in trees left standing in the project areas.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker soaks up some sun.
Pileated Woodpecker
This very cooperative Pileated Woodpecker seemed to be preoccupied by insect activity on the sun-drenched bark of the trees.  This denizen of mature forests will oft times wander into open country where larger lumber is left intact.

Pileated Woodpecker

Northern Harrier
Just as things were really getting fun, some late afternoon clouds arrived to dim the already fading daylight.  Just then, this Northern Harrier made a couple of low passes in search of mice and voles hidden in the grasses.
Northern Harrier
It was a fitting end to a very short, but marvelously sunny, early winter day.

Want Healthy Floodplains and Streams? Want Clean Water? Then Make Room for the Beaver

I’m worried about the beaver.  Here’s why.

Imagine a network of brooks and rivulets meandering through a mosaic of shrubby, sometimes boggy, marshland, purifying water and absorbing high volumes of flow during storm events.  This was a typical low-gradient stream in the valleys of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed in the days prior to the arrival of the trans-Atlantic human migrant.  Then, a frenzy of trapping, tree chopping, mill building, and stream channelization accompanied the east to west waves of settlement across the region.  The first casualty: the indispensable lowlands manager, the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis).

Beaver Traps
Nineteenth-century beaver traps on display in the collection of the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.  Soon after their arrival, Trans-Atlantic migrants (Europeans) established trade ties to the trans-Beringia migrants (“Indians”) already living in the lower Susquehanna valley and recruited them to cull the then-abundant North American Beavers.  By the early 1700s, beaver populations (as well as numbers of other “game” animals) were seriously depleted, prompting the Conoy, the last of the trans-Beringia migrants to reside on the lower Susquehanna, to disperse.  The traps pictured here are samples of the types which were subsequently used by the European settlers to eventually extirpate the North American Beaver from the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed during the 1800s.

Without the widespread presence of beavers, stream ecology quickly collapsed.  Pristine waterways were all at once gone, as were many of their floral and faunal inhabitants.  It was a streams-to-sewers saga completed in just one generation.  So, if we really want to restore our creeks and rivers, maybe we need to give the North American Beaver some space and respect.  After all, we as a species have yet to build an environmentally friendly dam and have yet to fully restore a wetland to its natural state.  The beaver is nature’s irreplaceable silt deposition engineer and could be called the 007 of wetland construction—doomed upon discovery, it must do its work without being noticed, but nobody does it better.

North American Beaver diorama on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.
North American Beaver diorama on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.  Beavers were reintroduced to the Susquehanna watershed during the second half of the twentieth century.
A beaver dam on a small stream in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.
A beaver dam and pond on a small stream in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.
Floodplain Wetlands Managed by North American Beavers
Beaver dams not only create ponds, they also maintain shallow water levels in adjacent areas of the floodplain creating highly-functional wetlands that grow the native plants used by the beaver for food.  These ecosystems absorb nutrients and sediments.  Prior to the arrival of humans, they created some of the only openings in the vast forests and maintained essential habitat for hundreds of species of plants as well as animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds.  Without the beaver, many of these species could not, and in their absence did not, exist here.
The beaver lodge provides shelter from the elements and predators for a family of North American Beavers.
Their newly constructed lodge provides shelter from the elements and from predators for a family of North American Beavers.
Sandhill Cranes Visit a Beaver-managed Floodplain in the lower Susquehanna valley
Floodplains managed by North American Beavers can provide opportunities for the recovery of the uncommon, rare, and extirpated species that once inhabited the network of streamside wetlands that stretched for hundreds of miles along the waterways of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.
Great Blue Heron
A wintering Great Blue Heron is attracted to a beaver pond by the abundance of fish in the rivulets that meander through its attached wetlands.
Sora Rail in Beaver Pond
Beaver Ponds and their attached wetlands provide nesting habitat for uncommon birds like this Sora rail.
Wood Duck feeding on Lesser Duckweed in Beaver Pond
Lesser Duckweed grows in abundance in beaver ponds and Wood Ducks are particularly fond of it during their nesting cycle.
Sandhill Cranes feeding among Woolgrass in a Beaver Pond
Beaver dams maintain areas of wet soil along the margins of the pond where plants like Woolgrass sequester nutrients and contain runoff while providing habitat for animals ranging in size from tiny insects to these rare visitors, a pair of Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis).
Sandhill Cranes feeding among Woolgrass in a floodplain maintained by North American Beavers.
Sandhill Cranes feeding among Woolgrass in a floodplain maintained by North American Beavers.

Few landowners are receptive to the arrival of North American Beavers as guests or neighbors.  This is indeed unfortunate.  Upon discovery, beavers, like wolves, coyotes, sharks, spiders, snakes, and so many other animals, evoke an irrational negative response from the majority of people.  This too is quite unfortunate, and foolish.

North American Beavers spend their lives and construct their dams, ponds, and lodges exclusively within floodplains—lands that are going to flood.  Their existence should create no conflict with the day to day business of human beings.  But humans can’t resist encroachment into beaver territory.  Because they lack any basic understanding of floodplain function, people look at these indispensable lowlands as something that must be eliminated in the name of progress.  They’ll fill them with soil, stone, rock, asphalt, concrete, and all kinds of debris.  You name it, they’ll dump it.  It’s an ill-fated effort to eliminate these vital areas and the high waters that occasionally inundate them.  Having the audacity to believe that the threat of flooding has been mitigated, buildings and poorly engineered roads and bridges are constructed in these “reclaimed lands”.  Much of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed has now been subjected to over three hundred years-worth of these “improvements” within spaces that are and will remain—floodplains.  Face it folks, they’re going to flood, no matter what we do to try to stop it.  And as a matter of fact, the more junk we put into them, the more we displace flood waters into areas that otherwise would not have been impacted!  It’s absolute madness.

By now we should know that floodplains are going to flood.  And by now we should know that the impacts of flooding are costly where poor municipal planning and negligent civil engineering have been the norm for decades and decades.  So aren’t we tired of hearing the endless squawking that goes on every time we get more than an inch of rain?  Imagine the difference it would make if we backed out and turned over just one quarter or, better yet, one half of the mileage along streams in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed to North American Beavers.  No more mowing, plowing, grazing, dumping, paving, spraying, or building—just leave it to the beavers.  Think of the improvements they would make to floodplain function, water quality, and much-needed wildlife habitat.  Could you do it?  Could you overcome the typical emotional response to beavers arriving on your property and instead of issuing a death warrant, welcome them as the talented engineers they are?  I’ll bet you could.

Photo of the Day

Green Frog on Christmas
It’s been a green Christmas at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.  Among thick growth of Lesser Duckweed and other aquatic plants in the garden ponds, the Green Frogs and their tadpoles remain active.  The water’s open…still no ice here.

Western Flycatcher on the Susquehanna

What was the attraction that prompted dozens of birders to hike more than a mile to a secluded field edge along the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail on this last full day of autumn?  It must be something good.

Birders photographing a rarity in the vicinity of the Shock's Mill Railroad Bridge along the Susquehanna in Lancaster County
Birders photographing a rarity in the vicinity of the Shock’s Mill Railroad Bridge along the Susquehanna in Conoy Township, Lancaster County, earlier today.

Indeed it was.  A Western Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis), first discovered late last week, has weathered the coastal storm that in recent days pummeled the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed with several inches of rain and blustery winds.  Western Flycatchers nest in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast regions of North America.  They spend their winters in Mexico.  There are several records of these tiny passerines in our area during December.  The first, a bird found in an area known as Tanglewood during the Southern Lancaster County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on December 16, 1990, was well documented—photographs were taken and its call was tape recorded.  It constituted the first record of a member of the Western Flycatcher’s “Pacific-slope” subspecies group ever seen east of the Mississippi River.  It was reported through December 26, 1990.  The Tanglewood flycatcher and a bird sighted years later on a subsequent “Solanco CBC” were both found inhabiting wooded thickets in the shelter of a ravine created by one of the Susquehanna’s small tributaries.

Western Flycatcher along Northwest Lancaster County River Trail
Early this morning, a vagrant Western Flycatcher finds a sunny spot adjacent to the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail to search the vines, shrubs, and tree limbs for spiders and small insects.
Western Flycatcher along Northwest Lancaster County River Trail
The diminutive Western Flycatcher on the lookout for flying insects from an elevated perch in the treetops.
Western Flycatcher along Northwest Lancaster County River Trail
Like other Western Flycatchers which have been found during the month of December in Lancaster County, this individual has some topographic protection from cold northwest winds.  It spends its time in a thicket along the edge of woodlands on the leeward side of the railroad grade that rises as the approach to the nearby Shock’s Mill Bridge.

How long will this wandering rarity remain along the river trail?  For added sustenance, sunny days throughout the coming winter offer ever-increasing chances of stonefly hatches on the adjacent river, particularly in the vicinity of the stone bridge piers.  But ultimately, the severity of the weather and the bird’s response to it will determine its destiny.

Photo of the Day

Bald Eagle
The last of the year’s migrating Bald Eagles are streaming down the ridges of the mid-Atlantic region and many of them will be stopping for at least a part of the winter season along the lower Susquehanna River.  If you want to see them, now is the best time.  Taking a walk along a riverside recreation trail is a relaxing way to spend some time checking them out.  To see the greatest concentrations of these majestic birds, plan a visit to one of the lower river’s hydroelectric dams.  Conowingo Dam, located where U.S. Route 1 crosses the river at Rising Sun, Maryland, is currently hosting dozens of visiting eagles.  If you’ve never been there, we can assure you that it’s certainly worth the trip.

Rare Barthelemyi Variant of the Golden Eagle Seen Migrating Along Second Mountain

As the autumn raptor migration draws to a close in the Lower Susquehanna Valley Watershed, observers at the Second Mountain Hawk Watch in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, were today treated to a flight of both Bald and Golden Eagles.  Gliding on updrafts created by a brisk northwest breeze striking the slope of the ridge, seven of the former and three of the latter species were seen threading their way through numerous bands of snow as they made their way southwest toward favorable wintering grounds.

The best and final bird of the day, and possibly one of the highlights of the season at this counting station, was a “Barthelemyi Golden Eagle”, a rare Golden Eagle variant with conspicuous shoulder epaulets created by white scapular feathers.

"Barthelemyi Golden Eagle" passing the Second Mountain Hawk Watch in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
The grand finale, a “Barthelemyi Golden Eagle”, passed the Second Mountain Hawk Watch during a break in the afternoon’s snow showers.  Note the bright white scapulars at the base of the leading edge of the wing.
"Barthelemyi Golden Eagle" passing the Second Mountain Hawk Watch in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
Barthelemyi variants are known from populations of Golden Eagles in the Alps of southern Europe and from both eastern and western populations of birds in North America.  Spofford (1961) documented a pair of Golden Eagles with the Barthelemyi traits nesting in eastern North America.  In two successive seasons they produced young that developed the same plumage characteristics, suggesting the variation may be passed to offspring by one or more genetic alleles.

Today’s rarity is the second record of a “Barthelemyi Golden Eagle” at Second Mountain Hawk Watch—the first occurring on October 21, 2017.

SOURCES

Spofford, W. R.  1961.  “White Epaulettes in Some Appalachian Golden Eagles”.  Prothonotary.  27: 99.

Photos of a Visiting Cooper’s Hawk

While trimming the trees and shrubs in the susquehannawildlife.net garden, it didn’t seem particularly unusual to hear the resident Carolina Chickadees and Carolina Wrens scolding our every move.  But after a while, their persistence did seem a bit out of the ordinary, so we took a little break to have a look around…

Carolina Wren
A scolding Carolina Wren…
Carolina Wren
…keeping an eye on something in the tree overhead.
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk
There, just ten to twelve feet away, was this juvenile Cooper’s Hawk, perched quietly and having a look around.
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk
Hatch-year Cooper’s Hawks have yellow eyes that darken to red as the bird matures.  The blood stains reveal that this bird, despite its young age, is a successful hunter.
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk
This individual seems to be particularly well nourished, showing early growth of a gray-and-black adult tail feather.
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk
Despite their continuous pestering, this Cooper’s Hawk showed little interest in the small wrens, juncos, and chickadees that harassed it.  Larger birds, particularly non-native House Sparrows, are its quarry.  Moments after this photo was taken, the pursuit was underway.  To conserve energy and protect themselves from injury, predators target the vulnerable.  The unwary, the injured, the diseased, and the weak among its prey species are the most likely to be seized.  And thus, these raptors, while in the near term providing for their own sustenance and safety, assure the long-term existence of their species by helping to maintain a healthy population of their prey species.

Here at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters, we are visited by Cooper’s Hawks for several days during the late fall and winter each year.  The small birds that visit our feeders have plenty of trees, shrubs, vines, and other natural cover in which to hide from raptors and other native predators.  We don’t create unnatural concentrations of birds by dumping food all over the place.  We try to keep our small birds healthy by sparingly offering fresh seed and other provisions in clean receptacles to provide a supplement to the seeds, fruits, insects, and other foods that occur naturally in the garden.  With only a few vulnerable small birds around, the Cooper’s Hawks visit just long enough to cull out our weakest individuals before moving elsewhere.  While they’re in our garden, they too are our welcomed guests.

Time to Eat

A glimpse of the rowdy guests crowding the Thanksgiving Day dinner table at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters…

White-breasted Nuthatch
A male White-breasted Nuthatch visits a peanut feeder…
White-breasted Nuthatch
…soon to be joined by a female White-breasted Nuthatch.
Downy Woodpecker
A male Downy Woodpecker gets a bill full of suet.
Carolina Wren
A Carolina Wren nibbles at a peanut.
Eastern Gray Squirrel
An Eastern Gray Squirrel stuffs itself on peanuts dropped by the birds.
Northern Mockingbird
A territorial Northern Mockingbird stands guard over its supply of Common Winterberry fruit.
Eastern Bluebird
To avoid the mockingbird’s aggression, the Eastern Bluebirds opted out of fresh fruit in favor of raisins offered at the feeders.
American Robin
This persistent American Robin has made an art of repeatedly sneaking in to quickly devour a few berries before being chased away by the vigilant mockingbird.
Dark-eyed Junco
After everyone has had their fill, Dark-eyed Juncos clean up the leftovers.

Sparrows in the Thicket

As the annual autumn songbird migration begins to reach its end, native sparrows can be found concentrating in fallow fields, early successional thickets, and brushy margins along forest edges throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.

Brushy Thicket
A streamside thicket composed of seed-producing grasses and wildflowers as well as fruit-bearing shrubs and vines can be ideal habitat for migrating and wintering native sparrows.

Visit native sparrow habitat during mid-to-late November and you have a good chance of seeing these species and more…

Song Sparrow
The Song Sparrow can be found in woody brush and grassy margins from the shores of the Susquehanna all the way up to the ridgetops of the Appalachians.
Dark-eyed junco
During the colder months of the year, the Dark-eyed Junco is a familiar visitor to bird-feeding stations.  Where suitable natural cover is present, they regularly venture into suburban and urban settings.
White-throated Sparrow
The White-throated Sparrow is commonly found in the company of juncos, but is generally less adventurous, being more likely in weedy fields near young woodlands than in suburban gardens.
Eastern Towhee
The Eastern Towhee is a large native sparrow most often found in early successional growth near woodlands.  Look for them in utility right-of-ways.
Fox Sparrow
The elusive Fox Sparrow is a regular late-fall migrant.  Few stay for the winter, but northbound birds can be seen as early as mid-February each year.

If you’re lucky enough to live where non-native House Sparrows won’t overrun your bird feeders, you can offer white millet as a supplement to the wild foods these beautiful sparrows might find in your garden sanctuary.  Give it a try!

Big Winds Bring Big Birds

Colder temperatures and gusty northwest winds are prompting our largest migratory raptors to continue their southward movements.  Here are some of the birds seen earlier today riding updrafts of air currents along one of the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed’s numerous ridges.

Turkey Vulture
Hundreds of Turkey Vultures are presently passing through the lower Susquehanna valley on their way south.  Their winter abundance here is largely determined by the availability of carrion.
Hatch-year Bald Eagle
The late-season push of Bald Eagles is now underway.  Today, ten or more birds were seen at several of the region’s hawk watches.  This particular eagle is a juvenile, a hatch-year bird, with an unusually large area of white in the tail.
Red-tailed Hawks
Red-tailed hawks pass a hawk-counting station while gliding away to the southwest within an energy-saving updraft of ridge-deflected wind.
Golden Eagle and Red-shouldered Hawk
A migrating Golden Eagle keeps a wary eye on a marauding Red-shouldered Hawk.  This Golden Eagle is young, either in its hatch year or second year of life.
Red-tailed Hawk
A Red-tailed Hawk migrating during a late-afternoon snow shower.

As winter begins clawing at the door, now is great time to visit a hawk watch near you to see these late-season specialties.  Remember to dress in layers and to click the “Hawkwatcher’s Helper: Identifying Bald Eagles and other Diurnal Raptors” tab at the top of this page.  Hawkwatcher’s Helper is your guide to regional hawk watching locations and raptor identification.  Be sure to check it out.  And remember, it’s cold on top of those ridges, so don’t forget your hat, your gloves, and your chap stick!

If You’re Out Collecting Sweets, It Pays to Look Scary

Only fools mess around with bees, wasps, and hornets as they collect nectar and go about their business while visiting flowering plants.  Relentlessly curious predators and other trouble makers quickly learn that patterns of white, yellow, or orange contrasting with black are a warning that the pain and anguish of being zapped with a venomous sting awaits those who throw caution to the wind.  Through the process of natural selection, many venomous and poisonous animals have developed conspicuously bright or contrasting color schemes to deter would-be predators and molesters from making such a big mistake.

"Red Eft"
The brilliant colors of the “Red Eft”, the terrestrial sub-adult stage of the aquatic Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), provide protection not as a form of camouflage, but as a warning to potential predators that “I am inedible” due to the presence of tetrodotoxin, a strong neurotoxin.  Over the generations, natural selection has better enabled the brightest of the individual “Red Efts” to survive to adulthood and reproduce.  Meanwhile, those efts that provided a less obvious visual clue to their toxicity frequently allowed their pursuer to learn of their defense mechanism by the taste-test method.  As one might expect, far fewer of these latter individuals survived to breed and pass along their more cryptic color variation.

Visual warnings enhance the effectiveness of the defensive measures possessed by venomous, poisonous, and distasteful creatures.  Aggressors learn to associate the presence of these color patterns with the experience of pain and discomfort.  Thereafter, they keep their distance to avoid any trouble.  In return, the potential victims of this unsolicited aggression escape injury and retain their defenses for use against yet-to-be-enlightened pursuers.  Thanks to their threatening appearance, the chances of survival are increased for these would-be victims without the need to risk death or injury while deploying their venomous stingers, poisonous compounds, or other defensive measures.

European Paper Wasp
Armed and Dangerous  The yellow-and-black color pattern on this European Paper Wasp signals a potential aggressor that they have come upon a social insect and could be struck with a venomous sting.  The warning colors alone may be all the defenses necessary for this wasp to survive an otherwise fatal encounter.

One shouldn’t be surprised to learn that over time, as these aforementioned venomous, poisonous, and foul-tasting critters developed their patterns of warning colors, there were numerous harmless animals living within close association with these species that, through the process of natural selection, acquired nearly identical color patterns for their own protection from predators.  This form of defensive impersonation is known as Batesian mimicry.

Let’s take a look at some examples of Batesian mimicry right here in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.

Suppose for a moment that you were a fly.  As you might expect, you would have plenty to fear while you spend your day visiting flowers in search of energy-rich nectar—hundreds of hungry birds and other animals want to eat you.

Greenbottle Fly
You might not hurt a fly, but plenty of other creatures will.  This Greenbottle Fly relies upon speed and maneuverability to quickly flee predators.
Common Flesh Fly (Sarcophaga species)
Like the Greenbottle Fly, the Common Flesh Fly (Sarcophaga species) needs to be constantly vigilant and survives by being quick to the wing.

If you were a fly and you were headed out and about to call upon numerous nectar-producing flowers so you could round up some sweet treats, wouldn’t you feel a whole lot safer if you looked like those venomous bees, wasps, and hornets in your neighborhood?  Wouldn’t it be a whole lot more fun to look scary—so scary that would-be aggressors fear that you might sting them if they gave you any trouble?

Suppose Mother Nature and Father Time dressed you up to look like a bee or a wasp instead of a helpless fly?  Then maybe you could go out and collect sweets without always worrying about the bullies and the brutes, just like these flies of the lower Susquehanna  do…

FLOWER FLIES/HOVER FLIES

The Common Drone Fly (Eristalis Tenax) is a Honey Bee mimic
The Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) is an unarmed Honey Bee mimic.  This one is gathering nectar on goldenrod flowers.
Transverse Flower Fly (Eristalis transversa)
The Transverse Flower Fly (Eristalis transversa) is another bee mimic.  Members of the genus Eristalis scavenge carcasses in aquatic habitats.  Their larvae are known as rat-tailed maggots, a name that references their long siphons used for breathing surface air while submerged in ponds, streams, and wetlands.
Spilomyia species Flower Fly
Flower flies of the genus Spilomyia are convincing mimics of temperamental yellowjacket wasps.
Yellowjacket Hover Fly
The Yellowjacket Hover Fly (Milesia virginiensis) is usually heard long before it is seen.  It will often approach people and persist with a loud buzzing, sounding more like a bee than a bee does.  Scary, isn’t it?
 Maize Calligrapher
The Maize Calligrapher (Toxomerus politus) is a hover fly mimic of wasps.  Seen here on Indiangrass, it is believed to associate primarily with Corn (Zea mays).
The Narrow-headed Marsh Fly (Helophilus fasciatus) is a wasp mimic.
The Narrow-headed Marsh Fly (Helophilus fasciatus) is a wasp mimic.  Like other mimics of hymenopterans, they are important pollinators of flowering plants.
Syrphus species Hoverfly
This hover fly of the genus Syrphus is another wasp mimic.

TACHINID FLIES

The Feather-legged Fly (Trichopoda species) is a wasp mimic.
The Feather-legged Fly (Trichopoda species) is a wasp mimic.   Its larvae are parasitoids of stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs.

BEE FLIES

Bee Fly (Exoprosopa species)
Bee flies of the genus Exoprosopa convincingly resemble bumble bees.
Bee Fly (Exoprosopa species)
The larvae of Exoprosopa bee flies are believed to be parasitic on the larvae of the parasites of bee and wasp larvae that mature in the soil.  Confused yet?

So let’s review.  If you’re a poor defenseless fly and you want to get your fair share of sweets without being gobbled up by the beasts, then you’ve got to masquerade like a strongly armed member of a social colony—like a bee, wasp, or hornet.  Now look scary and go get your treats.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This Week at Regional Hawk Watches

With nearly all of the Neotropical migrants including Broad-winged Hawks gone for the year, observers and counters at eastern hawk watches are busy tallying numbers of the more hardy species of diurnal raptors and other birds.  The majority of species now coming through will spend the winter months in temperate and sub-tropical areas of the southern United States and Mexico.

Here is a quick look at the raptors seen this week at two regional counting stations: Kiptopeke Hawk Watch near Cape Charles, Virginia, and Second Mountain Hawk Watch at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.

Kiptopeke Hawk Watch
The hawk-watching platform at Kiptopeke State Park is located along Chesapeake Bay near the southern tip of Delmarva Peninsula.  In autumn, thousands of raptors and other birds migrate through the Atlantic Coastal Plain Province.  Those that follow the shorelines south frequently concentrate in spectacular numbers before crossing the mouths of the bays they encounter.  This phenomenon makes both Cape May, New Jersey, on Delaware Bay and Kiptopeke, Virginia, on Chesapeake Bay exceptional places to experience fall flights of migrating birds.
Second Mounatin Hawk Watch
A Sharp-shinned Hawk is counted as it swoops by the owl decoy at Second Mountain Hawk Watch at Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation.  Migrating raptors save energy by riding updrafts of air created by winds blowing against the slopes of the mountainsides in the Ridge and Valley Province.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
A Sharp-shinned Hawk passes the lookout at Second Mountain Hawk Watch.  “Sharp-shins” are currently the most numerous migrants both on the coast and at inland counting stations.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
A Sharp-shinned Hawk nearly passes observers unnoticed as it skims the treetops.
Sharp-shinned Hawk at owl decoy.
A Sharp-shinned Hawk eyes up an owl decoy.  Under cover of darkness, nocturnal owls could rather easily prey upon young and small adult hawks and falcons, both on the nest or at roost.  Accordingly, many diurnal raptors instinctively harass owls to drive them from their presence.  An owl decoy at the lookout helps attract migrating birds for a closer look.
Cooper's Hawk
An adult Cooper’s Hawk flaps its way past a counting station.  Like the similar Sharp-shinned Hawk, the larger Cooper’s Hawk is a member of the genus Accipiter.  As a proportion of the annual fall Accipiter flight, the Cooper’s Hawk is more numerous at coastal hawk watches than at inland sites.
Osprey
The majority of Osprey migrate along the coast, but a few are still being seen at inland hawk watches.
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagles are commonly seen at both coastal and inland lookouts.  Their movements continue well into late fall.
Northern Harrier
A Northern Harrier illuminated by a setting sun.  Northern Harriers are often still flying when many other species have gone to roost for the day.
An adult male Northern Harrier flying in misty weather.
An adult male Northern Harrier, the “gray ghost”, flying in misty weather, at a time when few other birds were in the air. 
American Kestrel
The American Kestrel, like our other falcons, is seen in greatest concentrations at coastal counting stations.  It is our most numerous falcon.
Merlin
The Merlin provides only a brief observation opportunity as it passes the lookout.  These falcons are dark, speedy, and easily missed as they fly by.
Tree Swallow
While moving south, Merlins often accompany flights of migrating Tree Swallows, a potential food source.
Merlin with Dragonfly
A Merlin consumes a dragonfly.  Eating is no reason to stop moving.
Juvenile "Tundra Peregrine"
The “Tundra Peregrine” is an arctic-breeding Peregrine Falcon that travels a distance of over 6,000 miles to southern South America for winter.  It is strictly a migratory species in our region with numbers peaking during the first two weeks of October each year.  These strong fliers have little need for the updrafts from mountain ridges, inland birds often observed flying in a north to south direction.  The majority of “Tundra Peregrines” are observed following coastlines, with some migrating offshore to make landfall at points as far south as Florida and the Caribbean islands before continuing across water again to reach the northern shores of Central and South America.  This “Tundra Peregrine” is a juvenile bird on its first southbound trip.

During coming days, fewer and fewer of these birds will be counted at our local hawk watches.  Soon, the larger raptors—Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, and Golden Eagles—will be thrilling observers.  Cooler weather will bring several flights of these spectacular species.  Why not plan a visit to a lookout near you?  Click on the “Hawkwatcher’s Helper: Identifying Bald Eagles and other Diurnal Raptors” tab at the top of this page for site information and a photo guide to identification.  See you at the hawk watch!

Common Raven
It’s not all hawks at the hawk watch.  Even the coastal sites are now seeing fun birds like the playful Common Raven on a regular basis.
Eastern Meadowlarks in a Loblolly Pine.
Coastal locations are renowned places to see migrating songbirds in places outside of their typical habitat.  Here a flock of Eastern Meadowlarks has set down in the top of a Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) in downtown Cape Charles, Virginia, not far from Kiptopeke Hawk Watch.

Photo of the Day

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
With warbler migration winding down, it’s time to keep an eye open for the tiny kinglets, particularly in coniferous trees.  This Ruby-crowned Kinglet was spotted yesterday in the boughs of an Eastern Hemlock.  While common during autumn migration in October, only a few will remain in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed for winter.

American Goldfinches Molting into Winter Plumage

Say it isn’t so.  Does summer really have to go?

Our brightly colored goldfinches are gone for the year.  No more Pennsylvania distelfinks glowing like bright-yellow Easter peeps on our feeders.  Oh, the birds are still here mind you, but their sunshine-gold feathers are falling away.  Because winter time is no time to show off.  One must blend in and maintain a low profile to conserve energy and avoid trouble as rough weather arrives.  So our American Goldfinches have commenced to molting—shedding their breeding plumes and replacing them with drab earth-tone shades for winter.

An adult male American Goldfinch losing its spectacular summer color and molting into less-than-thrilling winter feathers.
American Goldfinch in molt.
This ratty-looking adult male American Goldfinch is rapidly replacing its showy breeding (alternate) plumage with winter (basic) plumage.  A new set of wing feathers is readily visible.
Juvenile American Goldfinch
Juvenile American Goldfinches leave the nest with this first complete set of feathers.  Soon, adult birds will be wearing a similar color scheme.  Then, as spring approaches, they’ll all begin a gradual molt into the brilliant hues we all know and love.

Late Season Ruby-throated Hummingbirds…Again

Last October 3rd, a late-season Ruby-throated Hummingbird stopped by the garden at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters to take shelter from a rainy autumn storm.  It was so raw and chilly that we felt compelled to do something we don’t normally do—put out the sugar water feeder to supplement the nectar produced by our fall-flowering plants.  After several days of constant visits to the feeder and the flowers, our lingering hummer resumed its southbound journey on October 7th.

Fast forward to this afternoon and what do you know, at least two migrating hummingbirds have stopped by to visit the flowers in our garden.  This year, we have an exceptional abundance of blooms on some of their favorite plants.  In the ponds, aquatic Pickerelweed is topped with purple spikes and we still have bright orange tubular flowers on one of our Trumpet Vines—a full two to three months later than usual.

Late-season Ruby-throated Hummingbird
We checked each of our late-season visitors carefully to be reasonably certain that none was a stray western species of hummingbird.  All appear to be female or juvenile “Ruby-throats”.  If you have an abundance of flowering plants and/or you’re going to maintain your hummingbird feeders through the coming weeks, be on the lookout for western species.  Most are more hardy than our Ruby-throats and some have remained in the lower Susquehanna valley through the winter.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Mexican Cigar
As is typically the case, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds quickly gravitate toward the tubular flowers of our Cuphea ignea, the Mexican Cigar.  They find these showy plants to be absolutely irresistible.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Mexican Cigar
Mexican Cigar grows wild in parts of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird’s winter range.  To them, it’s comfort food.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Bat-faced Cuphea
We’re trying some new cultivars of Cuphea to see how they do.  As this composite image shows, the hummingbirds won’t let our Bat-faced Cuphea (Cuphea llavea) alone.  It’s another plant native to Mexico and Central America, right where some of our hummingbirds spend the winter.

Remember, keep those feeders clean and the provisions fresh!  You’ll be glad you did.

Photo of the Day

Eastern Palm Warbler
A warbler found moving through trees and shrubs or foraging on the ground while bobbing its tail is likely to be a Palm Warbler.  During migration, these animated passerines favor the vegetated shorelines of lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds.  This affinity for water is reflected in the Palm Warbler’s choice of breeding habitat.  Nesting territories are primarily located within spruce bogs east of the Rockies in Canada, Minnesota, Maine, and on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The bird seen here with extensive yellow underparts is known as a Yellow or Eastern Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum hypochrysea), a subspecies that nests in eastern portions of the breeding range.  The duller, grayer Brown or Western Palm Warbler (S. p. palmarum) nests in western sections of the summer range.  In the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, both subspecies can be seen during fall migration, which peaks in late September and October as movements of the less hardy Neotropical warblers are winding down.  Both subspecies spend the winter on Caribbean islands or in coastal plain areas of eastern North America.  Some of the western birds pass the colder months along the Pacific coast.

A “Grasshopper Hawk” in the Susquehanna Valley

Tropical Storm Ophelia has put the brakes on a bustling southbound exodus of the season’s final waves of Neotropical migrants.  Winds from easterly directions have now beset the Mid-Atlantic States with gloomy skies, chilly temperatures, and periods of rain for an entire week.  These conditions, which are less than favorable for undertaking flights of any significant distance, have compelled many birds to remain in place—grounded to conserve energy.

Migrating Broad-winged Hawks on a Thermal Updraft
In the days prior to the arrival of Tropical Storm Ophelia, thousands of high-flying Broad-winged Hawks were being tallied as they passed hawk-counting stations throughout the region. As the last of this year’s migrants continue through, lack of clear skies, sunshine, and thermal updrafts has slowed the pace of their movements significantly.

Of the birds on layover, perhaps the most interesting find has been a western raptor that occurs only on rare occasions among the groups of Broad-winged Hawks seen at hawk watches each fall—a Swainson’s Hawk.  Discovered as Tropical Storm Ophelia approached on September 21st, this juvenile bird has found refuge in coal country on a small farm in a picturesque valley between converging ridges in southern Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.  Swainson’s Hawks are a gregarious species, often spending time outside of the nesting season in the company of others of their kind.  Like Broad-winged Hawks, they frequently assemble into large groups while migrating.

A juvenile Swainson's Hawk in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
A juvenile Swainson’s Hawk in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Swainson's Hawk in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Swainson’s Hawks nest in the grasslands, prairies, and deserts of western North America.  Their autumn migration to wintering grounds in Argentina covers a distance of up to 6,000 miles.  Among raptors, such mileage is outdone only by the Tundra Peregrine Falcon.

Juvenile Swainson's Hawk
The Swainson’s Hawk spends up to four months each year covering a 12,000-mile round-trip migration route.  The long primaries are an adaptation that give the wings additional lift, allowing them to use air currents including thermal updrafts to conserve energy while flying.

Juvenile Swainson's Hawk

Juvenile Swainson's Hawk
Swainson’s Hawks are renowned for spending time on the ground, intermittently running and hopping in pursuit of prey.

During the nesting cycle, Swainson’s Hawks consume primarily small vertebrates, mostly mice and other small rodents.  But during the remainder of the year, they feed almost exclusively on grasshoppers.  To provide enough energy to fuel their migrations, they must find and devour these insects by the hundreds.  Not surprisingly, the Swainson’s Hawk is sometimes known as the Grasshopper Hawk or Locust Hawk, particularly in the areas of South America where they are common.

Juvenile Swainson's Hawk eating a cricket.
The juvenile Swainson’s Hawk visiting Northumberland County has been feeding on grasshoppers, katydids, and is seen here eating a cricket.

So just how far will our wayward Swainson’s Hawk have to travel to get back on track?  Small numbers of Swainson’s Hawks pass the winter in southern Florida each year and still others are found in and near the scrublands of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Mexico.  But the vast majority of these birds make the trip all the way to the southern half of South America and the farmlands and savannas of Argentina—where our winter is their summer.  The best bet for this bird would be to get hooked up with some of the season’s last Broad-winged Hawks when they start flying in coming days, then join them as they head toward Houston, Texas, to make the southward turn down the coast of the Gulf of Mexico into Central America and Amazonia.  Then again, it may need to find its own way to warmer climes.  Upon reaching at least the Gulf Coastal Plain, our visitor stands a much better chance of surviving the winter.

Juvenile Swainson's Hawk in Flight
As long as it can still find grasshoppers to eat, our wayward bird in Northumberland County still has time before it needs to make its way south.   As they pass through Texas, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama, Swainson’s Hawks are numerous among flocks of southbound Broad-winged Hawks.  But while hawk watches in these areas are presently recording maximum annual counts of the latter, peak numbers of the former won’t occur until the final two or three weeks of October.

Photo of the Day

Northern Ring-necked Snake shedding old skin.
For this Northern Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus edwardsii), they’ll be no hunting crickets, grasshoppers, and creepy crawlies under rocks and leaves for a little while.  It’s blind as a bat and finding its way by tongue and touch while beginning the process of shedding its skin so it can grow just a little bit bigger before heading underground for winter.

Four Common Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers are perhaps best known for the occasions throughout history when an enormous congregation of these insects—a “plague of locusts”—would assemble and rove a region to feed.  These swarms, which sometimes covered tens of thousands of square miles or more, often decimated crops, darkened the sky, and, on occasion, resulted in catastrophic famine among human settlements in various parts of the world.

The largest “plague of locusts” in the United States occurred during the mid-1870s in the Great Plains.  The Rocky Mountain Locust (Melanoplus spretus), a grasshopper of prairies in the American west, had a range that extended east into New England, possibly settling there on lands cleared for farming.  Rocky Mountain Locusts, aside from their native habitat on grasslands, apparently thrived on fields planted with warm-season crops.  Like most grasshoppers, they fed and developed most vigorously during periods of dry, hot weather.  With plenty of vegetative matter to consume during periods of scorching temperatures, the stage was set for populations of these insects to explode in agricultural areas, then take wing in search of more forage.  Plagues struck parts of northern New England as early as the mid-1700s and were numerous in various states in the Great Plains through the middle of the 1800s.  The big ones hit between 1873 and 1877 when swarms numbering as many as trillions of grasshoppers did $200 million in crop damage and caused a famine so severe that many farmers abandoned the westward migration.  To prevent recurrent outbreaks of locust plagues and famine, experts suggested planting more cool-season grains like winter wheat, a crop which could mature and be harvested before the grasshoppers had a chance to cause any significant damage.  In the years that followed, and as prairies gave way to the expansive agricultural lands that presently cover most of the Rocky Mountain Locust’s former range, the grasshopper began to disappear.  By the early years of the twentieth century, the species was extinct.  No one was quite certain why, and the precise cause is still a topic of debate to this day.  Conversion of nearly all of its native habitat to cropland and grazing acreage seems to be the most likely culprit.

The critically endangered Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis), a species not photographed since 1962 and not confirmed since 1963, fed on Rocky Mountain Locusts during its spring migration through the Great Plains.  Excessive hunting and conversion of grasslands to agriculture are believed responsible for the bird’s demise.  (United States Fish and Wildlife Service image by Christina Nelson)

In the Mid-Atlantic States, the mosaic of the landscape—farmland interspersed with a mix of forest and disturbed urban/suburban lots—prevents grasshoppers from reaching the densities from which swarms arise.  In the years since the implementation of “Green Revolution” farming practices, numbers of grasshoppers in our region have declined.  Systemic insecticides including neonicotinoids keep grasshoppers and other insects from munching on warm-season crops like corn and soybeans.  And herbicides including 2,4-D (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) have, in effect, become the equivalent of insecticides, eliminating broadleaf food plants from the pasturelands and hayfields where grasshoppers once fed and reproduced in abundance.  As a result, few of the approximately three dozen species of grasshoppers with ranges that include the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed are common here.  Those that still thrive are largely adapted to roadsides, waste ground, and small clearings where native and some non-native plants make up their diet.

Here’s a look at four species of grasshoppers you’re likely to find in disturbed habitats throughout our region.  Each remains common in relatively pesticide-free spaces with stands of dense grasses and broadleaf plants nearby.

CAROLINA GRASSHOPPER

Dissosteira carolina

Carolina Grasshopper
The Carolina Grasshopper, also known as the Carolina Locust or Quaker, is one of the band-winged grasshoppers.  It is commonly found along roadsides and on other bare ground near stands of tall grass and broadleaf plants.
Carolina Grasshopper
The Carolina Grasshopper is variable in color, ranging from very dark brown…
Carolina Grasshopper
…to a rich tan or khaki shade.  These earth-tone colors provide the insect with effective camouflage while spending time on the ground.
Carolina Grasshopper wing
The Carolina Grasshopper is most readily detected and identified when it flies.  The colors of the wings resemble those of the Mourning Cloak butterfly.
Great Black Wasp on goldenrod.
Carolina Grasshoppers are among the preferred victims of Great Black Wasps (Sphex pensylvanicus).  A female wasp stings the grasshopper to paralyze it, then drags it away to one of numerous cells in an underground burrow where she lays an egg on it.  The body of the disabled grasshopper then provides nourishment for the larval wasp.

DIFFERENTIAL GRASSHOPPER

Melanoplus differentialis

Differential Grasshopper nymph.
Differential Grasshopper nymph with small “fairy wings”.
Differential Grasshopper
An adult female Differential Grasshopper with fully developed wings.
An adult female Differential Grasshopper
An adult female Differential Grasshopper

TWO-STRIPED GRASSHOPPER

Melanoplus bivittatus

Two-striped Grasshopper nymph.
An early-stage Two-striped Grasshopper nymph.
Two-striped Grasshopper nymph.
A Two-striped Grasshopper nymph in a later stage.
Two-striped Grasshopper
An adult female Two-striped Grasshopper.
Two-striped Grasshopper
An adult female Two-striped Grasshopper.  Note the pale stripe originating at each eye and joining near the posterior end of the wings to form a V-shaped pattern.
Two-striped Grasshopper
An adult female Two-striped Grasshopper.

RED-LEGGED GRASSHOPPER

Melanoplus femurrubrum

A Red-legged Grasshopper hiding in dense urban vegetation.
An adult male Red-legged Grasshopper hiding in dense urban vegetation.
Red-legged Grasshopper
The Red-legged Grasshopper may currently be our most abundant and widespread species.
Red-legged Grasshopper
An adult male Red-legged Grasshopper.
Red-legged Grasshopper
An adult female Red-legged Grasshopper.

Protein-rich grasshoppers are an important late-summer, early-fall food source for birds.  The absence of these insects has forced many species of breeding birds to abandon farmland or, in some cases, disappear altogether.

During the mid-twentieth century, the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), a notoriously nomadic species, transited the Atlantic from Africa to colonize the Americas…and they did it without any direct assistance from humans.  During the 1970s and early 1980s, a nesting population of Cattle Egrets on river islands adjacent to the Susquehanna’s Conejohela Flats off Washington Boro was the largest inland rookery in the northeastern United States.  The Lancaster County Bird Club censused the birds each August and found peak numbers in 1981 (7,580).  During their years of abundance, V-shaped flocks of Cattle Egrets from the rookery islands ventured into grazing lands throughout portions of Lancaster, York, Dauphin, and Lebanon Counties to hunt grasshoppers.  These daily flights were a familiar summertime sight for nearly two decades.  Then, in the early 1980s, reductions in pastureland acreage and plummeting grasshopper numbers quickly took their toll.  By 1988, the rookery was abandoned.  The Cattle Egrets had moved on.  (Vintage 33 mm image)
During the summer and early fall, juvenile and adult Ring-necked Pheasants feed heavily on grasshoppers.  Earlier and more frequent mowing along with declining numbers of grasshoppers on farmlands due to an increase in pesticide use were factors contributing to the crash of the pheasant population in the early 1980s.
Wild Turkey
To the delight of Wild Turkeys, each of the four species of grasshoppers shown above frequents clearings and roadsides adjacent to forest areas.  While changes in grasshopper distribution have been detrimental to populations of birds like pheasants, they’ve created a feeding bonanza for turkeys.
Wild Turkeys feeding on grasshoppers along a forest road.
Wild Turkeys feeding on an abundance of grasshoppers along a forest road.
An American Kestrel feeds on a grasshopper while ignoring the abundance of Spotted Lanternflies swarming the adjacent utility pole.  In Susquehanna valley farmlands, grasshopper and kestrel numbers are down.  Lanternflies, on the other hand, have got it made.
Early Successional Growth
Maintaining areas bordering roads, forests, wetlands, farmlands, and human development in a state of early succession can provide and ideal mix of mature grasses and broadleaf plants for grasshoppers, pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.

Flamingos and a Hurricane

During the past two weeks, over 150 American Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) have been reported in the eastern half of the United States, well north of their usual range—northern South America; Cuba, the Bahamas, and other Caribbean Islands; and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.  They are also found on the Galapagos Islands.  Prior to being extirpated by hunting during the early years of the twentieth century, American Flamingos nested in the Everglades of Florida as well.

The recent influx of these tropical vagrants into the eastern states is attributed to Hurricane Idalia, a storm that formed in the midst of flamingo territory during the final week of August.  Idalia got its start over tropical waters off Yucatan before progressing north through the Gulf of Mexico off Cuba to make landfall in the “Big Bend” area of Florida.

Track of Hurricane Idalia.  (NOAA/National Weather Service/National Hurricane Center image)

Birds of warm water seas regularly become entangled within tropical storms and hurricanes.  In most cases, it’s oceanic seabirds including petrels, shearwaters, terns, and gulls that seek refuge from turbulent conditions by remaining inside the storm’s eye or within the margins of the rotating bands.  The duration of the experience and the fitness of each individual bird may determine just how many survive such an ordeal.  As a storm makes landfall, the survivors put down on inland bodies of water, often in unexpected places hundreds of miles from the nearest coastline.  Some may linger in these far-flung areas to feed and gain strength before finding their way down rivers back to sea.

For birds like American Flamingos, which don’t spend a large portion of their lives on the wing over vast oceanic waters, becoming entangled in a tropical weather system can easily be a life-ending event.  American Flamingos, despite their size and lanky appearance, are quite agile fliers.  When necessary, some populations travel significant distances in search of new food sources.  Some closely related migratory species of flamingos have been recorded at altitudes exceeding 10,000 feet.  But becoming trapped in a hurricane for an extended period of time could easily erode the endurance of even the strongest of fliers.  And once out over open water, there’s nowhere for a flamingo to come down for a rest.

It appears probable that, during the final week of August, hundreds of American Flamingos did find themselves drawn away from their familiar tidal flats and salty lagoons to be swept into the spinning clouds and gusty downpours of Hurricane Idalia as it churned off the Yucatan coast.  Despite the dangers, more than 150 of them completed a journey within its clutches to cross the Gulf of Mexico and land in the Eastern United States.

Amy Davis in a report for the American Birding Association compiled a list of American Flamingo sightings from the days following the landfall of Hurricane Idalia.  We’ve plotted those sightings on a satellite image of the storm.

Locations of American Flamingo sightings in the days following landfall of Hurricane Idalia, August 30 through September 7, 2023.  Numbers of birds in the plotted flock are indicated.  Those flocks marked with an asterisk contained a bird ringed with a leg band marking it as a member of the Ria Largartos population in Yucatan.  Click the image to enlarge.  (NOAA/GOES-16 base image of Hurricane Idalia landfall)

The majority of the flamingos that survived this harrowing trip found a place to put down along the coast.  But as the reader will notice, a significant number of the sightings were outside the path of the storm in areas not reached by even the outermost bands of clouds.  Flamingos in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky/Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were found at inland bodies of water, most on the days immediately following the storm’s landfall.  The lone exception, the Pennsylvania birds, were discovered a week after landfall (but may have been there days longer).  How and why did these birds find their way so far inland at places so distant from the storm…and home?  And how did they get there so quickly?  The counterclockwise rotation of the hurricane wouldn’t slingshot them in that direction, would it?

Let’s have a look at the surface map showing us the weather in the states outside the direct influence of Hurricane Idalia during the storm’s landfall on August 30, 2023…

Note the pair of cold fronts along the Appalachians by 7 A.M. E.S.T. (8 A.M. E.D.T.).  In the  hours following Idalia’s landfall, these fronts had begun slowly creeping through the areas where the inland flamingos were subsequently found.  (NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Weather Prediction Center image)

Now check out this satellite view of the storm during the hours following landfall…

"Flamingo Highway"
The blue lines mark the approximate locations of the two cold fronts, the “spoilers” that helped steer Idalia out to sea. The pink arrows mark the “flamingo highway”, strong southwest to northeast winds blowing between the cold fronts along the inland edge of Idalia.  (GOES-16 imagery from Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Click the image above to play a GIF animation of GOES-16 satellite photos showing Idalia after landfall and the strong “flamingo highway” winds between the fronts.  (It’s a big file, so give it a little time to load.)  You’ll also note the ferocious lightning associated with both Huricane Idalia and Hurricane Franklin.

Did the inland flamingos catch a ride on these stiff “flamingo highway” winds?  If not, they may have had a little help from a high pressure ridge that became established over the southern Appalachians as Idalia crept out to sea.  The clockwise rotation of this ridge kept a similar flow over the “flamingo highway” for much of the four days that followed.

An American Flamingo circling to land in a farm pond near St. Thomas, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
An American Flamingo circling to land in a farm pond near St. Thomas, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
American Flamingo in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, following Hurricane Idalia.
Its a long way from Yucatan to central Pennsylvania.  The survivors of the storm were largely at the mercy of the winds that carried them.  The good news for this bird…not a single flight is feather missing.
An American Flamingo at the foot of the Appalachians.
An American Flamingo at the foot of the Appalachians in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
An American Flamingo on a farm pond near St. Thomas, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.  This bird is just one of at least 150 that arrived in the Eastern United States courtesy of Hurricane Idalia.
American Flamingo in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
In deep water, American Flamingos feed by shuffling their feet to stir up benthic invertebrates, plankton, algae, and plant matter.  The flamingo that was accompanying this bird apparently shuffled its feet into a Snapping Turtle, which promptly latched onto its leg and injured tendons and other tissue.  Following surgery earlier today, the bird remains in hospital.
American Flamingo feeding.
To retrieve their fare from the bottom, flamingos roll their bill upside down, then swish it back-and-forth.
Finally, they raise their heads and upright their bills to expel water and debris while simultaneously filtering out the morsels of edibles for consumption.
American Flamingo in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
To conserve body heat while under the shade of clouds, this American Flamingo in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, would stop feeding,…
American Flamingo in Pennsylvania conserving heat under cloud cover.
…then it would tuck its head between its wings.  Flamingos will also retain heat by standing on one leg while raising the other into the insulating cover of their belly feathers.

For vagrant birds including those carried away to distant lands by hurricanes and other storms, the challenges of finding food and avoiding hazards including disease, unfamiliar predators, and extreme weather can be a matter of life and death.  For American Flamingos now loafing and feeding in the Eastern United States outside Florida, the hardest part of their journey is yet to come. They need to find their way back south to suitable tropical habitat before cold weather sets in.  The perils are many.  Theirs is not an enviable predicament.

Sorry Pinky, but you can’t stay on the farm forever.