The rain and clouds have at last departed. With blue skies and sunshine to remind us just how wonderful a spring afternoon can be, we took a stroll at Memorial Lake State Park in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to look for some migratory birds.
Though running just a few days later than usual, Indigo Buntings have arrived to begin nesting.This Common Loon dropped by Memorial Lake during a storm several days ago and decided to stay awhile. It’s a species that winters in oceanic waters along the Atlantic seaboard and nests on glacial lakes to our north.Because of the low level of turbidity in Memorial Lake, visibility is good enough to allow this benthic feeder an opportunity to see food before expending energy to dive down and retrieve it. Favorable foraging conditions might be part of the reason this bird is hanging around.Clear Water- Memorial Lake is one of the few man-made lakes in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed to be appropriately vegetated with an abundance of submerged, floating, and emergent plants. As a result, the water from Indiantown Run that passes through the impoundment is minimally impacted by nutrient loads and the algal blooms they can cause. Buffers of woody and herbaceous growth along the lake’s shorelines provide additional nutrient sequestering and help prevent soil erosion and siltation.The breeding season has begun for Neotropical migrants including this Baltimore Oriole, which we found defending a nesting territory in a stand of Black Walnut trees.Along the edge of the lake, this Orchard Oriole and its mate were in yet another stand of tall walnut trees.Early in the season and early in the day, we started seeing Common Nighthawks flying above wooded areas north of the lake at 4 o’clock this afternoon. After all the raw and inclement weather they’ve experienced in recent days, the warm afternoon was probably their first opportunity to feed on flying insects in quite a while.Early birds, Common Nighthawks feeding at 4 P.M.
What? You thought we were gonna drop in on Maryland’s largest city for a couple of ball games and some oysters, clams, and crab cakes—not likely.
