It was gray and murky when I started out for Assunpink this morning. I made a quick stop at the farm driveway where White-crowned Sparrows always hang out and picked up three of them, then drove to the model airplane field. I was hoping they'd be flooded after last night's rain. A few days ago Pectoral Sandpipers were reported there after a heavy rain. No luck today and as soon as I got there a light drizzle started. I scanned the lake and didn't come up with much besides a Pied-billed Grebe. I decided to walk along the road around the field, hugging the lake shore, but soon the drizzle turned into light rain then not-so-light rain and I retreated to the car.
I was going to give up but decided to drive to the boat launch and wait in the car, hoping the rain would pass. There were a few ducks on the water, but nothing like the last time I was there. Once the rain let up I walked the road that goes over to the western side of the lake. There were birds, but nothing special. I thought winter was supposed to be sparrow time, but I was picking up lots of sparrows today, including at least 5 Field Sparrows--they were singing all over the place and a few showed themselves.
I wasn't satisfied with what I was seeing, so I drove back down Imlaystown, made a left on East Branch, and wound up in the parking lot of the air control beacon field. There is a long path uphill through grasslands up to the beacon then into a grove of Norway Spruces. It was pretty slippery today. Like Colliers Mills, the fields here were recently burned. The cleared ground seemed to make the robins and blackbirds happy; how it is going to affect the Grasshopper Sparrows and Yellow-breasted Chats that nest there is an open question.
The Norway Spruce stand looked completely different than I was used to--all the brush had been cut and hauled away, giving the trees a more formal appearance. Probably close to what they looked like many years ago when this part of the WMA was a working farm--Norway Spruce is not a native tree so these trees might have been planted as a wind break.
As I was walking toward the beacon, I saw a bird atop a small, bare tree. My first reaction was robin, but it was slightly too big for a robin. My 2nd reaction was kestrel. I wasn't lugging the scope, so I was hoping the bird would stay still long enough for me to get close enough to get a decent look with my bins--naturally it didn't, flying down onto the ground. It was gone by the time I got to where I'd seen it. I told myself I wasn't going to get another chance at finding a falcon today.
I was wrong. Just before I descended the hill, I ran my binoculars over the tree tops of the field below and there I saw a rufous bird with blue-gray wings. No bird around here other than American Kestrel has those field marks. I saw it for a minute or so before it flew down, showing its pointed wings. Finally, a bird worth all the schlepping.
I racked up 39 species slogging around the WMA today.
Canada Goose 12
Mute Swan 2 Eastern end of the lake
Mallard 4
Lesser Scaup 1 Eastern end of lake
Bufflehead 5 seen from boat launch
Common Merganser 1 boat launch
Ruddy Duck 31
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 2
Bald Eagle 2
Mourning Dove 4
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 2
American Kestrel 1
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 1 Heard
Fish Crow 5
Tree Swallow 25
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 1 Heard, farm driveway
American Robin 150
European Starling 10
Palm Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 1 Heard
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard, air control beacon field
Field Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 3
White-crowned Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 2 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Common Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
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