Weekly Bird Walk, July 2, 2008

Gary, Terry and I were the only ones to participate this week but we had a great time. Gary took us to a new area adjacent to Ives Run Recreation Area on the west end of Hammond Lake. Stephenhouse Run Road is actually the northern entrance to State Game Lands #37 which includes the Fire Tower. About a mile up the road, there is a gate that closes the road to all motorized vehicles unless you hold a handicapped permit during the hunting season. There’s a nice parking lot at that point. From there, we walked the road heading south.

The game commission maintains fields and food plots along the side of the road making for open areas with hedgerows. This year one field is planted in alfalfa and several have been planted in clover. There are old, old apple trees along the side of the road and in clumps here and there. The forest adjacent to the fields is mixed hardwoods and there are many stands of pine on the hillsides. The road itself is quite wide and pretty flat. It provided a very easy hike.

All in all, it’s an enjoyable walk. We only went about half way into the game management area—about a mile walk altogether before we decided to turn around and head back to the parking lot. Still, we spent an slow two hours walking in and one walking back out. If these bird walks don't bring us new life birds, they at least let us explore parts of Tioga County we haven't been to before and that seem to be under utilized if the lack of other walkers/cyclers are any indication.

Besides birds we saw one doe near the parking lot, several sets of deer and bear tracks in the muddy sections, and a few chipmunks and red efts.

Next time I’ll bring a water bottle, a lunch and my GPS since there are no reliable maps of the area available. (Google Maps provide a pretty good satellite view, but none of the roads on the ground are clearly marked. There are several side roads to choose from once you get about ¾ of a mile in and you could easily get to wandering all day—or more if you decide to go off the road.)

And now for the results:



Location: Stephenhouse Run Road (IvesRun)
Observation date: 7/2/08
Notes: Cool crisp morning. Only 54 degrees when we started with pretty dense fog on Hammond Lake. It warmed to 70 degrees by 11 AM. The wind was calm at 7 AM but a light breeze (10 mph) kicked in as we walked.
We started observations as we crossed the Crooked Creek bridge at Ives Run and continued as we drove/walked Stephenhouse Run Road.
Number of species: 31

Turkey Vulture X
Osprey X
Red-tailed Hawk X
Mourning Dove X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Red-eyed Vireo X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
House Wren X
Eastern Bluebird X
Veery X
Wood Thrush X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Cedar Waxwing X
Yellow Warbler X
Chestnut-sided Warbler X
American Redstart X
Ovenbird X
Common Yellowthroat X
Scarlet Tanager X
Eastern Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
Rose-breasted Grosbeak X
American Goldfinch X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)