Saturday Birding

I was awakened by a very sore and aching left jaw at around 3:15 AM and could not get back to sleep. I think I actually woke the cats up for a change. Since I had a premolar extracted about 18 days ago, I've had to alter my chewing/biting habits and this has affected the muscles in the jaw. Aches start at the jaw bone beneath the ear and radiate upward behind the ear and end at the top of the ear in the scalp. Even Tylenol doesn't help. Tonight I'll try bourbon.

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Temperatures fell to 27 degrees overnight and with the heat in the house turned off, that meant the temperature in the house dropped, too. It was 58 degrees inside when I came down stairs at 3:45 AM and dropped another degree before I left to go birding at 6:30 AM.

It got even colder as I went down the hill and the lowest I saw was 24 degrees. With the temperatures that cold and the water having already warmed up in the lakes, ponds and streams, there was some pretty dense fog in the valley. Made me question why I was going birding.

But things started looking brighter--literally--as I got to Hills Creek State Park. There was virtually no fog and the sun was out. It was just a matter of time before things would warm up...right?

I spent an hour at Hills Creek, confining myself to the day-use area near the beach. Birding wasn't great but it wasn't bad either considering the limitations I put on myself. I then went west to The Muck off Route 287 on the other side of Wellsboro. The Tiadaghton Audubon Society maintains a blind there and there's usually a goodly number of water fowl and marsh birds around. Again, not great but not bad with a few new species for the year. After an hour at the Muck (some of it in the company of the Methodist Minister from Wellsboro (Nice guy, about 26-27 years old. He's joined our Audubon Society--son-of-a-gun has more Tioga County eBird check list than me! And he's only been here since July!) I headed north on Route 287 for the Rail Road Grade trail along Crooked Creek as it enters into Hammond Lake (Ive's Run Corps of Engineers). It's a short ride which took me about 40 minutes at a snails pace. Fewer birds than expected but it's early and this is often a good place for warblers and summer birds.

The results: A total of 22 different species at the three sites. I'm sure I could have done better if I had gotten out of the truck along the Rail Road Grade Trail to explore some of the game food plots along the way.  (An * indicates a first for the year species for me.)

Hills Creek - 15 species

Canada Goose
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow *
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Pine Siskin 

Marsh Creek/The Muck - 13 species

Canada Goose
American Wigeon *
American Black Duck *
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Common Merganser *
Great Blue Heron *
Belted Kingfisher *
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow *
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird 

Rail Road Grade Trail - 11 species

Canada Goose
Common Merganser
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird