Saturday Birding and Celebrating

Yesterday (August 19, 2017) marked Theresa and my 45th Wedding Anniversary. As it so happens, she was in North Carolina for an EGA Seminar and I was home with the cats. (Sometimes things get reversed and I'm out fishing but occasionally, we are both in the same place.)

I decided to celebrate with some birding. (Okay, so it was the Tiadaghton Audubon Society's annual picnic. Still counts.)

Oldest Audubon Society in PA!

Before the picnic, I stopped at a couple of spots to do some birding. Things were less than active and I only spotted a few species at each of the stops. I did have a frustrating time with a passel of small birds flitting about in the leaves of one tree by the Ive's Run boat launch. They would never stay still long enough to bee identified, let alone photographed. I did hear some Black-capped Chickadees in the crowd, but there was more than that.

Anyway, I did manage to get some critters to pose for me.

Red-tailed Hawk at the Tioga-Hammond Connector overlook.

Northern Flicker at the Tioga-Hammond Connector overlook.

Pair of Ospreys on the pole along road up to the Tioga-Hammond Connector overlook.

Eastern Phoebe on the Railroad Grade Trail, Ive's Run.

Muskrat in pond along the Railroad Grade Trail, Ive's Run

Painted Turtle in pond along the Railroad Grade Trail, Ive's Run

Birding Results with Photos!

As I previously mentioned, I went birding after PT on Thursday. I visited several of the places considered "hot spots" by myself and others of the birdy persuasion. It was slow. Very, very slow. This despite the warm temperatures (50s) and bright sunny skies (two days of them!). For one, there was a pretty strong breeze blowing. Then there was still a great deal of ice on the lake waters. Only the flowing rivers and creeks were ice free. Still, I did spot 24 different species only half of which I could have recorded if I had stayed home. (I've put an * next to those I could have seen/heard from the deck of the Aerie.)



Canada Goose*
Wood Duck
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture*
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk*
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Northern Flicker*
Eastern Phoebe*
Blue Jay*
American Crow*
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee*
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin*
European Starling*
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal*
Red-winged Blackbird*

Now for some photos. Click to enlarge. 

Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron & Hooded Merganser at The Muck

Ring-billed Gull Ive's Run

Wood Duck on Crooked Creek

Common Mergansers on Crooked Creek

Pair of Ospreys at Ive's Run

Immature Bald Eagle looking over Hammond Lake

Birding Last Wednesday, April 2nd

The first week in April I started making the rounds to various birding sites in Tioga County, PA. I managed to visit three sites a day for two days just to see what might be here. I probably was too late for some species that had flown through (Snow Geese, for instance) but there was still hope of catching some of the water fowl on lakes that were just starting to loose their ice cover.

My first stop on Wednesday, April 2nd, was at the Hammond-Tioga Lakes overlook in Tioga, PA. Hammond Lake was still heavily iced up but there was some open water on both sides of the connecting weir. As I stood at the overlook, I saw numerous immature and mature Bald Eagles flying overhead but getting a good photo of them was nearly impossible. There were a few Common Mergansers, Horned Grebes, Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks on the water far below, but, again, the 300mm lens just wasn't enough.

One bird that I was pleased to see, was an Osprey. It was perched on the nesting pole along the drive up to the overlook. I managed to get a couple of decent pictures from the road. While I was at the overlook, two of these birds flew overhead, so it's likely they will be breeding on that pole this spring.

Osprey on nesting pole.

From the overlook, I drove to the west end of Hammond Lake and the Ive's Run day use area where Crooked Creek flows into the lake. The ice was pushed back a bit and the creek was completely clear of ice. Dozens of Red-Winged Blackbirds, Canada Geese and Mallards were taking advantage of the open, but quite high water. All the Mallards flushed and left for more distant waters before I could get a photo. The Geese and Red-wings stuck around to scold the hell out of me.

Canada Geese on Crooked Creek

Red-winged Blackbird lets me know it is not pleased with my presence.

The grassy areas around the parking lot played host to Grackles and Robins searching for worms and the shrubs served as perches to Song Sparrows which seemed to be every 10 feet or so apart. The large rock near the boat ramp provided a warm place fr a pair of Killdeer to do their courting.

Killdeer at the Ive's Run day use area.

Hopefully they will find a more level site on which to lay their eggs.

My final stop of the day was at Hills Creek State Park. The Audubon Society bird walks were to begin on Saturday the fifth and I wanted to do a little scouting. The entire northeast side of the lake (viewed from the beach area) was still ice covered but there was a sizable open area in front of the beach and around to the southwest. And there were quite a few different species of water fowl taking advantage of that open water.

There were Mallards and Ring-necked Ducks...

Male Mallard and both male and female Ring-necked Ducks.

Male and female Ring-necked Ducks. The ring on the bill is easier to spot 

than the "ring" (actually more a dirty collar) on the neck.

...many Horned Grebes with the males sporting their yellow-gold sideburns...

Horned Grebes.

...Canada Geese and Red-necked Grebes.

Canada Goose and three Red-necked Grebes.

I had some trouble IDing the grebes because, well, their necks just didn't seem red enough. But, unbeknownst to me at the time, a couple of birding friends were out that same day on the other side of the lake nearer to these birds and they said they were Red-necked Grebes. Upon reviewing the photographic evidence--their's and mine--I could see that we were looking at the same birds and that they were, indeed, Red-necked Grebes.

eBird will tell you that the Red-necked Grebe is an unusual sighting for this particular place and/or time but talking things over with my friends they say they appear in this area almost every year as they migrate northward. I suppose they follow the Chesapeake Bay to its northern end and then cut north heading for either Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence or points north.

With that Hills Creek SP stop I ended my morning and headed home to do some chores. I did, however plan to do more birding the next day. The photos from Thursday's outings will be posted tomorrow.

Notes from the Aerie

This last Friday I decided to take a short ride up to the Tioga-Hammond Lake complex to see if any of the geese I had seen flying north had put into the lakes.

My first stop was at the overlook above the junction of the two lakes. There's a weir there that mixes the waters of Hammond Lake/Crooked Creek with the acidified waters of Tioga Lake/River. (Drainage from the Bloss coal mines has caused the Tioga River to become something of a dead zone.) The overlook is on an exposed point some 75-100 feet above the water of Tioga Lake. The wind gets funneled through the gap in the mountains in this area and, since it was coming from the south and blowing right up the lake to begin with, was quite strong. I needed to hold my knit hat on for fear it would be blown away. This wind, in conjunction with the warm winter we've enjoyed, had freed the Tioga Lake of any ice but it also kept the number of bird species to a minimum. I was able to spot only a handful of Common Mergansers and several hundred Ring-billed gulls. The gulls were putting on an aerial acrobatics display that was impressive but the wind prevented me from spending much time enjoying it.

A glance over toward Hammond Lake showed that the more protected waters (the wind had to navigate over the mountain and hit the lake at right angles to its length) still had some ice on it. On that ice I saw three large dark birds that I determined were immature Bald Eagles. There was also a Red-tailed Hawk soaring on the wind.

Driving on to the Ives Run Campground area, I spotted half a dozen American Crows working the tall grass of one of the fields near the day use area. Out on the water there were more Common Mergansers and several hundred Ring-billed Gulls but no geese of any kind.

Leaving Ives Run, I drove the Railroad Grade Trail towards Hills Creek State Park. The RGT was not wind blown as it too is protected by the mountain ridge that runs east-west on its southern side but there were no small birds visibly (or audibly) present along the mile and a half length.

Hills Creek State Park had a little more diversity. A dozen or so Canada Geese had taken advantage of the open waters as had several Ring-billed Gulls, eight Common Mergansers, two dozen Ring-necked Ducks, and a pair of Mallards. I heard, but did not see, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees and a White-Breasted Nuthatch in the thickets along the lake shore.

My count from this outing wasn't that great. While it was pleasing to see the Bald Eagles, I have more species of birds around the Aerie and only the numbers of Ring-billed Gulls topped the Goldfinches and Dark-eyed Juncos I see at the feeders on a daily basis.

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Yesterday (Sunday) I spied a relatively slim ground hog scurrying through the woods here at the Aerie. "Your cousin says you've still got two more weeks of winter, you idiot! Go back to sleep!" I shouted out to it but it kept on going. Then I laughed as the lake effect snow flurries arrived and the temperature remained below 32 degrees. When I go to 15 degrees last night, I (sorta) hoped the little sh*t froze.

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I've heard several Red-winged Blackbirds the last two days and saw my first of the year when I went for mail this morning. The males typically arrive before the females to set up territories but I wonder how they decide what constitutes a prime site when many ponds and marshes are still frozen and the cattails and phragmities they use for nesting sites are still nothing but humps of tan/brown?

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The winds today are coming out of the north-northwest so I guess any geese desirous of heading north are going to hunker down where they are for a few days until they get some favorable tail winds. With the cold night time temperatures we are having, it's probably for the best.

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Our furnace is acting up again. Last year we started having some problems with a "return water temperature sensor." The computerized controls would shut off the furnace when the sensor indicated a lack of electrical juice running through it. We had a repairman come out to look at it then and he gave it a clean bill of health but said if it should act up again, we might have to have the sensor replaced. Well, since Thursday the damn thing has shut down a dozen times. It restarts when we press reset, but it sure doesn't inspire any confidence. Twice we got up to 50 degree temperatures inside. Leaving the house for several days is, naturally, out of the question. The water in the pipes (PEX tubing actually) that normally heat the house isn't a worry. The thermostats tell the circulating pumps to keep that water flowing even though it's not warm enough to heat the house. The supply lines to sinks and showers, however....

So this morning I stopped at Williams Oil & Propane, the company that installed the system, and told them of my concerns. The guy I spoke with tried to contact the manufacturer to pick their brains but had no luck. Their guru was out of the office. The Williams guy will try again and get back to me in a day or two. *sigh*

Weather.com tells me the low tonight will again be around 15 degrees. It will warm up Tuesday (high of 43, low of 28) and Wednesday (high of 60!, low of 40), however.

Company at the Aerie

And so our company has come and gone. Jim and Pat arrived around noon on Thursday on their way to the Green Bay area of Wisconsin. Terry had prepared a nice stuffed cabbage and kielbasa dinner for them which we all enjoyed before heading out to the western parts of Tioga County.

I think they were equally impressed with all the gas drilling and pipeline laying activity as they were by the nearness of Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon and the beauty of Hills Creek State Park.

The view from Leonard Harrison State Park on the east rim of the Pine Creek Gorge was a spectacular as ever and there were several Turkey Vultures soaring on the late afternoon thermals right off the viewing area.

Jim and Pat at the Leonard Harrison SP overlook on Pine Creek Gorge
(aka The Grand Canyon of PA)

The view south down the Canyon

Tioga County CCC Worker.
(Jim says he used to look like that
when he was flying helicopters in Nam.
I told him he's two, maybe three, times the man now.)

We stopped in Wellsboro to enjoy a pizza at Tony's, too.

Arriving home, I had just enough light to pick some more string beans and a few zukes before watering the garden. We're still getting between a pint and a quart of string beans a day from the little 6'x6' area I planted. The cucumbers, however have taken a beating from the lack of rain and the ground hog's grazing and don't look like they will be producing enough for Terry to make many pickles this year. The dryness has caused the zukes to slow down--something Terry is thankful for since it means less baking in the warm temperatures we've been getting.

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Friday morning we headed up to Tioga-Hammond Lakes and Ive's Run Recreation Area before heading on up to Corning and its Glass and Rockwell Museums.

I was hoping to see some Bald Eagles over at the Tioga-Hammond overlook but all we spotted were a pair of Ospreys. There were a couple of new additions to the overlook area, however. They've put up a new interpretive sign explaining the connecting weir between the two lakes. Hammond Lake is the cleaner of the two lakes--Tioga suffers from the mine drainage all the way upstream from Blossburg--and is five feet higher. The connector mixes the clean water of Crooked Creek/Hammond Lake with the contaminated waters of the Tioga River. Along with the flow from Mill Creek, this makes the Tioga Lake a suitable habitat for Crappie and Bass. They've also added a flag pole to the lookout area and the Army Corps now flies the American Flag from this high point.

View south of Tioga Lake from the Tioga-Hammond Lakes Overlook

We drove around the day use areas of Ive's Run Campground and then stopped in to talk to the volunteer at the Visitors' Center. The gardens there were mostly in bloom and Pat and Terry enjoyed them if not the two rattlesnakes in the terrarium inside. It was explained that they are allowed to keep only two and these, one light phase and one dark, were "collected" at the volunteers' campground. Gave Terry second thoughts about camping there again!

A few of the Cone Flowers at the Ive's Run Visitors' Center

We went up to Corning to the Museum of Glass where we viewed the displays and watched a live demonstration of glass blowing. That little show is different every time I see it and is still impressive as all get out. I also watched a littler demonstration of sculpting with glass as an artist made a small dog sculpture--four legs, tail, head, ears and open mouth--from a couple of glass rods and a special gas/oxygen torch all in about 15 minutes.

Jim plays with fire at the Glass Museum

Then it was lunch time and we went to Sorge's for some fine Italian food.

After lunch, it was time for the Rockwell Museum of Western Art. This is a small museum but the quality of its permanent displays and the temporary displays is well worth the time. (Especially since you can get a discounted price on a combo ticket with the Museum of Glass.) I enjoy the few pieces from Remington and Russell that they have but the special exhibitions they currently have--Andy Warhol: Cowboys and Indians--Andy Warhol, of all people!, and the Wild West: Beauty of the Beast of wildlife paintings by various artists dead and alive were very, very nice. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures in those last two galleries.

The Buffalo Hunt by William Robinson Leigh (1866-1955)

A Mix Up by Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926)

End of the Trail by James Earle Fraser (1876-1953)
(I always thought this was a Fredric Remington piece!)
This is about how I was feeling as the day wore on.

High Country Pond by Clyde Aspevig (1951- )
If I could wish myself into a painting....

After a long day, we made it back to the Aerie where I picked more string beans and did some more watering. Then we sat around a talked about this that and the other thing before heading off to bed.

******

This morning Chester sounded the alarm at 5 freakin' 30 AM. I stumbled out of bed and let them in to the bedroom (a rare treat) but they insisted upon going downstairs for breakfast. So we did. I made coffee while they (the cats) ate. Terry came down when Shadow noticed she was missing and went up to get her. Pat and Jim got up shortly there after for omelets and bacon. They were packed, out the door, and headed on their way to Niagara Falls (then Canada, Michigan, and finally Wisconsin) by their scheduled 8 AM. They've got to be in Green Bay by Sunday night and should be able to make that no sweat.

So we've had our company and the guest bedroom is empty--for now. What are you doing?